It also notes that unless Auckland's public authorities grab this opportunity, then there is a risk that the drive for new development will steamroll over this potential, and the possibility of truly worldclass mixed use waterfront regeneration project will be lost.
The blog ends with a few images from the Roskilde Waterfront development in Denmark. This exemplar is there for Auckland to learn from. I'm sure there are others.
 This is a Google aerial of the Western Reclamation, aka Wynyard Quarter on Auckland's waterfront.There are many heritage buildings and sites and structures on the land. The yellow ring marks one of them.... |
 Here it is closer. It is the Vos Building and slipway, currently operated under lease by Sanfords. It is located on Hamer Street.The slipways run out into the waters used for access to Westhaven Marina... |
 Here's a group of ARC Councillors there on Tuesday this week for a site visit. As you can see the frontage of the Vos Building today - lined in corrugated iron - does not present a very pre-possessing street frontage. Yet it conceals a number of treasures that a few Aucklanders are aware of, and believe hold a wealth of opportunities for the future... |
 Round the back there is plenty of obvious evidence of the bits and pieces of rusty iron-mongery that characterise a long relationship with boats and chandlery... |
 And it's the slipways that immediately grab your attention. There are two main slipways to the left, and in the foreground is a hard stand. You can see the basalt stonework on the floor of the hardstand in the foreground, and the narrow - and quite special - basalt rivetements that line the main slipways.In the background you can make out the Auckland Harbour Bridge. |
 The two main slipways can each haul out boats up to one hundred tonnes. Sanfords use the site from time to time to service fishing boats. The facility is a little run down today - like many of the heritage opportunities on Wynyard Quarter.Many of the pictures below were taken inside the building you can see behind the two boat trailers... |
 Where-ever you look there are interesting piles of marine ironworks from the past... |
 This is the interior of the main wood and boat carpentery workshop on the site...It is very original, and while it is used - I understand from time to time today - it has become more of a storage shed than a very active workshop. |
 The machinery, floor, and furnishings breathe the history of the place... |
 A great deal of character.... |
 If walls could talk... |
 Here's how the street frontage of the Vos Building looked during World War II, and here's the workforce outside on the occasion of the launch of its most recent creation... |
 ...an all wood Fairmile motorboat. These are the boats that rolled off the Vos Building slipways then. It's fishing boats today. It could become a major part of the New Zealand classic boat industry, where classic wooden boats are repaired, restored and maintained. And in such a way that it becomes an important tourist and visitor destination. |
 Roskilde, Denmark, shows a way forward. This time around Viking Longboats, and other important vessels from Nordic history... |
 This image is from the walkway that runs through the Roskilde industrial waterfront. You can see a few Viking Longboat replicas tied up closeby. In the background are modern sailing boats and the local fishing fleet... |
 This workshop - part of the tourist circuit - is where all wooden boats are maintained and built... |
We need to think more broadly in Auckland for the Wynyard Quarter - and for the whole of the waterfront - than just the plastic fantastic boat industry. You can see more pictures of Roskilde at: |
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