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Excellence in Business award for Erskine Chapel

ON 16th October, The Wellington Company joined esteemed individual honourees of the 2024 Wellington Address (Adrian Orr, Doug Hauraki, and Brian McGuiness), receiving the 2degrees Excellence in Business Award for our work on the restoration of Erskine Chapel.The event recognises the mahi and relentless energy of those who have made outstanding contributions to our city. These are people who inspire others and embody the spirit of service, helping Wellington business and its community thrive. The...

Ian's thoughts on the new District Plan for Wellington

Changes to Wellington’s District Plan were widely reported in the media last week, including Ian's thoughts on it (including this piece from Radio NZ). Ian is a longtime supporter of inner-city density and will talk the ear off anyone about why it makes sense for Wellington.You can read a detailed explanation about his views on inner city residential density using existing commercial building stock here , but outside that model - he also highly recommends reading an excellent piece by Ist...

Excellent progress at Factory Road

Factory Road is one of our current commercial projects:  39 freehold lots that are being developed in the industral zone of Belfast, in Christchurch. This is a huge growth area and industrial land is in short supply. This particular site is high Profile site, with easy access to SH1/74 offering significant exposure along the Northern Corridor. Priced from $365K: with options to own & occupy, invest or tenant. Our Civil Engineers (Davis Ogilvie) took a drone up last week to capture site ...

A worthy celebration.

On October 26th 2023, a milestone in The Wellington Company's history was reached with the reopening of Erskine Chapel. Step inside the opening event with summarised coverage of the speeches, the entertainment, and the wonderful suppliers and attendees. Read more here . ...

Erskine Chapel survived it all.

Vandals, mould, red stickers and a legal stoush - Erskine Chapel survived it all. Nicholas Boyack of The Post writes about the building that Heritage New Zealand describes as a 'Masterpiece of French Gothic Architecture'. The heritage restoration was guided by Adam Wild of Archifact, who said it was a significant job involving many talented craftspeople.  Developer Ian Cassels said all the hard work was worth it, however, and he considered it a “milestone“ in the history of Th...

New Direction For Shelly Bay.

Wellington - 1 September 2023It is with deeply mixed emotions that Shelly Bay Taikuru Limited and The Wellington Company announce that they will not be going ahead with the planned development at Shelly Bay.New owners of the private landholdings, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh say, “It’s a wonderful coastline that holds a great deal of cultural and historical significance. Suffice to say we are looking forward to restoring the natural beauty of the bay.”The decision to step away from the dev...

Let's get Wellington thinking.

Let’s get Wellington moving? Let’s get Wellington thinking. When you are guilty of doing a large amount of nothing for ages and global warming is knocking at your door - you’re likely to do what Wellington is on the verge of doing: build a railway, wage a war on cars and absolutely put a spade in the ground somewhere. But is that really the right thing to do at a time when our community faces an uncertain future, with a recession and cost of living issues front and centre? Many C...

Murray Edridge on creating the Whakamaru social services centre

Capital Magazine is a Wellington gem, and this is a fantastic write up on the legend that is Murray Edridge. Ian and Murray meet regularly, and we are a huge fan of the mission's work. Read about what the Whakamaru social services centre is achieving. We are so proud to support this critical work. ...

Re-imagining Massey House into the new modern 126LQ

One of New Zealand's first curtained walled buildings is undergoing a major transformation to breathe new life into it once again. The Wellington Company in collaboration with award winning architects Architecture + are re-imagining Massey House into the new modern 126LQ. The restoration and redevelopment will deliver over 7000 square meters of A Grade premium commercial office and retail space set over 9 levels, incorporating an outdoor roof-top garden terrace providing flexible staff and enter...

Shelly Bay blaze a shameful waste.

[A statement by Ian Cassels after the Shed 8 fire] May I please remind those that have been making outrageous claims on social media (and in various media releases by opponents of the development), that our intention from the very beginning was to adaptively reuse the Wharfside Shed 8 and Shipwrights Buildings within the commercial hub of Shelly Bay Taikuru. As such there has been significant investment in architectural plans, landscape plans, urban design plans, and engineering to enable t...

The Business Panel with Nick Mills

Ian was privileged to help shine a light on the critical work of The Wellington City Mission when Ian joined City Missioner Murray Edridge on Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills for the weekly business panel. A thoroughly honest and wide-ranging talk, which no doubt was surprising for many. Our hope is that conversations like this will further support the Mission's frontline response for our most vulnerable. Thank you to Nick and the team for having us, much appreciated. Listen to their panel h...

My Wellington, told by Ian Cassels

As told to Deborah Morris (The Post/Stuff). Image by Monique Ford/Stuff. Wellington property developer Ian Cassels​, from The Wellington Company, who has bought buildings all over the capital, was born in Belfast but came to New Zealand with his family as a child. He loves Wellington and wants it to hum again.What part of Wellington do you live in, and why?I live in Mt Victoria and used to live in Left Bank in Cuba Street, but I think of myself as living in Wellington city. I love Welling...

Affordable Wellington flats offered via council initiative

Many of Wellington's low-income renters and essential workers will soon live in affordable inner-city apartments, thanks to a council initiative which aims to ease housing pressures in the capital.Wellington City Council has signed a 15-year lease with the Wellington Company to provide the Te Kāinga Aroha apartments located at 195 Willis StMayor Andy Foster said the programme was part of the council's answer to easing the renting struggles in the capital by providing affordable long-term rental...

New apartments could be a game changer for Lower Hutt's struggling CBD

Wellington-based developer Ian Cassels went to market in Lower Hutt on Friday, with a development featuring residential and retail units. By the end of the day, all but one of the 29 units in the High St Quarter had sold.  Read the full story here. ...

Wellington property developer provides emergency student accommodation

Prominent Wellington property developer Ian Cassels is providing emergency accommodation for students struggling in the city’s rental market squeeze.Cassels has decided to take urgent action after reading a comment piece in the Herald about the difficulties of securing a flat in the capital this January and hearing other anecdotal stories of hardship.The Wellington Company director has recently purchased a university hostel and this summer piloted a pop-up apartment idea to supp...