Partners Life: A Moving Experience

Written By Kelly O

In March 2023, Partners Life successfully moved from its old home into an exciting light and airy new HQ at 1 The Strand, Takapuna. With the big move complete, we sat down with Trish Meakin, Partners Life Chief People Officer, and Executive Sponsor of the project, to unpack the story of making the move.

Partners Life grew from mini start-up to a leading New Zealand life insurer, from the same office it set up back in 2011. Not surprisingly, about three years ago the Executive Team and Board were looking for bigger premises for an expanded operation. As Trish says: “Quite simply, we were running out of room, so we needed to refurbish or move somewhere larger.”
Serendipitously, a building came up as an opportunity for Partners Life to create its own space just around the corner in Takapuna. However, it wasn’t purely a case of lift and shift. It needed a vision.

Trish draws an interesting analogy: “It’s like when you go to a hotel. It’s got to be at least as good or better than your home otherwise you feel cheated. With more and more people working from home, the vision was for such a great space that you’d rather be at the office than working from home. “

After three years of meticulous planning, Partners Life’s new HQ is on one level, open plan, with a flexible fit-out that will evolve along with the world of work. Right now, it accommodates around 200 staff, but the site has space for 400 if the business grows. We should mention it also enjoys expansive views of sea, sand, trees, Rangitoto island and the Sky Tower.

From day one, it was all systems go with everything working perfectly for staff who were enthusiastic to experience the new space: IT was up and running, new furniture was comfortably in place, and the coffee machines were brewing!

 
 
 
 
 
 
Kelly O
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