New Brighton’s Village Green project could be finished by summer
Friday, 4 April 2025
New Brighton’s Village Green project has passed a major milestone and could be finished by summer.
The Village Green, a community space planned for vacant land at the coastal end of Brighton Mall, has been granted resource consent by Christchurch City Council.
Other commercial and residential developments in the seaside suburb are also making headway, as efforts to revitalise the area continue.
Lin Klenner, chair of the Greater New Brighton Charitable Trust which is running the Village Green project, said they are very excited to have resource consent.
“We are finally at the point where we can start. We’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes, but we are going into the building stage now.”
The development has a $2 million grant from the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust, and will be built on land to be leased from private company Martini Investments, owned by the Harris family.
It will include 14 beach-style huts from 9m2 to 47m2 to be used as community spaces, shops, food and drink outlets, and toilets. There will be a performance stage, a 400m2 lawn, landscaping with planter boxes, and car and cycle parking for tenants.
According to the resource consent document, the project will incur a $9300 development levy from the council.
Klenner said they are finalising tender documents now and preparing to apply for building consent. Five construction companies are being asked to tender by a May deadline.
She said the consenting process has been “an eye opener”. The trust had appointed people with the skills needed to get past the theory and focus on the next stages.
“We are really hoping to be finished next summer. We have the money in the bank, we are really motivated, and we want to do right by the community.
“It’s not just about this space. We are trying to revitalise the mall, and support the businesses that are investing in the area.”
Klenner said they want to see plenty of events at the Village Green “to draw people in to see low lovely Brighton is”.
“We really see it as a beacon for Brighton, for young people in particular.”
In other developments in the mall, the city council has added lighting, CCTV cameras and planter boxes to the recently completed Oram Ave walkway linking the mall to Hawke St. The council will run six weeks of pop-up activities there during April and May.
Martini Investments also owns the block of land opposite its Village Green site, and has completed the demolishing of a complex of old buildings on the corner of Marine Pde and Brighton Mall to make way for its Pierside development.
Pierside will have multiple retail and hospitality tenancies and include a laneway.
Other Martini Investments’ progress includes upgrading the orange Pavilion building on Marine Pde for a range of tenants, and restoring the old Surfside Mall to its mid-century look for new tenants.
One business ready to launch is Southpaw bar and brewery, previously in Hornby. The brewery, taproom, and cellar door are due to open in the mall later this month.
Other commercial changes under way include the relocation of the Wave Bar, previously on the corner of Marine Pde and Brighton Mall, to the corner of the mall and Oram Ave.
A block down at the corner of the mall and Union St, the Point Break hostel and cafe has closed, and landlords NNN Enterprises are planning to refurbish the double-storey building.
New Brighton’s revitalisation programme dates from the council’s 2015 New Brighton Centre Master Plan, designed to attract businesses and people back to the area. It began with council investment to build the hot pools and new playground on the waterfront.