The concept plans for Te Ara Tukutuku, the peninsula at the northern end of Wynyard Quarter once known as Tank Farm, are out for consultation and they look fantastic.
Te Ara Tukutuku project is regenerating the northern end of Wynyard Point to create a beautiful new waterfront destination for the people of Tāmaki Makaurau.
Through co-design and applying mātauranga (traditional Māori knowledge) and western practices, the 5ha public space is being transformed from its petro-chemical past into a healthy and thriving coastal environment.
The project will deliver the largest new open space in the city centre in 100 years. However, it will be a shift away from a regular public space as we know it – including a ngahere (forest), outdoor classrooms, whare waka, tidal stairs and waka ramp, marine restoration in action, education opportunities, elevated headland, and places to pause and take a breath.
This will be a space for everyone.
Eke Panuku describe the unique features as:
It will be a space for everyone – to enjoy, explore, connect with community, engage in nature, and interact with whenua (land) and wai (water) environments.
As it will be a shift away from a regular public space as we know it, you’ll notice some unique features in the concept designs – including:
- Nature immersion – explore a coastal ngahere… visit a plant nursery… learn in outdoor classrooms… follow an urban stream to the ocean… see climate resilience in action…
- Marine interaction – engage with marine life through habitat education… see marine clean-up and habitat from the shore… and dip your feet in the shallow waters of Te Waitematā…
- Cultural connection – learn about traditional activities and Te Ao Māori (Māori world view)… hear Mana Whenua stories… attend ceremony… enjoy live waiata performances…
- Cultural immersion – get hands-on with waka… participate in and observe waka launches… engage with indigenous knowledge and regenerative practices…
- Coastal activities – walk or ride the scenic coastal path around the edge… picnic in a sheltered spot… swim in an ocean pool… enjoy open spaces for passive recreation… wander up the headland…
- Community events – engage in or watch community and Mana Whenua led events in the plaza spaces… experience something new…
- Scenic lookouts – take in the 360-degree views from the headland… enjoy lookouts around the coast for city and harbour views… observe the working waterfront including waka ramp and marine restoration…
There’s a lot more detail and images about the concept in this document.
At the southern end of the site there are a few development sites connected via laneways and a linear park on the eastern side.
A new plaza links the development to the park.
The open space at the northern end includes a coastal forest and walkway
The northern end of the wharf will be removed as part of a Marine Restoration Zone.
The tip of the headland includes an elevated lookout which will give great views of the harbour and back to the city.
The plans look impressive and if there’s one issue I have with them is that it’s expected to take around 15 years to fully realise them, and it’s a space that will only get better as elements like the forest get more established.
There’s plenty more detail in the concept document and on Eke Panuku’s site, including a number of public events, such as one on Wednesday afternoon in Te Komititanga.
Consultation is open till the end of the month.
Later this year they hope to start more detail designs with some enabling works to start managing the contamination that currently exists to begin over summer. Those timeframes are interesting because….
High St
The council are also currently consulting on the future of High St and it looks like they plan over a year of consultation.
Over the next year, we want to hear from the High Street community to understand your ambitions, hopes and priorities for High Street through a series of opportunities to engage. Your insights will enable us to develop a design for the street that responds to community aspirations for High Street’s future.
Hearing the views and aspirations of residents, businesses, shoppers, visitors and people travelling on High Street, will help us determine how High Street will look for the next 30 years and how we can continue to make High Street a place people choose to locate their businesses, shops and cafes, walk through on their way to work or home, relax, shop and socialise.
We don’t have a particular design in mind. We’re eager to explore a variety of development options and design ideas, that could range from operational changes, minor improvements to street upgrades.
They’re probably going to spend more money on these consultations than they did to install the boardwalks that extended the footpaths back in 2020. How about just add a couple bollards at the the entrance to the street and fill in the remaining parking spaces with more of the boardwalks.
Consultation on High St is open till this Sunday.
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Remind me why High Street isn’t fully pedestrianised…
There are a lot of small businesses up High St, O’Connell and Lorne St – they would work well as pedestrianised spaces, but it would also need to have a plan for deliveries of goods / couriers nearby. That could just be after-hours delivery only, or pre-dawn delivery – just needs a solution to be planned out first and taken to all the businesses first, and talked through and agreed on, rather than be imposed on and then details thought out later.
Why not develop a loading dock for High Street businesses to use? A portion of the Vic Street carpark could be secured, staffed, and turned over to receive and store goods. Staff from businesses can then pick their goods up from there at their leisure. Anything oversized can be delivered via prior arrangement with a one time code provided to open the barriers.
Yes, but all across Europe and even in shopping malls across New Zealand, there are solutions for this.
Just have a swipe card entry and limit speed to 5km/h for service vehicles. Most cars are passing through
Just do the same as what they do for Te Komitanga Square and have some retractable bollards controlled by AT.
Does look great need more of these natural looking/tree lined parks in the city, and hopefully very little parking.
Now how good would it be to move the Port and have an unbroken walkway from Herney Bay to St Heliers?
