- 18,000m² GFA
- Dedicated area for staff to meet with customers
- Mixture of formal and informal meeting areas
- Located close to the Reception and outside the 'Friends of Sovereign' security area to ensure meetings are easy managed by reception staff
- Located close to the lifts to ensure easy access for Sovereign staff to meet with customers
- Cafe facilities for hot drinks that interfaces with reception / atrium
- Outside the 'friends of Sovereign' secure zone
- Delicate language of the façade reduces the apparent bulk of the building
- Use of quiet materiality and tertiary colours to exude an air of dignity, integrity and discretion
- Council and fire service involvement throughout the design phase, with computer-based 3D modelling and hot smoke testing, to deliver optimal solution
- Central atrium facilitates interaction and movement; cafes and toilets accessed by traversing the atrium
- Cantilevered glass-walled offices allow team leaders to be visibly connected to the workplace communit
- Workplace reflects Sovereign’s values: the desire to challenge and lead and to support its people
Benchmark sustainable building with a workplace that supports a healthy workplace community and a culture of innovation.
Sovereign House is the head office of Sovereign Insurance, New Zealand, which is part of the ASB Group. The six-storey building accommodates up to 1,000 employees in a contemporary, state-of-the-art workplace environment. The project consolidates staff from five different locations throughout Auckland.
The building is designed from the inside out, reflecting Sovereign’s objectives to create a healthy workplace environment that values the wellness of the individual and makes a substantial contribution to sustainability.
Sovereign House is the first commercial building in New Zealand to use multi-service chilled beam technology rather than conventional air conditioning, creating a massive reduction in energy consumption and a healthier environment for building occupants. The building exterior is driven by the sustainable performance of the interior, with sun-screening to provide the sun-control required for optimal performance of chilled beam technology. The use of sun screening has a major impact on the building’s appearance throughout the day; when the sun shines, the building is alive with light and when it moves away, the people inside the building become visible.
From a workplace perspective the design analogy for Sovereign House is a village – a place that supports a community, giving a sense of ‘place’ or ownership to its residents. At its heart is an internal park like atrium – the ‘village square’ – where the community can gather for meetings, lunch and social events.
Designers Institute of New Zealand - Stringer Best in Discipline Spatial Design for Offices and Workplace Environments
New Zealand Institute of Architects - Architecture Commercial & Industrial Award
New Zealand Institute of Architects - Interior Design Award
The Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand - Gold Award of Excellence for Fire Engineering
The Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand - Award of Merit for Structural Engineering
RMB Commercial Project of the Year
RB QBE Insurance Retail and Business Project