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Ngāmotu New Plymouth City Centre Strategy

Pūkākā Link

In 2023, the concept design for the Pūkākā Link was developed in partnership with Ngati Te Whiti.

Targeted stakeholder engagement was completed with residents, businesses and organizations and a series of key moves and outcomes were identified:

    Enable safe connection

    Make the city’s features easy to explore for visitors, and easy to access for residents and workers.

    Enable safe connection – Make the city’s features easy to explore for visitors, and easy to access for residents and workers.

    Respond to built and natural features

    Create spaces that reflect the unique architectural, cultural and civic spaces.

    Place-based amenity

    Draw from the natural environment and reflect cultural landscape to improve amenity, celebrate place, and support biodiversity.

    Place-based amenity – Draw from the natural environment and reflect cultural landscape to improve amenity, celebrate place, and support biodiversity.

    The early priorities for high impact projects along the Pūkākā Link were identified as:

    1. The West End Crossing (Queen Street between Devon Street and King Street)

    The concept for the streets and spaces surrounding Ngāmotu house recognises the significant civic, commercial, hospitality and cultural contributions of the White Hart Building, the Len Lye Centre and Govett-Brewster Gallery, and Robe Park and Clock Tower to the vibrancy of the city. With the likely continuation of this given the increasing number of people working in the planned new commercial spaces, the concept creates a threshold into the city that galvanises these features and supports movement and activity in the city centre. Known as the West End Crossing, this project within the Pūkākā Link includes:

    • The upgrade of Devon Street to include wider paths, low planting and street trees, tighter traffic lanes, additional parking and loading bays that combine to calm traffic to 30km/h and signal the entry to the city centre.
    • A raised crossing over Devon Street by the Clock Tower to enable safe crossing to and from the park and commercial buildings.
    • Creation of a shared space on upper Queen Street between Devon Street and King Street that builds on the attractions of the adjacent businesses and gallery spaces. The space will enable events and flexibility with more streamlined traffic management.
    • The upgrade of the King Street and Queen Street intersection to address driver visibility and pedestrian crossing issues. This includes raised crossings, kerb extensions and low planting.

    The space between the White Hart, Len Lye Centre and Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is kept open and uncluttered, with simple planting bed arrangements and forms, low planting to keep view open. Paving is carried across Devon Street to beneath the Clock Tower and around Ngāmotu House as a unifying element between the unique architectural forms.

    Axonometric of the West End Crossing showing its extent and approach to integrating its context through simple spatial defintion and arrangements.

    1. Cenotaph Civic Space Upgrade (Queen Street and St Aubyn/SH44)

    A concept design for a civic open space around the Cenotaph would be created by closing off Queen Street from St Aubyn Street. The Cenotaph’s location in an intersection makes it is inaccessible and hinders ANZAC services due to traffic management logistics and costs, as well as many other services that could otherwise be held there throughout the year.

    Cenotaph Civic Space Upgrade.

    What’s Next?

    • Progress the identified projects through to detail design and construction (Fiscal years 2027 – 2030)

    Page last updated: 02:23pm Mon 08 April 2024

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