Editorial: Baby Britomart is on the right track

The world's finest cities have never lost their sense of humanity. Development has never been such that people feel dwarfed and alienated. Perhaps that was one of the underlying reasons why so many Aucklanders had such strong misgivings about the original Britomart scheme. In theory, the plan seemed imposing - a huge underground rail and bus terminus and several levels of car parking beneath the sorry block between the former Chief Post Office and Britomart Place. Throw in an element of urban renewal, which seemed just as important as satisfying the preferences of city commuters, and the thinking was nothing if not on a vast scale. Equally largely, however, it was seen as a monster.

The Auckland City Council's commitment of $194 million to a far more modest proposal has, quite rightly, been given a much better reception. Most significantly, it marks a return to thinking on a human scale. Mayor Christine Fletcher is probably right when she describes the scheme as the Baby of Britomart and not, as it has been tagged in some quarters, the Son of Britomart. The winning concept by Californian architect Mario Madayag involves transforming the CPO into a railway station with an underground link to the old Ferry Building.

Done properly, the 90-year-old post office will evoke a grandeur commonly associated with railway stations when the train was king. Instead of a bus terminal, buses will be spread round the Britomart site in Queen Elizabeth II Square and Customs St. Most of the square would be transformed into a meeting place, complete with a pine forest outside the Downtown Shopping Centre.

Inevitably, there will be minor quibbles. Mr Madayag's concept provides for light-rail tracks to skirt around the northern side of the CPO to a bus and light-rail terminus. Some councillors, however, seem extremely keen to see light rail terminate within the CPO. Heavy and light rail would thus be under the one roof.

But accommodating light rail in that manner would carry a cost. The open, airy concourse which is a feature of the world's great railway stations and should be part of Britomart would be compromised. It would also be premature to damage the CPO's facade before plans for an inner-city light-rail loop were confirmed. Obviously, such work would be a total waste if buses were preferred to light rail.

It is also reasonable to inquire if there is a real need to lower the CPO floor to street level, the more so because that, along with running light rail into the building, would cost the ratepayer an extra $4 million. That amounts to unnecessary spending, especially when the city council has already written off $22 million in costs from the original scheme. That has bounced the cost of the new design out to $194 million, a figure which exceeds the original scheme's $164 million. The lesser figure, however, takes no account of a pertinent feature of the original scheme - the council's liability to compensate the commercial property developer if building sites on the surface were not sold within 10 years.

While the city council has made a commitment to the Madayag concept, that should not signal the end of public scrutiny. The mayor's view that the Auckland public is telling the council to just "get on and do it" offers no excuse for abandoning best practice. Most notably, a detailed cost-benefit analysis is yet to be completed. The absence of such an analysis of the original scheme was, of course, strongly criticised by an Auditor-General's report early last year.

Inadequate consultation with transport users and the failure to check potential conflicts between the transport and commercial elements of the scheme were but two of the shortcomings. A cost-benefit analysis for this scheme will, in fact, be done as part of the council's application to Infrastructure Auckland for $40 million towards the scheme. Given the sizeable investment involved, it warrants close scrutiny.

Aucklanders, though, have a right to be enthused about a development which could be up and running by June 2003. The Viaduct Basin redevelopment set the template for a city which has tended from time to time to lose sight of the human element. Finally, Britomart is on the same track.

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