Commercial Bay Auckland’s tallest and finest

Auckland has a lot going for itself: cosmopolitan, architecturally rich, abuzz with culture, and framed by a magnificent harbour. Now Commercial Bay, a recent addition to the city’s skyline, is making it even more attractive, and Schindler is at the heart of it.

Located in Auckland’s central business district, Commercial Bay is the city’s newest kid on the block: a premium retail, hospitality, and commercial precinct that overlooks the city’s iconic Waitemata Harbour.

The project consists of two distinct, glass-façade buildings: the 39,000m² PwC Tower and the Commercial Bay retail centre, an 18,000m² retail and hospitality precinct home to 120 stores including world renown restaurants and bars. Schindler supplied 26 elevators and 20 escalators, connecting horizontal and vertical transportation, while optimising passengers’ journeys via its transit management system Schindler PORT. In addition, our predictive maintenance technology Schindler Ahead runs in the background to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible.

Views, speed, comfort

The PwC Tower holds the distinction of being the tallest office building in the country, topping out at 180 metres. Six fully glazed Schindler 7000 elevators, hugging the building’s external façade, provide passengers with astonishing views of the city.

These elevators do not only make for great observation platforms. They whisk visitors and office workers up and down the tower in record time – they are, as it turns out, the fastest elevators in the whole of New Zealand.

"The high-rise elevators in the PwC Tower reach speeds of 8m per second with exceptional ride quality," says Paul Singleton, National Operations Manager for Commercial Bay’s developer Precinct Properties. "This is an impressive feature when you work on the 38th floor."

Future-proof with Schindler PORT and Schindler Ahead

The PwC Tower is also equipped with transit management system Schindler PORT, helping to optimise the flow of people through the building.

Schindler PORT offers flexibility – handy in a rapidly changing world. The maximum elevator capacity can be lowered to limit the number of passengers per elevator.

Schindler Ahead, our intelligent remote-monitoring and predictive-maintenance system, for its part, guarantees high uptimes, responsiveness through real-time support, and a great visitor experience overall.

Philip Hemming, Head of New Installations for Schindler NZ has said "the PwC Tower has been a real success. We are proud to have been a part of such an iconic project. We are really excited to be a part of the second phase of the Commercial Bay precinct, One Queen Street." One Queen Street will include a luxury hotel, office space and further food and beverage offerings for the area.

The One Queen Street development was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023.