Kerre Woodham: Put off by the plastic pavilions

Party Central has been quietly shelved. Photo / Supplied

Dear me. First, Party Central and now a plastic waka. Hardly the sort of visionary statement we imagined making as hosts for the Rugby World Cup.

Party Central attracted much derision when it was first mooted as a place where rugby fans, local and international, could gather to watch footy games live on the big screen.

In the spirit of Federation Square in Melbourne and Henman's Hill at Wimbledon, Murray McCully and John Key spoke of happy, fun-loving sports fans gathering together in a spirit of bonhomie and socially responsible booziness. Aucklanders, male and female, raised manicured eyebrows and wondered who in god's name would be attracted to a plastic turd-shaped dome on the windswept and desolate waterfront when you could be partying just a few metres down at sophisticated, centrally heated watering holes at the Viaduct.

Optimists pointed out that plans for the Viaduct had been scoffed at when they were first mooted for the America's Cup and look how successful the Viaduct revamp had been.

Now it seems that the whole idea of Party Central has been quietly shelved - a bit like a do where nobody has RSVP'd - and the $9.8 million dome will be used to host trade displays for New Zealand industries.

Way to show visitors a good time, New Zealand.

Obviously, we have to leverage the Rugby World Cup into marketing opportunities for local businesses but, again, how is a plastic dome in the middle of nowhere going to parlay into nailing business orders?

I can't see a plastic waka being much of a help either, though the money set aside to build and run the 60m waka-shaped pavilion is hardly going to break the bank, even in these straitened times.

However, many marae around the country have applied for licenses to operate as B&Bs, giving the intrepid traveller the opportunity for a unique experience that will afford them a better opportunity to experience tikanga Maori than listening to Ngati Whatua strum a few guitars in a plastic multi-cultural events centre to be built in a former carpark.

When the man behind the Sydney Olympic Games spoke at a dinner recently about planning for and running major international events, he stressed the importance of planning for the future. What we had to do, said Rod McKeogh, was ask ourselves how we envisaged our country 20, even 30, years after the event - how could the structures and the infrastructure built for a short-term event be incorporated into our plans for next generations New Zealand?

Nobody should be able to justify forking out dosh for piecemeal projects and short-term structures to be used during a month-long event.

If, however, the money spent was just a tiny proportion of a budget that looked to the future needs of the country, how could anyone complain?

It is true that one of the most recognised and acclaimed structures in the world, the Eiffel Tower, was built for a short-term expo over the dead bodies of furious Parisians. Letters to the editor were written by art critics, architects and the general public denouncing the ugliness, expense and inappropriateness of the tower - and no doubt there were more than a few columnists who railed against it, too.

They were proved wrong and perhaps I will be in time, although it's hard to see how a couple of plastic pavilions can be seen as comparable.