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Over recent years, discussions about workplace trends have largely focused inward. Hybrid policies, collaboration models, culture, agility, and attendance targets have dominated the conversation. All are important, but increasingly narrow in scope.

In Tauranga, a broader and more influential narrative is emerging. As the CBD continues its period of sustained and welcome revitalisation, the workplace is playing a critical role in something much larger. It is helping to re-establish presence, not just within office buildings, but across the city centre itself. In doing so, the workplace is becoming a trend in its own right.

This is not about returning to pre pandemic patterns. It is about rebuilding the everyday rhythms that support city life. The daily flow of people through streets, cafés, hospitality venues, and retail spaces that give a CBD its energy and resilience.

Presence Is a City Issue, Not Just a Business One

Despite headlines suggesting otherwise, office work has not disappeared in New Zealand. Attendance has stabilised, with people spending on average around three days a week in the office, and utilisation levels sitting higher than in comparable overseas markets. The question for Tauranga’s city centre is no longer whether people will return, but where they choose to spend their time and why.

Presence matters because its impact is compounding. A person working in the CBD does not just occupy a desk. They buy coffee, have lunch, visit shops, use public transport, and contribute to a sense that the city is active and safe. Without that baseline weekday presence, even the best designed public spaces and events struggle to generate momentum.

Tauranga’s CBD: Confidence Backed by Investment

Tauranga’s CBD revitalisation is underpinned by genuine commitment. More than $1.5 billion of public and private investment is planned or underway through the Tauranga CBD Blueprint, spanning civic projects, commercial buildings, mixed use developments, and housing. Significant investment in commercial construction in recent years reinforces growing confidence in the city centre as a place to work and do business.

Projects such as 90 Devonport Road, 2 Devonport Road, and the Northern Quarter are reshaping the city by introducing higher quality workplaces, greater density, and a more diverse mix of people into the CBD each day. These developments are not simply changing the skyline. They are changing how the city functions during the working week.

Workplaces as Anchors for CBD Life

At Wingates, we believe the most effective CBD workplaces are not inward looking. They do not attempt to replicate every function within the tenancy or insulate staff from the city outside. Instead, they act as anchors. Places that encourage people to move through the CBD as part of their working day.

This has direct implications for hospitality and retail. Weekday trade relies heavily on office workers, not occasional visitors or one off activations. Consistent weekday foot traffic is critical to rebuilding confidence for city centre businesses.

The return of larger organisations to the Tauranga CBD, including the consolidation of Tauranga City Council staff at 90 Devonport Road, is already restoring a sense of everyday reliability and activity.

A Built Example: Holland Beckett

Holland Beckett’s new workplace in Tauranga provides a clear example of how contemporary offices can contribute to CBD presence beyond their walls.

Designed by Wingates and located in the Northern Quarter, the workplace responds to the needs of a modern legal practice while reinforcing strong connections to place and community. It supports focused work alongside meaningful engagement with the city.

A double height void links staff and client floors, creating openness and visual connection. Within this space sits a commissioned artwork by Ngāi Te Rangi artist Julie Paama Pengelly, alongside the firm’s existing collection, embedding cultural connection into everyday workplace life.

The staff café overlooking the harbour functions as more than a breakout space. It supports internal gatherings while also enabling small scale community engagement.

These decisions matter. Workplaces like this do not simply attract people back to the office. They encourage people to remain present in the CBD and extend their day into the surrounding city.

Beyond the Workday: Extending CBD Life

A successful CBD is not defined by office hours alone. What happens after 5pm is equally important for vibrancy, safety, and long term resilience.

An active evening economy brings a different kind of energy. Less about productivity and more about culture, connection, and shared experience. In many parts of the world, evening retail and hospitality are embedded in daily life. In New Zealand, before and after hours activation has often relied almost entirely on hospitality.

Increasingly, this space calls for a hybrid approach, where workplace and hospitality overlap.

Florence Bistro in 90 Devonport Road offers a simple but powerful example. Designed by Wingates and located on the ground floor of the City Council building, it operates beyond the daytime café model. It provides a place to meet, professionally and personally, linger, and connect into the evening. A small intervention with meaningful impact.

Spaces like this help bridge morning, day, and night, creating a more continuous rhythm of activity and encouraging people to engage more deeply with the city.

Making Presence the Easy Choice

The long term success of Tauranga’s CBD will not come from chasing workplace trends. It will come from recognising the workplace, and its ongoing evolution, as essential civic infrastructure.

Offices and their anchor spaces shape the daily rhythm of a city, how people arrive, move, interact, and stay. Seen this way, the workplace is no longer a response to trends. It is the trend. One that must be permanent, meaningful, and well integrated if cities and their communities are to prosper.