Courtenay Place Precinct Plan

Courtenay Place Precinct Plan

We're working with businesses and residents to make Courtenay Place a destination for everyone.

Courtenay Place has a proud history as Wellington’s gathering place – first as Te Aro Pā, and later as our leading entertainment district – but it has seen better days.

We’ve worked with stakeholders of Courtenay Place to develop a plan that will make Courtenay Place ‘our premier place to play’.

The plan will be implemented by the Council, our partners and the private sector to improve the look and feel of the precinct, make it safer, and showcase Courtenay Place’s diverse entertainment.

The good news is the revitalisation has already started, with a refurbished St James Theatre and the new Tākina Convention Centre.

Read more about the precinct plan.

In developing the plan, we heard from businesses and residents that they wanted to see more greenery, events and creative lighting.

New outdoor green spaces

We have relocated some planters and two picnic tables to create two small new seating areas in existing public space. This is for people to sit outside and enjoy the sun and some greenery.

These are in two locations, one on Blair Street and one on Allen Street.

Planters will be cared for by the Inner-City Wellington Residents Association. If you’re interested in helping look after the planters you can get in touch: innercitywellington.nz

Creative lighting

Good lighting makes an area safer and adds to vibrancy across the night instilling spaces with energy. It builds interest and curiosity, giving a feeling of comfort and wellbeing and a sense of vitality. Businesses and residents said they’d love to see creative lighting used to show this is a place where people come to celebrate, socialise, and have fun.

We've put temporary installations in the area during key periods of activity like Matariki and during the busy months of August, September and October to bring a sense of vibrancy to the street.

Supporting businesses to run events

We're funding businesses to run a series of entertainment activations in the area, including street performances and food festivals. Check out the events calendar to see what's on.

We're also exploring ways to minimise the amount of traffic management resource needed to close Allen Street for events, reducing the costs associated with running events on the street. We've heard this is currently a barrier for event organisers in the city.

Take 10 safe space

Take 10 is a space for partygoers to take a break while on the town to have some water, charge phones, and reconnect with friends or whanau. They can also get medical help or seek advice from our trained leaders and volunteers.

You'll find Take 10 on the corner of Taranaki Street and Courtenay Place on Friday and Saturday nights.

We provided funding for a pop-up site from February to July 2024. This second site was closer to the cluster of bars and provided additional presence during the busiest time of the year.

For more information, visit the Take 10 website.

Keeping Courtenay precinct clean

We’ve got a new daily cleaning schedule for Courtenay Place, in addition to the existing deep cleans which happen in the early hours of the morning to ensure a high standard of cleanliness in this specific area.

We coordinated a series of community clean ups in targeted locations in the central city, to make a visible improvement in the short term and bring pride to our shared environment. By staging these clean ups in key areas of our city ahead of significant events we can ensure the public space is clean and well maintained as we head into these busy times.

These clean ups use a range of ways to freshen up a space – from cleaning and graffiti removal to installing artwork on empty shopfronts.

Read our news story: Courtenay Place scrubs up well after community clean-up – June 2023

Courtenay precinct promotion

Our business community in this area have expressed their interest in growing their marketing capability, and the visual identity of the precinct. We’re working together to develop a Courtenay specific visual identity and facilitated Neatplaces.co.nz to support 30 businesses with marketing.

Investment prospectus

Courtenay precinct is prime for investment. We’ve developed an investment prospectus for property developers, leasing agents, investors, and businesses in this area to showcase what Courtenay precinct offers.

Courtenay Precinct Investment Prospectus (3.4MB PDF)

Golden mile upgrades

In addition to short-term mahi like the Courtenay Place Precinct Plan, the Council is working towards making the area safer, better looking, and a more comfortable and fun place, through the Golden Mile project.

Major infrastructure upgrades are needed to make our city a better place to live, work, and play. These essential investments will enable our city to grow and thrive. Keep up to date with the projects happening in Wellington city on the Positively Pōneke website. Or, read more about the Golden Mile transformation project on Positively Pōneke - The Golden Mile Courtenay Place.