The 2026 Property Industry Awards, hosted by the Property Council New Zealand (PCNZ), were held on Friday 12 June at the recently-opened New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC).

Now in its 36^th year, the national awards program celebrates the best in property development, architecture and design, and investment, spanning a range of sectors and design disciplines.

As one of the first major industry events to take place in the new convention centre, this year’s Property Industry Awards attracted the largest-ever audience with 1,590 guests in attendance and offered a fitting showcase for the sector.

Designed by Warren and Mahoney with Woods Bagot and Moller Architects in association, NZICC has been named winner of the Holmes Tourism and Leisure Property Award, recognising the most significant tourism and event infrastructure projects.

The judges praised the project as among the country’s most significant tourism investments this century, rising resiliently from extraordinary complexity and a catastrophic fire to stand as a bold symbol of ambition and long-term growth. Conceived as a catalyst for prosperity, the convention centre is designed to grow high-value business events and energise Auckland’s visitor economy.

Spanning a vast 88,000sqm in the city centre, the vertically integrated development delivers 32,500sqm of flexible event space, including 8,100sqm of divisible exhibition halls and New Zealand’s largest 2,850-seat theatre.

The scale and flexibility of the venue allows New Zealand to host major conferences, exhibitions, cultural events and large-format gatherings that were previously difficult to accommodate onshore.

Chief Judge Andy Evans says the judges were impressed by the project’s scale, flexibility, and national significance.  “The NZICC has been a long time coming, and the result is a venue with genuine national importance,” says Evans.

“Major projects of this kind are rarely simple. The NZICC has come through extraordinary complexity, including the 2019 fire, to deliver a facility that will support Auckland and New Zealand for decades. That persistence is part of the project’s story.”

NZICC garnered two additional significant mentions on the night, receiving Excellence for the Warren and Mahoney Civic, Health and Arts Property Award, and Merit for the Naylor Love Heritage and Adaptive Reuse Property Award.

View the full list of winners on the Property Council website.

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Isla Sutherland
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