1The Deloitte Centre occupies a full central city block in downtown Auckland – prime commercial real estate. Prior to construction, the land was occupied by the historic Jean Batten Building, a structure with significant heritage relevance in New Zealand architecture. One of the project’s key priorities was to preserve some of the heritage aspects of the structure, ensuring the Jean Batten Building retained its unique personality. The façade and portions of the upper floors were retained, and integrated into the new building.

2This was an engineering challenge that required an empathy with heritage buildings, and the ability to blend the old with the new. The team at Holmes Consulting was excited to take the project on. The building itself is 20 storeys with a four-level underground basement built into reclaimed land at the location of Auckland’s original foreshore. The site is an ‘island’ bordered by Queen Street, Shortland Street, Fort Street and Jean Batten Place – with a number of high end retail stores on the ground floor.

3During the design process, the developers decided they wanted the building to achieve a five-star Green Star rating. The Deloitte Centre became the first high rise office building in New Zealand to achieve that rating under the New Zealand Green Building Council guidelines. The structure features a large cantilevered entrance canopy along Queen Street and a ‘Sky Catcher’ roof feature, which distinguishes it on the Auckland skyline.