As many people will know, yesterday Team New Zealand won the Louis Vuitton Cup meaning that in a few weeks they will get to challenge for the America’s Cup. If they win that they will bring the cup back to New Zealand and people – perhaps getting a little ahead of themselves – are already starting to think about where a future regatta could be hosted. The last time we hosted the cup back in 2000 and 2003 the team bases were located along the western edge of the Viaduct harbour however most of those have since been redeveloped with the remaining Team NZ base to eventually make way for a hotel.
As we have seen with events like the previous America’s Cup regattas and the Rugby World Cup, one of the big advantages will be the chance to use the event to accelerate the development of our waterfront. Sure a lot of people don’t like how the Viaduct is these days but I think it must be remembered how important that development was in starting the process of rejuvenating our waterfront and city centre. You can get an idea for just how much things have changed from the image below
So it’s interesting to see that Waterfront Auckland is already thinking about where the event might be held.
Waterfront Auckland is exploring six waterfront locations in the event Team New Zealand win the America’s Cup and bring the Auld Mug back to the City of Sails.
The council body has started thinking about where the team compounds and a race village would be with an eye to triggering some new development.
Apart from locating the race village at Queens Wharf – party central for the Rugby World Cup – the other five sites would require significant work and financial investment.
They include building a new marina within Westhaven marina, a sheltered compound at the tip of Wynyard Quarter, Wynyard Wharf, a wharf extension to Halsey St and Captain Cook Wharf.
So here are the locations based on the Waterfront Plan (page 28)
Of these my thoughts are:
- Queens Wharf (#25) – While it isn’t being used for that might right now and has been quite a disappointment I’m not sure I favour giving over a lot of it to team bases for an extended period of time like an America’s Cup would require. A cup event might finally help in pushing it to being the public space it always should have been though (I personally would love to see some decent green space on there).
- Westhaven Marina (#4) – This just seems too far away
- Tip of Wynyard Quarter (#11)– An event could be a good catalyst to start the process of cleaning up that section of the waterfront although I imagine that visitors to any cup village there would still have to travel through what is a fairly unattractive area first.
- Wynyard Wharf (#14) – To me personally this seems the best location as it would appear to be a progressive development of the Wynyard Quarter while still getting the most use out of the developments that were completed just two years ago. The Waterfront Plan notes that this is where the Team NZ base is expected to move to when their current site is redeveloped (14 on the Waterfront Plan map below)
- Halsey St wharf extension (#23) – This is a project in the Waterfront Plan but isn’t scheduled to occur for 20-30 years. Developing it now seems like we would be getting a bit far ahead of ourselves when we still have so much else to sort out.
- Captain Cook Wharf – Interestingly the wharf isn’t even in the Waterfront Plan. Further this document from the Ports of Auckland suggests that if they don’t get the the right to extend out into the harbour as much as they want, they will not give up the wharf like previously intended.
As mentioned, aside from the cup village itself, hosting the cup could help provide the impetus to push along the development of some positive legacy infrastructure. Without the previous hosting of the America’s Cup would we have pushed to develop the Viaduct area or would it have been left even longer languishing as a wasteland. Without it would we even be discussing the sorts of waterfront plans we are today? Without the Rugby World Cup would we have pushed along Wynyard so much or would it have happened at a much slower rate?
So what potential infrastructure that improves the public realm could we see get a push along from the hosting another America’s cup? My guess is there are three key projects that such an event could give a real hurry up to.
- Finally sorting out Queens Wharf – As mentioned above Queens Wharf is a disappointment and needs to be sorted.
- Improving Quay St – Vastly improving the pedestrian amenity on Quay St has been talked about for a while. It is unlikely we will completely remove cars from the street but we can reduce the impact they have in co-ordination with changes to Customs St. Hopefully this event could finally put the pressure that is needed on to get this done and make the waterfront more accessible.
- Complete the tram link to Britomart – Currently the tram route around Wynyard is a joke as it isn’t useful from a transport point of view and has no value from a tourist perspective seeing as the area is still largely an industrial wasteland. It will only start to become useful if it is extended to Britomart and can start to perform an actual transport function.
I think if we could give these projects a real boost then it would improve the city not just for a specific event but in a way that would help us in the long term. It’s positive to see that Waterfront Auckland are also thinking like this (although we don’t know what they are actually planning) and it will hopefully lessen the chance that the government will try to step in and take over the event like what happened with the RWC, leaving us with silly and wasteful stuff like the slug cloud. The other thing is that these projects all work to further enhance the improvements that have already been made.
