Western Reclamation
Encyclopedia
The Wynyard Quarter is a reclaimed
piece of land on the Waitemata Harbour
at the western edge of the Auckland waterfront
, New Zealand
.
It is located to the north of Freemans Bay
and to the west of the Viaduct Basin
. Much of the area is still covered by petrol and liquid chemical storage facilities of Ports of Auckland Ltd
(POAL) and various other companies, as of 2011, giving the area its "Tank Farm" moniker. However, major changes are proposed for the coming decades, with the area intended to be redeveloped into a mixed-use residential-commercial area, with a major park to run along the northern headland and up to the point. As one of the first changes, the eastern section of the Quarter, as well as one of the main west-east roads running across it, are being revitalised with new office and entertainment/restaurant areas, with several major projects finishing in time for the Rugby World Cup 2011 tournament.
The Western Reclamation was progressively constructed by the Auckland Harbour Board, of which Ports of Auckland
is the successor. The last components of the reclamation (Wynyard Wharf) were being completed in 1930 and provided the growing harbour with additional berthage capacity and increased land for port activities. Initially used mainly by the timber
trade, it gradually changed to the current bulk petro-chemical storage.
Current use
As of the late 2000s, the areas was still used by the bulk liquid industry, with 500,000 tonnes of liquids and cement being transported via Wynyard Wharf each year. This provides NZ$1.2 billion of yearly turnover, and 4000 jobs in the Auckland economy. There are also more than 100 marine companies around the area, with a NZ$400 million yearly turnover, exporting items worth NZ$120 million per year. Three fishing fleets, Moana Pacific, Sanford and Simunovich, are based in the area.
SeaLink runs a car and passenger ferry service to Great Barrier Island
from a terminal at the base of Wynyard Wharf. The company was seeking clarification of its future facilities in the area in 2007, as their lease was running out in 2010, and it was unlikely to invest a planned NZ$19 million in a new terminal or start using a new, faster ferry vessel before legal concerns were sorted out. An ARC planning committee noted that it supported the further provision of the ferry service in the area, though there had previously been concerns about the island freight shipping not fitting into the redevelopment vision of the area (see below).
Shipping fuel storage, once an important facility at the Tank Farm, and delivered to ships in port by the Tolema refueling barge, was taken over in the late 2000s by a marine fuel tanker, the Awanuia, owned by the Seafuels company. The vessel serves Ports of Auckland shipping by bringing in fuels from the Marsden Point
refinery in Whangarei
.
A sand mining
company, McCallum Brothers
, used part of the western water's edge to unload barges of dredged sand (for construction projects) but has moved out of the area which was subsequently transformed into a public park / event space (Silo Park).
. As was noted on the Tank Farm website in 2006:
Following similar declarations by Auckland City and the Auckland Regional Council, political and design processes were underway in the mid and late 2000s to define the future shape of the area, a change process that will take up to 20 years. One of the main public inputs at that time was a wish for increased waterfront access, as well as the desire for more parkland on the point. However, some of these wishes were muted from political sources, as the redevelopment of the area is to be paid by the development of residential areas, with the available land for this use shrinking with an increase of the proposed park space. Already mostly agreed on was a bridge connecting the new quarter to the Viaduct Basin
.
Early plans intended to name the new area 'Kahurangi', Māori
for 'blue/precious jewel'. This has now been replaced with 'Wynyard Quarter', though it is still generally referred to as Tank Farm, including when talking about the whole Western Reclamation.
In June 2007, more detailed concept plans were published after a year of negotiation between stakeholders. In the first stage of the redevelopment, the eastern section of the Western Reclamation, along Jellicoe Street, was to be turned into an entertainment strip, to complement similar areas on the eastern side of the Viaduct Basin, and to be completed in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup
. This area was to be linked to the Auckland CBD via a new 'Te Wero' bridge, to be constructed as a lift- or swing bridge
after an international design competition, and expected to cost around NZ$35 million.
As part of the area renewal, the 'Wind Tree' sculpture that was located in Queen Elizabeth II Square outside of Britomart
from 1971 until 2002 was installed in the new Jellicoe Square.
The August 2011 opening of the Wynyard Quarter to the general public, with the main features being the new Jellicoe Street and North Wharf areas, as well as the open spaces around 'Silo Park' and the Viaduct Events Centre, were met with great public interest, and critical acclaim for the synthesis between open space and formerly industrial use.
