Bigger library part of new town centre

Northwest Auckland is growing so fast that Massey Library, opened eight years ago, is already at capacity and unable to meet future demand from expanding towns 15 minutes' drive away.

Yesterday, the Waitakere City Council called for tenders to design a new library three times larger, as well as a town square and bus interchange for the proposed Westgate Town Centre.

All three elements were expected to open in early 2013 as part of the centre's first stage, said the council's city northern growth chairwoman, Linda Cooper.

The centre is being developed by NZ Retail Property Group and will be linked across the road to the Westgate shops, developed in 1998 on the paddocks of Massey North.

Mrs Cooper said timing of the first stage public facilities depended on resource consents being granted.

Planning for the town centre goes back eight years.

Even then, it was known that the new Massey Library would be better placed a further 10 minutes' walk north.

That was where planners eyed farmland on the other side of State Highway 16 as the site of a significant expansion of the city limits, with room for 5000 homes and hundreds of businesses.

Auckland Regional Council approved the city limit shift to include the 450ha in March.

Needs of the booming Massey area were met at the time by teaming the library with the Massey Leisure Centre. The resulting complex earned sustainable building awards for its energy-saving features, such as photovoltaic panels to generate solar power.