Trust Waikato

Trust Waikato commissioned the new building at its site in London Street, to better meet the needs of the organisations it supports. The new building was set to feature; offices on the top floor, purpose-built meeting rooms and flexible spaces on the ground floor. The Trust Waikato vision – is to create vibrant and resilient communities. The entire project team understood that and this resulted in a real ‘community’ feel for the team.

This brief from Trust Waikato was an exciting opportunity for the project team. The team knew they needed a building which would meet the day to day requirements of the Trust Waikato team. To create conference/meeting spaces that could be utilised by community groups, and the new building needed to be sympathetic to the existing environment, and neighbouring heritage building.

The site itself neighbours a heritage listed building, so any design needed to be sympathetic to this building. The site has three protected trees located on it. With new district plan rules the tree root protection zone covered the majority of the site. Greenstone Group and Form identified that prior to commencement Hydrovac around the building footprint would identify any roots safely, an Arborist then visited site, to advise any roots that need further protection.

Greenstone provided leadership and a hands on approach in forming a skilled, experienced and cohesive project team which enabled a robust process keeping the team on target and Trust Waikato informed. The team developed a ‘Project First’ culture which enabled us to really push the limits of design to meet the brief above.

The two-storey masterpiece was created with a holistic approach which acknowledges and unites cultural, historical and contemporary architecture. With a large board-room, flexible meeting rooms and spaces of varying sizes for community and Trust Waikato use on the ground floor, the open-plan office is spread out on the top floor and is a great working environment. This is right in line with the Trust Waikato vision – to create vibrant and resilient communities.