In mid-2020, a brand-new hotel designed by Cheshire Architects named The Hotel Britomart will open in the centre of our downtown waterfront neighbourhood.
Cooper and Company is building The Hotel Britomart, a new 10-level development designed by Cheshire Architects in the Britomart precinct.
The hotel will be built at the corner of Gore and Galway Streets, with the development extending to include the refurbishment and restoration of the adjoining Masonic and Buckland heritage buildings.
International hoteliers TFE Hotels have been appointed as operator and manager of the hotel under the TFE Collections brand, a portfolio of unique and beautiful discovery hotels in Australia and New Zealand with a sense of story, place and purpose.
“The Hotel Britomart is an exciting new challenge for Cooper and Company and the start of a new phase of evolution for Britomart,” says Matthew Cockram, CEO of Cooper and Company. “It allows us to take the appeal and vibrancy of Britomart as the heart of the CBD neighbourhood to a more intense and concentrated level by having people to stay. Guests will delight in the exquisitely designed rooms and spaces, with its discreet central location giving them easy access to the amenities and wide range of food, beverage and retail offerings of the Britomart precinct.”
The 10-floor hotel’s distinctive brick exterior will be punctuated by an irregular constellation of windows. “Britomart has always been a place that confidently collides and enmeshes past and future,” says Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects, who designed the building with Cheshire Architects’ Dajiang Tai. “The Hotel Britomart is a contemporary building, but the handmade qualities of its brick exterior are in intimate conversation with its heritage neighbours. The project also allows us to reach into the heart of the city block and open up intimate new laneways and a tiny cobbled square, which will enrich the streetscape and the future of Britomart. For us, this is as exciting as the hotel itself.”
The new hotel will have 99 rooms with interiors designed by Cheshire Architects. The five Landing Suites – three of which will feature generous outdoor sky gardens – are a collaboration between Cheshire Architects and Seattle’s Lucas Design Associates, and will offer some of the city’s most refined accommodation. The suites reference The Landing, the vineyard with luxury residences in the Bay of Islands also managed by Cooper and Company.
“Our experience in providing luxury accommodation and hospitality at The Landing in the Bay of Islands made us want to create a city hotel that expresses all the values of the Britomart precinct,” says Peter Cooper, executive chairman of Cooper and Company. “Britomart is a crossroads at the heart of downtown waterfront Auckland, and the hotel is another important step in enabling us to welcome people from everywhere and make them feel at home here.”
In addition to the lobby, The Hotel Britomart’s ground floor will be occupied by retail outlets and food and beverage offerings. The new hotel will be separated from the adjacent heritage buildings by a laneway that will lead to the hotel’s main entrance and also form a new connection with Customs Street through the Masonic Building. Galway Street is being transformed into a shared space through the hotel construction process, making the Britomart precinct an even more welcoming environment for pedestrians.
The Hotel Britomart will open in mid-2020. The building has achieved a 5 Green Star design rating from the New Zealand Green Building Council, and is targeting a 5 Green Star rating on completion, which will make it New Zealand's first 5 Green Star hotel.
