Skyscraper PwC Tower opens in Auckland after eight years of planning and construction
New Zealand’s tallest office building, the PwC Tower, opens for business today on the waterfront in downtown Auckland, after eight years in planning and construction.
Standing about 180 metres tall, the 39-level steel and glass tower offers 39,000 square metres of Auckland’s premium and likely priciest office space of around $700 to $800 a square metre and is fully leased.
It also boasts the country’s fastest lifts travelling at 8 metres a second. At that speed it would take just 22.5 seconds from bottom to top in the lift.
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Supporting more families into home ownership
More New Zealanders will be helped into home ownership with the launch of the Government’s Progressive Home Ownership scheme, Housing Minister Megan Woods said.
“Under-investment in housing and infrastructure in the past has made the aspiration of home ownership impossible for too many families,” Megan Woods said.
“I’m delighted the Government is once again delivering solutions to enable more families to own their own homes and secure their futures.”
The first phase of the $400 million fund has signed up providers in Auckland and Queenstown to support the first 100 low to median income families who are struggling to pull together a deposit, or pay a mortgage, into home ownership.
Megan Woods named the Housing Foundation in Auckland and Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust as the first providers who will sign up households for access to the scheme. More phase one providers in other centres will be announced soon.
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Lower Hutt hotel to complete but Sarin pushes out other hotel projects
Hotel developer Raman Sarin is reassuring Lower Hutt residents they will have their new $15 million, 60-room hotel next year but other planned hotel projects in the capital and Christchurch will be delayed.
One of the country’s large hotel developers and operators, Sarin Investments is aiming to complete Lower Hutt’s The Sebel, plagued by delays, by the end of March, about four years later than originally planned.
It has been a saga of troublesome engineering and geotechnical issues on the site which is located above an aquifer and cost disputes with the builder Watts and Hughes related to those issues as well as changes to the design setting the construction back from the original early 2017 completion date.
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Takapuna’s town square design open for consultation
The Takapuna community can now have its say on the proposed design of their future town square. The public consultation, open from 20 July, seeks to confirm that the design includes the things that are most important to the community, submitted via previous consultation and engagement. Feedback will be considered in the refinement of the design.
Aidan Bennett, Chair of Devonport-Takapuna Local Board, encourages the community to take a look and have their say on the design.
“It’s no secret, I’m passionate about projects designed to improve Takapuna, so this is very exciting to see. The proposed design has been influenced by community feedback to date. Now, we want to check if it meets the brief.
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New public spaces in Auckland’s city centre coming to life this summer
Auckland city centre’s revitalised public spaces will be ready to enjoy from this summer, despite the setbacks from COVID-19 on construction, Auckland Council announced today.
Construction teams are working hard to make up for lost time as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown period and restrictions and budget constraints.
“The delays from COVID-19 and the financial impacts of the Emergency Budget have been very challenging but Auckland Council and our construction partners are working hard to transform our city centre and deliver for Aucklanders new safer and relaxing public spaces to enjoy this summer,” says Councillor Chris Darby, Chair of the Planning Committee.
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