Te Kotahitanga o Te Ātiawa have broad ambitions for new Mt Taranaki visitor centre

The 43-year old centre is looking tired. Photo / Te Korimako o Taranaki

The iwi building a new visitor centre on Taranaki Maunga says it must serve a range of uses and link with other regional tourism offerings.

Te Kotahitanga o Te Ātiawa last week announced it would manage the design and build to replace the North Egmont Visitor Centre, and would underwrite the project while more funding is sought.

Te Kotahitanga will lead a partnership with the Department of Conservation (DoC) and Kānoa - the Government’s Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit.

Dated panels and models will be replaced by yet-to-be-decided displays. Photo/ Te Korimako o Taranaki

The 43-year-old centre is looking tired, and Te Kotahitanga chairwoman Liana Poutu said the new building would be quite different.

“The aspiration is to have space up there where we can undertake cultural activities, wānanga [customary forums] and such.”

For Taranaki Māori, the maunga is a tūpuna [ancestor], and iwi and Crown negotiators have already agreed the mountain and ranges of the park will become a legal person, Te Kāhui Tupua, which will officially own itself.

“We’re really focusing on that cultural reconnection of our people with our tūpuna, and how we facilitate that and … allow people to learn about our connections with our tūpuna,” said Poutu.

“There will be an expression of cultural narratives in the new build, but what exactly that looks like and what exactly they are – it’s still quite early in the piece.”

Poutu said designing the centre will begin with a wānanga of Te Ātiawa members this Saturday at Muru Raupatu marae.

“If our people are going to buy into the vision for that site, they have to create it and be a part of it.”

DoC will continue to provide visitor centre services, and its regional director Daniel Heinrich said the partnership was important for Taranaki “as it strongly reflects some of the fundamental aspects of our Treaty of Waitangi partnership and enhances that vital relationship”.

Poutu said existing services would be continued.

“That centre serves as a search and rescue base… the new facility still has to be able to provide visitor information, safety information, we need public bathroom facilities; all of those things the public currently enjoys.”

Services such as information for trampers will continue to be provided by the Department of Conservation. Photo / Te Korimako o Taranaki

But the new facility would also look to the rest of Taranaki. The centre rebuild began as part of the Taranaki Crossing upgrade from Te Rere o Kāpuni (Dawson Falls) around the maunga to Pouākai Hut.

Taranaki Crossing was part of the Tapuwae Roa Regional Economic Development Strategy, and Poutu said the visitor centre partners always had an eye to other mountain sites, and to places like New Plymouth’s award-winning Māori-design airport terminal, Te Hono.

“How does it connect to the narratives being told at the airport? How does it connect to the narratives being told at Parihaka, at their facility?”

Almost $3 million has already been granted from the Provincial Growth Fund, and Kānoa’s Taranaki regional adviser Bridget Sullivan said Te Kotahitanga’s project management would “offer visitors a much richer experience during their time on Taranaki Maunga”.

Poutu was reluctant to estimate the final price tag, as the partners were still looking for more money.

“We don’t want to say this is the figure, and limit it: if we can get more money, we can do more at that site.”

“It depends where we land in terms of design and fit-out, because telling narratives with storyboards is one kind of cost - telling it in a way that’s similar to the airport is different. And who knows how we might use technology… that will be another cost.”

Maximising the existing site will be challenging: the carpark is already jammed even on a weekday morning. Photo/ Te Korimako o Taranaki

Geotechnical assessments will help select the best site within the existing footprint, including the carpark, to avoid any loss of bush.

Construction is expected to begin late this year.

Auckland’s TOA Architects won the contract, with a design history including Te Motu a Hiaroa Marae and Visitor Centre, Hauturu o Toi/Little Barrier Island Visitor Centre, Te Kura Whare for Ngāi Tūhoe and the Whanganui Māori Regional Tourism Organisation Eco-Tourism Hub.

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.