Reimagining the Wellington region: Fishing and kayaking for inner city apartment dwellers

Monday, 8 November 2021

Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry supports a $700m project that will see the Hutt River/Te Awa Kairangi become the focal point of the central city.

Imagine this. After having a lazy breakfast at your favourite cafe, you wander down to the Hutt River/Te Awa Kairangi for a quick kayak before strolling home to read the Sunday paper on your deck overlooking the river.

It might seem far-fetched, but that is exactly the scenario envisaged by proponents of the RiverLink plan for central Lower Hutt.

Wellington-based developer Ian Cassels says it’s not far-fetched – and that if we are to deal with climate change and reduce carbon emissions, what is planned in Lower Hutt should be replicated throughout New Zealand.

* Long-awaited four-star Hutt hotel set to open by Christmas

* Lower Hutt CBD revamp not commercially viable, council admits

* Lower Hutt hopes to lure Wellingtonians north with river-view apartments

* Hutt City spending $51 million to encourage inner city apartments

The $700 million RiverLink upgrade is the most significant infrastructure project in Lower Hutt's history.

The greater Wellington region is at a crunch point: House prices across the region, including in Lower Hutt, have leapt by more than 30 per cent in the last year. This has forced people to look further afield for places to live – but they still need reliable, and preferably also sustainable, ways to get around.

The region is now embarking on a period of planning to try to deal with these challenges, which have been chronicled in the Dominion Post’s ‘Reimagining Wellington’ series.

An early vision of what a revamp of Lower Hutt's central city could look like.

RiverLink, a $700 million plan to reshape Lower Hutt by turning its struggling city centre around to face the river, is part of that vision.

Greater Wellington recently applied for consent for the RiverLink development, which could create as many as 2000 new apartments.

Cassels believes it is unrealistic to keep using green space for housing and building upwards in areas like Lower Hutt’s underperforming city centre is a much better option.

He envisages a vibrant atmosphere where cars are not needed, residents will cycle and walk everywhere, and the river will be a focal point – all of which will create a self-sustaining community.

With young people increasingly being priced out of central Wellington, coupled with the improved public transport which will come with RiverLink, Cassels believes they will see central Lower Hutt as an attractive option.

Bizarrely, Lower Hutt’s founding fathers built the city as if the river did not exist. A large stopbank obscures views of the river and a massive carpark further distances locals from the water.

As well as upgrading flood defences, RiverLink will be one of the biggest urban redesigns ever undertaken in New Zealand.

Developer Kevin Melville is converting an old commercial building into 40 apartments which he hopes will help rejuvenate the Hutt CBD.

Key components include a new road bridge linked to an interchange on State Highway 2, relocating Melling Station and a cycle network.

In 2018 artist Ash Sissons painted a giant kokopu to remind locals what a valuable asset the Hutt River is.

A pedestrian and cycling bridge, linking the new Melling Railway Station to the central Lower Hutt, will make it possible to be in central Wellington within 20 minutes of leaving your apartment.

Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry is looking forward to the day when access to the Hutt River/Te Awa Kairangi will not be blocked by an ugly stopbank and a carpark holding 900 cars.

Hutt-based developer Kevin Melville has long had an interest in the central city, arguing it has significant potential.

His most successful project was Lower Hutt’s historic Post Office, which he refurbished into apartments in 2015.

Melville is behind a $15m project to build 40 apartments in a former commercial building on High St. The project is next door to a major project backed by Cassels on the site of the former BNZ building on High St.

Melville believes the central city has the potential for up to 2000 new apartments and by incorporating the river, he agrees with Cassels that Wellingtonians will find it attractive.

He points out it is hard to think of a major city anywhere in the world where the water quality is good enough to swim in and fish for trout.

With more people living in the central city, Melville believes cafes and pubs will follow, making the run-down area unrecognisable from its present state.

Talk of Wellingtonians packing up to head to Lower Hutt is music to the ears of Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry.

He is confident the lure a 12-minute train ride to Wellington and the opportunity to live near a river, and go trout fishing, kayaking or swimming, will bring in the city slickers from the Capital.

“I think a really strong measure of the success we are going to see is more people coming to the our CBD to work and play in a natural environment.”

Council director of economic development Kara Dentice-Puketapu predicts RiverLink will create a vibrant self-sufficient community. For the city to achieve its goals of increasing its population, it needs to find areas where it can build without opposition.

With virtually no green space left on the valley floor, developing the central city seems the sensible option, he says.

So how will it be paid for?

The bulk of the funding will come from Government with $420m budgeted for transport improvements, including the new road bridge linked to the interchange and relocating Melling Station.

Funding for urban design comes from the Hutt City Council, which is investing $138m in a riverbank park, and the cycling and walking bridge linking the new railway station to the central city.

Greater Wellington is contributing $145m for flood protection, much of which will go towards purchasing properties to allow for bigger and wider stopbanks to safeguard the city and create a park-like area.

The city council is also seeking $157m from the Government's Housing Acceleration Fund to help build the infrastructure needed for more housing in the central city.

The homes would be a mixture of market, affordable ownership, rental, and public housing.

'Our CBD is prime for liveability - there is space to build up and we want to take advantage of that. But we need to do it in a way that doesn't put increasing pressure on our infrastructure,” says Barry.

Cassels says that it is important that the new community in the central city is not just for the rich and he would welcome the inclusion of social housing.

“If it is only for kings and queens, it will never work.”