Porirua City Centre Revitalisation
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.
A vibrant city centre is a fun place for all, especially families.
It involves partnerships between the Council, business, investors and the community to realise the dream of a thriving city centre.
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, change the regulatory environment to make development rules and guidelines clearer, provide incentives for investment and work 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.
Retail therapy is always enjoyable but even more so in a thriving city centre.
Over $18 million in funding has been budgeted by the Council over the next ten years for changes to infrastructure and public spaces in stage one of this project.
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.
The focus for the next 5-10 years is on:
- Creating a public plaza beside Porirua Stream with improved pedestrian space. This area is being designed to encourage food and beverage outlets to set up here.
The streamside plaza will be a prime spot for coffee carts and other food and beverage outlets.
- Providing better pedestrian access from the train station and bus interchange to the streamside plaza and city centre.
- Connecting the streamside plaza to key parts of the city like North City Shopping Centre, Cobham Court and the harbour’s edge.
- Developing public spaces as the private sector invests in new development and business.
Check out our stage one plan from the Strategic Implementation Framework (5MB pdf) to see the streamside development and connections through to Cobham Court.
You can view a larger version of this plan diagram in the following formats: jpg, or pdf.
What does this mean for Cobham Court and the canopy area?
Although the focus on revamping the canopy and Cobham Court area has been reprioritised to further down the track, plenty will still be happening there. The Porirua Saturday Market is being revitalised and pedestrian access between this area and the streamside plaza will be opened up. We will be looking at what we can do to further revitalise this area in the medium term (1-5 years).
How decisions are being made
This new direction is being overseen by the Council appointed City Development Sub-Committee (made up of four external people with commercial experience, the Mayor and Councillor Ken Douglas) and implemented by the independent Project Delivery Unit. All major decisions and recommendations are ultimately signed off by the Council.
Behind the Scenes
There is plenty happening on the City Centre Revitalisation project. Work currently underway includes:
- Bizhub concept to benefit small business;
- streamside changes pave the way for plaza development;
- bringing power and water to the Saturday market;
- road stopping plans for Lydney Place South.
Bizhub concept to benefit small business
The business hub (Bizhub) concept for Porirua is gaining traction with foundation partners seeking additional commercial interest in getting the centre up and running.
The Bizhub would provide a dynamic business environment for those individuals or small businesses, operating from home, who would like a stimulating office environment to work from on occasion.
Previous research has shown that Porirua has 2,100 home based businesses. In a survey of these businesses undertaken in 2011 over 40 per cent wanted to use a Porirua-based facility or hub to meet co-workers, suppliers or customers. Over 60 per cent said they may do so regularly.
The Bizhub is earmarked for the Council owned building at 4 Lydney Place (formerly Pete’s Emporium) which is alongside the streamside plaza development area.
Porirua City Council is working with foundation partners including the Chamber of Commerce, Whitireia New Zealand and Massey University to firm up commercial investment in the Bizhub.
Concept plans for the Bizhub include:
- an open plan layout and presentation;
- an in-house manager responsible for administering and supervising the facility;
- workstation, communication, meeting, training and presentation rooms;
- quality café, lounge, utilities, kitchenette and service areas;
- high performance cable and wireless connectivity;
- facilitator employed to ‘join the dots’ for business users.
A prospectus has been developed to provide more information for commercial investors.
An artist’s impression of how the proposed business hub in 4 Lydney Place could look.
Streamside plaza concepts
During April, May and June you will start to see some changes occurring down by the streamside, along and around Lyttelton Ave.
This photo shows the area earmarked for the changes outlined below.
This work is paving the way for the development of the streamside plaza and will cost $210,000. Some of the changes you will notice include:
- Timber wall panels installed around the existing pump station and transformer buildings to screen these from the streamside plaza area;
- Removal of the carpark opposite the bus shelters in Lyttelton Avenue and replace it with chip seal to produce a zone for pedestrian use that will eventually link into being part of the plaza;
- Back lit information board to provide information on the project, hardstand area, potable water and electricity incorporated into the removed carpark to make the area attractive to mobile food outlets;
- Improving pedestrian access around the area with widening the footpath and installing better lighting.
- Bollards to block off the entrance to the car park behind No 2 Lyttelton Avenue because this is actually a service area for the buildings, it’s not a public car park.
Click the picture above to see a full-page view of the area in pdf format.
Click the picture above to see a full-page view of the area in pdf format.
Bringing Power and Water to the Porirua Saturday Market
A Saturday market that really buzzes is a key plank in the revitalisation of Porirua’s city centre.
The Council has been actively involved in trying to stimulate the Porirua Saturday Market by extending the operating hours over summer until midday on a Saturday.
The next step to make the market more attractive to a variety of vendors is to install additional power points and access to water. More vendors mean a greater range of food choices for market goers which can only be a good thing.
The new infrastructure will begin being rolled out in April at a cost $134,000. This is a pretty significant change for the market and will provide the sort of infrastructure required by a modern market featuring quality food stores.
The improved infrastructure will also benefit those wanting to bring other activity and events to the city centre. There is the added advantage of having power and water available in the city centre in civil defence situations as well.
The six month trial of extended operating hours for the market ended on 31 March. The Council is undertaking a review of the trial.
Enjoy all the market has to offer from midnight Friday until Saturday noon.
Road stopping Lydney Place South
This involves ‘stopping’ the area of legal road known as Lydney Place South. The area of stopped road will remain in ownership of Porirua City Council and allow flexibility around future development in the area. The intention to formally ‘stop’ this road has been notified and the notification period is now coming to an end.
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
Publications: