Johnny and Erik first collaborated in 2017 on the Gracefield Innovation Quarter Programme Business Case for Callaghan Innovation. Gracefield was a 70+-year-old science campus in Petone in Wellington, which was in desperate need of remedial work. Central government had set aside $70M for repairs at the founding of Callaghan Innovation in 2012, but five years (and two business case attempts) later, Callaghan’s board had still not approved the submission of a request for the money.

We determined that two things needed to be done differently. Firstly, the business case needed to include building a community as well as a being a property play. This involved taking all the stakeholders on the journey from the very beginning and using Sir Paul Callaghan’s vision for New Zealand as the basis for a shared vision for the site (where he had actually worked for a number of years).

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