Later stages
In a next stage, a large 'point park' of 4.25 ha is to be developed on Wynyard Point, with another park strip along the east side of Wynyard Wharf. This larger design followed wide public complaints in 2006 about the new development being dominated by apartments. The layout of the park is also to be decided via an international design competition, and would leave space for a so far unidentified landmark public building. The park would include about 2.4 km of waterfront access, and would be linked with Victoria Park
via a 40 m wide tree-lined boulevard
and a NZ$5 million pedestrian bridge. This work would likely take place between 2014 and 2017, after commercial leases in the area run out. Other areas in the Western Reclamation will remain set aside for marine industry, with the main bulk of land being developed as apartments, with some associated smaller-scale retail and entertainment areas.
One matter of contention, as became visible during previous consultation, is the future building height of the residential areas. After 10–16 storey buildings proposed in 2006 met strong opposition, the July 2007 design envisages only a small number of 14-storey towers, with the main apartment strips along the eastern side of Wynyard Wharf being no higher than seven storeys at the road, stepping down to three storeys at the water's edge.
The new Western Reclamation zone is to be dominated by public transport, with the targeted transport mix being 70% public transport / walking / cycling and 30% motor vehicle, a reversal of the typical modal share
in Auckland City. Ferries are also mooted as possible connections.
Cruise ship terminal
With new plans to open up the Auckland waterfront
for more public access, the lack of sufficient cruise ship berthing space has entered the public discussion early 2008. This led to considerations that a new terminal could be built on the Western Reclamation. A major negative point for this usage would however be the short-term (from 2010 on) need for more cruise ship space, while the tank farm is unlikely to be redeveloped less than a decade in the future.
due to petrochemicals. In 2007, this was updated to NZ$504 million (with the whole project, including the private investment, expected to cost more than NZ$2 billion). Most of the public infrastructure costs, NZ$349 million, are expected to be carried by development contributions, with NZ$112 million from Auckland Regional Holdings (Auckland Regional Council
) and NZ$43 million from Auckland City Council
.
). Also underway is the construction of a new length of tram
track (see further section below). All the projects are to be completed in time for the Rugby World Cup 2011, when the area is to be part of an extended Viaduct Basin
visitor zone on the waterfront.
circuit is to be constructed around the quarter, using two heritage trams on a 1.5km $8 million clockwise track. It it is hoped that the tram line will later be extended, to serve transport as well as tourist functions for the quarter. Such a link, initially to the Britomart Transport Centre
was originally intended to form part of the initial works, but the global fincancial crisis scuttled plans to make the new Wynyard Crossing
substantial enough to also serve trams, though the foundations for the interim bridge will be sufficient for a later bridge upgrade.
The tram circuit was proposed by the Campaign for Better Transport (New Zealand) and the MOTAT
museum, and in Phase 1 creates a 1.5km loop track with 4 stops and sidings to house the trams. Commercial service started on 6 August 2011. Phase 2 will be the later extension to Britomart, with no timeframe set.
The 1920s trams are to be leased from Bendigo Tramway Museum
in Australia, and will be a W2 Class tram with 52 seats for weekends and holidays, and a 32 seat X1 Class tram for mid-week periods. However, the tram system will also be able to operate both trams at the same time.
(possibly as a tunnel) at Wynyard Point. These have now been shelved by Transit New Zealand
, with one remaining option being a longer tunnel to surface near Fanshawe Street or further south along Cook Street, possibly with an underground public transport station somewhere underneath the Tank Farm. A less likely option has also been proposed by Mike Lee
, Auckland Regional Council chairman, who suggested a tunnel underneath the Auckland CBD
to emerge east of the city centre at Stanley Street, thus avoiding the Central Motorway Junction
and city centre traffic.
The plans to connect the new quarter with Victoria Park would make a cut-and-cover tunnel construction possible along the length of the planned Daldy Street boulevard in the Western Reclamation, providing for two public transport and two private vehicle lanes. Light rail
was also mentioned as a long-term possibility. However, as it is unlikely that the harbour tunnel section would be built before 2020 earliest, coordination with the development of the new quarter would pose some difficulties.
head office is located off of Beaumont and Fanshawe Streets in Western Reclamation Precinct 2. The airline moved there from the Auckland CBD in 2006.
