Editorial: Get rid of those ugly old sheds

Opinion

When a city neglects its heritage as Auckland has for too long, unfortunate things happen. One of them is an eventual reaction that threatens to preserve any buildings of a certain age no matter how cheap and ugly they may be. Take the sheds on Queens Wharf. Take them anywhere.

They have been an eyesore to an approach to the city by ferry, not quite as prominent as the tank farm among symbols of the unrealised visual potential of Auckland's downtown waterfront, but more dowdy and misplaced. Yet no sooner had the public purchase of Queens Wharf been announced this week than the 97-year-old sheds were accorded "historic" status.

This week the Auckland City Council proposed their restoration at a cost of $84 million, one to become a cruise ship terminal, the other possibly a home for the Auckland Theatre Company.

The purchase of Queens Wharf is the most exciting step for the inner city in a long while. It promises public access from Queen St to the harbour beyond the Ferry Building, plus a splendid site for a cruise ship terminal that must be more than a functional barn.

The wharf's position demands a building that will be a feature of the city and harbour, inviting the public as well as ship passengers to linger and enjoy the water and the views.

Apart from their hideous appearance, particularly from the water and the decks of cruise ships, the locations of the twin tin sheds severely restricts what could be done with the wharf spaces left. They divide the wharf into quarters rather than giving use of the whole. It is all too likely that the open quadrants would become car parking for the terminal and theatre.

By the time the transfer of ownership is completed next April, the Government and the Auckland Regional Council will need to have design work well under way if they are to fulfil their aim of delivering a grand new public facility for the Rugby World Cup in September 2011.

If they have not found a suitably impressive design in time, they should not rush it. The bare wharf, cleared of the sheds, resurfaced, fitted with a safety barricade and equipped with a big screen and temporary grandstands, could be a fine "party central" for the Cup. Cruise ships could tie alongside for the duration.

The $40 million wharf purchase announced on Monday already counts as a Cup legacy; it would not have happened without it. Citizens have been looking longingly through the rails of the port operator's red fence for a lifetime. There was no sign of hope until the previous Government offered to buy Queens and adjacent wharves for a stadium.

The central business lobby, Heart of the City, continues to press for all three central wharves to be brought into public ownership for a co-ordinated waterfront development, but to acquire one is better than none.

Queens Wharf is now to be a venue for World Cup crowds to watch games on a big screen and make it "party central", in the Prime Minister's phrase. By then the city council's refurbished Aotea Square is intended to serve a similar purpose.

Central Auckland can surely use both sites. The costs of Eden Park tickets will be such that most local rugby fans will settle for public television. Between screens at the square and the wharf they may turn the whole of Queen St into party central.

The wharf has the potential to be the basis of a public amenity so imposing and popular that the rest of the waterfront opens without much further pressure. We have to do this one well, starting with the removal of the sheds. The only heritage they represent is one of visible embarrassment.