Hill flattened, lizards removed to make more space at Wellington Airport

Wellington Airport chief executive Matt Clarke (left) and general manager commercial Richard Dalby. The hill-flattening project should free up valuable space, Clarke says. Photo / Wellington Airport

A new project to free up 10,000 square metres of land is underway near the southern end of Wellington Airport.

The hillock at the end of Stewart Duff Drive is being flattened and excavated to make way for a new ground services equipment workshop.

The hillock at the southern end of Wellington Airport is highlighted in blue. Photo / Google Maps

Wellington Airport chief executive Matt Clarke says the project frees up valuable space to meet the needs of travellers and aviation partners.

“This extra space is vital given we operate in a very constrained site of just 130 hectares compared to Auckland Airport’s 1500 hectares and Christchurch Airport’s 750 hectares.”

The material removed from the hillock will be reused in other locations, including a residential development in Silverstream, Upper Hutt. As part of the work, more than 1200 lizards have been removed from the hillock and rehomed around nearby Moa Point.

The space freed up by the excavation will eventually be used to extend the airport’s apron – the area of an airport where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded, refuelled and boarded.

The excavation of the hillock is forecast to be complete early next year and is in line with Wellington Airport’s 2024 Master Plan.

Vita Molyneux is a Wellington-based journalist who covers breaking news and stories from the capital. She has been a journalist since 2018 and joined the Herald in 2021.