ASB Bank
is currently building it's new headquarters for Auckland at the corner of Jellicoe Street and Halsey Street, to be finished by 2013. Various marine-related industries also exist in the area, with many proposed to be retained even after the transformation of the area. In contrast, some other more industrial developments, such as an aggregate supplier and cement storage facilities, have already moved out of the area by mid 2011.
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
piece of land on the Waitemata Harbour
Waitemata Harbour
The quite famous Waitemata Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. For this reason it is often referred to as Auckland Harbour, despite the fact that it is only one of two harbours surrounding the city, and is crossed by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The Waitemata forms the north...
at the western edge of the Auckland waterfront
Auckland waterfront
The Auckland waterfront is a city-side stretch of the southern Waitemata Harbour coastline in Auckland City, New Zealand...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
It is located to the north of Freemans Bay
Freemans Bay
Freemans Bay is the name of a former bay and now inner city suburb of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The historical bay was filled in to a large extent, and lost its shoreline to reclamation works...
and to the west of the Viaduct Basin
Viaduct Basin
Viaduct Basin is a former commercial harbour on the Auckland waterfront, now turned into a development of mostly upscale apartments, office space and restaurants. It is located on the site of a formerly run-down area of the Freemans Bay / Auckland CBD waterfront in Auckland City, New Zealand...
. Much of the area is still covered by petrol and liquid chemical storage facilities of Ports of Auckland Ltd
Ports of Auckland
Ports of Auckland Limited , the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities...
(POAL) and various other companies, as of 2011, giving the area its "Tank Farm" moniker. However, major changes are proposed for the coming decades, with the area intended to be redeveloped into a mixed-use residential-commercial area, with a major park to run along the northern headland and up to the point. As one of the first changes, the eastern section of the Quarter, as well as one of the main west-east roads running across it, are being revitalised with new office and entertainment/restaurant areas, with several major projects finishing in time for the Rugby World Cup 2011 tournament.
History
Early useThe Western Reclamation was progressively constructed by the Auckland Harbour Board, of which Ports of Auckland
Ports of Auckland
Ports of Auckland Limited , the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities...
is the successor. The last components of the reclamation (Wynyard Wharf) were being completed in 1930 and provided the growing harbour with additional berthage capacity and increased land for port activities. Initially used mainly by the timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
trade, it gradually changed to the current bulk petro-chemical storage.
Current use
As of the late 2000s, the areas was still used by the bulk liquid industry, with 500,000 tonnes of liquids and cement being transported via Wynyard Wharf each year. This provides NZ$1.2 billion of yearly turnover, and 4000 jobs in the Auckland economy. There are also more than 100 marine companies around the area, with a NZ$400 million yearly turnover, exporting items worth NZ$120 million per year. Three fishing fleets, Moana Pacific, Sanford and Simunovich, are based in the area.
SeaLink runs a car and passenger ferry service to Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island is a large island of New Zealand, situated to the north-east of central Auckland in the outer Hauraki Gulf. With an area of it is the fourth-largest island of New Zealand's main chain of islands, with its highest point, Mount Hobson, rising...
from a terminal at the base of Wynyard Wharf. The company was seeking clarification of its future facilities in the area in 2007, as their lease was running out in 2010, and it was unlikely to invest a planned NZ$19 million in a new terminal or start using a new, faster ferry vessel before legal concerns were sorted out. An ARC planning committee noted that it supported the further provision of the ferry service in the area, though there had previously been concerns about the island freight shipping not fitting into the redevelopment vision of the area (see below).
Shipping fuel storage, once an important facility at the Tank Farm, and delivered to ships in port by the Tolema refueling barge, was taken over in the late 2000s by a marine fuel tanker, the Awanuia, owned by the Seafuels company. The vessel serves Ports of Auckland shipping by bringing in fuels from the Marsden Point
Marsden Point
Marsden Point is a head of the Whangarei Harbour, near Whangarei, New Zealand, lying close to the northern tip of Bream Bay. It is also a major industrial area, containing Marsden Point Oil Refinery, the country's only such facility, and two large defunct power plant stations...
refinery in Whangarei
Whangarei
Whangarei, pronounced , is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District, administered by the Whangarei District Council a local body created in 1989 to administer both the...
