As slow as government departments move, when they really want to move fast, they can. Free from all the hassle and moans and gripes of legitimate public concern, such as the Resource Consent process, the Building Consent process, an Archaeological dig etc, in order to get the Memorial Park complete by April 2015, a new NZTA road has leapt into place, skirting round the back of the (once) sacred turf of the Memorial green space. You’ll be driving on it by Christmas…

If you are interested in knowing more about the works around the Basin Reserve and the Memorial Park, then click on the words BASIN RESERVE either here, or up top in the menu. You’ll find a whole lot of back catalogue information on what we call Option X.
First up was the country’s biggest / fastest Read the rest of this entry »

The Prime Minister has announced today that the Memorial Park is to be a Park, and not a motorway. Hooray for common sense, good taste, sensible planning, appropriate responses, and joined up thinking.

There has evidently been a fair bit of quiet contemplative thought going on Read the rest of this entry »

The Friday 26 August deadline for submissions to NZTA regarding the Wellington inner-city transport projects is getting closer. Read the rest of this entry »

Since the unveiling of the NZTA schemes for around the Basin now almost a month ago, we have been having a good look at their back issues – the NZTA publications that they have been storing up away from prying eyes. Now, however, a good number of them have been published and are available on line.
One of the more interesting things unveiled, is the plan of the work for the Memorial Park. Read the rest of this entry »

The NZTA have proposed options for redeveloping the roading of the Basin Reserve.  But these are not really options. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve already begun discussing issues relevant to the Basin, particularly through blog posts … Read the rest of this entry »

In a surprise move, the possibility of lowering State Highway One past the National War Memorial was announced on the front page of the weekend paper. At the Architectural Centre, we have been advocating this for a number of years now – we hosted a Symposium on the design of the ‘Memorial Park’ in 2007, and the over-whelming feedback from the group of assembled experts was that the roadway through the park should be lowered. In our feedback to the City on the Ngauranga to Airport study, we also noted that the Memorial Park should be lowered. Recently, during the vision for Wellington in 2040, we again pressed for the roadway to be lowered, to give the Memorial due respect and space. We’re very pleased that this is now, at last, being addressed with the respect it is due.

The present strip of pseudo motorway that sidles past the base of the National War Memorial, and incorporates two or more steeply climbing driveways up to the front of the old Museum building (now Massey University), is not so much a National shame, but very much a National lost opportunity. Read the rest of this entry »