Queen St wins award for new urban design

The upgrade to Queen St has won a New Zealand Architecture Award for its new urban design, but still comes with mixed reviews.

The award, presented last week at the New Zealand Institute of Architects gala awards, recognises the redevelopment of Queen St after several years of work.

Group manager for urban design Ludo Campbell-Reid says in a press release the upgrade was about giving people a high quality and stylish urban environment to enjoy, while also supporting business.

When speaking at an East and Bays Community Board meeting he asked the question: “What is the first thing an infant wants to do and the last thing an older person wants to give up?

“Walk. It is hard to walk in Auckland,” he says.

“Auckland is competing with Sydney, Melbourne and London – not Wellington,” says Campbell-Reid.

“People were tired of car dominance in the city. Auckland has the highest car ownership in the world per population.”

Now within the CBD pedestrians come first with weekday pedestrians up by 31 per cent, says Campbell-Reid.

One retailer has seen this.

Body Shop manager Marinde Vermaat thinks the upgrade looks good.

“We have improved sales on last year. Tourism has gone up and we thrive off tourists,” she says.

Dymocks bookseller Tim Gentales says although it took a long time it was worth it as it looks better than before.

But he says the upgrade to Queen St has only made a marginal improvement and has not made a difference to retail.

“It hasn’t made a difference to get people back to the city to shop.”

Campbell-Reid says: “Awards are all about building confidence to show we are going in the right direction.

“It’s wonderful to get recognition from peers and the community.”