.
A sand mining
Sand mining
Sand mining is a practice that is becoming an environmental issue as the demand for sand increases in industry and construction. Sand is mined from beaches and inland dunes and dredged from ocean beds and river beds. It is often used in manufacturing as an abrasive, for example, and it is used to...
company, McCallum Brothers
McCallum Brothers
McCallum Brothers is an Auckland, New Zealand-based sand and construction aggregate supplier. Its main products are sand and jasper . The company mainly supplies building and roading companies in the North Island of New Zealand, and it also provides sand for beach replenishment...
, used part of the western water's edge to unload barges of dredged sand (for construction projects) but has moved out of the area which was subsequently transformed into a public park / event space (Silo Park).
Initial plans
Ports of Auckland still owned 18ha of the 35ha site in 2006 when it was decided that the land would be transferred to its parent company, Auckland Regional Holdings, owned by the Auckland Regional CouncilAuckland Regional Council
The Auckland Regional Council was the regional council of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989...
. As was noted on the Tank Farm website in 2006:
- Changes in bulk liquid transportation, the advent of the pipeline from Marsden Point, and the progressive expiration of industrial leases in the reclamation means that Ports of Auckland's land is becoming a precinct in search of a new purpose.
Following similar declarations by Auckland City and the Auckland Regional Council, political and design processes were underway in the mid and late 2000s to define the future shape of the area, a change process that will take up to 20 years. One of the main public inputs at that time was a wish for increased waterfront access, as well as the desire for more parkland on the point. However, some of these wishes were muted from political sources, as the redevelopment of the area is to be paid by the development of residential areas, with the available land for this use shrinking with an increase of the proposed park space. Already mostly agreed on was a bridge connecting the new quarter to the Viaduct Basin
Viaduct Basin
Viaduct Basin is a former commercial harbour on the Auckland waterfront, now turned into a development of mostly upscale apartments, office space and restaurants. It is located on the site of a formerly run-down area of the Freemans Bay / Auckland CBD waterfront in Auckland City, New Zealand...
.
Early plans intended to name the new area 'Kahurangi', Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
for 'blue/precious jewel'. This has now been replaced with 'Wynyard Quarter', though it is still generally referred to as Tank Farm, including when talking about the whole Western Reclamation.
Project scope
First stageIn June 2007, more detailed concept plans were published after a year of negotiation between stakeholders. In the first stage of the redevelopment, the eastern section of the Western Reclamation, along Jellicoe Street, was to be turned into an entertainment strip, to complement similar areas on the eastern side of the Viaduct Basin, and to be completed in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup
2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005...
. This area was to be linked to the Auckland CBD via a new 'Te Wero' bridge, to be constructed as a lift- or swing bridge
Swing bridge
A swing bridge is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its centre of gravity, about which the turning span can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right...
after an international design competition, and expected to cost around NZ$35 million.
As part of the area renewal, the 'Wind Tree' sculpture that was located in Queen Elizabeth II Square outside of Britomart
Britomart Transport Centre
Britomart Transport Centre is the CBD public transport hub of Auckland, New Zealand, and the northern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk line. It combines a bus interchange with a railway station in a former Edwardian post office, extended with expansive post-modernist architectural elements...
from 1971 until 2002 was installed in the new Jellicoe Square.
The August 2011 opening of the Wynyard Quarter to the general public, with the main features being the new Jellicoe Street and North Wharf areas, as well as the open spaces around 'Silo Park' and the Viaduct Events Centre, were met with great public interest, and critical acclaim for the synthesis between open space and formerly industrial use.
Later stages
In a next stage, a large 'point park' of 4.25 ha is to be developed on Wynyard Point, with another park strip along the east side of Wynyard Wharf. This larger design followed wide public complaints in 2006 about the new development being dominated by apartments. The layout of the park is also to be decided via an international design competition, and would leave space for a so far unidentified landmark public building. The park would include about 2.4 km of waterfront access, and would be linked with Victoria Park
Victoria Park, Auckland
Victoria Park is a park and sports ground in Auckland City, New Zealand. It lies on reclaimed bay land in Freemans Bay, a suburb directly west of the Auckland CBD. This origin of the land makes it very flat and level...
via a 40 m wide tree-lined boulevard
Boulevard
A Boulevard is type of road, usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery...
and a NZ$5 million pedestrian bridge. This work would likely take place between 2014 and 2017, after commercial leases in the area run out. Other areas in the Western Reclamation will remain set aside for marine industry, with the main bulk of land being developed as apartments, with some associated smaller-scale retail and entertainment areas.
