When GCL were given the original brief for the
MAF offices, the plan was to create a new office building
of 700 sqm to accommodate additional staff. This was to be adjacent to
their existing warehouse and cramped outdated office building.
However during construction of this space, MAF carried out a pre-planning exercise,
which concluded that a more viable option would be to take the opportunity to
consolidate their divisions from various locations to the Auckland Airport site,
a feasibility study was carried out to determine the most cost effective way
to do this. The conclusion came in the form of recycling their existing buildings;
by removing the new office/warehouse wall, stripping out the adjoining warehouse
and old office block to form a total ground floor area of approximately 2200
square metres.
The additional floor area was gained by taking advantage of the
high stud in the warehouse and the construction of a mezzanine floor.
The existing building was also upgraded. All walls and floors were stripped back
to their original structure and completely refurnished. The refit also included
replacing the roller shutter doors with two 6m high by 7m wide glazed external
wall, giving both ground and mezzanine levels a view of the airport.
To separate the retained vehicle inspection bay and public areas from the main
office areas a wide corridor with a 40 metre long curved wall to the office side
was created from the main entrance in the old office building through to the
new extension creating a double volume area to the mezzanine level.
A secure garden area was formed for staff along one side of the new office building
providing relaxing garden view and direct access from the staff breakout area,
the site was also re-landscaped to provide new site traffic flow and accommodate
the required additional parking.
Refer to Architectural Projects for Exterior works
