29 June 2005

Waitakere looks to the future

Waitakere residents recently had a glimpse what the future holds for their city.
The Waitakere City Council Exhibition at West City mall showed the changing face of the city with models and displays of new designs soon to become reality – the Waitakere Central Library, Unitec and carpark complex, the Civic Centre with its associated office and apartment blocks and adjacent transport hub.

Also on offer was the chance to visit successful developments normally off limits to the public. ‘Open House’ was a one day event as part of the Year of the Built Environment, organised by the Ministry for the Environment to allow public viewing of significant buildings in the four main city centres

“We had some terrific feedback at the Waitakere City Council Exhibition on the Council’s plans to bring Henderson into the 21st century. Our display at West City was a great opportunity to show people what is going on and the comments they made were valuable,” says Councillor Penny Hulse, chairperson of the City Development committee.

“A few people started out with a negative slant, but when they took the time to talk, they commented that it was good to see Henderson on the way to being a real city centre, with a four storey library, a six storey car park, a tertiary campus, an over-bridge to the Civic Square and Centre, right beside an integrated transport hub with double rail tracking,” she says.

“When people learn that the Council is planning to give the city a heart at Henderson, they start to see the potential that will be realised. There is a predicted economic upswing as early as next year when the Council’s 800 employees and around 1000 Unitec students will be in and around Henderson,” she says.

The Open Day included bus tours to the eco village Earthsong at Swanson, the environmentally-designed Waitakere Hospital and Harbourview, a medium-density housing development at Te Atatu Peninsula.

Expert guides were on hand to tell the story of each site, chosen because of an outstanding feature or contribution to its local environment.

Open House was supported by the New Zealand Institute of Architects and a consortium of local government, industry, research organisations and professional institutes.

ENDS

© Scoop Media