Porirua City Centre Revitalisation – Stage one: Developing the Heart
The Porirua City Centre Revitalisation project is key to creating a more prosperous city and as such is Porirua City Council’s top priority.
What is the City Centre Revitalisation Project all about?
This project is about more than just shopping it’s about value creation, city heart, social mix, our sense of place; it’s about business, a better range of jobs and people living in the city centre to give it 24/7 activity.
It’s also about partnerships between the Council, business, investors and the community to realise the dream of a thriving city centre.
Image shows two friends meeting up in town for a relaxed chat in pleasant outdoor surroundings.
Porirua City Council’s role is to help create the right environment for the private sector to invest in revitalising our city centre.
This means the Council will invest in critical changes to elements of the city centre infrastructure, changing the regulatory environment to make development rules and guidelines clearer, providing incentives for investment and working with local businesses to develop a positive, on-going, events programme.
The Council will also engage with the business/investor community and regional visitor market.
Over $14 million in funding has been budgeted by the Council over the next eight years for changes to infrastructure and public spaces in stage one of this project.
Image shows two work colleagues enjoying their lunch break at an attractive and sunny city park.
The role of the private sector will be to help us create the overall experience by investing in design and construction of new buildings, refurbishing or outfitting new retail/hospitality premises/apartments and finding new tenants for these premises. For more on investment and business opportunities in Porirua, go to our City Centre Investment Opportunities page.
Project Review
An independent review of the City Centre Revitalisation Project has been completed and a new governance group is in the process of being formed. While the overall concept and master plan for rejuvenation stay the same there are some changes to the project strategy and a re-ordering of priorities.
The Council engaged Wellington Waterfront Limited (WWL) to do the review. WWL has 25 years’ experience in leading the development of the Wellington’s waterfront and is wholly owned by Wellington City Council.
The review supports the work done to date on the city centre revitalisation project and commends the clarity and articulation of the plans; however, it has come back with some recommendations to stimulate the revitalisation process.
Governance and project management
The priority recommendations are to:
- Establish a Council subcommittee to provide strategic oversight of the City Centre Revitalisation Project, set project priorities, approve work plans and activities and help guide discussions on business issues related to the project. Progress: the Terms of Reference for the subcommittee were approved on 14 December 2011 and state that the sub-committee will be made up of two elected members, Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett (Chair) and Councillor Ken Douglas (Deputy Chair), and three independent members. The three independent members will be appointed in the New Year.
- Establish a project delivery unit responsible for provision of project management and business development services to the City Centre Revitalisation project. Progress: A Request for Proposal was sent out to potential project management companies in November and the aim is to have the new delivery unit established early in the New Year.
Other recommendations
Other recommendations from the review include to:
- Realign city centre plan development priorities to meet market demand including developing the waterfront as a key focus for residential, commercial and public space development.
- Develop a work plan to investigate potential market demand and developer interest in residential accommodation in the CBD, and around the harbour and stream edges.
- Continue working with Kiwi Income Property Limited on the future development of North City Shopping Centre and the link to Hartham Place; and that canopy removal, new main street development and physical streetscape enhancements should only proceed when firm building development demand exists.
- Enhance the Saturday market on the Cobham Court site by extending its hours and mix of goods for sale.
- Improve way-finding around the city – so people and traffic can move more easily and conveniently through the city centre.
- Work with New Zealand Transport Agency to investigate transport links between the CBD and the Aotea Block.
Image shows the colour, variety and vibrancy market stalls add to a city centre.
Keep informed about the City Centre Revitalisation project
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Contact us
For further information about this project contact:
Moira Lawler
General Manager Strategy and Planning
(04) 237 1422
mlawler@pcc.govt.nz
Links to more information
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