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New Zealand’s tallest building is officially open for business

After eight years and many frustrating delays, New Zealand’s tallest building is now officially open.

The PwC Tower stands 180-metres and 41 storeys high, with 39,000sq m of office space, on top of a commercial centre that boasts 120 stores across a further 18,000sq m.

It sits at the foot of Auckland’s CBD, towering over the Waitemata Harbour.

According to Stuff.co.nz, the PwC Tower contains New Zealand’s fastest lifts, which hurtle along at eight metres a second.

“I must admit it’s pretty exciting going up in the lifts, certainly those on the outside where it’s fully glazed and you get to look out over the city as you’re travelling that fast up 180 metres,” said Scott Pritchard, Chief Executive of Precinct Properties, owners and developers of the $1 billion tower.

The tower was scheduled for completion in mid-2019, before costing issues blew the timeline out. COVID-19 caused addition delays to the opening. The retail precinct at the base of the tower was opened to the public on June 11.

“Certainly, in a value sense it’s the biggest commercial project in New Zealand,” Mr Pritchard continued.

“I’d say as far as I’m aware it’s definitely the most complex vertical construction project in New Zealand.

“It’s an enormous investment and, to be honest, it feels a little bit surreal at the moment because there’s a huge team that has worked on this project for eight years and it’s now complete.

“The technology and the quality of the amenity and the thinking that has gone into this tower, it is world class and we’ve done a huge amount of research globally and taken the best of what we’ve seen and tried to instill it in this building.”

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Nathan Jolly

Nathan Jolly was an in-house journalist with Elite Agent. He worked with the company from July 2020 to December 2020.