Momentum builds for Drews Avenue project
Published on 17 September 2020
As the co-design for the development of Whanganui’s Drews Avenue gets underway, two workshops have been held with community members, including people who live and work in the Drews Avenue area.
Town Centre Regeneration Manager, Ellen Young, says it’s exciting to see momentum building around the project, with the recent announcement that Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency will fund 90% of the project from its Innovating Streets fund.
“It’s great that we have been given the opportunity to be more innovative in the way we design our streets in Whanganui’s town centre – and we are using central government funding rather than ratepayer funding,” Ellen Young says.
Through the Innovating Streets fund councils can trial transformative changes to streetscapes and then use data to evaluate the effect of the changes and look at making permanent upgrades.
“Drews Avenue has a really unique, quirky identity and the aim of the workshops was to understand how we can demarcate the area as an arts and hospitality precinct in a way that will fit with its history and aesthetic,” Ellen Young says.
“This street is a pivotal part of our town centre because it sweeps from the river and i-SITE Information Centre up to the Sarjeant Gallery and Regional Museum in Pukenamu Queens Park, with UCOL, NZ Glassworks, creatives and businesses along the way.”
Ellen Young says she was really pleased that the outcome of the workshops was agreement on a way forward.
“It proved to me that Whanganui people are not afraid of change and are open to innovation.
“Surrounding businesses are core stakeholders because they will be looking after the outdoor spaces, so during the workshops thought went into designing a streetscape that will complement nearby business activity, such as situating seating near hospitality businesses.”
Ellen Young says it was invaluable having award-winning landscape designer, Craig Pocock, guiding the workshops because he considers environmental, community, pedestrian and spatial values during the process.
Craig Pocock says it’s important to take the whole context of the city into account when developing one area of it.
“Part of my work is looking at how the Drews Avenue puzzle piece clicks into the wider city.
“Our goal is to create a unique experience in Drews Avenue where people can stop and engage and then move on around a circuit of other appealing city locations.”
He says for visitors to the i-SITE Information Centre on Taupo Quay, Drews Avenue provides a visual corridor from the Whanganui River to the city centre “so it makes sense to develop Drews Avenue as one of the gateways into the city”.
He says it’s vital the development resonates with locals as well as visitors.
“For me, an important measure of success is that the area becomes a destination for local families to visit on weekends.
“Fundamentally I want to engage all demographics, so we’ve got kids on skates, families walking pets and people engaging with local businesses.”
He says now that the design programme has been agreed upon the next step is to work collaboratively with stakeholders on the details of the design.
“Now is where the rubber hits the road in terms of making sure we come up with a design that really fits the area and works in the morning, the afternoon and the evening.”