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Fort Street area upgrade

Background | About the area | The draft design | Design features | Have your say


Background

Artist impression of the proposed design.

Artist impression of the proposed design.

Six streets in the Fort Street area are to be transformed into an attractive destination as part of Auckland City Council's CBD streetscapes upgrade programme.

The streets selected for upgrade as part of this project include Fort Street, Fort Lane, Jean Batten Place, Gore and Commerce streets (between Fort and Customs streets) and Shortland Street (between Queen Street and Jean Batten Place).

View an image gallery of the draft design

The upgrade aims to create a lively, people focused destination that reflects the area's rich cultural and geographic history. Areas of shared space, new artworks, interesting design features, seating, vegetation, lighting and high quality stone paving are proposed to create an attractive, stylish destination.

The opportunity to provide feedback on the draft designs for the Fort Street area upgrade have now closed. Auckland City Council is now reviewing the feedback received.

Planning the upgrade

In planning the upgrade, we asked nearby businesses, property owners, residents and users of the street what they value about the Fort Street area and what their key priorities were for upgrading. We heard that priorities for improvement in the area were:

  • wider and better quality footpaths
  • more planting, vegetation and trees
  • a cleaner more attractive street environment
  • better lighting and security.

This feedback helped develop the project's design objectives which aim to:

  • provide greater pedestrian priority throughout the area and more space for people
  • create a distinctive and popular destination
  • improve spaces that support businesses and residents, and provide opportunities for the Fort Street area to be a popular destination in the CBD
  • better connect the area with the surrounding network of streets
  • create high quality, attractive and durable streets that contribute to a sustainable and maintainable CBD.

This project is part of a 10-year programme to transform CBD streets and open spaces and create a great city. The cost of upgrading the Fort Street area will be about $22.99 million and is funded by the CBD targeted rate.

Time line

December 2008 Planning and design phase
September 2009 Public consultation on the draft design
December 2009 Final design considered for approval by Council's Arts, Culture and Recreation and Transport Committees
Details of the final design sent to those who requested additional information
November 2009 to June 2010 Further design
May 2010 Preparation and planning for construction
Discussions with property owners, residents and others on construction programme
August 2010 Phase one construction anticipated to commence
July 2011 Phase one construction anticipated to be completed
November 2011 Phase two construction anticipated to commence
December 2012 Phase two construction anticipated to be completed

Note: these dates may change over the course of the project.

 

 

Published September 2009

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