The Hangar is an innovative coworking space located in the refurbished Sunderland Hangar. Situated on the water’s edge at Catalina Bay, Hobsonville Point, this shared space offers a forward-thinking alternative to the traditional office, with a wide range of membership options to fit the needs of any business. Silent Pod sat down with Danielle from The Hangar to talk about their new space.
What makes The Hangar unique?
Willis Bond & Co identified an opportunity to provide a purpose-built coworking space for Auckland’s North West. The Sunderland Hangar was built in the 1930s and is located in the heart of the Catalina Bay precinct, just 25m from the water’s edge. Refurbished and restored, The Hangar opened earlier this year, and has recently won a Gold Pin for Repurposed Spaces at the 2019 Best Awards.
Striving to achieve the best possible amenities and facilities, The Hangar fitout is sympathetic to the former military aviation workshop. Featuring lightly greyed plywood, rustic grey timber boards and reused heavy timber roof purlins, with furniture formed from raw steel salvaged from the old hangar door frames the high quality fit out reflects care and the detail that has gone into the design and creation of The Hangar.
We also offer the perfect destination offsite. With ferries from the CBD, the popularity of companies having offsites at The Hangar has been over-whelming.
The amenities bare a big part of this. We have Little Creatures Brewery downstairs, a 5km coastal walkway on the doorstep, award-winning restaurants, and fresh produce with a local farmers market open five days a week. This is a truly unique space, in a spectacular setting.
What is the atmosphere like?
Expertly designed and fit-out by Cheshire Architects, the space is divided acoustically with a large glass wall to allow both a quiet workspace and a mezzanine open to the energy of the brewery below.
Natural light is key to an efficient workplace and The Hangar has been designed with this in mind. High ceilings, large windows and the oversized glass hangar door flood the space with light.
Weekly morning teas, monthly yoga sessions and Friday drinks, The Hangar has a real sense of community. We have been blessed with our members so far, they love the facilities and the growing sense of community that has been building. Many were previously working from home and we hear frequently how much more productive they are working out of The Hangar. Due to the fact we are a local co-working space we have a real mix of industries too, which makes for some exciting collaborations between members.
Our goal has always been to offer the highest quality in both our building facilities and our service to members. Creating a community and workspace that we can enjoy and be proud of.
Where does the Hangar sit in the coworking market in Auckland?
Employees travel all over Auckland to get to work, so providing an office outside of the CBD within the medium density suburb of Hobsonville Point, provides a space for employees and employers to work closer to home and reduce commute time.
The variety of desks and private office spaces available, allows The Hangar to cater for a single freelancer, through to smaller start-ups, or larger businesses. There’s also the opportunity for large CBD based companies to establish satellite offices here instead of working from home or spending hours sitting in traffic.
What are some of the most important things to consider when designing a coworking space?
It’s important to create functional and flexible spaces to work but spaces to relax are equally important. It is important for us to be able to change and adapt to member needs, particularly as our membership continues to grow. As we continue to grow we have looked at how the Silent Pod range can be used as a flexible solution for our working space, providing additional acoustic solutions for our members.