This 32,448m2 workplace development sits on the site of the former NZME building, between the 39-storey Voco Hotel to the south and the 15-storey Swanson Tower to the north. 50 Albert Street fronts onto Albert Street and the ten-meter lower Mills Lane. A four-storey podium structure negotiates the level difference between the two frontages and accommodates end-of-trip facilities, 200 car parks and service space.
The podium realises the opportunity to create a connected ground plane; it links Mills Lane (currently a cul-de-sac) with Albert Street via cascading stairs and lifts and sets up a new laneway, providing access to the Voco Hotel. This new link and a secondary entry lobby will bring activity to Mills Lane and provide a convenient route between Albert Street and Queen Street.
The main ground floor is located on the level of Albert Street and accommodates a generous lobby, tenancies for retail and hospitality and a conference facility. A spiral stair connects the ground floor with the first floor to create a piano nobile for the tenant on this floor and above.
Workspaces are distributed over 14 levels and organised in low-rise and mid-rise floors. The flexible floorplates are some of the largest in the CBD (approximately 2,000m2) and are serviced via a side core located to the south. On level four, where low-rise and mid-rise floors meet, a planted terrace offers outdoor breakout spaces with views over Albert Street.
The building’s built form and façade articulation respond to the fine-grained urban pattern on the opposite side of Albert Street and the massing of the adjacent hotel. The design of the curtain wall cladding with alternating glazed and folded aluminium panels balances transparency and solidity for outlook, daylight, shading and texture.
With exceptional dedication to the environment and building occupants’ health and safety, 50 Albert Street is designed to balance energy efficiency and waste reduction with interior environmental conditions and wellness concerns. The project targets an NZGBC 6* Green Star rating and a Platinum WELL rating, the first for a New Zealand project.
