Te Ngākau: The city within our city

He has the unique role of reimagining the space and developing future plans for Civic Square. Read on to learn more about Farz and his vision for Te Ngākau. 

Tell us about your role as Programme Manager and how you got into this space.
Before this role, I worked as the Wellington City Council Urban Regeneration and Design Manager for about a year and a bit. In that time, there were several changes within the Property and Capital Projects team and the manager, Iestyn Burke reached out to me about working on Te Ngākau. He pitched it as an opportunity to reimagine the space.

Now as the Programme Manager, I look after the entire strategic direction of Te Ngākau, from the daily operations of the programme and coordination between different project managers, contractors, and stakeholders. 

What do you think makes Te Ngākau so special?
I love the complexities of the area. It’s like a tiny city within our city. It is great but very challenging, as all the buildings and structures are physically connected. Not many people know this, but every building apart from the City  Gallery Wellington is connected through a basement. Everything from the Michael Fowler Centre, Town Hall, the old Council buildings to Te Matapihi Central Library are linked together by corridors. 

It’s a complex beast due to the structural engineering and Geotech engineering. This makes it incredibly tricky for construction as it’s all built together. The bridge also basically connects the precinct to the waterfront and to the other parts of Wellington like the Wharewaka and Frank Kitt’s Park, so there are so many layers to it. It really is the heart of our city, waiting for an open heart surgery!

How are you tackling such a large project?
I was involved in Te Ngākau from a design point of view in my old role, but my background before joining the Council was as a commercial architect. I used to design large office buildings, schools, and large residential buildings. I kind of knew about the complexities of the physicality of these projects because I had worked with similar scale designs in the past, but really, it all comes down to the team.  

We’re the tightest, smallest team ever but we’re made up of people across the Council. I wouldn’t be able to do this role without such amazing people and would like to acknowledge that there are so many people behind the work. Everyone is so passionate, and you can tell how much effort is being put in.

There has been a lot of feedback from residents and businesses in the area about how the construction is affecting them, what would you say to that?
I’m not going to sugar coat it. It’s hard. It’s hard for anyone to put up with construction, and I acknowledge and hear the pain from the people who are finding these projects hard. With big infrastructure projects like these, it not only affects the people, but businesses and residents. We have developed good relationships with people in the area to try and help where we can, but I hope they will see that the reward will be huge. 

I want to share a story of a specific example. A few months into my role, we were given a heads up that one of the long-time retailers in the area was unhappy with the lack of progress and overall vision for the area. This was The Village Goldsmith, an iconic jeweller in Pōneke. We organised to have a coffee with the owner and heard about all his concerns for his business and how challenging it’s been. I then asked him if I could tell him about the plans for the space and took him through our plans. I broke it down and said this is happening in six months, then this is happening in eight, and so on.

Once he saw the vision for the space, he changed his mind completely and decided that staying would benefit his business in the long run. We really encourage open communication with businesses and people who are affected, we want to hear what they have to say and do what we can to support them. Whether that’s through better lighting, or wayfinding or just regular updates. 

So what is the long-term vision and short-term vision for Te Ngākau?

Simply, in less than 10 years, these projects will be done. All these works will be complete and resolved. We want to see the civic function return for graduations and citizenship services. We have Precinct Properties coming in with new buildings. The Town Hall will be activated with creative, cultural and civic spaces. There will be more nature and biodiversity in the square. The original design was based on a colonial history, and we want to change the narrative to bring back the mana whenua and cultural stories to the square. 

In the short term, Te Matapihi will open in 2026 and then the Town Hall the year after. It’s an exciting time for the city.

To find out more about the works in Te Ngākau, you can visit our website or keep up to date with the projects happening in Wellington city on the Positively Pōneke site.