Whakatāne’s multi-award winning Library and Exhibition Centre – Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi – has gained further national recognition in the New Zealand Property Council’s 2013 Property Industry Awards.
At a ceremony in Auckland last night, Te Kōputu took out the Hawkins Construction Heritage and Adaptive Reuses Property Award ahead of nine other nominees from around the country and also gained a Merit award in the Coffey Education and Arts category. That follows last month’s national Institute of Architects Awards, where Te Kōputu picked up the Public Architecture Award, and dual success at the Institute’s earlier Waikato/Bay of Plenty region annual awards, where it won both the Sustainable and Public Architecture categories.
The Property Council’s awards celebrate “the best of the best” in commercial property development and are regarded as the country’s most prestigious property industry accolades. The 78 award finalists underwent a rigorous, three-month judging process, with the judging panel visiting each property and reviewing it against stringent criteria, including economic and financial factors; project vision and innovation; design and construction; owner and user satisfaction; and sustainability and efficiency of operation.
The Award judges were most impressed by Te Kōputu’s adaptive re-use of a vacant retail building through clever architecture, planning and innovative use of materials to transform the space into eye-catching facilities. In their view, the building met all of its project goals through a “clear and selective sustainable design approach” focused on providing a solution tailored to encourage community use of Te Kōputu’s library, museum display and gallery spaces.
Whakatāne District Mayor Tony Bonne says this latest honour is a fitting recognition of the efforts of the many people who helped to make Te Kōputu a reality.
“Our vision from the beginning was to develop an exceptional facility that would become the home of arts and culture for the Whakatāne District,” Mr Bonne says. “Our architects, Irving Smith Jack Architects Ltd created a fantastic design which allowed us to turn a vacant and run-down building into a community hub. But, it’s people who give Te Kōputu its soul and all of the Whakatāne District Council staff involved in this wonderful project are continuing to contribute hugely to what can only be described as a sensational success.”