A beaming Whangārei mayor Vince Cocurullo in front of the new Civic Centre building after its opening. Photo / Michael Cunningham
A beaming Whangārei mayor Vince Cocurullo in front of the new Civic Centre building after its opening. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland’s greenest new commercial building - Whangārei District Council’s $59 million Te Iwitahi - opened to the public while the sun rose and fog lifted for a chilly dawn ribbon-cutting ceremony.
About 60 people, including former mayors and deputy mayors, current and past councillors, and Ngā Hapū o Whangārei, attendedtoday’s ribbon cutting for the newly-named civic centre.
Whangārei mayor Vince Cocurullo cut the ribbon using scissors gifted for the purpose by his predecessor Sheryl Mai when she stood down from office at the October 2022 elections.
The civic centre’s name, Te Iwitahi, was gifted by Ngā Hapū o Whangarei on May 22, at their dawn kawanga whare blessing ceremony for the building, which was attended by 200 kaumāuta, kuia and hapū members, Whangārei District Council (WDC) council staff and Northland Transportation Alliance workers, consultants and building contractors.
Te Iwitahi acknowledges a principal ancestor whose lineage ties together the tribes of the land the civic centre and Whangārei city has been developed on.
Mayor Vince Cocurullo and deputy mayor Phil Halse at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Photo / Michael Cunningham
A direct descendant of Te Iwitahi, Hinemoa Apetera (Te Parawhau), attended the kawanga whare and today’s ribbon cutting.
She said Te Iwitahi would strengthen relationships between all people in Whangārei.
Te Iwitahi descendant Eva Wihongi Apetera Vaughan (Te Parawhau) chanted a haunting moteatea (prayer), its words about blessing the building, the city and the surrounding environment in which it sits.
Cocurullo said the name Te Iwitahi made reference to the building’s essence, that it was for everyone - as evidenced by the welcome in many languages above its main entranceway, with room for more.
WDC chief executive Simon Weston said Te Iwitahi, designed in conjunction with hapū, represented a new way of working together.
WDC corporate general manager Alan Adcock said the project had been a long journey.
Ten-year council politician from 1978 and former deputy mayor Dave Reyburn (87) said the building was an example of moving with the times.
Te Iwitahi is the third civic building Reyburn has worked in or seen, starting with Whangārei City Council’s old municipal building in Bank St, then Forum North where the council became WDC, through to today.
Haylee Molencelli, 11, Creative Northland manager Olivia Garelja and Leela Harding, 12, enjoy the newly landscaped Civic Centre. Photo / Michael Cunningham
He said Te Iwitahi set the council up well for the next 50 years. It would be a good central point for what he predicted would likely be an amalgamation of Northland’s current four councils to one within the next decade, depending on which Government was in power.
WDC business support manager Eddie Wotherspoon said Te Iwitahi’s shape and design, along with the materials used in its construction, were among its foundation green principles.
The building features solar panels feeding energy back into the council system. Rainwater is collected from the roof and stored in underground tanks for use in ground-floor toilets. The building’s energy use and production data will be gathered over the next year as a benchmark for future monitoring. Te Iwitahi is rated through an independent Government-backed office building energy efficiency accreditation system. Its live energy use data will be displayed on screens around the building.
Te Iwitahi has electric chargers, including for cars and bikes. It sits between Whangārei’s shared paths of Kamo to the north and Raumanga to the south. There are four e-bike chargers with secure parking for 36 bikes and scooters, initiatives to encourage people to be more active and leave their cars at home. Showers are available for commuting cyclists.
The civic centre also has a rongoā garden (traditional medicinal garden).
Adcock said Te Iwitahi was the first building in Northland to have a bathroom area with a shower, disabled hoist and change table for those who were in town and might require its use.
The new $59 million civic centre is now open to the public. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Te Iwitahi also features a staff prayer room.
Adcock said this would provide for people such as Muslim staff who had difficulty finding a place at work to pray, and previously had to go home to do so.
There is also a breastfeeding room and children’s play area for staff.
Former mayor Stan Semenoff said Te Iwitahi was now part of the infrastructure jigsaw of Whangārei.
Te Iwitahi’s first customer was former WDC councillor Tricia Cutforth, who paid her $19.22 water connection bill at the front counter’s customer services area, after the ribbon cutting.
Cutforth retired from local government politics at the last election, but before then was one of two WDC councillors detailed to work closely with the civic centre build.
“I am very supportive of Te Iwitahi. It’s not a vanity project, it’s a very future-facing building,” Cutforth said.
■ Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.
