13 February 2004

Construction will  begin shortly on Wellington waterfront’s newest and most innovative urban park following Environment Court confirmation that no appeals were lodged against the first resource consent issued for the Waitangi Park project.

“This is an exciting milestone for Wellington. We’ve all been living with the design at a conceptual level for a long time and now these fantastic ideas are going to become a reality”, says Fran Wilde, Chair of Wellington Waterfront Limited.

For development purposes Waitangi Park has been divided into three.  The first resource consent is for Area One, which covers 75% of the whole site and, amongst other features, includes a reconstructed wetland sourced from Waitangi Stream, which once flowed into a lagoon in this area. 

Significant recreational features of this area are an expansive grassy field (as large as the playing field at Westpac Stadium), a children’s playground, kiosk, skateboard park, street ball courts and a petanque piste.  

More unusual features will be a wall for “aerosol art”, small windmills to provide power for the site and design features referring to the large Graving Dock built on the site a century ago. 

Tenders have been invited for the first part of construction and Wellington Waterfront Ltd hopes to commence work as soon as a contractor has been signed up.  

Area One is expected to be complete by mid-2005, by which time the rest of the project, currently being planned, will be well underway.