Project Momentum: 1400 Beca staff moving to Wynyard Quayside, flexible desk model

Auckland-headquartered advisory, design and engineering consultancy Beca will next month complete the relocation of 1400 staff from 21 Pitt St to the Wynyard Quarter.

The move is known as Project Momentum and will introduce new flexible working modes.

Amelia Linzey, group chief executive, said most of the staff had left the seven-level Pitt St building where preparations are advanced for the huge move to Wynyard Quayside.

“There’s around 300 of us who are now left in Pitt St on floors one and two. We had a three-week shutdown period for most of the teams over Christmas. We’ve left most of the floors to the movers.”

About 1100 staff were now on holiday, working from home or on client/project sites or offices or at other Beca offices.

All 1400 staff would begin shifting into the new purpose-built Wynyard Quayside built by Precinct Properties from February 10, she said.

Scott Pritchard at Wynyard Quayside, where new offices for Beca are rising. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Only 900 desks are provided because Linzey said only about 800 to 900 people would be in the office on a particularly busy day even though staff numbers are 1400.

“As we have in Melbourne, people can work flexibly with innovation and co-elaboration spaces, quiet desks and breakout spaces. The Melbourne office is a similar model to the space we’ve created here. You see people working in areas that suit the work they’re doing at the time,” she said.

Beca said last February it would move in 2024’s second half to levels 22 and 23 of the Melbourne Quarter Tower development. That new 34-storey building is at 695 Collins St, Docklands.

Linzey said 900 desks at Wynyard Quayside would serve the company’s needs in Auckland.

Beca House at 21 Pitt St. The business occupied it for more than a decade. Photo / Google Maps

“Because of the way we work, some people are in client offices, project offices, etc, so a number of our projects operate in teams, for example at Auckland Airport.

“That’s a normal operating rhythm for us. Some of our more flexible desk arrangements better suit that and that’s something we’ve seen increasing,” she said.

Beca’s shift is anticipated to take about two weeks.

“We will be levels one to five of 124 Halsey St and it won’t be till April until everything is finished in the entire building. That’s Precinct’s completion date because other tenants will be shifting into the building too.”

“Beca has been at Pitt St for 15 years but there was a period when we were spread across other offices including 135 Vincent St as well as another building in the CBD. It was 11 or 12 years ago that we consolidated in this building.”

Amelia Linzey took over on October 1. Photo / Jason Oxenham

“The great thing about our move is that people can start to see what flexible working spaces and flexible desks will look like. Energy levels are high.

The move would accommodate the growth expected in the next decade. Beca expects to have about 1700 Auckland staff in 10 years.

Christchurch investor Miles Middleton owns the Pitt St building via a company.

The Herald understands that although Beca will leave next month, its lease is yet to expire.

Agents have been advertising 21 Pitt St for lease. Colliers' Rob Bird and Charlie Stow advertised floor plates from 3000sq m to 2200sq m. Two floors were available fully furnished. They also referred to the new City Rail Link station opening on Karangahape Rd and said 21 Pitt St had a net lettable area of 16,837sq m.

One big loss for staff is carparks. Just over 200 spaces are provided in the ex-Auckland Regional Council HQ basement at 21 Pitt St but at Wynyard Quayside, only 80 carparks are for Beca staff.

Vehicle carparks and storage space now in the Pitt St premises would move.

Linzey said parking for dedicated vehicles for geotech drilling and lab teams would shift to Onehunga.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.