The Auckland fit-out began in July 2023 in the newly refurbished Deloitte Centre at One Queen Street, 4,149 square metres over three and a half floors, with inter-floor stairs, timber ceilings and a chandelier, a partners' lounge, a commercial kitchen and room for 260 staff. It carried its own challenges, discrepancies between the base-build drawings and site conditions, and base-build services clashing with the fit-out. With goods-lift access limited, the team used the base-build crane to bring materials in early, took the joinery and acoustic lessons from Wellington into the detailing, and held the programme through Covid and the Auckland floods. It completed in mid-2024, and Bell Gully's 260 Auckland staff moved in.
About
Two new waterfront offices for New Zealand's oldest law firm.
Bell Gully
Bell Gully wanted to leave its traditional cellular offices for modern, open-plan workplaces that better reflected the firm. With leases expiring in both Auckland and Wellington, it needed two new premises fitted out at once, one on Wellington's waterfront and one in Auckland's Deloitte Centre at One Queen Street, without disrupting the day-to-day legal practice. RCP managed the design, contractor procurement, construction and contract administration of both.
Auckland
Wellington
The Wellington fit-out was set to follow Auckland but was brought forward and delivered first. Starting in late 2021 on the waterfront, it fitted out 1,544 square metres across two floors for more than 65 staff with minimal disruption to the practice, and finished in mid-2022. It set the open-plan standard, and the joinery and acoustic detailing the Auckland job would build on.
Both fit-outs are complete, and Bell Gully now works from modern open-plan offices on either side of Cook Strait.