One matter of contention, as became visible during previous consultation, is the future building height of the residential areas. After 10–16 storey buildings proposed in 2006 met strong opposition, the July 2007 design envisages only a small number of 14-storey towers, with the main apartment strips along the eastern side of Wynyard Wharf being no higher than seven storeys at the road, stepping down to three storeys at the water's edge.
The new Western Reclamation zone is to be dominated by public transport, with the targeted transport mix being 70% public transport / walking / cycling and 30% motor vehicle, a reversal of the typical modal share
Modal share
Modal share, Mode split or Modal split, is a traffic / transport term that describes the number of trips or percentage of travelers using a particular type of transportation....
in Auckland City. Ferries are also mooted as possible connections.
Cruise ship terminal
With new plans to open up the Auckland waterfront
Auckland waterfront
The Auckland waterfront is a city-side stretch of the southern Waitemata Harbour coastline in Auckland City, New Zealand...
for more public access, the lack of sufficient cruise ship berthing space has entered the public discussion early 2008. This led to considerations that a new terminal could be built on the Western Reclamation. A major negative point for this usage would however be the short-term (from 2010 on) need for more cruise ship space, while the tank farm is unlikely to be redeveloped less than a decade in the future.
Funding
The public infrastructure costs of redeveloping the Western Reclamation were first estimated at around NZ$400 million in 2006, of which between 5 per cent and 10 per cent are expected to be spent on cleanup of soil contaminationSoil contamination
Soil contamination or soil pollution is caused by the presence of xenobiotic chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment....
due to petrochemicals. In 2007, this was updated to NZ$504 million (with the whole project, including the private investment, expected to cost more than NZ$2 billion). Most of the public infrastructure costs, NZ$349 million, are expected to be carried by development contributions, with NZ$112 million from Auckland Regional Holdings (Auckland Regional Council
Auckland Regional Council
The Auckland Regional Council was the regional council of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989...
) and NZ$43 million from Auckland City Council
Auckland City Council
Auckland City Council was the local government authority representing Auckland City, New Zealand, and was amalgamated into the Auckland Council on 1 November 2010. It was an elected body representing the 404,658 residents of the city...
.
Construction
In 2010, the first stages of work began in the Wynyard Quarter, among them the construction of a new-look, 'pedestrian-oriented boulevard' Jellicoe Street, which is to be a new entertainment area, linked to the Viaduct Harbour by a walking/cycling bridge (Wynyard CrossingWynyard Crossing
Wynyard Crossing is a new double bascule walking / cycling bridge built in 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand. It connects the redeveloped Wynyard Quarter with Te Wero Island and the existing Viaduct Harbour entertainment district, and thereby, with the wider Auckland waterfront...
). Also underway is the construction of a new length of tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
track (see further section below). All the projects are to be completed in time for the Rugby World Cup 2011, when the area is to be part of an extended Viaduct Basin
Viaduct Basin
Viaduct Basin is a former commercial harbour on the Auckland waterfront, now turned into a development of mostly upscale apartments, office space and restaurants. It is located on the site of a formerly run-down area of the Freemans Bay / Auckland CBD waterfront in Auckland City, New Zealand...
visitor zone on the waterfront.
Tram circuit
As part of the concept to make the new quarter more interesting, as well as accessible, a new tramTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
circuit is to be constructed around the quarter, using two heritage trams on a 1.5km $8 million clockwise track. It it is hoped that the tram line will later be extended, to serve transport as well as tourist functions for the quarter. Such a link, initially to the Britomart Transport Centre
Britomart Transport Centre
Britomart Transport Centre is the CBD public transport hub of Auckland, New Zealand, and the northern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk line. It combines a bus interchange with a railway station in a former Edwardian post office, extended with expansive post-modernist architectural elements...
was originally intended to form part of the initial works, but the global fincancial crisis scuttled plans to make the new Wynyard Crossing
Wynyard Crossing
Wynyard Crossing is a new double bascule walking / cycling bridge built in 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand. It connects the redeveloped Wynyard Quarter with Te Wero Island and the existing Viaduct Harbour entertainment district, and thereby, with the wider Auckland waterfront...
substantial enough to also serve trams, though the foundations for the interim bridge will be sufficient for a later bridge upgrade.
