This morning the group walked along Durham Street, which is set to begin a major transformation.
The upgrade of Durham Street and Durham Lane is set to begin next week, with tangata whenua partners Ngāi Tamarāwaho and Ngāti Tapu blessing the site this morning at a small gathering of local stakeholders, hapu, Council and the Fulton Hogan construction team.
The upgrade will create a vibrant tertiary precinct in the heart of the city, with the street and laneway developed alongside the new University of Waikato City Campus.
The pedestrian-friendly design will have high amenity and will feature broad shade trees, paving, seating, garden beds and rain gardens.
City Transformation Chair Larry Baldock said that this project is a major milestone for the city centre.
“This is our first streetscape project to get underway, and will bring a whole new look and feel to our city centre delivering on the aspirations of our new city centre spatial framework,” he said.
“We have an exciting vision to create better streets and spaces that put people first, also creating a distinctive identity to celebrate our unique culture and natural environment,” said Cr. Baldock.
“We will be working closely with Fulton Hogan, who are our construction partners, to make this project happen and keep people informed as we work our way through the development,” he said.
This project is expected to take 12-18 months until completion. The first work will involve replacing the waste water line on a small part of Spring Street (between Grey Street and Durham Street), and then replacing the waste water line along Durham Street (from Spring Street to Elizabeth Street).
For more information, and to keep up to date with the progress of the project visit Heart of the City.