Auckland, 14 June 2024: At tonight’s Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards, Tākina, Wellington’s celebrated new 18,000sqm Convention and Exhibition Centre took top honours in the Warren and Mahoney Civic, Health and Arts Property Award category.
The Property Industry Awards are the most prestigious property awards programme in Aotearoa New Zealand celebrating excellence in design and innovation in the built environment. This year’s ceremony – the 34th in the history of the awards – took place tonight at the Spark Arena.
According to Andrew Evans, chief judge, Property Industry Awards this remarkable new civic building stood out for several reasons. He said, “Tākina impressed the judging panel due to its beautiful design, sustainability credentials and its importance to the Wellington region.”
Tākina is Wellington’s largest built-infrastructure investment since the Sky Stadium 20 years ago. Through exceptional teamwork, it was delivered on time and with a modest budget, despite being a complex civic project built during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The building, developed by Willis Bond and designed by Studio Pacific Architecture, sits on a 5,500sqm site opposite Te Papa Tongarewa. It is an elegant space that can house multiple events, exhibitions and conferences, and is already attracting strong interest from international and domestic visitors. Only six months after opening it had injected approximately $24 million of spending into Wellington’s economy, much more than forecast.
Evans added, “Tākina’s elegant architecture, close Iwi involvement in the design narrative, the adaptability of its numerous generous rooms which include the country’s largest gallery space, make this a truly remarkable building.”
Mana Whenua helped to shape the building’s identity, anchoring it in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. A Mouri stone forms a celebrated educational centrepiece that energises Tākina and people within it.
The name Tākina means to “invoke, to summon, to connect, to bring forth” in Te Reo Māori. According to the convention centre’s website, the most powerful force that is summoned in Wellington is the wind. Taranaki Whānui gifted the name Tākina to the new Wellington convention and exhibition centre to celebrate the unique Wellington winds and the part they played in shaping Wellington.
Tākina is Aotearoa New Zealand’s first convention centre to achieve a 5-star Green Star NZ certified rating reducing carbon emissions and energy use by 60-70%. Screens in the lobby show real-time water and energy-consumption and carbon emissions. The building has been designed to withstand seismic activity.
The convention centre is a catalyst helping to transform the surrounding area and urban environment connecting the waterfront area, retail businesses and the community.
“The property industry does so much more than construct beautiful buildings,” said Leonie Freeman, chief executive, Property Council New Zealand. “New Zealand’s property owners and the property industry are important contributors to the country’s economy – city shapers who create spaces where New Zealanders live, work, play and shop.”
Warren and Mahoney Civic, Health and Arts Property Award
Best in category: Tākina – Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre
- Owner: Wellington City Council
- Developer: Willis Bond
- Construction: LT McGuinness
- Architect: Studio Pacific Architecture
- Structural engineer: Dunning Thornton Consultants
- Service/mechanical engineer: Beca
- Building enclosure engineer: Mott MacDonald
- Quantity surveyor: Rider Levett Bucknall
- Fire engineer: Holmes Fire
- Geotechnical engineer: Tonkin + Taylor
Excellence:
- Hillmorton Specialist Mental Health Services, Christchurch
- New Brighton Surf Life Saving Club, Christchurch
- Newtown Community Centre / Te Whare Hapori o Ngā Puna Waiora, Wellington
- Rotorua Lakefront Redevelopment, Rotorua
- Te Pou ō Mata-Au | Clutha District War Memorial & Community Centre, Balclutha
Merit:
- Bidwill Trust Hospital – Radiology Extension, Timaru
- Queenstown Corps, Queenstown
- Starship Children’s Hospital, Auckland
- Te Iwitahi – Whangārei Civic Centre, Whangārei
- Te Kete Aronui Rototuna Library and Public Realm, Hamilton
- Te Whare Whakatere – Ashburton Library and Civic Centre, Ashburton
- Toi Mahara – the Kāpiti District Gallery, Waikanae
ENDS