How are you tackling such a large project?
I was involved in Te Ngākau from a design point of view in my old role, but my background before joining the Council was as a commercial architect. I used to design large office buildings, schools, and large residential buildings. I kind of knew about the complexities of the physicality of these projects because I had worked with similar scale designs in the past, but really, it all comes down to the team.
We’re the tightest, smallest team ever but we’re made up of people across the Council. I wouldn’t be able to do this role without such amazing people and would like to acknowledge that there are so many people behind the work. Everyone is so passionate, and you can tell how much effort is being put in.
There has been a lot of feedback from residents and businesses in the area about how the construction is affecting them, what would you say to that?
I’m not going to sugar coat it. It’s hard. It’s hard for anyone to put up with construction, and I acknowledge and hear the pain from the people who are finding these projects hard. With big infrastructure projects like these, it not only affects the people, but businesses and residents. We have developed good relationships with people in the area to try and help where we can, but I hope they will see that the reward will be huge.
I want to share a story of a specific example. A few months into my role, we were given a heads up that one of the long-time retailers in the area was unhappy with the lack of progress and overall vision for the area. This was The Village Goldsmith, an iconic jeweller in Pōneke. We organised to have a coffee with the owner and heard about all his concerns for his business and how challenging it’s been. I then asked him if I could tell him about the plans for the space and took him through our plans. I broke it down and said this is happening in six months, then this is happening in eight, and so on.
Once he saw the vision for the space, he changed his mind completely and decided that staying would benefit his business in the long run. We really encourage open communication with businesses and people who are affected, we want to hear what they have to say and do what we can to support them. Whether that’s through better lighting, or wayfinding or just regular updates.