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DEVELOPMENT » Chambers and Station Apartments
Volume 16 | Issue 2
Business North
The historical Mount Eden Municipal Council Chambers and the Mount Eden Fire Station have been adaptively restored and converted into six luxury apartments
Heritage project ‘a labour of love’ Kelly Deeks The sensitive refurbishment of the historical Mount Eden Municipal Council Chambers and the Mount Eden Fire Station has seen the Heritage New Zealand Category B listed buildings adaptively restored and converted into six luxury apartments, complying with modern seismic, thermal, and acoustic requirements, and giving them a new life for the next 100 years. Development director Nigel McKenna says the fact Auckland has very limited heritage buildings of this quality and with the history of the Mount Eden Municipal Council Chambers and the Mount Eden Fire Station meant it was important to stay true to the original character of the two buildings. “Something that’s not obvious to all is that the two buildings are actually quite different, they’re not so much twins as brother and sister,” he says. “The Mount Eden Municipal Council Chambers were built in 1912, and the Mount Eden Fire Station was built in 1924. “They were built 12 years apart, but they are centuries apart in technology.”
He says the council chambers building was designed and built based on technology that had existed for the previous 200 years – double brick and plaster, timber windows and timber floors. By the time the Mount Eden Fire Station was built in 1924, World War I had been and gone. “Wars generally have always been creators of technology, and as such the fire station is one of the earliest buildings to be made out of reinforced in situ concrete with steel windows,” Nigel says. And so the approach the developers took to the two buildings was quite different, but in both cases they tried to remain true and honest to what each building was, and how it was built. “We didn’t try to make any fancy, decorative plaster in the fire station, neither did we go for any industrial chic in the chambers,” Nigel says. “For example, in the three fire station apartments, the taps and shower fittings are done with black chrome, which is the latest in on-trend industrial fittings, and Carrara marble bench tops and dark oak cabinetry in the kitchens. “In the chambers we’ve used chrome, brass, and bronze fittings, and there is a particular light fitting in the bedroom which for the fire station is
“We didn’t try to make any fancy, decorative plaster in the fire station, neither did we go for any industrial chic in the Chambers...”
black, and for the chambers it’s white. We’ve used the buildings to help us make the selections of what was appropriate for each.” The project has been three years in the making, with about a year’s worth of designing, consenting, and planning, and a further two years carrying out the work on site. Nigel says at a cost of $15 million, it was a relatively small heritage project, and not the type that could have hundreds of men thrown at it. It included significant seismic upgrade and heritage components, and was a real team effort from everyone involved. “The project’s architect, A Studio, worked with me on a fairly detailed basis – I’m very hands on – and it was almost as much a labour of love for them as it was for me.
“Our build partner was Watts & Hughes, and we had a really positive and friendly relationship, and there were lots of problems and issues which we dealt with in a really convivial manner. “I’m very happy with the relationship and the outcome. “Everyone got very committed to this project, and everyone knew we were doing something a bit special and different. “We all joined hands and worked as a team.” All bar the fire station penthouse apartment are now sold. Chambers and Station has set records for Mt Eden sale prices, and Nigel is expecting to set another one with the sale of the fire station penthouse.
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