The thing we need on Tamaki Drive before we worry about unbroken footpath connections (which you’re not going to have anyway because of boat ramps and the Mission Bay carpark) is some degree of bus priority in both directions.
High St is described in the blurb as “brimming with potential”,there is something amiss,that a destination place like this requires years of consultation. There is a genuine fear here,every carpark removal must be consulted on,surely our elected leaders are better than this. This is ” political roadcones”.
Sounds like that encapsulates Auckland as a whole.
Brimming with potential, but constantly battling and failing to to deliver the required changes.
I’m loving the designs for Te Ara Tukutuku! There is an Auckland Conversations event on tomorrow night on this https://conversations.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/events/regenerative-practices
One thing need to know, how much money for each of the project and the total needed! How the money comes from? Do we (the Auckland Government) already have sufficient money now or how the money can be created??
Don’t want Auckland Council again and again spend like a billionaire.
15yrs for a park….hopefully the main thrust of it can be delivered before the end of this decade, with saltwater pools and laneways to be the icing on the cake, later.
It is the largest city park in over 100 years and it is being constructed on what is a very complex site – it also has to last for the next hundred years or more. 15 years does not seem unreasonable. The consenting will be complex, as well as environmental management.
I thought sute decontamination had already been done and that has long been pointed to as one of the major reasons the process would take so long. But maybe I am misinformed.
Could you explain a bit on the consent complexity?
Yes, the de-contamination has already been completed, but this is a coastal environment, with a lot of new structures being built into the seabed for coastal resilience. There will need to be ongoing testing to ensure that the de-contamination has worked effectively. There is also consenting for all the new construction to the south of the park. There will also be staging considerations and water-runoff concerns that need to be managed. It is not simply a case of planting up a garden bed. The approvals process can be complex and time consuming.
Expect Simeon Browne to veto this plan and build a terminal for used car deliveries instead.
Slander! Wynyard Quarter is a prime piece of real estate! Land like that should be used for a new-car terminal rather than wasted on used ones.
How high above sea level will the new area be? Wouldn’t want it to be underwater in 30 years’ time.
Whilst just about anything would be better than the current state of the Tank Farm, this option is very disappointing.
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Reality is we’re taking semi-valuable land and turning it into a mini-forest. It’s about as sensible as demolishing Britomart and building a petrol station in it’s place. You build forests on non-valuable land, not on the edge of a city (unless the land has sufficient incline to be unsuitable for development).
What is the projected cost for this project and what cost/benefit analysis has been completed?
As for High Street, who cares. The street lost it’s spark 15 years ago and Auckland Transport, with its record of destroying value, is not the organisation to change that.
There are actually some valid points in here. However, even without additional activities like waka launches and storytellers, this will attract people who will spend money in the area. It definitely will make the waterfront a nicer place to be.
Do you have other suggestions what should be build there instead?
What would you put there instead?
Don Brash as the 200m high Colosuss, stradling the entrace to the Waitemata Harbour by the sounds of his post…
The whole are should be a 10 story concrete parking lot. No trees no seats, we need cars to efficiently get there and park and look at nothing. /s
‘Mini-forest’…or, in other words…a park? Why is setting aside land for a park contentious?
Its about as sensible as Central Park in New York. You could argue its a waste of very valuable land, or you could argue its invaluable as a park.
Think of how many more Mansons Glass boxes we could plonk on all that land though!
Can’t wait to be part of the 1% of Aucklanders to use this park as Matthew points out, although wasn’t aware that trees, paths and swimming spots were now woke
“As for High Street, who cares. The street lost it’s spark 15 years ago and Auckland Transport, with its record of destroying value, is not the organisation to change that.’
Auckland Council was responsible for the High Street footpath project. Details can be found here: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-projects/projects-central-auckland/projects-auckland-city-centre/Pages/high-street-transformation.aspx
What utter nonsense. Some of the most beautiful cities in the world have parks located right on their waterfronts – Sydney’s botanic gardens are the most obvious example. The development of commercial / residential space to the south of the park is a way of generating income for the city as well as bringing more people into this area. On what possible planet is this comparable to demolishing Britomart Station and replacing it with a petrol station?
15 years is not excessive for both the scope if what is proposed and the funding it will need. time for the Wynyard Quarter ratepayers to put in their fair share, alongside the developers of the Marine Industry and development areas.
A good, distinct, protected bus turn-round at the south end of the broad shared space will be a great help for access (nothing like the end of Pt Chev Rd….).
What they need to do is to extend the tram lines to there , mainly to keep the area free of cars and make it easier for those that want to visit .
First order of business will be to finally clean up St Marys Bay and get rid of some of the toxic mud which seeps out of every drain and sewer that dumps into the area. Nobody should be swimming anywhere near the area in its current state.
Well yeah, but that is one of the few things we can reliably expect to get better over time, so why not assume a few pools / swimming areas for a park in 15 years?
I think when Watercare finish with their tunnel that may help with the quality of the water running into the Harbour .
