The Hotel Britomart

From the exterior’s 150,000 handmade bricks to its 99 timber-lined rooms and hand-loomed pillows in the foyer, the art is in the detail at The Hotel Britomart.

New Zealand’s first hotel with 5 Green Star status is a calm oasis in the heart of the city. Those green stars come care of initiatives such as recycling nearly 80 per cent of its construction waste, smart design to avoid excessive heat gain or loss, the use of flicker-free lighting, environmentally friendly paints and the use of responsibly sourced timber.

Sustainability enters the kitchen too, where the hotel restaurant Kingi (short for kingfish) celebrates the best local seafood, going so far as to list the names of the fishers who caught your dinner.

All of that buoys the luxury and quality of a guest’s stay: each room in the 10-storey building is kitted out with a built-in sofa, handmade ceramics, sustainable skincare and a minibar stocked with locally sourced treats.