Our Story
Our mission is to understand, investigate, manage, and interpret New Zealand’s heritage and archaeological resources on behalf of clients, Iwi, and other stakeholders, and deliver on their needs while providing efficient and professional heritage and archaeological services in the pursuit of enhancing the knowledge of New Zealand’s past.
New Zealand Heritage Properties (NZHP) started as a single company with a diverse portfolio, specialising in archaeological and heritage consulting services, property management, and the redevelopment of unique and character property throughout New Zealand from the early 2000s.
In late 2014, the archaeological branch of the business was separated into its own company entity, New Zealand Heritage Ltd (NZH), which retained the same branding as NZHP and continued to be closely aligned. NZHP started to undertake major redevelopment projects in Dunedin’s Warehouse precinct, and NZH continued to grow, with the number of employees steadily increasing and demand for work stretching further afield.
In 2017, New Zealand Heritage Ltd expanded further in its own right, purchasing Christchurch based firm Underground Overground Archaeology. The branding and trading name for this company was retained and the two offices, one based in Dunedin and one in Christchurch, operated as distinct but increasingly aligned entities.
In 2020, New Zealand Heritage Ltd expanded again to open another branch in Invercargill to cater to the lower South Island and in 2024, New Zealand Heritage Ltd further expanded into Wellington to service our North Island projects under the Underground Overground Archaeology umbrella.
The faces behind the company
Hayden and Sheryl met while studying in Dunedin and have been living there since 2010. Both have over 20 years of experience working in the field of archaeology and heritage redevelopment. They have three children and are based in their flagship office on Bond Street.
Where developers would consider a dilapidated old building a lost cause, they have successfully redeveloped buildings around the country. Their approach has always been to learn what they could from the adaptive reuse of an old building, and then apply their learning to future rebuilds. With each development, new stories and histories have been preserved and shared for future generations to enjoy.
It has always been important to them to change the narrative around heritage, archaeology and old abandoned spaces to usable, creative and financially viable areas of interest. They have been actively involved in establishing the Dunedin Street Art Trail with the first piece of art on their historic alleyway on Bond Street by Be Free, and one of the key investors involved in the redevelopment of the Dunedin Historic Warehouse Precinct. More recently, they have spearheaded the development of No Name Alley (The Bond ¼), the home of Steamer Basin Brewery, Wild Dispensary, and No8 Distillery.
Alongside their many Dunedin projects, Hayden a director of The Christchurch Archaeology Project and the Museum of Archaeology Otautahi (www.museumofarchaeology.org), while Sheryl is involved in the Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust, a passion for her since she was an undergraduate at Otago University.
Archaeologically Hayden has experience working and lecturing both in New Zealand and abroad, excavating sites in Australia, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and is a member of multiple national and international professional groups. Since having their family, Sheryl has moved from doing fieldwork to a more office-based role keeping the company running but continues to do archaeozoological analysis and is also a member of several national and international professional groups.
