B:Hive wins at Property Council New Zealand Awards

We are thrilled to announce that B:Hive, a new flexible working project at Smales Farm in Auckland received two major awards at the 2019 Property Council New Zealand Awards ceremony held in Auckland on Friday 14 June. It received the RCP Commercial Office Property Award of Excellence and a Merit Award for Retail Developments. B:Hive was designed by BVN in association with Jasmax.

B:Hive is the first step in the transformation of a twentieth-century office park to a buzzing and engaged twenty-first-century urban hub for a community of multiple businesses of all sizes. The project responds to the shifting demands of modern working by providing flexible workspace and leasing options within connected and engaging space aimed to attract start-ups, small companies and individuals.

B:Hive’s ground floor reception, event spaces and thoroughfare to Goodside – a new hospitality and retail precinct designed by Izzard, is connected to the upper workplace of the five-storey building via a sculptural orange stair. The stair winds its way through a large sunny, skylight topped atrium lush with greenery. The playful irregular-shaped perimeter of the atrium creates transparency across the space with views across all floors. Relocatable walls in workplace suites, along with a mixture of study carrels, lounge seating, pods, phone booths and collaborative tables dotted throughout the building allows users multiple work settings.

Wellness is a primary consideration in new workplaces. Mixed mode ventilation via façade thermal chimneys circulates fresh air throughout; a large clear skylight over the atrium enables direct sunlight to penetrate deep into the building, and the atrium stair provides easy walking and energising throughout the day.

Developments like Smales Farm and work environments like B:Hive take a courageous first step in developing an attitude toward both organisational and environmental sustainability by acknowledging that businesses of all sizes deserve a great workplace where wellbeing and belonging are embedded.