What $5.75m buys: New images show under-construction level-17 The CAB apartments

Wood floors and stone benchtops emphasise natural tones. Photo / supplied

New images are out of planned interiors for two $5.75 million sub-penthouses in the ex-Auckland Council headquarters.

The building is on Aotea Square and is now being transformed from offices into apartments.

Developer John Love, managing director of Love & Co, said the renders showed planned interiors of two sub-penthouses in his project, The CAB.

Each of those units is to take up a half-floor of level 17 in the 19-level block and will have four bedrooms, four bathrooms and come with two carparks each.

The CAB - once Auckland Council's headquarters. Photo / supplied

The block, known as the Civic Administration Building, stands between Aotea Square and Mayoral Dr and was occupied by the council for decades.

The sub-penthouses will have panoramic views of the city, the harbour and SkyTower.

Developer John Love before work began. Photo / Doug Sherring

Colour tones are muted and natural, not to distract from views: benchtops are stone and floors are wood.

A display suite can be visited by private appointment.

Love said work at the block was progressing well, despite level 3 alerts. Head contractor Naylor Love and subcontractors could continue working on the building during the most recent seven-day alert, he said.

Gib interior wall linings were going into apartments now: "And we've just poured level eight. We've done levels 18 to eight so seven is being demolished," Love said of the huge task to jack-hammer each floor out of the block and re-pour thicker, stronger floors.

It wasn't till work began that Love realised all floors must be removed because they were not strong enough.

"It's a steel-framed building and all 19 levels of concrete floors need to be removed. They were just not thick enough."

Plans for a level-17 apartment inside the new CAB. Photo / supplied

So 6cm floors are gradually being ripped out and replaced by 15cm thick floors in the massive project which started in August 2019.

Jump platforms established to hold skips are being filled with the concrete from each floor and then craned to the ground.

Extensive asbestos throughout the building is another challenge: "It was far more extensive than anyone had envisaged. People thought much had been removed but it was right throughout. We'll be down to ground with that by next March," Love said last year.

In 2014, the council gradually left the block for 135 Albert St where it has new headquarters. That left the existing building empty. Two years before then, the then-council chief executive, Doug McKay, said the $93m cost of refurbishing the block for the 450 staff in it was not economic.

Naylor Love is operating from teal Portacom offices on Aotea Square, with roof-top solar panels to partly power its operations.

Unimpeded views from the dining area, plans show. Photo / supplied

Building work began on The CAB in late 2019 when the contractors arrived on the site. Love said before that, extensive designing, resource consenting, tendering and pre-sales processes were underway.

Of the 118 new apartments being built inside the ex-council building's frame, 10 per cent deposits had been taken on 83 units by early November last year, comprising 67 per cent of the block.

At the top is the $15m penthouse taking up the entire floor: the Sky Garden apartment with a 95sqm open-air courtyard, a third the size of a tennis court.