Great to see some real progress on site last week with two of our projects…
Cuba Central
On Monday morning, I attended the ‘ground breaking’ ceremony for Cuba Central – the new Creative Technologies and Arts Centre being developed by Willis Bond for WelTec and Whitireia. The ceremony was led by Roger Sowry (Chair of WelTec and Whitireia), with comments also made by David McGuinness (Willis Bond) and Wellington City Deputy Mayor Justin Lester.
From helping WelTec and Whitireia develop an overall Property Strategy in 2012/13 and identifying the opportunity to claim the ‘heart of the city’ for the creative and technology hub – and then leading the commercial and lease negotiations with Willis Bond – it is satisfying to see work start on site.
Cuba Central (the working title for the new campus) will see 1,000 students – performers, creators and innovators – converging on the CBD and helping to revitalise Cuba Street.
The 9,000m2 Athfield-designed building is due for completion in early 2018.
TwentyTwo also assisted with the fitout design briefing process and developed a Fitout Brief in conjunction with cgm+foster (Michael Melville). GCM are now underway with the fitout design process following this brief.
133 Molesworth Street
On Wednesday, we toured the Ministry of Health’s new home – 133 Molesworth Street. This project involves the refurbishment and extension of the former William Clayton building into a contemporary workplace of 15,500m2 for approximately 1,500 Ministry staff.
The project is in its early phases with the structure and façade extensions underway. Completion is due in late 2016.
TwentyTwo led the commercial negotiations with the developer (Mike McCombie of Balanced Investments) and continues to assist the Ministry in a project advisory role.
It’s great to see Wellington’s construction sector in action and the skyline continuing to change.
Image: Preliminary sketch design only of The Sound Bar, Cuba Central Sound Studios. Courtesy of cgm+foster
