Auckland Maritime Heritage Working Group established

You might have seen the coverage of the meeting at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron building that kicked off the Auckland Maritime Heritage Working Group a couple of weeks ago. The initiative and meeting was organised by Tony Blake, Baden Pascoe and John Street of New Zealand's Classic Yacht Association. The New Herald Coverage was very positive in Saturday's Business pages. (Which I can't find on internet right now!) The presentation I gave to kick off the meeting and discussion was based on my experience of waterfront development at ARC and through its engagement with Sea + City. It has become clear that there is a need to integrate and coordinate the various maritime heritage iniatives that are underway - some of which have been around for a while like the Maritime Museum - and some of which are getting more organised - like the collection of classic boats. And there is more. These elements form the basis of a very strong and potential success story for Auckland waterfront development that is a visitor destination - for Aucklanders as well as for visiting tourists. But it needs recognition, organisation and support to realise that potential. Attendees at the meeting included representatives from: The Maritime Museum; Classic Yacht Association; Sanfords; Architects and heritage buildings; Historic Places Trust; Tourism New Zealand; Auckland City Council; and others. Here is the guts of the presentation that I delivered whose purpose was to encourage the different groups to work together as a partnership. It is based in a similar approach that was adopted and implemented in Seattle.

The slide presentation now follows. I have not provided any of the spoken words that go with these rather terse slides, and hope that you find them useful enough as they stand....

Vos Building - Maritime Heritage at Wynyard Quarter

This blog is about heritage buildings, and the marine heritage industry at Wynyard Quarter down on Auckland's waterfront. It is about the need to take an integrated approach to Heritage Planning on that part of Auckland's waterfront. This blog tries to argue in support of the huge value to the Auckland economy of its waterfront maritime heritage and its visitor potential.

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...

This is another view of the waterfront at Roskilde. 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: http://www.places4people.org.nz/roskilde.htm#line1

Sea + City and Wynyard Quarter to emphasise maritime heritage

One of the big worries I have had, along with Councillor Coney, and also Auckland's heritage maritime industry - is over the extent to which maritime heritage and history and all that stuff, would be provided for in the planning for Wynyard Quarter / Tankfarm.

There have been lots of glossy pictures and artistic representations, photos of harbour piles and rusty chains and old railway lines. But what did these images really mean on the ground, in the water and in your face - for the redevelopment.

I noticed that the carefully prepared Urban Design Framework for Wynyard Quarter, prepared by Sea + City, and agreed by Auckland Regional Council, actually made no mention of heritage at all. I've advocated for this aspect at meetings, and so has Cllr Coney and others, but somehow this matter has not been properly resolved. This means a risk that Sea + City will not sense any strong direction in that regard.

That has now been fixed. At last week's Transport & Urban Development Ctte, ARC formally considered Sea + City's interesting designs for Precinct One of Wynyard Quarter. I prepared some detailed resolutions about heritage for this meeting, and these were unanimously adopted by ARC. The ARC has resolved, the following, and I draw your attention specifically to (d):

B.1 WYNYARD QUARTER PRECINCT PLAN 1
D160-02-14 & D160-W03
Committee Secretary: 10 June 2009
An addendum to ‘B1’ previously circulated to councillors from Mr Hugh Jarvis, was handed out. (Attachment 1). Mr John Dalzell of Sea + City presented the powerpoint slides on the draft precinct plan for Wynyard Quarter.
RESOLVED
a) That the report be received.
b) That the committee acknowledges that it has been consulted on the draft precinct plan Wynyard Quarter Precinct Plan 1 Version 6 May 2009 for the Jellicoe Precinct by Sea + City Projects Limited on behalf of Auckland Regional Holdings.
c) That, subject to any other matters that the committee decides, it endorses the draft precinct plan Wynyard Quarter Precinct Plan 1 Version 6 May 2009 for
the Jellicoe Precinct :
i) excluding the depiction of a future building extending over the coastal marine area from development site 12
ii) but noting the challenges with the inclusion of a stormwater pond or wetland in the public open space north of Jellicoe Street and west of Brigham Street.
d) That the committee advise ARH and Sea + City of its expectations in regard to planning for the protection and enhancement of maritime heritage and
waterfront character of Wynyard Quarter, including:
i) that maritime heritage and waterfront character is a principle of the Urban Design Framework for Wynyard Quarter.
ii) that maritime heritage and waterfront character need to be protected and enhanced to the maximum extent possible, alongside other principles in the Urban Design Framework.
iii) that the Wynyard Quarter Precinct Plan 1 includes: a variety of provisions and opportunities for the expression of Wynyard Quarter’s history and stories; provision for the heritage fleet.

This is an excellent result.
It provides for clear direction to Sea + City and Auckland Regional Holdings.
And it provides direction that the design must "provide for the heritage fleet".