Tauranga City Council office issued $26.m consent for $45m+ CBD build

Artist renders show what a future Tauranga City Council building will look like once it is built at 90 Devonport Rd. Photo / Supplied

An extra $26.6 million has been consented for what could be New Zealand’s largest mass timber office building.

At over 10,000 square metres, Tauranga City Council’s new eight-storey timber office building at 90 Devonport Rd was also issued a building consent valued at $18.9 million in July.

And the council says “further design and consenting” will need to be completed before staff can move in, in 2025.

The $26.6m consent issued to Willis Bond was one of 29 commercial building consents issued by the council in September.

Council city development and partnerships general manager Gareth Wallis said the September consent was for the architecture and building services including fire engineering.

“This is in addition to the superstructure consent issued in July for the building to be constructed out of the ground,” Wallis told the Bay of Plenty Times.

Wallis said Willis Bond was leading the building’s development with support from construction partner LT McGuinness.

The recent building consent brings the total value of consents issued for the building to about $45.5m so far.

“This development involves a phased consenting process, which is usual for a building of this size and scale,” Wallis said.

“Staging consents allow work on-site to begin on the initial stages, while further design and consenting is being completed in later stages.”

Wallis said since construction at the site started earlier this year there has been “significant progress”.

“Foundation and in-ground service connection works have been completed, and the ground floor slab pours have commenced.

“Excitingly, since July, the first two levels of timber and steel installation are now complete, and the construction crew is underway with the structure for level three.”

The building’s design is targeting a 6 Green Star sustainability rating and would feature rainwater harvesting, electric vehicle charging and facilities to encourage active transport options.

“We anticipate moving into the building in early 2025 and look forward to having [the] council’s administration staff together for the first time since 2014 when we had to vacate our previous office on Willow Street,” Wallis said.

In 2014, tests confirmed the presence of toxic black mould and Chrysosporium fungi forcing the evacuation of about 330 of the council’s 520 staff.

As far back as May 2020, the council held talks with property development and investment company Willis Bond & Co to develop a new council administration building to be constructed at 90 Devonport Rd.

Plans to finally house all of Tauranga City Council’s administrative staff under one roof 10 years after their black mould evacuation were finalised in December 2021.

90 Devonport Rd

• New Zealand’s largest mass timber office building, with a leasable area of over 10,000sq m
• Eight floors using over 2000 tonnes of mass timber
• Three different mass timber products used: CLT, LVL and Glulam
• 134 piles of up to 24 metres (equivalent to six storeys) installed
• Will feature rainwater harvesting, electric vehicle charging and facilities that encourage active transport options

Source - Tauranga City Council

Maryana Garcia is a regional reporter writing for the Rotorua Daily Post and the Bay of Plenty Times. She covers local issues, health and crime.