Of course all of this hinges on Team New Zealand winning the America’s Cup so let’s hope they can do it.
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I think any of these could work, actually. They’d all require different sets of responses, and would create different patterns of development. For example, converting some of the Westhaven Marina (between 4, 6, and 16) from an essentially private area for Auckland’s richest (who pay for the privilege, to be sure) to public waterfront would pull the focus westward. It would require us to create proper transport links, probably using the tram service and a proper walking and cycling connection.
Auckland could be the best city in the world. Increasing our ability to enjoy and engage with its water and open space is a huge part of this.
One of the things people forget is that hosting the America’s Cup didn’t just result in development that rejuvenated our waterfront and city centre it also provided Aucklanders and the rest of the world access to key parts of Auckland’s waterfront that were normally fenced off or had been occupied by marine industries that did not welcome visitors.
The ability to access the water, to gather in large numbers in the new public spaces to see and cheer all of the boats off for each race as well as welcome them back and celebrate Team NZ’s success ( and ulitmately its defeat) assisted due to the duration in creating a real sense of identify and pride both as Aucklanders and NZers . The positive feedback we received from visitors, sailors and media suggested that our aspirations for Auckland to be an international city were not overstated. Can’t wait to see it all unfold this time round!
Going west (tip of Wynyard, Wynyard Wharf)to have the boat sheds would justify the extension of the tram. An extension to britomart (acros Te Wero) could link it with Queens Wharf where “party central” could be (just reomve the Cloud and out down some grass, trees and tables.
I think its worth dragging some activity east – the Viaduct and North Wharf will be busy regardless.
I’m hoping that the event returning will see the Council or Govt take some action re port area and Captain Cook wharf – e.g. the govt buying the latter back, just like they did with QW before RWC2011.
and BTW, such an approach (boats west, party central east) would also trigger the Quay St boulevard, surely.
One of the other things that will need careful consideration is where any actual racing takes place,
The AC-72 racing up and down SF bay with a finish line in front of pier 27 has shown that long dragged out races out by the whangaparoa penninsula are not going to cut it any more and a race course much much closer will be needed..
The trouble is that our inner harbour is probably too tight for the AC 72s, unless there is a new boat we won’t be going in the inner harbour. I’ve had these guys sail past me, its terrifying.
I suspect that may be difficult as inner harbour racing near the CBD would likely mean ferries would be significantly disrupted (depending on format, number of races etc). – The Louis Vuitton Series was raced just off North-head and Bastion point which provided two natural vantage points for spectators and TV. I wouldn’t be surprised if a similar course was chosen.
due to cost considerations, it’s unlikely that the AC72s would be raced in the next series, as the AC45s are considerably cheaper to build, that said, the 72s can turn pretty tightly
Wasn’t a lot of the cost really to do with the fact that they were a completely new class of yacht? The costs for teams to enter should have been lowered since then as NZ and USA are both onto their second class of yacht and sold their old design to Luna Rossa. America’s Cup has always been about big money and pushing the envelope as far as yacht design goes, I think it’s highly unlikely they’ll ditch the 72s in favour of the 45s for the main race. In anything, we’ll see even more evolved 72s in the next cup.
you may be right, but I heard this from a friend who’s brother is involved with the Artemis syndicate
Didn’t Team NZ publicly state that they would go back to monohulls of some description if they won, back in May when a sailor died training?
Yes please! I’d like a Cup where the entry was at least marginally affordable, resulting in a festival with a dozen challengers rather than 2.5 that there are currently. Race them in the harbour just a few hundred meters from shore. And I like the idea of taking the warm-up rounds on the road. Both internationally, as they’ve done this time, and also around the country.
How about P class off Takapuna Beach? No worry about big sheds (home to the garage each night) and would be a perfect event to build a cross harbour train tunnel to.
Yes well they do definitely need to do something that will get more challengers back in the competition, the Louis Vuitton Cup this year was a farce with 3 teams, one of which never had the time to practice and Luna Rossa who were sailing in an old design from Team NZ so it’s no wonder TNZ are the winners.
The question is how quickly can Wynyard wharf be tidied up? Is it even viable with the existing contracts the remedial work required. That and party central at queens wharf is the obvious combo. with racing essentially in the harbour finishing somewhere between the two.
In 4 years it is definitely possible, it’s will depend on drumming up public support. NZers often forget the benefits the Americas cup brings to NZ. The $35mil for this cup has been payed off in terms of tourism advertising benefits alone. Then there is the fact we secured the boat building facilities, 3 of the teams AC72’s were built in NZ, and all the AC45’s were built in NZ! These are not cheap boats with the money coming into the NZ economy.