Bangaroo Reserve in Sydney is a very similar wharf-to-park development. It is a pretty cool park! https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/barangaroo-reserve.
I took the fam to the very fun carnival on Saturday at Wyndard Quarter. I didn’t actually have time to check out the development plans, with all the roller skating and group dancing!
That does look good.
This project looks great at first look, will be a fantastic asset for the city, for generations to come.
Looks great. The images are interesting. They show a grey current harbour without a single boat somehow transformed into a colourful harbour with lots of boats and whales – all due to the new park. Not sure all of those whales being attracted to shore by this development is a good idea though. Beached Az?
Looks great but there really should be some form of public transport out there for those less able to walk/run/cycle out there.
A spur of the current Aussie vintage tram up there and then going across the viaduct via the bridge that needs replacing to Britomart would be very popular with locals and tourists alike.
But that is too visionary for AT or the council so will never happen. grrr
Extending the tram would be expensive and the frequencies terrible, I would have thought.
Electric golf carts might be an option though.
“A spur of the current Aussie vintage tram up there and then going across the viaduct via the bridge that needs replacing to Britomart would be very popular with locals and tourists alike.’
Mike Lee’s toy tram project has been a costly failure.
The tram was last discussed in 2018 when, after operation having been disrupted for years due to construction in the Quarter, councillors voted against the recommendation of officers and agreed to spend around $6.6 million to reinstate the service.
The problem with the tram has always been that it doesn’t have a transport purpose. It’s a tourist gimmick, a horizontal Ferris wheel if you will. As described by MOTAT: “The Auckland Dockline Tramway is a 1.5 km circular tour around Wynyard Quarter with a short commentary provided by the Tram Driver along the way.”
And while it was cheap to ride ($2 adult, $1 child, seniors and under-5s free), it’s not cheap to run: back in 2018 Panuku estimated it cost about $190,000 per annum to operate, yet over its entire existence from 2011 to 2018 it had only collected about $330,000 in revenue – and most of that was from its initial operating months during the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
And that’s my point. Get it going to and from places people actually want to go. Not just round in circles like a fair ground attraction at Rainbows End!
“some form of public transport”
Erm, you mean like the three frequent bus routes that together have a departure every three minutes all day long?
I think this could be a bit of an issue, but more in terms of future-proofing for light rail or metro to cross the harbour. Most ideas were through here I think, admittedly some tunnelled which would still work and leave this park unspoiled. Bridge options would be cheaper though & allow trains/active modes. Perhaps just run it on the current Harbour Bridge, take some lanes, add in the grandiose cycle/walking path on the side. This is a serious idea in that it does reduce general road capacity which would work wonders for the environment and reducing emissions. Until that is added to the side, we could take one lane “Liberate the Lane” – see Bike Auckland & is all very cost-effective. If we introduce congestion pricing then we should price it accordingly for the bridge so to have the desired traffic flow.
This strategic location should be reserved for a future harbour crossing. A tunneled light rail and motorway portal is ideal to enhance connectivity towards the aptly named Viaduct Harbour. We should preserve the namesake of such roading infrastructure by limiting unproductive development that would thwart efficiency. Removal of tanks is the first step in future proofing cross-harbour transportation solutions Auckland desperately needs.
ah more roads, now you have Simeon really excited. But they have to be highly productive roads where you can drive as fast as you think you are safely able to. Very soon that will snap NZ out of the doldrums of declining productivity; without of course overlooking the tremendous contribution that the removal of road cones will cause. Am I missing something, would the productivity of almost every street, especially narrow ones, have productivity improved by removing parked cars? Is this in the plan? It must be surely? It’s zero cost because the government does not have to spend anything to achieve it. It must be coming?
As I understand it, the area is planned to have a Wynyard rapid transit station, with the line going on to Aotea.
It was, until the brainiac motorway builders got put in charge of the light rail and harbour crossing projects, and sunk both into a fifty billion dollar metro pipe dream plan.
Now you might get a road tunnel with extra lanes hosing cars at Fanshawe street, no train though.
I said rapid transit, which includes busways. And I think that’s what you will get, via a bridge.
But yes, you probably will get the car lanes, too…
All this time and that’s where we’re going to do? Some trees and grass?
Run a concrete apron along the edge, use it as a decent sea wall and run race cars on it (and around the surrounding marine precinct) for a week a year. You can organically have these things in public parks, like Albert Park in Aus.
I assume most of the time it will be too unsafe for the public to use outside of daylight hours so this would at least give it some usage for people who don’t work in the CBD.
Yeah, traffic in circles going nowhere! Seriously, f* race cars.
Look, I do think you have a good point about thinking ahead about how we could use this for more “events”
I’m not sure there is the space and afety requirements might mean you would need to line the point with safety walls, but an e-Grand Prix around there and the wider marine precinct once a year (like Melbourne GP) isn’t a bad idea. Maybe a test cricket ground could be configured once a year (like Hagley). Open air concerts look an easy one.
But first and foremost, a giant park there will be magnificent.
omg more and more consultations… for what? why they just can’t get on with it? ridiculous