| 29 Tauranga: Wallace Development Company REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Blood Service build a boon for city Designed by Cube Architecture, the new Blood Service Building in Tauranga will make a strong visual statement with substantial glazing across all floors and bold detailing. Sue Russell National Development Manager for Wallace Development Co. Ltd, Tyler Tabak, says the past five and a half years he’s been with the business have been professionally challenging, interesting and positive. Tyler is based in Mt Maunganui, though the company’s headquarters are in Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay. As a major Property Development and Investment company Wallace Development Co Ltd (WDCL) has contributed hugely to regional economic and community growth, working across a range of industry types. And it’s projects, such as the new Blood Service building in Tauranga, that Tyler knows will bring lasting benefit to the city, region and its people. Acknowledging too, that the past two to three years has brought added challenges, in the form of coping with supply chain, pricing and human resources challenges in the wake of COVID-19, Tyler says now the construction sector has had time to adjust to a new way of working, he feels the sector is in pretty good health considering. WDCL had been working with The New Zealand Blood Service some time to find a higher profile location on which to build their new blood donor centre. “They wanted a great location in Tauranga city, one that was visible and easy for donors to get to. “We purchased the site in April 2021 and then immediately entered into a design build lease agreement with NZ Blood. The building itself went through two design phases and while initially the plan was for the building to just be occupied by NZ Blood another company Manawa Energy, formerly Trustpower, will also occupy the building on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Now that resource and building consents have been approved the build is properly underway, and when Business North spoke with Tyler early September the basement dig-out was underway. Designed by Matt Allen, from Cube Architecture based in Mt Maunganui, the 3600sqm (excluding basement) four-storey building resonates with style. With substantial glazing across all floors and bold detailing the building, once completed, will certainly make a statement and bring a standard of design that will enhance the city now and into the future. “They wanted a great location in Tauranga city, one that was visible and easy for donors to get to.” Tyler says the development is largely in keeping with want Council want to see being built in the central city area. “We’ve engaged iLine Construction to undertake the build. We’re big on using local professional services and trades as much as possible, bringing substantial economic benefit to the local community.” Asked how quickly the design came together, Tyler says there were several iterations and the design chosen stood out early on in the process. Expected to be completed late 2023 Tyler is reasonably confident that time-frame will be met. “We’ve got our head around the significant lead times that are now required, given the constraints COVID has brought to the construction sector generally. Interestingly, the site itself, caused an additional process before work could get underway. The site at 93 Cameron Road, had a Heritage NZ overlay on it, meaning that before building could start, WDCL worked closely with Ngai Tamarawhao and Archaeologist Ken Phillips through a supervised ‘dig’ of the site to see if it revealed any of its history. Pre 1900’s the site was home to British Army barracks. “Nothing was uncovered from that era and I didn’t expect there would be much found, given subsequent to the barracks Tauranga’s first hotel was built on the site, followed by a single level commercial building.” Commercial building activity is strong in the region, with WDCL involved in several projects including a Quest hotel in Mt Maunganui. Tyler says he enjoys his work, contributing to a city and region moving forward. “Fundamentally that’s what most Property Developers do it for. Tauranga CBD in particular has struggled. While there’s been significant regional population growth the CBD has struggled for the last 10 years. It’s good to be a part of the positive change, amongst several other large and existing projects underway in the CBD.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=