Plans unveiled for new park on wasteland at Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter

The proposed Te Ara Tukutuku park at the end of Wynyard Quarter.

Plans to turn the barren wasteland at the tip of Wynyard Quarter on Auckland’s waterfront into parkland complete with a pōhutukawa coastal walk, coves, and open space are on show this month.

The council’s development agency Eke Panuku Auckland is seeking public feedback on Te Ara Tukutuku, billed as the region’s first new urban park in more than a century.

It is part of the next stage at Wynyard Quarter that involves transforming 10ha of land into open space and a mixture of apartments and commercial buildings for the marine industry and others.

Eke Panuku has accelerated work on the project since the America’s Cup in 2021 alongside Mana Whenua and other groups.

A bird's-eye view of the plans for the end of Wynyard Quarter.

Feedback last year on the vision to transform the area from its petrochemical past into a healthy and thriving foreshore has been fed into draft concept plans for feedback until the end of the month.

From the feedback, Aucklanders called for places to swim, jump and engage with the sea; walking and cycling paths, with spaces for quiet reflection and being in nature; a diverse range of educational and research programmes; being involved in healing and caring for the space; an enhanced marine environment; and native trees to support bird life.

An artist's impression of the coastal walk at the park.

The plans show recreating the point with native plantings, rocky coves, a lookout platform at the tip, and a generous urban promenade along the eastern side facing an enclosed harbour named Te Unga Jellicoe Harbour.

The project has been allocated $119 million up to 2024, and is expected to take 15 years to complete.