Wellingtonians will be able to walk along a section of a real-scale model of the planned development at Shelly Bay, when the doors open for two weeks of onsite engagement at The Lodge on January 29.

The model waterfront road and pavement, complete with real-scale vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian, is one of a number of devices that visitors will be able to use as a way to engage with the planned development, before providing feedback.

The Shelly Bay Taikuru development, a partnership project between mana whenua Taranaki Whānui and developers The Wellington Company, received resource consent in October 2019.

“The successful consent means we can move forward with the project with certainty about what we can and cannot do on the site from a resource management perspective,’ says Kara Puketapu-Dentice, spokesperson for Taranaki Whānui. “Knowing the parameters also means we are able to meaningfully engage with the community.”

“There is a significant amount of misinformation circulating about this project in the public realm, particularly on social media. This is an opportunity for us to lay everything out, quite literally, with members of the public given full access to all documentation used in the lodging of the resource consent, including traffic and engineering reports.”

There will also be a project expert onsite every day to answer questions.

The next step for the project is to create detailed designs, and this is where the Partnership is seeking public feedback and ideas.

A number of rotating questions will be posed to visitors, including:

• How would your life be impacted by living in Shelly Bay Taikuru?
• What forms of innovation would you like to see at Shelly Bay Taikuru?
• What would bring you to spend an afternoon in Shelly Bay Taikuru?

The Wellington Company Managing Director Ian Cassels says “Up until now, Wellingtonians have caught glimpses of the final product through renders, because that is all you are allowed to confirm before resource consent. The reality will be an absolute game changer, and our intention is to show the public the outlines of the project so far and ask them to help us colour in between those lines.”

Ahead of the engagement opening to the public, the Partnership welcomed local councillors onsite for a preview session in which they were able to ask questions of the Partnership, as well as engineers, architects, designers, and other experts on the project.

A further preview session provided Taranaki Whānui members, including those who are affiliated with opposition group Mau Whenua, the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the development.

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