When we hosted the Americas Cup it helped transform our waterfront, the Viaduct Harbour is now a feature of our city, this type of investment is possible and justifiable with the benefits these events bring into our economy. Land purchases will cost the government and council extra, but with the extra money coming into the economy this will be easily retrieved while bringing huge benefits to the city. I would go for number 14 or number 11, I believe this would transform that section of Wynyard Quarter pushing forward plans already in place like the Rugby World Cup did. Also extension of tram to Britomart and Party Central!
Just show us more pics of the new EMU!
+1 Enough with all the urban planning mumbo Jumbo, bring on some good old fashioned Rail pr0n 🙂
Yes, boats with trains on them! 😀
Ah, the Waterfront Plan: essentially a carsfest for the eastern suburbs elite enabling to access their yachts faster and more conveniently with, from what I can see, minimal provision for public transport services, not even the poor, truncated, unloved tram. The idea of using commercial sporting events as a catalyst for the development of public space and services is inherently flawed for any number of reasons, not least the myopic assumption that facilities suitable for a ephemeral festival can be mistaken for a visionary urban project.
Starting to discuss something that hasn’t happened yet is surely the kiss of death for it. Let’s see how we are go Sunday before we start counting those chickens…
My thoughts exactly, I remember similar discussions being had when Team NZ was slated to race against Alinghi and we all know how that turned out. Team NZ could be obliterated by Team USA, we just don’t know how the two teams will compare.
Waterfront Auckland would do us all a favour by removing huge carpark located at 24 in the map above, why does prime waterfront land get turned over to carparking? The same happened to Princess Wharf, the same has now happened to Queens Wharf.
+1000
Its the biggest blight on the (developed) waterfront. I shake my head every time I see it. Surely its not necessary with a downtown carpark building about 100m away?
There’s a public carpark there, a private one just further on closer to the Wynyard Bridge, as well as a large public one on Princes Wharf, and the Viaduct one around the corner, not to mention the huge downtown carpark. It’s completely unneeded and is a real shocker really.
Even the end of Princes Wharf is used by corporate cabs for a taxi-rank… Totally bleak.
I guess you’re talking about Te Wero Island above. While a handful of carparks for marina use could be acceptable, most can go.
Imagine what a nice public space that could be. The cheapie do up at the end of Queens attracts heaps of people with a few nice benches, should do the same at Te Wero.
Exactly on Te Wero to the Maritime Museum is the large public one, through the old lifting bridge you reach another large one exclusively for yacht owners. Both could be more or less completely removed leaving a few short term sites for unloading loading yachts. The end of Princess Wharf is completely bleak, as is walking around its perimeter and dodging cars and parked cars, amazing that that was allowed by council. The end of Queens Wharf behind Shed 10 has been turned into another large carpark, not to mention the one installed in front of the ferry terminal. Is anyone actually in charge of this at Auckland Transport/Council/Waterfront? Why isn’t there a plan to slowly weed out parking areas like this and prevent them happening in the first place?
How about extending the tram all the way to St Heliers? It would be a busy route at peak commuting times, weekends, and great for tourists going to Kelly Tarltons and beyond.
If we get a new government next year perhaps such schemes will be on the cards, as it is there’s no way AT could pay for it. Especially when they are now required to prioritise funding based on National’s GPS which dictates close to 97% on motorways and roads and the remainder on PT and active modes. Auckland Council are no longer in charge of how AT spend the money AC collects in rates.
how about people in St Heliers start supporting intensification so that their suburb can justify more investment in public transport?!?
I think there is a better chance of Luna Rosa winning the cup this time than that happening
Definitely falls into the ‘cool’ category. But of course big problem with Waterfront Trams if they effectively have half the catchment. Plus half the Tamaki Drive route is water or hills on both sides further reducing catchment.
Much better to leave light rail to dense corridors, Dominion Road, Queen St, Ponsonby, Great North Road probably only one that will ever be suitable in Auckland, and not seriously until 2030.
Indeed, as has been discussed in the past Dominion Rd should really be the long term aspiration for the first tram outside of the central city. Any initial push should be one up Queen Street. St Heliers in reality should stop voting in people like Cameron Brewer if they ever want something like a tram out there.
I did a little analysis on this issue using residential data from Stats NZ, comparing a line up Queen St and down Dominion Rd to Mt Roskill and a line along Quay St to Tamaki Dr and St Heliers.
