City group hits roof over bank building

The proposed ASB building on Auckland's waterfront has been opposed from the start. Photo / Supplied

The first new Wynyard Quarter waterfront building has upset a city group.

Alex Swney, chief executive of Heart of the City, said his organisation had strongly opposed a 52m bank building planned for the west seafront Auckland area "right from the start".

The building would be about 16 levels high, he estimated, and although he was not against the design, he said his organisation did not want a big building blocking the sea.

"We were opposed to this from the start," he said, adding that the planned building was too tall and too big for the location.

He is worried about how tenants will get there and where they will park if they drive.

Bold plans for the area near Westhaven Marina have been on the books for years but no office workers had committed to the area.

Now ASB, with about 1100 staff, has decided to leave the CBD in three years and move to the waterfront in a $160 million development on the Jellicoe Street/Halsey Street corner.

The bank's planned headquarters has a distinctive and unusual roof structure, designed to operate like a funnel bringing in cool air during the summer and warm during the winter. The building was designed by Sydney architects Bligh Voller Nield.

"This building should have been at the Fanshawe Street end of the Wynyard Quarter which is already a big Tarmac scar," Mr Swney said.

The Wynyard Quarter/Tank Farm area is planned to be a 29ha waterfront revitalisation. Auckland Regional Holdings and Auckland City will spend more than $200 million on public infrastructure, most in the next decade, and attract private sector investment worth up to $3 billion in the next 25 years.

The ASB project, expected to start next year, will be one of the city's largest commercial office projects.

A cycling/pedestrian bridge is planned to be ready for Rugby World Cup and will connect Jellicoe Street with the Viaduct Basin.