The tram circuit was proposed by the Campaign for Better Transport (New Zealand) and the MOTAT
Museum of Transport and Technology
The Museum of Transport and Technology is a museum located in Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. It is located close to the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland Zoo and the Western Springs Park. The museum has large collections of civilian and military aircraft and other land transport vehicles...
museum, and in Phase 1 creates a 1.5km loop track with 4 stops and sidings to house the trams. Commercial service started on 6 August 2011. Phase 2 will be the later extension to Britomart, with no timeframe set.
The 1920s trams are to be leased from Bendigo Tramway Museum
Trams in Bendigo
Trams have operated in the city of Bendigo, Victoria, Australia since 1890, and continue to operate today as a tourist attraction. Limited trials have also been made in 2009 with operating commuter service, but with minimal usage by the public....
in Australia, and will be a W2 Class tram with 52 seats for weekends and holidays, and a 32 seat X1 Class tram for mid-week periods. However, the tram system will also be able to operate both trams at the same time.
Harbour Crossing
Earlier feasibility studies saw the possible terminus of a new Waitemata Harbour CrossingSecond Harbour Crossing
Second Harbour Crossing is the name given to the proposed second transport link over the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. The second link would supplement the Auckland Harbour Bridge which is nearly at capacity and also provide more redundancy and added public transport linkages between...
(possibly as a tunnel) at Wynyard Point. These have now been shelved by Transit New Zealand
Transit New Zealand
Transit New Zealand was, from 1989 to 2008, the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand State Highway network...
, with one remaining option being a longer tunnel to surface near Fanshawe Street or further south along Cook Street, possibly with an underground public transport station somewhere underneath the Tank Farm. A less likely option has also been proposed by Mike Lee
Mike Lee (New Zealand politician)
Michael Lee is a councillor on the Auckland Council and the former chairman of the Auckland Regional Council, both in Auckland, New Zealand...
, Auckland Regional Council chairman, who suggested a tunnel underneath the Auckland CBD
Auckland CBD
The Auckland CBD is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland metropolitan area. Bounded by several major motorways and by the harbour coastline in the north, it is surrounded further out by mostly suburban areas...
to emerge east of the city centre at Stanley Street, thus avoiding the Central Motorway Junction
Central Motorway Junction
The Central Motorway Junction or CMJ , is the intersection of New Zealand State Highways 1 and 16, just south of the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand...
and city centre traffic.
The plans to connect the new quarter with Victoria Park would make a cut-and-cover tunnel construction possible along the length of the planned Daldy Street boulevard in the Western Reclamation, providing for two public transport and two private vehicle lanes. Light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
was also mentioned as a long-term possibility. However, as it is unlikely that the harbour tunnel section would be built before 2020 earliest, coordination with the development of the new quarter would pose some difficulties.
Economy
The Air New ZealandAir New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited is the national airline and flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 26 domestic destinations and 24 international destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania, and is...
head office is located off of Beaumont and Fanshawe Streets in Western Reclamation Precinct 2. The airline moved there from the Auckland CBD in 2006.
ASB Bank
ASB Bank
ASB is a New Zealand bank owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. It is one of the largest New Zealand banks, with branches throughout the country. It operates BankDirect, a branchless banking service that provides service via phone, Internet,...
is currently building it's new headquarters for Auckland at the corner of Jellicoe Street and Halsey Street, to be finished by 2013. Various marine-related industries also exist in the area, with many proposed to be retained even after the transformation of the area. In contrast, some other more industrial developments, such as an aggregate supplier and cement storage facilities, have already moved out of the area by mid 2011.
External links
- Sea + City (Western Reclamation project website of Auckland Regional Holdings)
- Western Reclamation & Viaduct Harbour (PDF) (concept document from Auckland City CouncilAuckland City CouncilAuckland City Council was the local government authority representing Auckland City, New Zealand, and was amalgamated into the Auckland Council on 1 November 2010. It was an elected body representing the 404,658 residents of the city...
)