Grand ideas for Auckland City's heart

Plans to "breathe new life" into Auckland's Aotea Square could include an underground street, giant outdoor entertainment screens and a new home for the city's biggest library.

Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard's "Outside the Square" exercise to look at opportunities arising from the $50 million Civic carpark leaky-roof crisis has lived up to its name.

A "think tank" of leading business leaders and an advisory group of designers and architects has come up with plans to do away with the square's sunken area, build a new road beneath the square and put up a huge north-south canopy across the Aotea Centre that tilts to act as a screen for project images.

It also suggests realigning the SkyCity cinemas to let more sun into the square and moving the central library from out-of-the-way Lorne St.

"As we understand it, there is more foot traffic across the doorstep of Borders bookshop than the central library," Mr Hubbard said.

The revamp was sparked by an estimated repair bill for the cracked and leaky Civic carpark roof, built in 1978, of $50 million.

An engineers' report found reinforcing used for the roof was a soft steel unable to carry the load of the concrete roof of the carpark, let alone crowds using the square for special events.

Some details on costings for the new plans will be released today, Mr Hubbard said, although in June this year he mentioned figures of between $10 million and $20 million for a square upgrade over and above the bill for the carpark roof.

Mr Hubbard said councillors had been kept briefed on the proposals, which would be considered at a council meeting on Thursday.

"Obviously there will be robust council discussion," he said.

Other proposals for the square upgrade could include expanding the underground carpark from 930 to 2500 spaces by adding four levels behind the Bledisloe Building

Provision could also be made for an underground rail station behind the Aotea Centre.

Another idea was to use landscaping to make nearby Mayoral Drive one of Auckland's "great walking streets" by linking Myers Park with the square at its southern end with a pavilion and making Mayoral Drive easier for pedestrians to cross.

Plans for a new arts precinct, with rehearsal, administrative and education facilities for the performing arts behind the Town Hall, including a new 1200-seat theatre, have already been endorsed by the advisory group.

One of the bolder ideas involves realigning the SkyCity cinema centre by taking a wedge off the side fronting the square to let in more sun.

This would need SkyCity's okay.

Square thinkers

* Think-tank members included Westpac chief executive Ann Sherry, Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall, Beca chairman Gavin Cormack and Bryan Mogridge.

* An advisory board on the plans was headed by Melbourne urban designer Stuart Niven and included architects Ian Athfield and Julie Stout.

* These groups have been supported by a reference group with "wide-ranging interests", another group of organisations and property owners directly affected, and a project team of senior council officers.