Regional council set to move into new headquarters

Waikato Regional Council is due to start moving into its new Hamilton CBD headquarters this weekend, with the doors opening to the public on Monday.

The move as a tenant into the Tristram Precinct at 160 Ward Street will be staggered over three weeks to ensure an unaffected service to residents and ratepayers. The 401 Grey Street office in Hamilton East closes to the public today (Friday, 28 May), with the first day in the CBD building for some staff and councillors on Monday (31 May).

Chief Executive Chris McLay said: “I’m excited to be bringing our workforce under one roof after many years of working across many buildings in Grey Street.

“We’ve worked closely with the developers to ensure we have a fit for purpose building and inspiring workplace, with open and shared workspaces that will facilitate collaboration and enable innovation,” Mr McLay said.

It will also bring the headquarters to just down the road from the council’s BUSIT and Te Huia operations staff at the Transport Centre, as well as opposite its civil defence group staff occupying space in the Genesis Energy building.

Mr McLay said the council’s centralised services would continue to be provided during the move, with staff available as usual via 0800 800 401.

“With the building there has been a commitment to reducing the carbon footprint, where possible, and in line with the council’s ‘green’ pledge to our communities,” said Waikato Regional Council Chair Russ Rimmington.

“This building is top notch, and I’m especially pleased to see plenty of sustainable features incorporated by the developer and our own fitout design team. This includes extensive use of structural timber flooring instead of the usual concrete and steel, floor coverings made from carbon neutral and recycled materials, rainwater harvesting, electric vehicle charging and provision for solar panels.”

A 10,000m³ holding tank is located under the garden on Tristram Street and is fed from the roof. It stores water for the external gardens which are irrigated via a trickle system. The system’s designed to meet irrigation requirements under most conditions – an approach that means the gardens do not need mains-supplied water.

Once installed, the energy generated from the solar panels will go directly into the electricity supply that feeds the building. It can be used for anything that uses electricity – water heating, car charging, lighting, the HVAC system – and will be used at the time it is generated, bringing savings, Cr Rimmington said.

A blessing of the council’s new offices by local manawhenua was held earlier this month, on Tuesday, 4 May. Mr McLay said it had been important to the council that a cultural dimension be woven into the building, to “more than just meet statutory requirements or minimums in our partnership with iwi. 

“As storytelling is an important part of Māori culture, we’ve worked with iwi to incorporate creative designs that make the stories of tangata whenua more visible to the public. This includes the beautiful design on our front doors, which provides a symbolic welcome from Kirikiriroa manawhenua to our visitors,” Mr McLay said.

“Our commitment to supporting efforts to revitalise te reo Māori has also been reflected through the use of bilingual wayfinding signage in our new headquarters, as well as meaningful room names with the Māori language first and English second,” he said.

There will be an official opening ceremony in July, which will include the Governor-General of New Zealand.

Background

Office accommodation had been an ongoing issue for Waikato Regional Council for almost 10 years, with staff working from up to eight different buildings in Hamilton East, and it was agreed by councillors in 2016 that change was needed.

In 2018 the council announced it was relocating its headquarters from Hamilton East to a fit-for-purpose, sustainable building on the corner of Tristram and Ward streets.

Approval to proceed with the new build, with Stark Property Ltd as the developer, was confirmed in the council’s 2018-2028 Long Term Plan.