Shed 6 seismic upgrade & fitout

The construction brief was simple – transform a tired, leaky wharf building into a state-of-the-art venue to hold conferences and the World of Wearable Arts (WOW) show while the Wellington Town Hall was closed for seismic strengthening.

What wasn’t quite so straightforward was that the programme was only 92 days from start to finish, that there would be two earthquakes and a storm fierce enough to tear cladding from the side of the building, and there would be a separate seismic upgrade of the wharf going on at the same time. Additionally, the waterfront location dictated that much care needed to be taken with environmental controls.

The Shed 6 space consists of a main hall with three 16 metre long, 6.5m high operable walls to provide the flexibility to convert the space into smaller meeting rooms if required. The works included full mechanical and electrical upgrades and installation of a new sprinkler system to the building. The adjacent Plimmers Arcade was also transformed from a wet, dark space into a light-filled lobby area for the conference rooms.

Close collaboration between the architect and Naylor Love resulted in the building, also known as the TSB Bank Arena Auditorium, being completed on time to an exceptional standard.