Ellen Melville Centre & Freyberg Place Upgrade

Named after Lord Bernard Freyberg, who served in both World Wars I and II, and New Zealand’s Governor General from 1946 to 1952, Freyberg Place is a key civic square in central Auckland.

We transformed Freyberg Place from a tired space into a vibrant community hub. We completely reconstructed Courthouse Lane and Chancery Street to convert the existing area into a shared space for pedestrians and vehicles. Freyberg Place was revitalised with cascading concrete terrace steps, a central water feature and etched artwork, as well as new basalt paving, street furniture and soft landscaping/raingardens. Our work also included upgrades to all utilities including potable water, stormwater, wastewater, electricity and fibre.

The elaborate paving and terraced stairs required precision and accuracy to achieve a quality finish and ensure all features integrated seamlessly.

The 1962-era Ellen Melville Building also received a much-needed facelift. We completely restored the three-storey building’s interior and refurbished all amenities including bathrooms, kitchens, stairwells and lifts. Our work also included restoration of the historic staircase and installation of new Terrazo paving and tiling, as well as an upgrade to all building services. Reflecting the building’s importance to Auckland, the refurbishment was designed to a very high specification, including elaborate curved timber walls with blonded battened finish.

We painstakingly restored the building’s historic façade, including remediation of the pebbledash to retain the heritage finish.    

Although Freyberg Place was closed for the duration of the contract, we were required to maintain pedestrian access through Courthouse and Chancery intersection upgrade at all times. This meant carefully staging works to ensure the community had continued access to shops and O’Connell Street / Chancery Square, while maintaining productivity.

A high-profile project in the centre of Auckland CBD, extensive liaison with a range of stakeholders was required, including bars and restaurants, offices, residents and the public. We carefully scheduled works to accommodate each stakeholder groups’ different schedules, restricted noisy works to short intervals and kept each group continually informed of project progress.