The Beehive ( mi, Te Whare Mīere
) is the common name for the Executive Wing of
New Zealand Parliament Buildings
New Zealand Parliament Buildings ( mi, Ngā whare Paremata) house the New Zealand Parliament and are on a 45,000 square metre site at the northern end of Lambton Quay, Wellington. They consist of the Edwardian neoclassical-style Parliament Ho ...
, located at the corner of
Molesworth Street and
Lambton Quay
Lambton Quay (once known as The Beach) is the heart of the central business district of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand.
Originally, as the name implies, it was the high-water line of the foreshore, and sometimes the sea would roll ...
,
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
. It is so-called because its shape is reminiscent of that of a traditional woven form of
beehive
A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...
known as a "
skep
A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...
". It is registered as a Category I heritage building by
Heritage New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...
.
Construction began in 1969 and was completed in 1981. Since 1979, the building has housed the offices of
government ministers
A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...
. Thus, the name "Beehive" is closely linked with the
New Zealand Government. It is often used as a
metonym for the New Zealand leadership at large, with "the 9th floor" specifically referring to the office of the
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
, which is based on that floor.
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
meets on the top floor.
History
In the 1960s the government proposed an extension of
Parliament House, which had only been partly built in 1922. Prime Minister
Keith Holyoake
Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake, (; 11 February 1904 – 8 December 1983) was the 26th prime minister of New Zealand, serving for a brief period in 1957 and then from 1960 to 1972, and also the 13th governor-general of New Zealand, serving from 1977 ...
had wanted to complete the original plan, but the government architect persuaded him to approve a modern building which would house parliamentary offices. In 1964,
Scottish architect
Basil Spence
Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...
provided the original conceptual design of a round building rising in steps. The detailed architectural design was undertaken by the New Zealand government architect
Fergus Sheppard
Fergus George Frederick Sheppard (1908 – 1997) was a New Zealand architect, who served as the chief government architect from 1959 until his retirement in 1971. During his time in this capacity he was involved with the design of the Beehive, am ...
, and structural design of the building was undertaken by the
Ministry of Works. W. M. Angus constructed the first stage, beginning in 1969the podium, underground car park and basement for a national civil defence centre. Gibson O'Connor constructed the ten floors of the remainder of the building.
Bellamy's
Bellamy's (or Bellamys) is the name given to the in-house catering service and dining facilities of the New Zealand Parliament. Named after an earlier British parliamentary institution, Bellamy's has been in existence since the establishment of t ...
catering facilities moved into the building in the summer of 1975–1976 and
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
,
Queen of New Zealand
The monarchy of New Zealand is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of New Zealand. The current monarch, King Charles III, ascended the throne following the death of his mot ...
, unveiled a plaque in the reception hall in February 1977. The Prime Minister,
Robert Muldoon, formally opened the building in May 1977. The government moved into the upper floors in 1979. The annexe facing Museum Street was completed in 1981.
In the late 1990s, there was consideration of moving the Beehive behind Parliament House and finishing Parliament House according to the 1911 original plans. The plan was scuttled due to public outcry at the cost. Renovations were carried out and the interior was modernised between 1998 and 2006 to plans by
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
architecture firm
Warren and Mahoney
Warren and Mahoney is an international architectural and interior design practice - one of the few third generation architectural practices in the history of New Zealand architecture. It is a highly awarded architectural practice, with offices ...
. In 2013 and 2014, the roof was repaired and windows replaced.
In July 2015,
Heritage New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...
declared the Beehive "of outstanding heritage significance for its central role in the governance of New Zealand". Blyss Wagstaff of Heritage New Zealand called it "one of the most recognisable buildings in the country". Heritage New Zealand assigned the highest rating for a historic place, Category I, to the building. The original application for the heritage designation was made by
Lockwood Smith
Sir Alexander Lockwood Smith (born 13 November 1948) is a New Zealand politician and diplomat who was High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2017, and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2008 to 2013.
S ...
, a former
Speaker of the House of Representatives. The heritage registration with the list number 9629 became effective on . The tunnel to
Bowen House
Bowen House is a 22-storey office building on the corner of Lambton Quay and Bowen Street, Wellington, New Zealand, that is leased by the New Zealand Parliament to house some members of Parliament and government staff.
