The Mt Albert Research
Centre – the seven-storey
Hamilton Building – was
reopened by Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern and the significant
redevelopment ensures the entity can
continue to deliver high quality science
for New Zealand’s plant and marinebased
food industries. Home to more
than 350 staff, the building was first
opened in 1973 and named after DSIR
director general William Hamilton,
and has had very little redevelopment
since. The $49 million project
included four floors of purposebuilt
laboratories and two floors of
collaborative office and meeting
space; plus work at the Cunningham
Building to provide meeting spaces;
and the Padfield Building which
has office and consumer research
facilities. Ardern says the new Plant
& Food Research Pou whenua (land
post) signifies the relationship between
the entity, the crops grown and the
land that supports crop production.
Te Pou Whakairo Ahumāra Kai has
been carved by master carvers Dennis
Conway and Lenard Phillips. “This
redevelopment has been a huge
project, but the result – the new highquality,
purpose-built facilities of the
FACELIFT FOR
RESEARCH
CENTRE
Brand new Auckland laboratories have
been opened by Plant & Food Research
after a four-year redevelopment project.
Then
64 ANNUAL DIRECTORY 2019