Both are very similar lengths at just under 10km, however the Dominion Rd route has around fourteen times the walk-up catchment of the Tamaki Dr route. So that suggests more or less the same cost to build, but the Dominion Rd route would have about fourteen times more use, fourteen times the benefit, and naturally fourteen times the paying customers.
There is also the issue of frequency, on Tamaki Dr you’d be lucky to fill up a tram every half hour, on Dominion you could fill a tram every five minutes or so.
If we consider that a Dominon Rd tram would replace the Dominion Rd buses and the City Link, then I imagine it would easily be the busiest transit line in Auckland, more so that any of the rail lines or the Northern Busway (at least in the near term, the CRL and various extensions might change that).
Agree
Along Tamaki drive could only be justified as a tourist service much like the existing trams (the Wynyard loop and the Zoo to Motat (does this still run?))
I think the reduced catchment argument is not that applicable to Tamaki Drive; if anything, the water and cliffs work in favour of a rapid LRT line. A Tamaki line would only be able to have a few stops, and these would be at the town centres, which are not exactly on the water’s edg, they’re pulled in, with shops on one side and the beaches and parks on the other. I think the beaches being right by the stops would make them really effective destinations for people coming in from the city/other suburbs. I think a Tamaki line would be well patronised.
That said, I do think Dominion Road is a better first project.
A lot of interesting options to be considered and this is a really good opportunity to continue advancing the waterfront and create a really great pedestrian environment. World Rugby Championships did not achieve as much as they could have for improving the CBD, due to the stadium being located out of the CBD and poor rail infrastructure. If NZ wins the cup, we can assume a defence in 2016 – 17. By that stage we should have all the new trains in service too!
Did the RWC achieve anything aside from the SLUG? All central government funding went on new motorways in Mangere.
Kingsland Station is better than it would have been 🙂
Crickey what was it like before? I think it’s horrible every day as i go past. Huge concrete monstrosity, and so much light pollution at night.
The space just north east of it with the public toilets seems like a real missed opportunity. Could be a nice little piazza with a couple cafes and link the station nicely to the highstreet / bars, cafes, and shops on new north road..
Didn’t really give us that much from an urban design / liveable city point of view.
Well I realised Auckland Council removed some of the parking spaces on Te Wero (around 5), so that’s a huge success….., we’ll only need another 10 RWCs at this rate to remove all the rest of the parking from Te Wero.
$250M on Eden Park that, since then, cannot sustain itself.
If that tram track gets extended to Britomart, it should go around the bottom of lighter basin rather than getting its own bridge near Te Wero. It would be cheaper, it passes more places of employment, and I won’t comment on the irony of pulling out rail tracks and disconnecting the old lifting bridge from any destination, only to build a new rail bridge (lifting) alongside it.
Remember that the RWC is different to the Americas cup.
RWC was 3 weeks
Americas cup spans over 3 months plus the teams are based in the country for at least a year before hand. Between the two Americas cups in NZ, Luna Rosa was based in NZ full time. Americas cup also impacts on our boat building and super yacht service industry (compared to Canterbury gong into liquidation before the RWC due to ???).
Plus the Americas Cup doesn’t need new stadiums. The spectator carnival happens on the downtown waterfront, and along beaches and reserves. It’s pretty cheap, pump some money fixing up part of Wynyard that we were going to fix anyway and throw up a row of temporary shed bases. People and businesses get attracted to it and we simply achieve what all the plans for the area want to achieve anyway.
Imagine if we could get that same quarter billion they spent at Eden Park to spend along the waterfront downtown, what would it allow, what would the legacy be? Probably a lot more useful to the city day to day than a bigger flashed up stadium.
Plus the teams all build their own bases, and usually in a way that allows them to be onsold for other more productive use.
The sheds wouldn’t really be a benefit as the future plans are not based around shops in big sheds in Wynyard.
Come on now, lets be reasonable. Given the size of these vessels we are looking at some pretty damn big buildings if we want to house them inside. Are you saying that large industrial buildings can’t be put to productive use afterwards? Docklands in London seems pretty productive?
And I dont think we want pretty damn big industrial buildings on the waterfront going forward.
Ideally a mix of retail, cafe, professional and accomodation.
I would imagine them being temporary (they are cheap warehouses effectively) which once removed, would become parkland (refer 9, 10, 11 above).
There is also no requirement for the syndicate bases to be at the ‘cup village’. The bases could be in westhaven and the village spread over wynyard and queens wharf.
You’re deliberately misreading so you can argue a strawman.
You build a tall industrial building on some plot of land that can be used for other uses afterwards. As soon as the team moves out the sell the buildng on the chheap which can quickly be converted to apartments, offices or a hotel with retail on the ground floor.
