KiwiRail secure final space in Parnell hot spot
Friday 30 July 2010, 4:26PM
By McDougall Reidy
1178 views
Efficiency and cost effectiveness have been watchwords for KiwiRail as they signed the lease to take up a significant space in McDougall Reidy and Haydn & Rollett Construction’s new Stanley Street commercial building.
KiwiRail, the state owned rail and ferry organisation, will now be based on the second and third floors of the new development at the bottom of Parnell. With a total of almost 4,100 square metres, KiwiRail will occupy over half of the available office space within the building.
The move will amalgamate KiwiRail staff, previously distributed between three premises across the city, into one building on the fringe of the CBD.
KiwiRail CEO Jim Quinn says the new lease signalled a major step in moving the rail freight business into the CBD from the North Shore, and created improved business efficiency and effectiveness by combining it with two other existing city offices.
“We have been looking to set up a single location in the city since the rail business was reintegrated into one entity. We chose this location as it is close to Auckland’s CBD, and several of our major customers and stakeholders, has good access, and the building has all the facilities we need.”
The signing of KiwiRail’s 10 year lease deal sees 8 Stanley Street now fully occupied, with National Libraries taking the bulk of the other space. This is yet another coup for McDougall Reidy and builders Haydn & Rollett who have recently seen the building given a 4 Green Star certified rating by the New Zealand Green Building Council for environmental design initiatives, making it one of only 29 office developments in Auckland to have received the certification.
McDougall Reidy Development Manager Nick Cobham says: “Our plan was to have Stanley Street fully leased by the end of 2010, so to achieve this target almost six months early is a great sign that we are providing exactly what an organisation needs from its premises.”
“Our goal was to deliver a building which met the needs of an organisation such as KiwiRail in terms of efficient space, its facilities and its connectivity and proximity to the CBD,” he says.
KiwiRail will take up occupancy in Stanley Street in January of next year with Paul Dyson and Rob Bird of Colliers International the effective brokers.