Harrison Street redevelopment

Construction will begin on these nine new homes at the end of September 2021.

A excavator in the middle of tearing down a block of flats, with a person in high vis watching.

These flats were vacated in April 2017 as they were earthquake-prone. The people living there were found new homes within our City Housing portfolio elsewhere in the city.

Development of this site offers the opportunity to provide more modern social housing for the city.

Design

We have a draft concept site plan for this redevelopment available to view:

Progress

September 2021

Work to build nine new family homes will start on site at the end of September.

This work is expected to take 12 months. This includes the work on the road end improvements to Harrison Street. The road end improvements will be carried out towards the conclusion of the site works.

May 2021

The construction of the retaining walls and fences are due to be completed in June. 

Resource consent was granted this month and we have now submitted building consent for the new homes. 

Construction is planned to start as early as August and is estimated to take 12 months. 

Towards the end of construction, a new turning area will be constructed to allow vehicles to safely turnaround at the end of Harrison Street. 

Rendering of artist's impression of Harrison St buildings.
Artist impression of Harrison Street development.

February 2021

Holmes Construction is making good progress on preparing this site for development. The works include building new and strengthening existing retaining walls, levelling the site and installing power connections. Once this work has been carried out the site will be redeveloped to provide new social housing for the city.

We ask that for your safety you are aware that this work is underway and do not enter the site.

December 2020

We have now engaged Holmes Construction to carry out the enabling works for this redevelopment. This work is due to start on Monday 11 January 2021 and is expected to last for four months. We have delivered a letter to notify residents and neighbours of this work. Our contractors are aiming to minimise disruption to the local community and will avoid moving heavy trucks on Harrison Street during school hours.

In response to requests from the local community planning with our Transport and Infrastructure Team on improving the vehicle turning on Harrison Street is progressing. We have now agreed a solution. A draft high-level sketch showing the proposed turnaround point can be seen below. Construction on this turnaround point will begin once the construction phase of the redevelopment is complete. This is to avoid damage to the new turning point from heavy construction traffic.

Sketch of the proposed turnaround point.

November 2020

Prior to enabling works starting on site, we held a dawn blessing. Taranaki Whanui, Wellington City Council and local residents came together for a karakia and the turning of the soil.

We have received building consent for the enabling works and retaining walls on site. We are liaising with our contractor to plan when the works will start on site.  

We are still awaiting the outcome of the resource consent application for the main development. When we know the outcome of this, we can commence the detailed design process. 

October 2020

We have received resource consent for the enabling works and retaining walls on the site. As part of the next steps in this process, we have applied for building consent for this work. 

Once building consent is received, we will be engaging with the community on the traffic management plan to carry out these works. 

We have also submitted the resource consent applications for the new buildings. When we have an outcome of this application, we will provide a further update. 

August 2020

Due to Covid-19 we have experienced delays with this project. 

The next steps of the project are to submit resource consent applications. This means that the works planned to begin in September will be delayed. Once we have received the outcome of these applications, we will provide an update on our timeline.

We also now have an updated design for the site which you can view below. We have had some good conversations with the local community on this redevelopment and, where possible, we have incorporated their feedback into the updated design.

One issue we have received a few questions on is if there is the possibility of improving the vehicle turning at the end of Harrison Street as part of the redevelopment. We have taken these requests on board and are working with our Transport Team here at Council to explore options for this. We hope to be able to update you with more details on this in the coming weeks.

We will continue to engage with the community as this project progresses.

Updates

More information

Build Wellington is the team responsible for the redevelopment of the Council’s social housing sites, the central point of contact for developers looking to partner with Council to increase the supply of housing for the city and the team leading on the Wellington City Council Housing Strategy.

For more information on this work or to make contact with the team contact:
Build Wellington
Phone: 04 499 4444
housingdevelopment@wcc.govt.nz