Commercial Bay Redevelopment, Auckland

Commercial Bay is the regeneration of Auckland’s downtown precinct that is home to world class office, retail, food and beverage facilities bringing together over 10,000 people in the heart of the Auckland waterfront.

The development consists of 18,000 m² of retail space and 39,000 m² over 39 levels of premium commercial office space. Commercial Bay links four major streets, namely Quay Street, Queen Street, Lower Albert Street and Customs Street.

NDY provided all building services design and construction monitoring for the development. The team was involved with the project from the early planning stage in 2014 from concept through to commissioning until the completion of the project in 2020. NDY worked alongside Precinct Properties, Resource Coordination Partnership (RCP), Warren and Mahoney and Fletcher Construction.

Given Precinct Properties will retain long-term ownership of the development, the Commercial Bay design required sustainability initiatives to take a triple bottom line approach, considering economic, environmental and social aspects whilst also ensuring premium amenity was maintained.

A unique aspect of the engineering services design features an energy centre that incorporates a chilled water plant, heating water plant, six-pipe heat recovery chillers and generators serving both the retail section and the tower. This engineering approach, a first for a development in New Zealand, utilises load diversification and provides energy savings particularly with the heat recovery features of the central plant.

The project has successfully benchmarked the sustainability of the design, having achieved a 5 Star Green Star Design rating and As-Built certification. Having adopted one of the most energy efficient air-conditioning systems used to date in New Zealand, the building will provide optimal internal conditions maximising occupant comfort and wellbeing.