Generator Waring Taylor Street scoops double wins at Property Council Awards

Leading shared workspace provider Generator’s Waring Taylor Street location has been celebrated at this year’s Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards: taking out both the RCP Commercial Office Property Award and the Naylor Love Heritage and Adaptive Uses Property Award at the prestigious event last week.

Built in 1927, 30 Waring Taylor Street is an iconic Wellington building that was acquired by Precinct Properties in 2019 and redeveloped and refurbished, before launching as Generator into the Wellington market.

The Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards are presented to outstanding property projects, developments, or substantive refurbishments across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Generator Head of Business Development, Amy Brown says that receiving such high acclaim at the Property Industry Awards reflects the careful work that has gone into the space, which sets a new standard for flexible workspace in the capital.

“The fundamental ambition of the design of 30 Waring Taylor was to celebrate and pay homage to the existing building, known to many Wellingtonians as the former Dunbar Sloane building.”

“The redevelopment has maintained its 1920s charm with wooden flooring, character windows and exposed brick, while injecting design features to support modern ways of working synonymous with Generator.”

Meeting rooms and event spaces have been named with the building’s history in mind. This includes member’s lounge “Rumbles Bar”, which pays homage to the idiosyncratic Peter Rumbles who ran Rumbles Wine Merchant there for 28 years.

The judges noted seismically upgraded, 30 Waring Taylor Street provides a new-found resilience for the future, touching the building lightly to reveal its inherent historical character.

Transformed, 30 Waring Taylor also received an excellence in the Resene Green Building Property Award setting a new standard in shared workspace solutions with a targeted 5-Star Greenstar rating and 5-Star NABERSNZ rating.

Since opening in late 2021, Waring Taylor has been operating at above 90% occupancy, highlighting the shift of Wellington businesses toward flex space options.

Generator recently announced a second Wellington location in Bowen Street will open this Spring, part of Precinct Properties’ transformational Bowen Campus development.

“The expansion of Generator in the capital highlights the gap in the Wellington market for high-quality flexi-workspace areas, and we’re delighted to continue to meet that demand as more businesses embrace flexible working conditions for their teams,” Brown adds.

Scott Pritchard, Chief Executive of Precinct Properties, which owns Generator NZ, says that both Generator locations form an important part of Wellington’s collaborative workplace offering, and the recent Award wins reinforce this.

“Developments like Bowen Campus and Waring Taylor provide high quality office space for smaller businesses and support the growing demand for flexi-space from larger companies,” he says.