Housing our Nations Taonga

Te Rua, the most recent building within the DIA property portfolio and future home to some of the most precious taonga in Aotearoa was gifted its name by Taranaki Whānui and formally blessed and opened during the week commencing 7 July. The building is in Wellington in the heart of New Zealand’s parliamentary precinct.

The archives, which include treasures like the Treaty of Waitangi, are currently housed in the National Library on Aitken St, which Citycare Property has managed since 2020, and the NZ Archives building on Mulgrave Street. Over the coming 18 months these taonga will gradually be transferred to their new state -of- the -art home which has been custom designed to the highest levels of technical performance and resilience.

Citycare Property was invited to enter a competitive tender for the facilities management contract of the new building over 12 months ago. Our experience and commitment to the management of the current archives buildings positioned us well, with our dedicated in-house team delivering exceptional service and having a clear understanding of the exacting requirements of the role. It is their professionalism that placed us in an excellent position for success.

Upon being awarded the contract in early 2025 our initial role was management of the transition and mobilisation phase which commenced in early February once Practical Completion of the build was achieved. During this phase we were supporting builders and consultants who were on site completing remediation works of identified defects, the commissioning of technical systems and the install of soft furnishings.

The building stands as one of the most technically advanced and architecturally remarkable facilities in the country, purpose-built to support the Department of Internal Affairs’ (DIA) enduring mandate: to preserve Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultural heritage and national artefacts in perpetuity.

To achieve this, the internal environment is meticulously controlled, featuring state-of-the-art thermal insulation and atmospheric regulation systems. Redundancies are in place for both power and water, ensuring continuity of climate control even in the event of service disruptions. The structure is engineered to maintain its core temperature for an extended period during a power outage, safeguarding sensitive collections.

In addition, the building is designed to withstand significant seismic activity. It incorporates base isolators that not only enable operational continuity following a 1-in-500-year earthquake but also minimise structural damage in the event of a 1-in-1000-year event.

To further protect taonga (treasures), the first five floors—where artefacts are housed—feature no windows, allowing for precise control and monitoring of light exposure to prevent deterioration.

Under the new contract, Citycare Property will be responsible for the ongoing management of the building management system. This includes overseeing key environmental and operational elements such as temperature, humidity, lighting, water systems, and power supply.

As part of this transition, we’ve collaborated with the building owner, Dexus, to implement Twinview—a digital platform designed to optimise building performance and streamline management processes.

Twinview brings together all the important information about the building in one place, including plans, manuals, and maintenance records. During the design and build stages, it helps collect and organise data so that everything is ready and easy to access once the building is finished. This means less paperwork and fewer headaches later on. Once the building is in use, Twinview connects to systems like heating, lighting, and energy meters so building managers can monitor performance in real time. If something goes wrong—like a room gets too hot or a sensor shows a fault—the system can automatically alert staff. It also helps plan and track maintenance jobs, which reduces breakdowns and improves safety. The system can raise a job ticket which will then go straight through to the contractor, and it stores proactive and reactive maintenance records against an asset which allows granular understanding and performance measurement of an asset over a longer period of time. This is the first time that Twinview has been used in a building in Aotearoa and Citycare Property is pleased to be at the forefront of this innovative technology-led revolutionary change in delivery methodologies. We were fortunate to be able to draw on the expertise of Brad Adlam, as Mobilisation Manager, who helped develop the asset data structure against the planned maintenance activities. Brad has extensive experience in management of museums and cultural buildings in Australia.

Jessica Polglase, Citycare Property’s Delivery Manager, will be managing contract delivery and is on location within the building working with the Twinview system to deliver excellence in facilities management. Under the terms of our contract, we are bound to a five minute response time for critical work which means delivery of a comprehensive 24/7 approach.

The building was designed by Warren and Mahoney in a co-design process involving mana whenua. The concept of the Pātaka Whakairo, the traditional Māori storehouse, was used as the starting point. This was then deconstructed into three key components:

Tuanui - A highly ornate, sculpted vessel, levitating above the whenua (land). This vessel houses and protects the memories and conscience of our nation.

Ātea - An intermediary space where one navigates and is immersed within the collection. A space for freedom of thought, ability to learn, interpret, and share.

Tūāpapa - A platform, carved into the landscape. Connected to the ground with layered textures that echo the whenua’s (land’s) past - ‘The evidence of New Zealand’. Importantly, when we consider this through a co-design process with mana whenua and the decolonisation of our national archive, we can rethink this as a place to engage with our ‘nation’s conscience’.

Construction was delivered by LT McGuinness and RCP provided engineering services.

While DIA are the tenants the building is owned by Dexus, our contract partners.

Te Rua was blessed and gifted its official name on 8 July at a damn ceremony when the first of many artefacts and taonga were ceremoniously transferred to each floor of the building. On 10 July an official opening ceremony is being held for dignitaries.