5 February 2004

Media statement

“Waitakere Central” to give city new environmentally-advanced town centre

Waitakere Central. That is the name chosen today for the new transport hub and civic complex that will be built in the heart of Henderson, over the next couple of years.

Waitakere City Councillors also approved design concepts for a cluster of environmentally-advanced buildings on either side of the railway, linked and integrated by an airbridge over the tracks.

“We’ve had difficulty describing this development because it fulfils a range of functions. It is, in itself, a new town centre – hence the name Waitakere Central”, says Waitakere Mayor, Bob Harvey.

“There are new Council facilities and a bus-rail interchange – like a small Britomart – and the use of air space to link everything together – and at the same time, to link the two sides of the town which have been separated by the railway for over a hundred years,” says Mr Harvey.

“Beyond that, it is a statement of confidence in the CBD of Waitakere which will act as a catalyst in new investment, while giving a very significant boost to public transport by concentrating so many people and so much energy, right on the bus-rail interchange,” Mr Harvey says.

On the old Carter Holt Harvey site in Henderson Valley Road there will be a modern 5 storey office block and facing it, a modernistic, delta-shaped, Civic Building housing the Council chambers and a variety of public spaces. These cluster around a civic square.

Typically of Waitakere civic buildings, art works and a wide range of sustainability features, form part of the basic design.

What are now regarded as “standard” sustainability features in Waitakere, include energy and water efficiency systems (including rainwater harvesting for non-potable use) and storm-water management.

The Council also approved the adoption of advanced sustainability features at a later date, when they can be funded through sponsorship or other forms of external funding. These include such possible features as a Green Roof, and photovoltaic cells (solar cells) and a wind turbine for energy generation.

The civic complex was designed by Architectus and Athfield Architects and is expected to cost around $25 million (after the sale of the existing Civic Centre)

ENDS

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