Over the next few years the area around Britomart and the Downtown mall are going to chaos as much of the area is dug up for both the CRL and the redevelopment of the mall. Over this time Panuku Development Auckland are going to try and make Queens Wharf more interesting by putting in a small pop-up container village.
Queens Wharf Village will open in late January 2016 with a mix of food and beverage providers and service-based retailers, along with outdoor dining and lounging spaces and entertainment.
Panuku Development Auckland Portfolio Management Director Ian Wheeler says the proposed village will be an innovative place making response during a period of disruption.
“Over the next three years we are going to see a considerable amount of upheaval in the downtown area with the redevelopment of the Downtown Shopping Centre and the City Rail Link construction works.
“Panuku and the City Centre Integration team have come up with a concept to offer users of the shopping precinct a temporary hub they can look to for food and some services in the meantime,” he says.
Retailers will be carefully chosen to ensure services, such as shoe repair, dry cleaning, banking or telecommunications, are offered. This will not be a high street-style shopping mall or a souvenir market.
Queens Wharf manager Connie Clarkson says the wharf welcomes hundreds of thousands of people each year, with a variety of reasons for visiting.
“This village will appeal to our daily casual visitors, commuters that pass through, those that live and work in the area, our venue users and our annual cruise ship guests.
“We aim to complement what’s already on offer nearby and pick up some of the services, perhaps even tenants, that will be moving out of the Downtown Shopping Centre,” she says.
Mr Wheeler says there is an opportunity for a fun opening celebration during Auckland Anniversary Weekend.
“Summer is the perfect time to get this initiative underway and the beauty of a container village is that you can bring it together swiftly.
“We still have some work to do, locking in the right mix of tenants and finalising the nuts and bolts of the structures, but we’ll be ramping up our awareness programme very soon,” he says.
Funding for the initiative includes a contribution from the City Centre Targeted Rate, endorsed by the Auckland City Centre Advisory Board.
The village will open on Auckland Anniversary weekend next year and there will be eight containers in total with Panuku saying some will be allocated to food and beverage and some to service-related retail. If successful I wonder if it’s something they could expand to make more use of the wharf.
Processing...
Nice initiative PAD. Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh over summer.
And while they are at it, remove the slug, put down some artificial turf, some seating and some shade. Let a café or two open out on the north and western sides of Shed 10.
QW was supposed to be for public to mingle and take in the views. Right now, its cluttered.
It will be more cluttered when the Barfoot & Thompson Sculptural House gets planted at the end of the wharf. The Cloud already has shade so how about we lay some artificial turf inside and put out some furniture? Maybe even let in a few coffee carts and food trucks without charging them an arm and a leg to do so? *That’s* why the Cloud is under utilised. There’s never anything happening there, and Aucklanders know it. I have witnessed on many occasions people (tourists presumably) walk to the Cloud, pop their head in, observe the few raggedly ‘games tables’ and the ‘street people’ using them, and then walk out shaking their heads “what, that’s it? nothing here”
and before anyone says it – yes, I’m aware the Cloud is used for one off stuff at various times but it’s infrequent. If you want the place humming you have to have something there all the time. By all means clear them out when you have something special planned, but otherwise get something going in there.
I’d just love some lawn
I hate these containers, I wince every time I walk past the ones in the Wynard, they are so over done. I didn’t mind the ones in CHCH but the AKL ones are just fugly
Great idea to have some bars and food there, shame it’ll look like crap. Would have been better with a bit more grass / water features and the seating we have at the back of Britomart
Given that Shed 10 and The Cloud are hardly ever rented out commercially due to the high cost of hiring it, why not just use those areas instead of creating a pop-up container park? I’m thinking rows of food/market stalls as seen at Diwali and Chinese Lantern Festival – surely that would be cheaper to set up and just as festive? I count 10 containers in that sketch, meaning only a few lucky retailers/cafes will get a look in.
I don’t have a problem with the container pop-up park. However it is very sad that post 2011 The Cloud has not had a permanent role allocated to it. It’s very sad walking past it just seeing it lying there empty and unused. However I have an idea for using it permanently.
Since it was a centre of the celebration that was the 2011 Rugby World Cup, undoubtedly the biggest sports event we’ve ever hosted in this country, wouldn’t it be a good idea to make it a permanent museum and record of that event? Tourism-wise it would provide another point of sight-seeing interest for people visiting Auckland both from abroad and within the country, and in an area of the city central for many visitors, especially those arriving on cruise ships. As a record of an event, it would also encourage NZers and Aucklanders to come with their families or just by themselves to relive it. I often think NZers are poor at celebrating success and documenting events for historical prosperity. We tend to have a “right that’s done and over and now we move on” rather than just taking a moment to reflect in the success of a team or how great an event was. Personally I find this one of the most disappointing character traits of this country. It would be great if for this event we maintained a record of it and NZers learnt that’s it’s ok to indulge in a little occasional nostalgia and celebration. And it would offer something different to yet more cafes/bars/apartments as per the normal waterfront scene!
Why on earth do they show Akoranga to Britomart as being part of the rapid transit network. Part of this route still doesn’t even have bus lanes!
whoops wrong post
How would it be to use the shed 10 as a permanent market hall like in France,Italy and Germany.
The Fisheries should be allowed to sell the catch direct in the morning having flower shops food stalls and fresh growers there.