EXCLUSIVE
Auckland Council has been meeting behind closed doors to consider new proposals for the city’s waterfront.
The Herald can exclusively reveal they include an open-air seawater swimming pool, aquaculture, an exhibition centre and “Te Ao Māori showcase centre”, and an amphitheatre in the water.
But there’s no word on what will happen to the car imports, or how everything will be paid for.
The new plans suggest raising much of the port land by at least 0.6 metres, to provide climate resilience, and creating pathways for floodwaters. They reject the idea of a stadium on the waterfront.
The first round of developments would focus on recreation and cultural facilities on the finger wharves at the bottom of the central city. This includes Queens Wharf along with Captain Cook and Marsden wharves immediately to the east. The Hobson Wharf extension, built for the America’s Cup in the Viaduct, is also included.
Mayor Wayne Brown is driving the plans and suggests the finger wharves could be freed up for development “within the next two to five years”.
These wharves are currently used by Ports of Auckland (POA) for its vehicle-importing business and for berthing cruise ships.
The plan does not include any proposals for how they, or any of the port’s other operations, might continue. “Assessment of any future locations for the port or feasibility of port relocation” and “detailed costings for future uses” are all described as “out of scope”.
In addition to the short-term conversion of the finger wharves, the plan proposes a staged release over coming decades of the entire 77-hectare commercial area of the port. It suggests that about half the land could be built on, for commercial and public uses, with the remainder retained for public open spaces and “infrastructure”. This could include new streets.
Yesterday, the council held the second of two closed-door “workshops” on these proposals. The meetings were informal, but a formal decision on how to proceed is expected soon.
Brown said he is pleased with progress.
“I want us to deliver to Auckland the most beautiful and loved publicly owned waterfront of any harbour city in the world,” he said, “and this is a first step.”
After yesterday’s meeting, he told the Herald there is “broad support” among councillors for the first stage of the proposals. But the next stage, which would involve removing the cars from Bledisloe Wharf, is “not yet over the line”.
The proposals are contained in a report by the council’s “placemaking agency”, Eke Panuku, which Brown asked for earlier this year. In the council workshops, Eke Panuku presented its report with support from two independent consultancy companies, Flagstaff Partners and GHD Engineering.
Flagstaff is the Australian firm that provided “financial and strategic advice” to council on the sale of its airport shares. GHD is a global consultancy with a branch operation in New Zealand.
The port company was not involved in the workshops and was not invited by the mayor to help create the plans.
While Queens Wharf is council-owned, most of the other waterfront areas proposed for development belong to POA. That company is also owned by the council, but it operates under an act of Parliament at arm’s length from its owners.
Eke Panuku’s report to council is titled Port Precinct: Future Development. It is described as a “conceptual plan” for how the precinct could be transformed.
The mayor, for one, is keen to see this plan advanced.
“I have strong public support for getting more public access to the harbour,” he said.
“By freeing up and developing these valuable waterfront spaces, we have an opportunity to create a world-class arts, culture and entertainment destination that celebrates our identity and evokes pride in Aucklanders.”
He has set a deadline of December this year for the ideas in the report to be turned into more specific plans.
“I am still opened minded about the best solution and am genuinely interested in hearing what councillors, the Maritime Union and users of the Port and Aucklanders think about it.”
Asked if Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei been part of the development process to date, the mayor’s spokesperson told the Herald, “Not at this stage”. She later explained that Eke Panuku has “consulted with mana whenua who are happy for them to progress as they are”.
Asked what would happen to the existing operations on the affected wharves, including the vehicle landings and cruise ship operations, the spokesperson said this was “to be determined”.
In addition to the costs of relocation and construction of new facilities, the report also notes that major stormwater and wastewater investment will be needed “to connect [the port] land to city infrastructure”.
Eke Panuku noted that a waterfront stadium would “provide many benefits to the city”, but did not think it would be the best use of any site on the port land.
The report also poses a number of questions about the balance between commercial development, which would provide revenue, and public space and other non-commercial uses.
“A new regional park or wetland or even declaiming parts of the site,” it says, “could help the city adapt to climate change and improve the health of the harbour and our people”.
Public amenities like the seawater pool would also be commercial, although perhaps not big money-spinners.
Between now and December, Eke Panuku will engage with “stakeholders”, do more work on the plans and then report back to the council on the “key moves to get us there”.
Brown told the Herald he was inspired for the recreational potential of the waterfront on a visit to Denmark when he saw the popular Aarhus Harbour Bath, a seawater pool.
If he gets his wish, we could be swimming near Queens Wharf and going to concerts on the water, well before the end of the decade.
Free up the central finger wharves for public recreational and cultural use over 2-5 years.
Raise the port land by at least 0.6 metres to provide climate resilience.
Over time, halve the total port area to be built on for commercial and public use, the other half used for infrastructure and public open spaces.
Nine principles to guide development:
· Honouring Te Tiriti and mana whenua partnership.
· High-quality design throughout.
· Publicly accessible, particularly access to the water’s edge.
· Improve the health and mauri of the Waitematā Harbour.
· Celebrate the area’s history and heritage.
· Wide range of supporting uses.
· Climate resilience with measures to mitigate stormwater flooding and sea-level rise.
· No further net reclamation.
· Protecting important view shafts.
A waterfront stadium is not proposed.
Costs, ownership and plans for relocating the existing port operations all still to be determined.
Simon Wilson is an award-winning senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018.