Grimshaw to Open Studio in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

Grimshaw has been engaged with projects in Aotearoa New Zealand for over 10 years during which time we have developed city shaping projects such as Auckland City Rail Link. Today we announce the opening of a dedicated Auckland studio, the eighth studio in the practice’s global network, the next step of the evolution of our presence in country.

Grimshaw was established as a business in New Zealand in 2017. Since that time, we have developed design leadership and opportunities in country and have bid for and won national and regional work with a variety of collaborators.

Our projects in New Zealand today include City Rail Link, for which we developed the business case in 2012, and subsequently were awarded the preliminary design, developing our teams on the ground. Our work today on City Rail Link continues with the final construction delivery where we are lead architects with the Link Alliance consortium.

In late 2021, we were successful in our bid for the outer suburban Auckland Drury Stations project. In 2022, our work on the Domestic and International Terminals of Auckland Airport was reactivated following a slow down during Covid. Also in 2022, we secured the business case for the Auckland Light Rail project in collaboration with Aurecon and Arup.

Prior to this, in time for the 2018 APEC conference, we partnered with Ignite and Hilton Hotels to deliver the development at Star Mountain, Papua New Guinea where Grimshaw was responsible for the Kutubu Convention Centre.

Today, we announce the appointment of Neil Stonell as Managing Partner of our Auckland Studio. Neil has previously led our Melbourne studio as Managing Partner, however he has been intrinsically involved in most if not all of our New Zealand work for over 10 years.

In a career with Grimshaw spanning more than 20 years, Neil is one of our most senior leaders and is welcoming the new challenge of evolving our established business in Auckland. He will be supported by a senior management team comprised of Katarzyna Jurkiewicz and Malgorzota (Gosha) Haley, both Grimshaw Principals. Our studio in Auckland will be home to 20 architects and support staff.

Neil Stonell said: “Grimshaw is today taking a significant step in the evolution of our robust New Zealand business by committing to a new studio in Auckland. At our new base, we have an energised and thriving team helping deliver our current work in our transport and aviation sectors, simultaneously developing our work in master planning, workplace, residential, adaptive reuse and education. We will apply and develop our knowledge, informed by our work in sustainable and regenerative projects, for our clients and forthcoming projects here in New Zealand.”

Mark Middleton, Grimshaw’s Global Managing Partner, said: “We are delighted to concurrently announce the opening of our Auckland Studio and the leadership of Neil Stonell as Managing Partner. With this development, we can enhance the collaboration of our design teams and support staff, providing an enhanced service to our clients and fully engaging with Grimshaw’s design expertise, sustainability initiatives and knowledge sharing which flows between our studio network. Grimshaw is anticipating the expansion of our offer to clients across all sectors of architecture, design and planning in Aotearoa New Zealand.”

Grimshaw operates across the globe with autonomy and independence accorded to its local studio network. Our approach is to establish local work, local projects and importantly, local affiliations which over time lead us to the desire to consolidate our in-country or regional activity into a stand-alone studio. Over the past 30 years, this approach has been the hallmark of our decisions to expand into the United States, Australia, the Middle East and now New Zealand. Our development in New Zealand will now be facilitated as the ground-breaking work we have done in establishing our business connections to government agencies, developers, design collaborators and importantly, industry associations will continue to evolve. We look forward to furthering our commitment to the development of our business in New Zealand.

About Grimshaw

Grimshaw is an international architectural practice delivering buildings, infrastructure and places that are underpinned by the principles of humane, enduring, sustainable design. With offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Dubai, Melbourne, Sydney and now Auckland, Grimshaw employs over 600 staff. The practice’s international portfolio covers all major sectors and has been honoured with over 200 international design awards.

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