Revamp of iconic Auckland location complete

On Wednesday this week, Mayor Len Brown will reopen the city centre’s upper Khartoum Place to the public.

The upgrade of this important pedestrian route has transformed the once poorly-lit space into a high quality and safe pedestrian-friendly destination in the heart of Auckland’s arts and cultural precinct.

Mayor Len Brown says that upgrades of spaces such as upper Khartoum Place are breathing new life into city centre streets and the pedestrian laneway circuit connecting Aotea Square to the Waterfront.

It is one of many projects being delivered as part of the City Centre Masterplan, which aims to build a world-class city centre attracting businesses, jobs and opportunities to help Auckland become the world’s most liveable city.

“When we launched the masterplan in 2012, growing a vibrant, attractive city centre was a non-negotiable part of the equation,” says Mayor Brown.

“There is a huge community demand for great public spaces in the city – the popularity of Wynyard Quarter and the Britomart precinct shows that upper Khartoum Place is yet another great example of Auckland’s exciting growth as a world-class destination.”

A key feature of the design is a new staircase that opens up a direct line of sight between Lorne Street and the Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tāmaki, highlighting the pedestrian shortcut and framing the stunning architecture of the gallery.

Khartoum Place contains the suffrage memorial ‘Women Achieve the Vote.’

Waitemata Local Board Chair Shale Chambers says: “The retention of this symbolic memorial was extremely important to our local community; we are very pleased to see it remain in the area as a marker of New Zealand’s suffrage history.”

New Zealand was the first nation in the world to give women the right to vote in 1893.

The $1.7million upgrade was funded from general rates.

Khartoum Place is named after the 1885 siege of Khartoum.

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