Grand plans put suburb down by sea

By ANNE GIBSON

Auckland's central business district could be converted into a "central social district" with the redevelopment of 32ha of wastelands bringing an entirely new suburb to the city.

Two Sydney experts in property and planning, Stuart Hornery and Malcolm Latham, who are key influences on the Auckland Waterfront Advisory Group, are airing the plans in the lead-up to a workshop next week on what to do with the waterfront.

They say Auckland's CBD could be transformed by a shift to the water, the creation of a new social heart and a vision as grand as billion-dollar overseas developments.

Under their scheme, a new suburb with more people than St Marys Bay and Herne Bay combined would bring 10,500 people to live in waterfront apartments on the Western Reclamation.

Work would not be expected to start until 2005 and could take about 20 years to complete.

While the neighbouring Viaduct Basin adds colour to the city's CBD, the area hidden behind the America's Cup bases remains stubbornly black and white with grim workshops and warehouses separating decaying tank fields and rusting fishing boats.

In their place are envisaged shops, restaurants, offices, cafes, a tertiary research institute specialising in marine activities, convention/exhibition centre, hotel, fish markets, waterways and canals, capped off with an icon or major attraction at the end of Wynyard Wharf where the tank farm stands.

The proposed upgrades are still in the ideas stage but are part of rapidly spreading discussions on how Auckland's waterfront can replicate the success of the Cup-inspired Viaduct.

The plan draws its inspiration from overseas developments such as New Caledonia's Tjibaou cultural centre, the Bluewater shopping development in England and Sydney's Darling Harbour.

In an essay on the subject, Mr Hornery and Mr Latham say: "The CBD could become the CSD - the central social district. Downtowns are nowadays becoming more diverse, less nine-to-five business centres, and more places where visitors congregate, residents live and everyone enjoys."

At issue is how to transform the Western Reclamation into an area that brings world attention to Auckland, particularly Maori and Pacific Islands aspects of its culture.

The redevelopment process began in January when the advisory group, set up by land owners Infrastructure Auckland, Viaduct Harbour Holdings, Ports of Auckland and America's Cup Village Ltd, held its first workshop.





The essay also canvasses the idea of transforming the Western Reclamation into the "Venice of the South" saying the large land mass lacks a connection with the sea at many points.

But the cost of reclaiming more land is expensive.

Mr Hornery and Mr Latham cite spectacular developments in which cities have rebuilt their CBD:

* The $5 billion Bluewater retail development in Kent, England, an internationally acclaimed project built on an old chalk pit.

* Sydney's Darling Harbour - and within that, the $1.2 billion Darling Park - which turned the city's focus towards the sea and shifted the CBD towards the water.

* Tjibaou in Noumea, New Caledonia, a cultural centre inspired by traditional Kanak architecture and showcasing Kanak and Pacific culture.

* Waterfront redevelopments in San Francisco, Boston, Baltimore, Buenos Aires, Cape Town and Oslo.

The public will get a chance to have a say in the redevelopment of the Western Reclamation next month when the advisory group calls for public submissions. The group hopes to put a proposed plan change to the Auckland City Council in December.

But the proposals are not universally welcomed.

Auckland University senior planning tutor Elizabeth Aitken Rose calls any plan to dump a large suburb on the waterfront a disaster for the city.

She opposes the residential dominance of the Viaduct and wants more public space and better transport links.

"We need to look at ways to make it original, different and exciting and create the sense of urbanity which Wellington is very good at."