Gisborne Town Centre Makeover: Playgrounds, New i-site Location, Night Markets

Thursday, 27 February 2025, 10:53 pm
Article: Zita Campbell - Local Democracy Reporter

Gisborne’s town centre could become more family-friendly and vibrant under an ambitious vision for the city’s future.

Options are being investigated, including a city centre isite, riverside playgrounds, night markets and revamped spaces for community connection like the former police station on the corner of Childers Rd and Peel St, and Heipipi Park.

The initiative, being led by Trust Tairāwhiti and partners that include Gisborne District Council and Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust, is aimed at bringing more people to the riverside area and main street.

After community consultation late last year, Trust Tairāwhiti drew together themes to create Catalyst Initiatives.

On Thursday, the ideas were presented at a public meeting at Lawson Field Theatre to gain feedback.

Trust Tairāwhiti chief executive Doug Jones said they were pleased to have such a strong turnout at the hui and all feedback would be taken on board.

“It’s evident how much our community values the city centre.”

At the meeting, Jones said a key focus point was families.

“We’re trying to get kids in the city, who then bring their mums and dads, who then buy lunch and have a coffee.”

Jones said there was not a lot of money in Gisborne, but some of the initiatives would not require a lot of capital.

No decisions had been made yet, he said.

Consultants to the working group – Auckland-based Urbanism Plus director Kobus Mentz and Wellington-based Design Environment director Craig Pocock – presented the ideas at the meeting.

Mentz said the private sector drove the initiative and the aim was to work alongside council master plans.

The initiatives were split into four initiatives- Early Win, High Synergy, High Impact and Future.

The Early Win initiatives will look at developing micro-spaces like corner seating and community pods, better lighting for safety and vibrancy at night, and attractions for locals and visitors, including a riverside playground.

High Synergy initiatives include Trust Tairāwhiti leading the development of a new city centre isite, and Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust leading on revamping the Heipipi and Nga Wai E Rua spaces.

Gisborne city centre move for isite

Mentz said there were some “complicated financial arrangements to be made,” but moving the isite into the city was one of the ideas of the initiatives.

The isite would draw visitors into the city centre, while residents could use it for ticketing, he said.

“We think we can build on that local usage and offer more benefits of the isite to locals.”

The isite would also showcase the region’s Māori culture, local stories and adventure tourism, and could have LED displays showing what’s on offer in Gisborne.

Last year, Nati Growth (the iwi investment entity for Ngāti Porou) and Trust Tairāwhiti investigated putting an isite in the Captain Morgans building at the Waikanae Beach end of Grey St. However, at last week’s meeting, Jones said this was no longer happening.

A location on the corner of Lowe St was mentioned as a possibility.

Some audience members questioned the need for a new isite building and asked if many people used the current building.

Jones told Local Democracy Reporting on Wednesday that since April 1, 2024, there had been over 80,000 visitors through the isite.

The target in the trust’s Statement of Intent 2024/25 was 40,000 visitors, he said.

Connecting the Heipipi site to the city centre

Pocock, presenting on behalf of Rongowhakaata, said the conversation with them was about toi (art).

“The idea around not just art, but our sense of place ... and that it strongly represents ‘this is our rohe’, so the relationship to the moana and the awa and the species that are there,” Pocock said.

Heipipi was the most important site on this side of the river. It was connected to the food, the moana and the river, but it currently had quite “hostile” surroundings, he said.

Pocock showed an early draft illustrating the concept of connecting Heipipi, which could include planting kōwhai, a knee-high meadow (which would create distance from trucks and traffic), planters, a play area and improved access.

“Just the concept of creating an outdoor dining area, a place to share food as you connect into the crossroads, which is the awa,” he said.

Art would also be used on the edges of Heipipi to help connect the space, including a soundscape and art under the bridge.

The Nga Wai E Rua site

Mentz said they were speaking with the owners of Nga Wai E Rua (on the corner of Lowe St and Reads Quay), who were refreshing the building to see if there were opportunities for improvements at ground level.

This could include projections on the building at night time, he said.

Mentz said the first initiatives that would be focused on would be the river edge park, micro-spaces, Heipipi site, the isite and the city centre management structure.

With a streamlined city centre management structure, late-night shopping on selected weeknights could be offered.

Possible night and day markets

Mentz said they had spoken to someone putting together plans for a potential once-a-week night market on the city side of the river [Lowe St].

“We have been looking at options which don’t cost the Earth.”

Temporary fixtures could include fairy lights and projections, he said.

“These things start adding up and could be the ripple for gaining more attention into the city.”

Another long-term option was creating a permanent fixture for a covered market on Lowe St, as this area was highlighted as not having much through traffic for vehicles.

The trust’s regional investment manager and project manager for the initiatives, Ryan Christison, told Local Democracy Reporting “the traffic element would be part of considering it further in the future”.

High Impact initiatives

High Impact initiatives include city centre management and development, city apartments and activation, including pop-up shops or artwork/wall coverings in empty storefronts.

“At the moment you only have a partial city centre management process happening. We need to work towards formalising a very effective centre management structure,” Mentz said.

They could look to 2027 to create business cases for how Gisborne would fund the city centre improvements.

It needed representation between retailers, property owners and businesses with the council, Trust Tairāwhiti and Rongowhakaata, he said.

A new urban park could be another initiative – demolishing a large building or finding another space to create it.

Future initiatives could be getting business support facilities and creating a clip-on bridge along Peel St Bridge, Mentz said.

© Scoop Media

Local Democracy Reporting

Content from the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) service is published by Scoop as a registered New Zealand Media Outlet LDR Partner.