National Fale Malae looking for new site after consent uncertainty

Wednesday, 24 February 2021

Plans for a fale malae in the heart of Wellington’s parliamentary precinct have shifted due to “insurmountable issues” and costs at its proposed site.

But the trust overseeing the project, which will see a Pacific hub built for all people of Aotearoa, says a site in downtown Wellington was being examined as a new location.

“It’s about time New Zealand owns its Pacific identity. This will be a fale for New Zealand,” said Dame Winnie Laban, a member of the Falae Malae Trust.

An artist's impression of what the Fale Malae may have looked like on Bunny St.

In most Pacific communities, a fale (structure) plays a central role for communal activities, including as a village green or malae (marae).

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The national fale would have a Pacific focus, and would be a multi-purpose venue that would host both corporate and cultural events, as well as meetings and gatherings. The idea was for it to bring in enough money to cover its own expenses while contributing to broader economic growth.

The dream of a fale for Aotearoa has been in the pipeline for some time.

But despite Wellington City Council giving in-principle support to its construction last year, a trust spokeswoman said the Bunny St site originally touted was no longer preferred due to uncertainty around resource consenting, and the location being an inadequate size.

The trust was examining the feasibility of another prominent downtown site, and was currently completing a geotechnical analysis of it, as well as preparing new conceptual designs and cost estimates.

It intended to present the updated proposal at a meeting to the council in April, where it would seek a further in-principle agreement for the new proposed site.

The University of Auckland has a Fale Pasifika.

Proceeding with design and construction on any council-owned land would be contingent on a successful resource consent process.

“The Bunny St site had insurmountable issues with regard to size and accessibility, as well as potential excessive costs related to current underground facilities and road changes. The trust members prefer other options with fewer issues,” the spokeswoman said.

The trust anticipated getting access to council-owned land in “some form of a perpetual lease” for the specific purpose of the development of the fale.

“The Fale Malae will be built as an accessible, living, national icon – as befitting of a capital city and the role of the Pasifika peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand,” she said.

As well as securing $10 million in funding from the Government, Victoria University of Wellington is also understood to have committed $10m via a debt underwrite. The council had not committed any funding.

While the Bunny St proposal was estimated last year as costing about $35 million, it’s unknown whether that figure had changed with the new, as-yet unknown location. But Laban said it was likely to cost more than first estimated.

A trust spokeswoman said a full cost breakdown would be available once the new site was agreed and additional fundraising had commenced.

Laban said Aotearoa’s Pacific community had been asking for a fale in the capital for a “long, long time”.

“All government departments and the judiciary are here … it’s about Aotearoa celebrating its Pacific culture.”

In the 2018 Census, there were 381,642 Pacific people counted as living in New Zealand, representing more than 12 per cent of the country’s total population.