Focus on our 50th: A local presence across the country

From the late 1980s, Boffa Miskell grew beyond its initial Christchurch (1972) and Wellington (1975) offices. Knowing the value of a local presence, the company now has offices from Whangarei to Dunedin.

In 1986, landscape architect Sarah Collins was approached by Frank Boffa, with an offer to merge her business with his and become Boffa Miskell’s Auckland office.

“I had a growing practice and network of clients and project partners,” Sarah recalls. “I was very proud of what I’d accomplished over three years; but I had just reached the point where I’d said no to a job, simply to preserve some measure of work-life balance.

Don Miskell and I knew each other from our time at Lincoln University, and I knew Boffa Miskell’s work well, so it was something I was willing to consider very seriously.”

Maintaining her independence, Sarah began working on Boffa Miskell projects during the latter part of 1986. Early work in Cornwall Park and St John’s College (projects we continue to work on today) confirmed Sarah’s decision to merge her practice with Boffa Miskell. She opened the doors of the Auckland office in early 1987.

“It became clear that we each had something to offer,” says Sarah. “I had well-established relationships here in Auckland, and local knowledge; and Boffa Miskell had project work in Auckland and were ready to open an office We were a group of like-minded people – many of whom I knew very well.

“Merging and becoming the company’s Auckland office gave me the ability to lead larger projects and access the resources that they had in place.”

Sarah Collins celebrated 35 years with the company in 2021. Over that time, along with raising a family, she has been the landscape architecture lead on dozens of large-scale infrastructure projects; produced several landscape, re-vegetation and planting guidelines; and, through her own passion for education and play projects, developed Boffa Miskell’s reputation for designing award-winning and innovative playspaces in schools and parks around the country.

In the late 1990s and beyond, subsequent offices were added; largely driven by reaching a critical mass of project work in a particular location.

With a long-term stream of work in the Bay of Plenty – particularly regional and district landscape studies – Rachel de Lambert moved to establish a Tauranga office in October 1999. In early 2001, Rebecca Ryder was the second recruitment for the office and worked alongside Rachel to further the work in the area of landscape design and landscape planning.

“I had been working for Hamilton City Council, and when the offer to join Boffa Miskell arose I saw an opportunity to return to the Bay of Plenty and be part of a growing business,” says Rebecca.

The Tauranga office has grown to over 30 people; with designers, planners, ecologists and the recent addition of lab technicians. In 2003, Te Pio Kawe added his cultural advisory skills to Boffa Miskell’s capabilities, and is now Technical Lead for the Te Hīhiri discipline.

Current projects include Taupo Town Centre Revitalisation, Marine Parade Boardwalk; and on-going work with City, District and Regional Councils throughout the Bay of Plenty.

After weathering the economic upheavals of the 2000s; followed by a decade of steady growth in regional project work on both the North and South Island, 2016 was a year of notable expansion, as two offices opened.

In response to increased project work and a desire to establish a local presence in the Waikato – in particular on the back of involvement at Ruakura and Te Rapa Gateway – the Hamilton office was opened in late 2016, with planner Dave Moule hired as the first consultant.

“Hamilton was a logical part of the company’s growth having serviced the Waikato from our Auckland and Tauranga offices for many years. A physical presence in the local market has strengthened existing relationships and opened up opportunities,” says Dave. “Seeing the Hamilton team grow is something that I am very proud of.”

The office is now 20-strong with designers, planners and ecologists. The team is involved in most of the major development projects in the Waikato in one way or another, with the most notable being the Ruakura Superhub, Te Awa Lakes, Amberfield, Rangitahi, and Greenhill Park housing developments. The team is now well-established in the Waikato market working with public and private sector clients.

Boffa Miskell returned full-time to Queenstown in 2016; nearly three decades after having an office there in the late-1980s. Initial work in the Queenstown region had revolved largely around landscape assessments for tourist attractions like the Remarkables Ski Field (1978), and designing large-scale open-space projects like Millbrook Golf Resort (1988) and Jacks Point.

Today, as the Lower South Island experiences tremendous growth, the Queenstown office is home to planners, landscape planners, urban designers and landscape architects along with Boffa Miskell’s transport planning specialist. The team, led by planner Chris Ferguson, are much-involved with comprehensive spatial planning projects and preparing complex resource consents.

Chris says, “Boffa Miskell has a long history in the area, but it’s important to have a full complement of disciplines right here, to meet the needs of our clients.”

In 2018, after involvement with a range of Council-driven city regeneration projects in Dunedin, it became clear that a full-time presence was needed. Based in the NMA Building in the historic Warehouse Precinct, the design team has been much-involved with work in the Dunedin City Centre, including the Health Precinct and the award-winning Connecting Dunedin Future Transport project. Dunedin is also home to biosecurity consultants and Boffa Miskell’s climate change specialist.

Under the leadership of ecologist Ian Boothroyd, Boffa Miskell re-opened a Whangarei office last year; having previously been in the area in the late 1990’s.

“We never stopped working in the Upper North Island,” says Ian. “Particularly in relation to planning and ecology. Our involvement with Te Arai Golf Course goes back to 2003 and continues.

“Transportation infrastructure work in the region has involved multiple disciplines; and those complex projects usually take more than a decade from beginning to end.”

The Whangarei office also undertakes landscape-scale biosecurity work in Northland and the Bay of Islands, particularly in collaboration with community and iwi groups; and looks forward to adding design and planning consultants.

Now, as Boffa Miskell and Canopy join together, partner Marc Baily – who has family connections in the region – will lead the transition, dividing his time between the new Nelson office and his base of 30 years in Wellington.

Keeping the sense of unity that began with Frank Boffa and Don Miskell and the original offices in Christchurch and Wellington is something Boffa Miskell has maintained over the past five decades, says Marc.

“Much of our work is about relationships, and being local is a part of that,” Marc explains. “Wakatu-Nelson / Tasman is a place we’ve worked for some time and we can forge stronger relationships through the Canopy connection. It also gives our people opportunities to live and work in a wider range of places across Aotearoa.

“Boffa Miskell sees growth as more than just opening another office or adding numbers,” he continues. “It’s about being part of a community – externally, with our clients and project partners; and internally, for the people who join us. I’m looking forward to working with Luke and Liz and welcoming our new team members into the whānau.”

For further information please contact Marc Baily