Westpac moves to Britomart

Developer Bluewater will soon start building an eight-storey and a nine-storey building.

Westpac is shifting most of its North Island staff to Auckland where new buildings will be built in the Britomart precinct as part of a $100 million deal.

The bank yesterday signed the build-and-lease agreement with Britomart Group and plans to start consolidating its operations in 2009.

Westpac will move 1500 people out of Wellington, Hamilton, Royal Oak and Auckland's CBD PricewaterhouseCoopers tower into two new buildings and the historic Charter House in the Britomart.

Westpac will keep offices in Wellington and Christchurch, a spokesman said.

The bank had not yet decided which divisions would stay in the capital.

Developer Bluewater will soon start building an eight-storey and a nine-storey building for the bank. They will be constructed in the blocks bounded by Customs St, Gore St, Britomart Place and Tyler St and will be linked by as many as three pedestrian bridges.

Together the buildings will have a floor area of more than 16,000 sq m.

Ann Sherry, Westpac's chief executive, said the bank would have naming rights at the new site.

Britomart was an ideal place for staff because it would have shops, transport links, childcare and residential facilities.

"Auckland is one of the few cities in the world which still has precincts yet to be developed," she said.

Matthew Cockram, chief executive of Bluewater Management Company, said the Westpac deal was the first major new development to be signed-up in the area.