Featured NBR Rich List: Smale family

Auckland’s Smale family is slowly but surely realising its vision of creating a world-class innovative, sustainable and interactive urban community on a 10-hectare patch of the North Shore farmland acquired more than 70 years ago.

With a rateable value of $267 million, Smales Farm is home to some of the most technologically advanced buildings in New Zealand and boasts high-profile tenants like Air New Zealand, Sovereign Insurance and Vodafone.

The land was first acquired in 1944 by Bill Smale whose father James had emigrated from Cornwall in 1879. Bill’s sons, Jim and Geoff, ran the stock and dairy farm – and adjacent quarry – until their retirement.

However, the original vision to transform the site was shaped in the 1990s by next generation cousins Greg, Bill and Chris Smale who share the ownership.

One of the early developments was a six-storey building for Clear Communications, which later became TelstraClear. Subsequently acquired by Vodafone, the property is now undergoing a $44m revamp into a workplace of the future that will house all 1800 Auckland staff under one roof.

In 2016, Vodafone joined the Smale family in announcing a $200m innovation and lifestyle precinct covering 65,000sq m that includes the recently opened B:HIVE complex. Costing $75m, the five-floor development has 11,000sq m of collaborative office space – some of which has been leased for $1107 a square metre, which could potentially generate annual leasehold income of about $12m.

“We believe the B:HIVE will be the most innovative and future-focused building in New Zealand and a game-changer in terms of the facilities and flexible working options it offers businesses according to director Greg Smale. “It will bring together a community of smart businesses under one roof and at one geographical location, creating an eco-system that fosters innovation and growth.”

The next stage of the project is the creation of a new hospitality zone called ‘The Arbour,’ which features a leafy laneway of boutique eateries and casual meeting spaces that was inspired by The Grounds of Alexandria in Sydney and is designed to become a new destination for foodies.

Looking ahead, the aim over the next 20 years is to invest upward of $1 billion developing a further 160,000sq m, which Greg Smale says will incorporate the latest global thinking around workplace & urban design that sets Smales Farm apart. 

“The emphasis will be on the principles of walkability and placemaking – where spaces are designed to put people, not cars or buildings, first.”

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