Creating a new and vibrant heart for Christchurch's CBD

Rising from the rubble of post-quake Christchurch are exciting new buildings welcoming back office workers, shoppers and visitors. Beca’s new home is helping to rejuvenate the city centre and set a trend for resilience and safety.

The striking glass façade of the ANZ Centre provides a window into a spacious atrium, bustling retail outlets and cafés. Part of the new Retail Precinct for central Christchurch, it is home to anchor tenants ANZ and Beca, organisations that both committed to moving back to the city centre as soon as they could.

Behind the glossy exterior is a building designed to last; not only to ensure the safety of its occupants, but also to escape the red sticker orders of demolition and the loss of business continuity in the event of an earthquake.

As the engineers for the building, we incorporated the latest in building technologies to ensure business could and would carry on after a major tremor. In an underground car park, base isolators normally seen in hospitals and other critical buildings are key to providing that surety.

Strong foundations and innovative structural design enabled us to retain the large atrium without compromising the structure’s integrity.

Modern and innovative building services integrate seamlessly to provide an energy-efficient and comfortable environment, with fire engineering design based on best practice principles.

The ANZ Centre truly showcases the best in spectacular architecture and forward-thinking. It is designed for the future and sets a convincing precedent for low damage design.