Unfortunately I haven’t been able to do to much this week due being roped in to help sort things out for a family members wedding this weekend however in my travels I did manage to stop off at New Lynn for a little look to see how things were progressing in what is one of the major development focuses current around Auckland. I was last there in September. There are two main things going on at the moment, the construction of the medical centre and carpark by Infratil and the upgrades to Gt North Rd.
First up here is some of the progress on the previously mentioned buildings that are going up. For a while I wasn’t sure about the medical centre but now that the glass is mostly in, I think it looks great.
And here is the car park building which has a rusted metal facade which I think looks good.
Between the buildings a new pedestrian lane is going in and both buildings will have retail around the ground floor. When finished and the hoardings are removed, there will a lot more space for passengers waiting for buses.
One thing that has changed since I last visited is that Infratil have announced plans to put 10 levels containing 111 apartments on top of that car parking building. Here is a model of it will look like if built and currently 10% of the apartments are sold.
The other major bit of work going on is the upgrade of Gt North Rd to make it more pedestrian friendly. Here are some pictures of some of the new footpaths and the new speed table being installed.
Lastly while there I noticed this excellent feature that had been integrated into the New Lynn station itself, a trundler park which means you can wheel your shopping from the nearby mall to the station and only have to carry it the short distance to the train.
As time goes by, I continue to get a much better feeling that New Lynn will be quite a successful redevelopment. If we can get a few more buildings close by around the 4 story mark I think we will really start to get a great urban centre vibe in the place.
Over the course of this year the blog will start to look at other urban developments that are going on around the city. If you are a developer and want to tell us about your development, my details are on the Contact Us page
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Re: the last photo, Is there any motorcycle parking provided,?, ’cause its not like mopeds need the hoops to secure to….
No the only parking provided at the station is bike parking but obviously that moped rider just decided to park there anyway
Trundler? I thought it was a shopping trolley?
I have heard both used
Interesting – I had exactly this conversation with someone the other day. Prompted me to go away and do some research; apparently “trundler” is a NZ-ism: http://www.wordreference.com/definition/trundler.
Keep using it Matt; I’m with you – just don’t be surprised if you occasionally confuse and then amuse.
Funny how things work that you had a conversation with someone about the same thing! Thanks for the research.
I’ve cycled out that way quite a few times recently and am very happy with the redevelopment. Hopefully the spirit of it starts to spread to the surrounding area and we’ll get a truly decent town to match the excellent town centre.
New Lynn to be one of the next up and coming areas (although it already has been) will be the next Grey Lynn / Westmere I reckon.
That all looks good, nice wide footpaths etc.
Nice bold designs. I especially like the oxidised steel sheets. Pity though that New Lynn couldn’t have something that acknowledged its old links to the pottery industry. I hope New Lynn embraces this architecture. Far too much Spanish quarter white around these days
There is plenty around that acknowledges the pottery industry, most of the station is clad in tiles and there are plenty of other features of various works that link to it like this
Heh, those letters reminds me of the wonderful few weeks in the aftermath of the Feb 11 Chch quake when Russell Brown of Hard News installed an app that had letters of the alphabet on bricks, and invited people to create comments using the app. T’was brilliant.
Looking good, especially the intensification of the apartments. More developments like that add vibrancy and density – not to mention PT users!
That wider pavement looks ripe for some cafe/resto seating now!
Looking good, Auckland. I love the seat above, how delightful!
Not very familiar with New Lynn but the “Faux Mt Eden Prison Extension Style” looks incredibly dated already.
Shame that people are still using it for new buildings.
Speed tables sound good though…
Who knows, it might become a classic Auckland style in the future. Back in the day people lamented the fussy ornamention of villas you know.
Building an apartment building on top of a car park; what a great idea! All the buildings look very modern and nice. Can’t wait to see New Lynn once everything is complete.
Nice work. I tend to think 10 storeys is a bit high given the “width” of this building, but there’s no pleasing some people. Would be nice views from the upper floors tho’!
10 storeys is getting a bit London council block. Shame that Auckland has yet to catch on that apartments do not have to be tiny boxes – guess it all is to do with developer greed and council regulations.
The smallest apartment is 47m2, most are around the 60-80m2 mark. Ten stories right next to a train station in the middle of a town centre seems like a good height. I don’t see the connection to London Council housing unless you have the view that all apartment blocks spawn crime?
Is there going to be shopfront on the parking building and the medical centre when the scaffolding is taken away?
Along some of the edges at least, others will be consumed by car entrances.
This is how the bike parking at a train station should look like http://i.imgur.com/6kO4W.jpg
It should look full of mopeds?
At least they’ve got something done right for a change unlike the other developments around Auckland, New Lynn is transforming into something truly pedestrian friendly for the better. New Lynn is been given a soul which it never had, first the state of the art railway station and now the shared spaces. Even the new car park building that I was a bit skeptical about at first looks pretty good as well.
At least this kind of development is a changed from the previous developments done in other parts of Auckland.