Warren and Mahoney architect and principal Joseph Hampton says despite the stereotype, as an architect, it’s often the projects that demand resourcefulness and doing more with less that deliver the greatest satisfaction and value for clients.
Too often, architecture is misconstrued as an expensive luxury reserved for landmark developments. However, you don’t have to spend more to think smarter. Ingenuity is what unlocks value in any budget, not more money.
The George Forbes Building at Lincoln University won the Supreme Under $10 million Award at this year’s New Zealand Commercial Project Awards.
It was an incredibly proud moment for the Christchurch team at Warren and Mahoney, but the real value of the accolade lies in what it proves. The project serves as a timely example of how our industry can successfully navigate tighter budgets without losing our big ambitions.
Rethinking what already exists
The George Forbes project did not begin as a flagship development. The original mid-century building was tired, poorly functioning, and right in the middle of a busy, occupied university campus. Following earthquake losses, the heart of the campus was compromised and needed seismic strengthening as well as modern fire and acoustic upgrades, all on a strictly constrained budget.
In the past, the default answer for a project like this might have been to tear it down and start from scratch. Instead, we reframed the challenge: What if the smartest financial move isn’t to build something new, but to transform what we already have?
With construction costs rising right now, recycling an old building is often one of the most sustainable and cost-effective choices you can make. The truth is, most of the buildings we will see in the year 2050 are already standing today.
By keeping and upgrading the original structure at Lincoln, we cut upfront costs relative to a new build, kept the project’s environmental footprint low, and were able to space out the project’s investment over time.
Good design should operate as strategy — not just styling — to help clients make smarter decisions with what they have.
Bringing design in early
Architects are often brought in once the big decisions have already been made — but the most successful projects are shaped through early alignment.
By exploring different cost approaches alongside the client and quantity surveyor, we were able to strike the right balance between cost, student outcomes, and construction sequencing. This collaborative approach allowed construction to sit comfortably alongside the university’s daily life, minimising campus disruption.
The campus experience
Even with a leaner budget, how a space ultimately performs for the people inside should never be compromised. That’s why our team spent a lot of time talking face-to-face with the students and staff. We wanted to design a place literally shaped by students, for students.
By understanding how students naturally study, socialise and relax, we delivered a mix of multimodal learning, social zones, and integrated spaces within the existing footprint.
We also worked closely with mana whenua to weave local cultural narratives and artwork directly into the design, giving the building a deep sense of history and identity.
Grounding the design choices in student behaviour resulted in students staying on campus longer, getting better learning results, and the university getting a higher return on investment in infrastructure.
The end result is much more than a better piece of real estate — it offers a space that strengthens the community because people genuinely want to visit it. For developers in any sector, the lesson is simple — a great building experience creates high demand, and high demand is what drives real value.
What was once a quiet, avoided building is now a bustling and busy hub where students actually want to stay, hang out, and connect.
A blueprint for the future
On paper, the George Forbes project looked modest — just a renovation of an old building on a budget. In reality, this work has transformed the heart of a university.
The success of this project goes beyond a Supreme Award. Perhaps even more impressively, it shows that with the right design thinking, a small budget can sharpen design thinking to completely reimagine a space’s value with how a building performs, how people use it, and how it endures over time.
Good architecture is often associated with big budgets, but the George Forbes building shows us that the developers, clients, and contractors with ambitious goals and constrained budgets have the most to gain.
When every dollar counts, good design is a way to stretch investment further, and create places that have a cultural impact.
