Project Auckland: What future for offices in these pandemic times? 7 Mar, 2021 04:00 PM 4 minutes to read What's happening to office demand? Culum Manson knows. Photo / Michael Craig What's Auckland office space demand doing when so many people are working from home now and are pandemic predictions of a demise of the commercial sector proving true? Or does New Zealand's largest private developer's $250 million spec projects cast doubt on such predictions? Culum Manson had no qualms about pushing "go" on a speculative $250 million Newmarket office project, telling the Herald in February that leasing inquiries were rising. Not only was there strong demand for new A-grade high green-star rates commercial premises, but to get staff to return to offices, corporates needed to upgrade, he explained.