They do not have far to move, as the scientific research facility and corporate headquarters, Tuhiraki, is across the road from their current ageing headquarters.
The twin-building site, including a workplace and office wing and a laboratory wing, will house about 290 scientists and other staff.
A blessing of the facility already carried out by tangata whenua will be followed by an official opening, to be scheduled after the finishing touches are completed to the laboratory wing, likely in early November.
Chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose said nearly two thirds of staff were in the new building, and laboratory-based staff would make the move when the laboratory wing was completed.
More than 10 years of planning had gone into the project, which was finally approved just before she began work at AgResearch three years ago, she said.
"It’s a great facility and great to be on that site in Lincoln, right across from the university’s new Science North building."
Tuhiraki is about two thirds the size of the former site with break-out spaces built into an open plan design.
Floor plans are divided into neighbourhoods, with their occupants opting for set desks or a hot desk model.
"It’s definitely supposed to hark back to the rural heartland that so much of our science is aimed at."
Parts of the old building were only 17% within earthquake code, she said.
"All of our buildings were notably below code, and in fact about two years ago, we had an upgraded engineering report done and we ended up evacuating some of our buildings and hiring a space because it was really seriously below codes. We’ve just been holding our breath to get out of it really. It was just old and past its time."
Sustainability was an important focus, using timber in the new workplace and office wing to make carbon savings and incorporating wool tiles for flooring to remain faithful to their rural roots.
"They’re all wool carpets, of course, throughout, given our agricultural focus and commitment to our own New Zealand agricultural industry. ... It’s a pleasant build to operate in, with seating pods and small tables dotted throughout the building because it’s open plan. The seating pods are all wool outside and inside themselves, which is really good for sound insulation."
The site is on land bought from the university so facilities and work projects can be shared.
Designed almost entirely with lightweight wood and corrugated iron construction, the university-facing building is the main workplace.
The lab wing is a concrete structure with high containment and temperature-controlled facilities and negative air pressure, to ensure materials aren’t released outside.
Tuhiraki would encourage more collaboration in food and fibre research and innovation for farmers and growers, Dr Bidrose said.
"Certainly it gives us that collaboration with Lincoln University and it’s also a really flexible space. We’ve got laboratories which are PC2 [physical containment level 2] and ones that aren’t, but they can be kitted out differently, with machinery and spectrometers and equipment moved between buildings, so it gives flexibility to the science that can be done and the agencies that can be based in there, so it’s very forward looking. It’s very flexible for the partnerships that will form with organisations over the years."
The new home follows the scrapping of plans in 2019 to build a joint agricultural research facility at the university.
That would have housed up to 900 scientists from Crown Research Institutes (CRI) including Landcare Research, Plant & Food Research and DairyNZ.
Costs had got out of control, but the original concept of being on the university site to encourage university and agriculture research collaboration was happening, Dr Bidrose said.
"The figures got around the $800m to $900m mark and they were looking to have a wide range of other CRIs, but in the end it was just too hard to make it work with those sort of size of buildings. So now we’re on campus and a straight walk across the road to ... Waimarie, which is their Science North building, and you can already see some of those relationships being formed."
A bronze sculpture at the entrance in the shape of a person in a haka stance reaching to the heavens represents the research organisation’s science ambitions.
