This image is from a publication funded by the Evening Post newspaper in 1982. It contains images from a design competition that was organised and run by Wellington's Civic Trust organisation. Among other things the design brief was to: maintain and encourage economic and social vitality of this part of the port and city; provide for a range of activities and facilities that will ensure the attractiveness of the area day and night and at weekends; take Wellington's winds into account... the image is one of the sheets from the winning entry from a consortium called Paperchase. Among the suggestions in that entry - which won the prize of $15,000 which was a good sum in 1982 - are these "management ideas" which I have cutout below....
It is noteworthy that these management ideas were produced by an entrant in a design competition. Then in 1984, capitalising on the design competition and the interest it had created, the Civic Trust organised a two day conference held in the Michael Fowler Centre to consider the urban regeneration project. The conference appears to have been very carefully designed and managed with leaders chosen to facilitate sessions and arrive at a number of resolutions which were then provided to Wellington Harbour Board and to Wellington City Council for their response:
These led to interesting confidential discussions by WHB and WCC after the conference. But generally the two institutions responded constructively. Urban design ideas from the design competition, and other considerations, were fed into a planning process which was managed jointly by Wellington City Council and Ports of Wellington Ltd between 1986 and 1988. Consultants Gabites Porter and Partners were engaged to prepare the Lambton Harbour Combined Scheme for the area. The cover of the Urban Design Concept document contains this rendering of the area. It includes many of the ideas that came out of the design competition:
Various high rise buildings (eg the round tower to the left, and the substantial highrise near the proposed National Museum), intensive housing and other private developments are shown, along with green areas, open spaces, enclosed water spaces and waterfront promenades.The Gabites Porter work resulted in the Lambton Harbour Combined Scheme for the area being notified. Among other things - and thanks to enormous efforts on the part of WCC planning staff and robust public submissions - the maximum heights and bulk of various towers were reduced, and then the newly formed development agency - Lambton Harbour Development Ltd (LHML) - got down to its work. One of its first projects that did not use existing buildings was on Queens Wharf and was the Events and Retail Centre. It caused a public backlash in 1995, and in 1996 LHML called a public meeting in an attempt to allay public disquiet. This led then Mayor Blumsky to call for a moritorium on further development pending a thorough community consultation exercise.
A Community Consultation Committee (CCC) was established by WCC containing representatives from building industry, yacht owners, Civic Trust, Tourism Wellington, Chamber of Commerce, Inst of Architects, Historic Places Trust, residents, which was supported by WCC's Urban Design unit. Among other decisions the CCC recommended:
- "future development of Lambton harbour area needs to focus on meeting the needs of Wellington people first and foremost. Only then should it look at the requirements of visitors and tourists;
- public space areas should be designed first, with commercial built environment to follow;
- the self-funding policy of Lambton harbour needs to be reconsidered;
- future sites should be leased rather than sold;
- lambton harbour is a public asset. There has been a loss of public confidence in the direction the project has taken;
- both the WCC District Plan and the Lambton Harbour Concept Plan need to be revised to take account of this report's recommendations...."
One of the most significant and influential outcomes from this particular process was the decision to commission Athfield Architects and Megan Wraight Landscape Architect to prepare an open space concept design for the whole Lambton Harbour area, the brief for which, and one of the designs (adopted early 1999), is below:
In strategic response to the CCC recommendations, a Design Review was also conducted under WCC's control. This was partly in response to the CCC repport but also responded to public submissions to Variation 17 which related to the area, and was conducted by a team of about a dozen architects, planners, policy analysts and urban designers for Wellington City Council.
The Design Review was completed in 2000 and begins by quoting the vision that the CCC came up with in their 1996 review: "Lambton Harbour is a special place that welcomes people to walk our waterfront history through an exciting playground of beautiful and inspiring spaces that connect our city to the sea, and protect our heritage for generations."
The Design Review proposed nine changes to the original concept plan, which were based on a set of key principles including these:
- "Central themes of 'the whole waterfront as a promenade' and 'making the city-water connection';
- The creation of four enclosed sheltered public squares, and a fifth at Whitmore Street ...
- The importance of buildings working in partnership with open space to provide definition and shelter, generate life and vitality and allow differentiation between a range of spaces is a core requirement to create a high quality public environment on the waterfront.
- etc
I'll stop with this bit of Wellington planning history here. My concern is that we need this sort of integrated engagement here in Auckland for our CBD urban regeneration project which extends from Princes Wharf to Captain Cook Wharf, and from the various wharves and water spaces to Custom Street.
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