Urban Renewal

- Jo Bates

It wasn’t so long ago that Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter was a nature-stripped industrial area that had done its days in the timber trade before turning to storing petrochemicals as the ‘Tank Farm’. The flat patch of reclaimed peninsula with boats berthed at its fringes was gritty and uninviting. When the sea breeze dropped, dank aromas from the few greasy spoons that fed local workers hung in the air.

That was until 2011, when $120 million was poured into developing new public parks and events spaces – it was stage one of a revitalisation and regeneration programme that will continue for about 20 years. With a change of direction, the public started to utilise this prime piece of Auckland and its three kilometres of coast. Interesting things started to happen for people who might consider living there.

Architectus has a long history at Wynyard Quarter, having been appointed by Ports of Auckland to develop the urban design framework for the area back in the early 2000s. The practice was one of three appointed by property developers Willis Bond to submit designs for Wynyard Central, the area’s first residential development, which stands on land tenured for more than 100 years.