I’m not saying they aren’t needed during the cup, just that Waterfront Auckland is slowly clearing space as the leases on the bulk liquid storage end. There will then be a mix of apartments, shops, and parklands built. The shed themselves could potentially be sold off and located elsewhere but they don’t IMO have any really benefit long term for the city. If you look there’s not really many spaces that could be used in any case due to the presence of the liquid storage, I guess they could be bought out of their leases (?) and in that case I’d see building the sheds as a great way to accelerate the freeing up of the land which currently is locked up for 20-30 years in existing leases.
I was thinking more for spots 14, 23, or 25 or CCW if the bases are there. Also, a team base doesn’t have to be a large tin shed. It could well be a permanent elegant structure.
I don’t want to see the end of Wynyard used unless it is purely temporary as I favour a park there long term.
23 doesn’t exist yet
25 is the cloud, good for a cup village but not for the syndicates (not sheltered for launching)
14 is probably the best spot though still a bit exposed.
I think temporary structures would be more suitable. To get a permanent elegant structure that works well as a warehouse and a mixed used retail/accomodation will be difficult and probably expensive. The key think is it would require the land to be cleared which once removed could be built on permanently – this would speed up development in the area unless we defended more than twice.
The fact that 23 doesn’t exist yet is irrelevant. I notice you have no issue with it in the article.
You clearly don’t know anything about the AC at all if you are worried about launching. ETNZ’s boat has been launched exactly 2 times, once in NZ and once in San Fran, like all large boats they live in the water or are hoisted out for repairs. The section of water available there is more than sheltered enough for those activities. Also, there may be space on the Eastern side for bases.
Agreed that 14 is one of the better options and probably the best, but see above regarding exposure.
Remember that these boats are 26m long, they need a MASSIVE amount of water to come into base.
To build 23 would be a lot of capex which seems pointless when we already have lots of other wharf space to be redeveloped first.
I dont know much about the new boats but do remember watching them take the old Americas cup boats in and out of the water each day – I assumed it is the same with these – I call that launched but my nautical terms may be incorrect. You may be correct re the amount of shelter needed to put the boats in and out of the water – I imagine wind would be more of an issue than waves in the inner harbour given you wouldn’t want to tilt one of those large fixed sail in the wrong direction.
The docks in london in the 50s did not require 200m tall office blocks, the existing docks there were flattened before the modern office blocks and apartment towers you see today were built.
Just as the docks could not be put to productive use as office blocks, i agree it’s questionable that boat hanger warehouses will be much use once the racing is over. What has happened to the ones that were built last time, are they still standing as offices, restaurants or apartments?
The docks in london in the 50s
the ones that were built last time
Both irrelevant. These boats are like no other boats ever built before. Also, there are tonnes of repurposed industrial buildings. Even if we just use the foundations that would be a massive saving over a new build, though if the teams are smart they will build reusable buildings.
They are big tin sheds, who cares if they are reused or replaced afterwards? The point is activating the precinct.
Site 23, the proposed extension of the Halsey Street Wharf would be the preferable site for a bunch of reasons – most open space, surrounded by deep water, shelter from prevailing westerlies, adjacent to existing Events Centre. easy walking distance to downtown restaurants and cafes at North Wharf, plus the Viaduct and Princes Wharf. Excellent for fishing, commercial and recreational marine use afterwards. But tough to achieve in three years.
Addressjng a couple of misunderstandings here: boats are dry sailed, ie, launched and retrieved each night. Alll base structures are temporary, as were bases last time – a bunch of guys with spanners and cutting wrenches and they are dismantled in a week or so.
Yes, in one sense it is too soon to have this conversation. At the same time it is too late. Planning, financing, resource consents should have been underway two or three years ago for a 2017 defence. Remember teams get here at least a year ahead of the match.
Take the event to Christchurch, hold it in Lyttleton harbor, goodness knows, that city could use the boost.
Joyce on the weekend getting a bit muddled about his cups http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/americas-cup/9196078/Regions-would-share-in-Americas-Cup-Joyce, unlike a rugby team, you can’t put AC whatever boat on a bus to take them to a playing field somewhere,
they need infrastructure Steven, boatbuilders, rope and tackle suppliers, wharves and cranes, you can’t just plonk them in Auckland, Wellington, Napier and Greymouth and expect a regatta to take place
Clearly Joyce has no knowledge of this event whatsoever. I honestly think Auckland would be the only city in New Zealand that could host this event. Wellington or Christchurch could if they go back to monohull keelers, but I don’t see that happening, and any other city is too small to manage.