Peter is a ‘hands on designer’ with more than 40 years of experience. “I love the design process, the creativity, thinking outside the square. I’ll have a crack at anything”. He relishes the opportunity to contribute from concept stage and has chosen to remain in the design arena rather than management. Peter’s wealth of experience in all types of building design, and also all types of building delivery processes, will benefit the project. Equally important, Peter believes deeply in running a business with a social framework value, respect and care for people and their futures.”
Peter Johnstone
Founder & Board of Director
BE(Hons), PhD (Civil), FEngNZ, MNZIOB, MRSNZ
Past projects
ASB Tower and Todd Building – Hunter Street, Wellington
This is an example of an older building that has endured the test of time. This has a very deep basement/ squash court well below tide level
Vogel Integrated Campus for Ministry of Justice
Retrofit and extension of the old Vogel Building. A splendid atrium was created between the different buildings on the campus
Asteron Centre, 55 Featherston Street
The largest floor plate building in Wellington, developed by Mark Dunajtschik
The Station Building, Queenstown
An example of a well crafted smaller office building in Queenstown
33 Bowen Street, Wellington
Up/down construction where the basement was dug out and the cemetery wall retained at the same time the building was advancing
New Zealand Post's sorting facility in Petone
A very large industrial space. The completed roof and structure was built on the ground and lifted into place to save time and cost delays due to strong winds
Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington.
An iconic building by Maurice Mahoney
Waiouru Museum - Kippenberger Wing
This was specifically designed and detailed in pre- cast concrete to be built by the Army's engineers and specialist advice was given during construction
Te Papa - Museum of New Zealand
A fascinating building to be associated with! Built to high importance level and longevity. It is base isolated and global warming/tsunami attack was taken into account
Hillary Centre at Mt Cook - Hermitage
This delightful building was re-created within an older part of The Hermitage
Wellington Westpac Trust Stadium
This was given total commitment by Peter Johnstone and a dedicated team. It was built from special light-weight concrete to assist in some big pre- cast lifts
Coronet Peak , Queenstown
Rebuild Coronet Peak Base Facility in Queenstown
Investigation into a Waterfront Stadium in Auckland for RWC 2011
Peter Johnstone was pivotal in leading the investigation into the waterfront stadium with Neville Harris of MED (now MBIE) and Warren and Mahoney
Eden Park for the RWC 2011
This project was started later than planned due to the ARC voting out the waterfront option. It was carefully detailed to maximise pre-cast components for construction speed
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin - Peer Review
This was a second prize for missing out on the full design that was won by SKM. The peer reviewing was pro-active and fulfilling through the teamwork shown
London Olympic Stadium – 2012 Olympics
Peer Review for Buro Happold (UK consultants). This prestigious appointment was on the back of our stadium experience
Mid Central Health - Palmerston North
A combination of refurbishment and new-build along with the usual decanting/ sequencing and biosecurity issues
Nelson Marlborough Health Services
As with Palmerston North, a combination of refurbishment and new-build along with the usual decanting/sequencing and biosecurity issues
Wanganui Hospital
This was base isolated and Peter Johnstone was heavily involved with the planning as well as the decanting/sequencing and biosecurity issues. The original business case was totally revised to meet a reduced budget
Lower Hutt Hospital A&E and theatres
This was a stand-alone base isolated building but with a large number of interfaces adding to its planning complexity
Old Government Buildings
This priceless wooded building was refurbished to high conservation standards. It was strengthened and part was turned into a library for Victoria's law school
Old Bank of New Zealand Development
This building lay derelict for many years. An earthquake risk issue was solved through base isolation among other methods
City to Sea Maritime Museum.
This building was derelict due to the original piles rotting. The solution was to base isolate the building by bridging across the basement onto new external concrete piles
Parliament Refurbishment – Main Building
This was the first major base isolation project for an existing heritage building. It was very demanding in both design and construction methodology
Parliament Refurbishment – General Assembly Library
This was also base isolated and was equally demanding. It also suffered from two major fires during construction
Museum Hotel Apartments
This is a new steel framed adjunct to the Museum Hotel. It has a basement that is below tide level and is in running sands
Novotel Queenstown Extensions
There was a ned for real speed in the construction of this wing. It was built in three-storey high vertical slices rather than layer by layer and was able to be opened very early
Hermitage Hotel, Mt Cook/Aoraki
The tourist trade puts real demand in speed of construction. The 900 wing at the Hermitage was built through winter on time and budget
Dunedin International Airport – terminal expansion and rebuild
We found new and extremely effective plans to stage the project to keep the airport operational
Queenstown International Airport
Both the terminal expansion and rebuild and apron and taxi way planning and construction
15 Stout Street – the “Gliding On” building
A steel framed building of 9 storeys built in 1938. Full scale testing and non-linear time history analysis showed it is 180% NBS. This is only one example
Lecture Theatres – Victoria School of Commerce – Rutherford House
The new theatres were constructed around the base and basement of the larger building. One project of many