New website launched for renewal of Wynyard Quarter

Wynyard Quarter Smart has been created by Ponsonby-based Method Studios is part of a plan to monitor the sustainable resource usage of the precinct. Photo / Supplied

A new web site has been launched with the key goal of helping the urban renewal of Wynyard Quarter on Auckland's waterfront.

Wynyard Quarter Smart has been created by Ponsonby-based Method Studios is part of a plan to monitor the sustainable resource usage of the precinct.

The web site will capture and analyse data, allowing the area to reach its targets of high sustainability. Building performance and efficiency, actions effective against climate change, the quality of the urban environment and transport will all be recorded.

John Dalzell, CEO of Waterfront Auckland, says this is the first project of its type in New Zealand, and is invaluable in that it will enable owners, tenants and visitors to the area to alter their behaviour, so that their effect on the community is optimally sustainable.

Wynyard Quarter Smart has an incredibly slick rendered design, allowing users to navigate around the precinct and understand the sustainability data of various areas.

Sam Ramlu from Method Studios, the digital firm behind the web site, says she's proud to be involved in such an ambitious "social change narrative" like this for Waterfront Auckland.

"The dashboard experience is one that has huge potential not just on the Auckland waterfront but other similar urban regeneration projects," Ramlu says.

The first data being released on to the Wynayd Quarter Smart website is live pedestrian traffic records in public spaces. Hardware and sensors are also installed in the newly-refurbished Lysaght building, and will help the formation of the new Grid innovation precinct.

In the near future, that data will be supported by that gathered from new buildings, and will eventually record such information as air and water quality between the buildings.

EECA Business has given Waterfront Auckland assistance in creating the website, as well as planning the wider Wynyard Quarter Smart project. The government agency has shared energy management and monitoring strategies, design reviews, innovation and leadership, and implementation.

Check out the web site here - it even has a hole section on the predicted effects of climate change - and check out the overview video produced by SideProject and Method Studios below:

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