Papers filed to rebuild Wellington marae, more than six years after fire

Wednesday, 19 November 2025

Resource consent documents have been filed to rebuild Tapu Te Ranga marae in Island Bay, more than six years after it was razed to the ground.

Wellington City Council information shows the consent is for construction of a replacement marae including one wharenui (meeting house) and one wharekai (dining building), and associated earthworks and landscaping.

Tapu Te Ranga trust board member Glenda Hughes confirmed that housing was also planned for the large, multi-tiered site though she understood this consent had not yet been filed.

She previously said up to 50 homes were planned, with an initial 12 in the lower sections.

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Paekawakawa/southern ward councillor Laurie Foon said the community would be happy to see a new version of the marae.

“Tapu Te Ranga Marae provided a much-needed shared space for education, connection and a place to stay for whanau. If more homes are being proposed for the site that is even better for our community's wellbeing and local businesses,” she said.

“Tapu Te Ranga has excellent governance, so I have no doubt the required compliance will be part of the success of this project.”

The fire on June 6, 2019 at the marae was thought to have been started by a spark from a brazier. Twenty-eight Cub Scouts sleeping there that night fled into the pre-dawn morning and, as the ashes settled, multiple problems were found with the original marae and surrounding complex.

In the aftermath of the fire, the council could find only one consent on file for the marae complex and that was for a potting shed that was actually a three- bedroom house.

Warnings had been ringing at the council for decades about the unauthorised work. At the time the council signed off on the building being allowed to house 1000 people, the person listed as the owner and contact person was dead.

The main marae building had passed a fire audit, but the building was uninsured at the time of the fire. An online fundraising drive was started before the embers had been extinguished. 'We will rebuild,' said the Givealittle page, which gathered $98,990 in donations.

Donations included $250 from a Wellington High School fundraiser, $608 through a mufti day at Wellington East Girls' College, $125 from Island Bay Childcare, $414 from South Wellington Intermediate School, and the Moon Bar in Newtown raised $700 for the cause.