Citygate (PwC Centre): revitalising Hamilton’s CBD

In response to this growth and in a quest to make Hamilton a more liveable city, Hamilton City Council has initiated a number of infrastructure development programmes. The Citygate building was one of these.  

What we did:

We designed and constructed the Citygate building (now the PwC Centre) based on a shared commitment to revitalizing Hamilton’s CBD between McConnell Property, Hawkins, Hamilton City Council and Wintec.

It was designed with the communities of Hamilton in mind, with an open plan plaza (Hamilton City Plaza) planned in order to encourage community involvement in the Wintec Precinct. Four of the six storeys within the building are office spaces that can be easily customised to tenants’ needs, providing a flexible and modern working environment.

Our design and construction was guided by Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) principles in order to provide a high quality commercial building that was also ‘green’. Citygate provides a healthy, productive working environment that limits the use of energy and water and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

McConnell Property’s Goals:

• To ‘pep up’ and regenerate the Hamilton business district.
• To promote more sustainable economic growth by ensuring Hamilton performed to its true potential.
• To create a premium business address in Hamilton.

Unique Challenges:

• The Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) principles led to complex challenges during integration of fitouts in both design and construction.
• We had to design the building in such a way that the newly restored Wintec Heritage Building would not be obscured.
• The integration of the Hamilton City Plaza, which was constructed concurrently with the base build, resulted in specific detailing unique to the project, particularly in the consolidation of the Citygate basement and Plaza structure.
• We had to carefully manage and coordinate construction activities in conjunction with works undertaken by the Council and other parties outside the Citygate construction zone.

The Outcome:

This four Green Star rated building helps revitalise a CBD which hadn’t seen a new office building in seven years. Built on a lot that was vacant for 17 years, the six-storey office building transforms Hamilton’s CBD and connects the education, business, and retail precincts.