Phil Goff
Auckland, April 2, 2021
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, Transport Minister Michael Wood and dignitaries at the opening of Te Komititanga, the new public space on Lower Queen Street.
The upgrade of Auckland’s downtown and waterfront areas is impressive, with new projects underway or already completed to make the city a more vibrant, people-friendly and environmentally attractive place to live, work, and visit.
New Crossroads for Auckland
Last December, I officially opened Te Komititanga, a great new people-friendly square on lower Queen Street. Located next to the Chief Post Office building and the successful new Commercial Bay precinct, and across the road from the downtown ferry terminal, Te Komititanga is a new crossroads for Auckland where people will be able to enter and leave the city by ferry, bus and rail.
With seating and trees as well as a striking pavestone design based on Maori weaving patterns, Te Komititanga is a new heart for our city, a place where people can enjoy traffic-free spaces, gather and meet with friends, look out over the harbour and visit the fantastic new places to shop and eat.
Quay Street invigoration is a part of the Auckland CBD upgrade
Global meeting place
It has already been enjoyed by Aucklanders during the America’s Cup celebrations and the Buskers Festival, and together with the new harbourside park under construction and the reinvigoration of Quay Street, it will create a world-class downtown area that will be a gathering place for Aucklanders and New Zealanders, and when our borders reopen, for our international visitors as well.
Te Komititanga is one of several upgrades that Auckland Council and its agencies have delivered recently. Others include the new Galway Street shared space, which offers an accessible, attractive and people-friendly environment a short walk from Britomart.
Amey Daldey Park, which opened in December 2020, has transformed an area once dominated by industrial storage tanks into a green open space between Victoria Park and Wynyard Point, perfect for picnics, meeting friends and enjoying the sunshine.
It is also home to 12 beautiful Pohutukawa trees moved from other areas of Quay Street and Wynyard Quarter.
The new Galway Street Shared Space near Te Komititanga
New Projects coming up
Closer to the water, the second stage of the Westhaven Promenade and Marine Village was opened in November. The Promenade offers a continuous shared path along Westhaven’s foreshore between Wynyard Quarter and the Auckland Harbour Bridge and is designed people walking and on bikes or scooters.
Projects that will be opening soon include the restored Chief Post Office building in Britomart, which retains many aspects of the original design, providing a glimpse of Auckland’s heritage as well as being part of the future of our increasingly vibrant and people-friendly downtown. Already one of New Zealand’s busiest and most important transport hubs, the CPO will gain further importance when the City Rail Link opens in 2024.
The Aotea Development Programme is another exciting part of the Project
And in the middle of this year, Te Wananga, the waterfront space in the ferry basin between Princes Wharf and Queens Wharf, will open to the public. The impressive design seemingly floats above the water and as well as being an attractive public space will include tree plantings, gardens and apertures that offer a glimpse into the water below.
These and other projects around central Auckland, such as the High Street precinct, the Albert Street upgrade, Federal Street and more, are transforming and revitalising our downtown into a vibrant, attractive and world-class area that will be enjoyed by Aucklanders and visitors.
Phil Goff is Mayor of Auckland. He writes a regular column in Indian Newslink. The above story has been sponsored by
