About
Robert Montgomery is a Registered Architect by profession and a member of the NZ Institute of Architects. he grew up in Northland and completed his architectural training at the Auckland Technical Institute and the University of Auckland, completing a NZ Certificate of Draughting with Honours and his Bachelor of Architecture.
Robert worked in private practice in Auckland after graduating with a couple of practices, and after being project Architect on the Sheraton Auckland Hotel with Peddle Thorp Architects he transferred to Wellington with the Group and was a principal with Peddle Thorp, managing the Wellington office from 1986 up until 2016. During those 30 years the firm and Robert established themselves as one of Wellingtons leading firms and Architect.
He has wide experience in commercial architecture both office, Hotel and Apartments, and has completed significant projects in Wellington including the Intercontinental Hotel (90 million) and Mobil on the Park, a 40 million office retail and car parking development.
As a keen sportsmen in his younger days Robert developed a great interest and design skills with sporting facilities and was involved in projects at Eden Park, the Basin Reserve, Wellington Stadium, the Hutt recreation ground for cricket and Rugby and the Ohakea Air Force base sports training facility.
He has won Local authority Urban Design Competitions and in 1990 won a design competition for the Taupo District Council and there after began his architectural involvement with projects in the greater Lake Taupo District including new building proposals for Taupo Bungy at Spa Road Taupo in 2000 and 2008.
In 1998 he visited Kinloch on the Lake edge to design a Health Resort and subsequently became involved in a major residential project, called Holyoaks of some 300 residential lots, all set in a very sensitive lake side environment. Robert was invited to be Project Director and Manager by Lisland Properties Directors and the project was completed very successfully, and stands today as a tribute to Roberts skill and sensitivity in a Lake and trout spawning stream environment to achieve successful, but environmentally balanced outcomes.
Robert has prepared and managed some substantial Resource consent applications under the RMA Act in challenging environments and sometimes with local protagonists opposing matters. Robert has never had a Resource Consent application that he managed, declined by a local Authority in New Zealand.
Robert has also developed the Grandview Estate at Highland Drive Taupo from 2003 in partnership with his business partner Tony Seager and that stands as one of Taupos finest residential enclaves . A 5 star lodge and recreational centre are being developed there currently, with the earlier residential stages.
PROJECT DELIVERY
Robert has delivered high level design management leadership skills to projects. Leadership is about accountability and responsibility and Robert has shown this for the delivery of over 25 significant projects in his career to date around New Zealand.
CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE
Robert’s construction knowledge has been developed over his career from early days as an excellent architectural draughtsman working on smaller education and residential projects to a principal architect designing high rise hotel, office and apartment structures. This has involved in many cases co-ordinating the engineering, structural and building services design input to the building, with input from acoustic consultants, facade experts, communication and security consultants and many others.
His knowledge in recent years has extended to a range of innovative engineering structure where his design input has been very fundamental to the quality of the design outcomes
RESOURCE CONSENT PROCESS
With the advent of the Resource Management Act in NZ Robert has had to design, manage and deliver projects through a challenging and sometimes hostile environment in order to deliver projects for his clients. Robert’s vision, skill and his respect for the natural environment has seen him successfully deliver projects through the resource consent process where many would have failed..
Significant resource consents granted for Robert’s projects have included the Intercontinental Hotel and Office tower, Vodafone on the Park Office tower in Wellington Kinloch Holyoaks residential development, and the Grandview Country Estate in Taupo.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, ARCHITECTURE AND PRACTICE
Robert endorses the concept of sustainable architecture and holds great interest in the protection and evolution of the natural environment and the effects of our growing urban development over the environment and the resulting effects on our beautiful country. With a zero carbon footprint for our buildings in mind, Robert has engaged with concern on projects where high energy consumption on projects, large construction waste and sustainable building materials are not being addressed or used. Robert supports passive solar and solar water heating principles in his building design.
His directing and management of the design solutions for engineering and environmental design solutions is visionary and very respectful of the environment he is working in.
His project work in managing the design quality of the storm water dispersal solutions at the Kinloch Holyoak’s residential development around sensitive trout spawning streams and Lake Taupo has been exemplary.