The former Auckland Chief Post Office is one of New Zealand’s most recognisable historic buildings. Salmond Reed Architects have provided specialist conservation advice since this iconic landmark, dating from 1912, was first converted into the Britomart railway station in 2004. The exterior has been restored as the cornerstone historic building of New Zealand’s largest transport infrastructure project, the City Rail Link.
During the scheduled site works to the Clock Tower, Salmond Reed also designed a photographic scrim for the major scaffold, which screened the restoration works, in order to provide an aesthetically pleasing backdrop and continuity of photographic opportunities during graduation ceremonies, a custom that is quite common in the cities of Europe.
Salmond Reed has developed intuitive digital reports for each building for the University to plan and programme the maintenance of the Heritage Precinct for the years to come: a series of interactive photographic elevations, maps and databases that analytically collected archival research, photographic surveys and observation of the condition of the fabric, assigning priorities of repair on a trade-by-trade basis, which can be kept as a live digital tool into the future.
