A safe space driving change

WORDS Kim Newth PHOTOS Sarah Rowlands 

Te Hurihanga ō Rangatahi Youth Hub Christchurch in Salisbury Street, the first of its kind in New Zealand, is winning national recognition as a symbol of community resilience and social impact. 

Youth Hub Christchurch has been open less than a year, yet already it’s hard to imagine not having a purpose-built place like this for young people. It makes so much sense to have somewhere safe for rangatahi to go, a place where they can feel valued with wraparound services and supported housing. 

The evolution of this warm and welcoming hub is ongoing, but meanwhile, the incredible teamwork involved in delivering its first phase has not gone unnoticed. Naylor Love Canterbury, together with project partners Field Studio of Architecture and Urbanism and project manager One Four, were national category and gold award winners at the 2025 NZ Commercial Project Awards. The project also won best in category and an excellence award for sustainability at this year’s Property Council New Zealand Property Industry Awards. 

“We asked the team to deliver a centre that would be sustainable, eco-friendly, soundproofed and user-friendly, and that’s exactly what they did,” says Dame Sue Bagshaw, who chairs the Youth Hub Trust. 

 “It’s a great team that worked well together, and it’s so wonderful that it has been recognised by all these awards.”

A two-storey wraparound services block, with an engineered timber structure and full-height atrium, is now home to more than a dozen health, social, and youth support service providers. The hub’s housing wing contains 22 single-bedroom units, all now fully occupied. Between the two buildings is a covered multi-use activities courtyard, complete with a 164m-long youth-led mural. Shade Systems NZ made the bespoke court shelter solution, featuring SKY®FabricArchitecture H series 

 tensile membrane, high light transmission fabric with a 50-year structural design life. Build cohesion was achieved using in-house fabrication methodology.

Andrew Just, Director of Field Studio, says he and his team didn’t set out to design an award-winning project. Rather, their goal was to do good and help young people. 

“We went through an intensive co-design process, engaging with young people directly and the organisations that support them, to make sure the design would reflect what they wanted,” says Andrew. “What’s pleasing is that the awards’ judges really 

 picked up on the project’s merits and what it’s trying to do.”

Gareth Salisbury, of Naylor Love Canterbury, described Youth Hub Christchurch as the best collaboration he’s had as a project manager, with all involved striving to excel and fulfil the hub’s aspirational vision. Regional Director Graeme Earl echoed the sentiment, saying the project aligned with Naylor Love’s values of caring for communities.

“We’re exceptionally proud of what the team has developed – the facility and the way it has come up, the quality of materials used, and the support from our supply chain, which has been quite humbling,” says Graeme, noting that Naylor Love Canterbury has worked alongside Dame Sue and Dr Phil Bagshaw on many other worthy projects through the years. 

Hall Fabrication is proud to have worked alongside Naylor Love to help bring this facility to life for the rangatahi of Christchurch with innovative rooftop planters, canopies, bench seats, and atrium planter with an elegant pounamu fountain.

Fundraising is ongoing to complete future stages. The next building, with construction just getting underway at the hub, is a new events and activities centre.