2025 Commercial Project Awards

The Supreme Award winners at the 2025 Commercial Project Awards have been announced – with LT McGuiness Wellington and Breen Construction taking home the top prizes 

LT McGuiness Wellington received the Supreme Over $10m Award for the Ngā Mokopuna project (formerly The Living Pā), while Breen Construction was awarded the Supreme Under $10m Award for the Scapegrace Distillery. 

Owned by Master Builders, the New Zealand Commercial Project Awards celebrate the best in innovation, craftsmanship and collaboration across the commercial construction sector. It is the only competition in New Zealand to recognise the contribution of the whole project team, rather than just the building itself. 

A project beyond the norm 

Situated at Victoria University of Wellington, Ngā Mokopuna is designed to meet the world’s most rigorous environmental certification – the Living Building Challenge, which provides a framework for designing, constructing, and improving the symbiotic relationships between people and all aspects of the built and natural environments. 

Living buildings: 

• Connect occupants to light, air, food, nature and community. 

• Are self-sufficient and remain within the resource limits of their site. 

• Create a positive impact on the human and natural systems that interact with them. 

Architects Ewan Brown and Julie Cook from Tennent Brown spent six years working on the project design, before handing it over to LT McGuiness for the build stage. They said the strict requirements of the Living Building Challenge forced everyone involved to go “beyond the norm”. 

“There are only 35 buildings in the world that meet the Living Building Challenge requirements,” said Ewan. “To get recognised, you have to do extraordinary things – such as painstaking materials research to make sure you don’t use anything that contains one of the 912 red-listed or banned, chemicals. That can involve phoning material manufacturers to get an exhaustive breakdown of their products.” 

The building itself is a 3,000m² mass timber building that was assembled on-site. 

“Contractors had to learn how to put it all together. The timber was fabricated off-site and is accurate to the millimetre. It clicked together like a big Lego set. That was a big change for them,” added Julie. 

The building also has a five-tank wastewater treatment plant to process the water it collects on site, generates its own power via solar panels on the roof and has vacuum toilets, which Ewan and Julie say is a first for a commercial building in New Zealand. 

A full team effort 

“Seeing the project through from start to finish was extremely difficult,” said Ewen, “but the whole team stepped up and will go to the next project with lessons learned about how to improve a building’s sustainability. I believe that will be good for the industry as a whole.” 

“As one of New Zealand’s most complex buildings, this project confronted the pressing challenges facing commercial buildings as the sector transitions toward a more sustainable future. Its success is a testament to the shared vision, determination and commitment of everyone involved,” said the judges. 

A high impact job 

The Scapegrace Distillery stood out for its blend of architectural impact with precision-engineering processing facilities. The distillery was built using laminated timber and is powered by electric boilers, which Breen Construction managed to install despite harsh weather conditions and budgetary constraints. 

“This project deserves recognition not only for its architectural features and sustainability but also for the collaborative and quality work of the construction team. It is rightly worthy of the Supreme Award under $10m,” the judges said. 

Master Builders CEO, Ankit Sharma, said this year’s winners exemplify the incredible quality, collaboration, sustainable building practices, and craftsmanship involved in bringing a commercial project to life. 

“This year’s entries show just how far our sector has come in embedding sustainability into commercial building. From innovative use of mass timber to low-impact systems and materials, we’ve seen green thinking integrated across a wide range of projects. These awards continue to recognise the strength of collaboration across the industry – and this year, they also reflect a real shift in how we’re designing and building for the future. Congratulations to all involved.”