Smales Farm: New Zealand's best
place to work and do business

Smales Farm is a family-owned and operated commercial property investment company based on Auckland’s North Shore. The current property portfolio includes Smales Farm Technology Office Park, the ANZ Business Centre in Albany, and 2 and 4 Fred Thomas Drive in Takapuna.

The heart of Smales Farm’s operations is Smales Farm Technology Office Park, located on a 10.8 hectare, high-profile site between Takapuna and the Northern Motorway.  Development is ongoing towards a 2017 target of providing more than 105,000 square metres of office space for over 8,000 knowledge workers – while contributing $700 million into the North Shore economy each year and influencing the creation of a further 35,000 jobs elsewhere in the region and beyond.

Taking the long view

A big part of what makes Smales Farm different is the history of family ownership. The Smale family has owned the Smales Farm Technology Office Park site through four generations. Today, Smales Farm Directors Greg, Bill and Chris Smale oversee the operation.  The family vision for Smales Farm is summed up in the phrase: "The best place to work and do business."

As a family-owned business Smales Farm has the freedom to take a long view. Unlike many highly-leveraged property investment companies, Smales Farm has the financial resources to invest for the future and carry through on a long term vision.

"Aspiring to be ‘the best’ has required us to really think through what that means,” Director Greg Smale says. “For us, it means building the kind of environment where people actually want to go to work. It means good design that attends to all the dimensions of the workplace. It means delivering the best to all our stakeholders: the people who work in our buildings, the companies who operate from our buildings, the local community and – in the widest sense – shouldering responsibility as good corporate citizens to make a positive contribution to the economy and country as a whole."

At the Park high occupancy rates (most tenants have 6-18 year leases), along with an impressive collection of architectural awards, are good evidence of Smales Farm’s delivery on its vision.  This vision will be applied equally to all buildings under Smales Farm management.

 
New Zealand’s best place to work and do business | Download the PDF

Smales Farm: The story so far

The story of the genesis and development of Smales Farm goes back several generations to 1879 when James Henry Smale emigrated from Cornwall and settled on Auckland’s North Shore.  In 1928, his son, the late William (Bill) Smale, took over a quarry on the corner of Northcote and Taharoto Roads from his father-in-law.  Later, in 1944, Bill bought the nearby land that became known as Smales Farm...Over the decades the Smale Family has realised a shared vision to develop the site into a thriving business park.  With plans to further develop Smales Farm Technology Office Park underway and new property acquisitions outside of the original Park footprint taking the Smale Family vision ‘virtual’, the future is looking bright...

Smales Farm – The story so far | Download the PDF

Smales Farm - A transport hub since 1898

Smales Farm Technology Office Park, occupying a position on the corner of Northcote and Taharoto Roads and adjacent to the Northern Motorway (SH1) and the Northern Busway, is part of a thriving transport hub – and this is nothing new.  The opening of Smales Farm Station in February 2008 continued a tradition of transport on Auckland’s North Shore stretching back 130 years from horse-drawn carriages and steam trams right through to the modern express diesel and electric busses.

The Smales Farm transport story starts in 1898, when a Mr W. Paterson operated a horse-drawn coach service, with his stables occupying part of the present day Smales Farm Technology Office Park site...

A transport hub since 1898 | Download the PDF