New-look harbour a step closer for Auckland

Ports of Auckland expects to make public its refined redevelopment concepts for Auckland harbour's western reclamation area next month.

The ports company announced staged proposals for New Zealand's biggest urban renewal project at a public display in September last year.

Since then the ports company has been reviewing extensive public feedback on the concepts and is involved in talks with the Auckland City Council on possible amendments.

Ports project manager Ben Chrystall said the public feedback received directly and through the project website (see link below) had generally been very supportive of the initial model which had made refining the overall proposition a reasonably straightforward task.

"The trick is coming up with a redevelopment scheme that takes into account all views as far as practicable, without destroying the economics," he said. "At the end of the day, redevelopment cannot occur unless the numbers stack up. We are certainly getting the message that the public is keen to see the development get off the ground as soon as possible and we will be doing our bit to keep the project moving ahead."

Chrystall said the ports company was working closely with the Auckland Regional Council and the city council towards a shared vision for the waterfront. It had carefully studied the potential outcomes.

The city council intended to introduce planned changes for the western reclamation area by the end of May and to then run a further public consultation programme.

Chrystall said a best-case scenario would possibly see work start on the first stage of the 20ha site in 2008.

The project was divided into several stages, recognising that market demand may take up to 20 years to absorb the land which the ports company would lease to developers.

To ensure the development could proceed smoothly, the company had negotiated an early end to some existing leases, and was discussing with some tenants the possibility of relocating on other ports company land in the future.

Many of the businesses already in the area had leases with a number of years to run, and the redevelopment plans, which would see the progressive removal of the large storage tanks, had to take that into account.

Chrystall said everyone accepted the storage tanks must go but products such as bunkering fuel, bitumen and cement were essential commodities for the region and still needed to be stored.

The first stage to be developed would be the central part of the site. Known as the Spine, it comprised the area along the Jellicoe St and new North Wharf axis, which would include a new fishing precinct. This area would be used for a mix of offices, restaurants and retail premises. There would also be a broad public plaza on Jellicoe St which would be linked to Quay St by a rotating bridge from Te Wero Island in the Viaduct Harbour.

The second stage would be the redevelopment of the northern end of the peninsula.

The area between Madden and Pakenham streets would be developed next, and after that the north of the Spine on the peninsula.

Chrystall said the company had invested several million dollars to ensure that the overall concept, as presently planned, would be viable economically.

Although the site was flat, it had challenging features, including the need to re-build extensive sea walls, restore wharves and deal with areas that were contaminated.

San Francisco designer Peter Walker, who has worked on the concepts with local firm Architectus, said the traditional industrial feel of the site should not be lost.

In that regard, he said there was the opportunity for the prominent cement silos to be incorporated in "an iconic public building" when the cement industry was eventually relocated.

About 20 per cent of the available land area had been set aside for new public areas and parks and 23 per cent would be taken up by roads. Just over half the land area would be available for marine, fishing, residential, office, retail and entertainment uses.

Walker said that internationally, the opportunities for urban renewal on this scale were rare, because CBD land ownership was frequently fragmented. The fact that Ports of Auckland was the single owner of the land north of Pakenham Street and had long established relationships with most of the lessees made the task of freeing up land to meet a staged redevelopment timetable much more achievable.

Chrystall said the company's intention was not to compete with developers but to lease areas for development in accordance with the plan as it was finally approved.