KEY POINTS:
An $80 million upgrade of Aotea Square is attracting criticism over the time it has taken, the design and fears about cost overruns.
Auckland City Council starts public consultation next week on the makeover. A big part of the project is replacing the leaky Civic carpark roof, which is gobbling up $45 million of the $80 million budget.
The design - the third since 2000 - has already drawn fire from the council's urban design panel, the CBD board and Heart of the City.
When City Vision councillors viewed a rough design sketch, they likened it to a "stark concrete jungle" lacking the wow factor.
What's more, Mayor John Banks has "serious concerns" over the cost, given the council's record of cost overruns on big projects.
"It's Queen St all over again. It's a headless chook with no visionary leadership," said one source close to the project.
The source said the upgrade had dragged on for eight years, gone through numerous ad hoc changes and time constraints left no time for genuine consultation or input by councillors.
Dr Jill McPherson, the arts, community and recreation general manager who oversaw the Queen St, Vulcan Lane and Khartoum Place suffragette memorial fiascos, said it was not unusual for major public projects to change and evolve.
She produced a paper for the Herald showing landscape architects Ted Smyth and Associates had been paid $492,000 on the first two designs. The company has also been paid $278,000 of a $1,029,075 contract to see the current design through to completion.
The company won a design competition in 2000 and was retained for the next designs without having to go to tender due to the "substantial intellectual knowledge" obtained during the first design process.
Dr McPherson said Ted Smyth and Associates picked up structural damage to the carpark roof in December 2004 that meant the first design could not go ahead.
The upgrade also went off the tracks with previous Mayor Dick Hubbard's Outside the Square project, which came up with a $650 million plan that included an underground street and moving the library to Aotea Square. Asked about cost overruns on Aotea Square, Dr McPherson said: "I just can't allow there to be cost overruns. It would be unacceptable."
The plan for Aotea Square involves repairing the carpark roof and spending $25 million on upgrading Aotea Square.
Part of the project involves removing the Aotea Centre's front steps. A new set of steps will be centred on the front entrance and a new box office and cafe provided at a cost of $10 million.
The quality and overall scope of the design for the new Aotea Square, with a paved area large enough to accommodate 20,000 people and three stepped lawn terraces, has drawn criticism.
Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney said: "This underwhelming plan is compromised by budgets rather than imagination."
There are also concerns at the loss of several trees in or around the square, and at a favoured native planting theme, which caused much heartache in Queen St and led to a back-down. In the past month, a proposal to cut down a large pin oak bordering the square on Queen St has been scrapped.
Mr Banks said he was lukewarm towards the design and prepared to spend more on a better one if that was what the public wanted. But once the budget was finalised, he would personally take accountability for the costs.
WAITING FOR A NEW SQUARE
* 2000: Competition for new square.
* 2001-2004: First design.
* December 2004: Leaks discovered in Civic carpark roof.
* 2005: Outside the Square study.
* 2006-2007: Second design.
* 2008: Third design.