The building was designed b ...
is specifically excluded from the heritage registration.
Facts and figures
![Beehive, Wellington - view from above](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Beehive%2C_Wellington_-_view_from_above.jpg)
The building is ten storeys () high and has four floors below ground. The entrance foyer's core is decorated with marble floors, stainless steel mesh wall panels, and a translucent glass ceiling.
The Beehive's brown roof is made from of hand-welted and seamed
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
. It has developed a naturally weathered appearance. A tunnel runs under Bowen Street from The Beehive to parliamentary offices in Bowen House. The Beehive is extensively decorated with
New Zealand art
New Zealand art consists of the visual and plastic arts (including woodwork, textiles, and ceramics) originating from New Zealand and comes from different traditions: indigenous Māori art, that of the early European (or Pākehā) settlers, an ...
. On the inner wall of the Banquet Hall is a mural by
John Drawbridge long and high portraying the atmosphere and sky of New Zealand.
The Beehive's circular
footprint
Footprints are the impressions or images left behind by a person walking or running. Hoofprints and pawprints are those left by animals with hooves or paws rather than feet, while "shoeprints" is the specific term for prints made by shoes. The ...
(see
rotunda) is generally considered an elegant and distinctive design feature. However it is also quite impractical, as many of its rooms are
wedge
A wedge is a triangular shaped tool, and is a portable inclined plane, and one of the six simple machines. It can be used to separate two objects or portions of an object, lift up an object, or hold an object in place. It functions by converti ...
-shaped, curved or asymmetrical. An extension has been built out the front to allow for a new security entrance. A new, bomb-proof mail delivery room has already been built at the rear of the building.
The Beehive has, since 1992, featured as part of the design of the
New Zealand twenty-dollar note
The New Zealand twenty-dollar note is a New Zealand banknote. It is issued by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and since 1999 has been a polymer banknote. It was first issued on 10 July 1967 when New Zealand decimalised its currency, changing ...
. A survey commissioned by the
Reserve Bank of New Zealand
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ, mi, Te Pūtea Matua) is the central bank of New Zealand. It was established in 1934 and is constituted under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989. The governor of the Reserve Bank is responsible for N ...
found that the Beehive is "a New Zealand icon and as such is readily recognisable".
Offices and facilities
![Wellington, Beehive, May 2015](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Wellington%2C_Beehive%2C_May_2015.jpg)
The top floor is occupied by the
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
room, with the
prime minister's offices directly beneath on the ninth floor (and part of the eighth). The upper portion of the Beehive also contains the offices of other ministers; senior ministers are situated at proximity to the prime minister's office according to their ranking in Cabinet. The seniority of a minister is reflected in how far up the building they are. Some ministers, especially junior ministers, are instead based in
Bowen House
Bowen House is a 22-storey office building on the corner of Lambton Quay and Bowen Street, Wellington, New Zealand, that is leased by the New Zealand Parliament to house some members of Parliament and government staff.
The building was designed b ...
.
Other facilities within the building include function rooms and a banqueting hall on the first floor of the Beehive, which is the largest function room in the parliamentary complex. The parliamentary catering facilities of ''Bellamy’s'' include a bar known as ''Pickwicks'' or ''3.2'' (due to its position in the building on the third floor and second corridor), ''Copperfield's'' café, and the ''Member's'' and ''Member's and Guests'' restaurants. The building also houses, in its basement, the country's
National Crisis Management Centre
The National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC), also known as the Beehive Bunker, is the New Zealand government crisis management command centre situated under the "Beehive" building in Wellington.
It is designed to withstand earthquakes rated 'Inte ...
. The Beehive contains a theatrette, commonly used for government press conferences. Other facilities include a gym and a swimming pool. The building is also used by members of Parliament who hold meetings or are discussing bills or new laws.
Public access
The New Zealand Parliament has a visitor centre located on the ground floor of the Beehive. Tours were suspended in 2020 to limit the spread of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
. The public gallery and select committee meetings remained open to the public, subject to review.
Photo gallery
References
Further reading
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{{Authority control
1970s architecture in New Zealand
Basil Spence buildings
Brutalist architecture in New Zealand
Beehive
A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...
Government buildings completed in 1981
NZHPT Category I listings in the Wellington Region
Beehive
A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...
Beehive
A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...
Tourist attractions in Wellington City