Shed 10 Stands Strong Restoring steel in the last original building on Queen’s Wharf

16 July 2025

City Centre
News
Urban regeneration

Listed as a Category 1 Historic Place by Heritage New Zealand, Shed 10 is the only original building still standing on Queen’s Wharf, on the waterfront in central Auckland.

As part of our property portfolio, we care for it on behalf of Auckland Council — ensuring its legacy is preserved.

We began this series by looking at how the renewals programme helps care for council assets, so they remain resilient and functional. This time, we look at how renewal work is helping an iconic heritage building stand strong on the waterfront for years to come.

Shed 10 (first called Shed G, then later Shed 15) was built on the east side of Queen’s Wharf, in 1910. The double-storey shed with steel-frame construction and corrugated iron cladding, was built as a cargo handling and storage facility. Transit facilities for cargo were accommodated on the ground floor with warehousing upstairs.

Refurbished in 2012, it became a cruise ship terminal and multi-purpose events venue, with all the facilities you would expect in a space used to host food and wine festivals, corporate events, and international DJs, such as Andy C.

Shed 10 has been exposed to the harsh conditions of Auckland’s coastal environment for over a century. Significant corrosion in the building’s interior steel framing prompted a reduction in event capacity on the first floor for safety reasons. To address this, we set to work repairing 20 interior steel beams.

These essential repairs ensured both the structural integrity of this iconic heritage building and the continued safety of those who use it.

The repair of the steel beams was a highly specialised and collaborative project, involving a heritage architect and oversight from Auckland Council’s Heritage Unit.

Given the building’s heritage status, each stage of the process was approached with exceptional care and precision.

A structural engineer assessed each steel beam to determine the specific scope of repairs required. In most cases, this involved removing corroded sections and stripping each beam back to sound steel.

A multi-layer protective coating system made up of around 20 layers was then installed.

One of the project’s key challenges was delivering it within a live, operational building. Work had to be carefully timed around cruise ship visits — often pausing for several days while ships were docked, then resuming once they had departed.

Despite the complexity, we managed the interruptions smoothly, minimising disruption to both the building’s operations and project progress.