Cobblestone Park Redevelopment

The redeveloped Cobblestone Park

Wellington City Council has redeveloped Cobblestone Park to make it more attractive and increase its usage.

Located on Vivian Street and bounded by Dunlop Terrace and Knigges Avenue, Cobblestone Park is next to the Victoria University Faculty of Architecture and Design.

The park was officially re-opened by Mayor Kerry Prendergast on 4 August 2010.

The redeveloped park has new walls, paths, lawns, trees, planter beds, lights, seats and, playground equipment.

News Release - 16.08.10

Cobblestone Park History

The previous park was designed and built in 1974 in a modernist English character style. Designer Mary Buckland wanted to create a place that was "soft and natural" and "a small restful island in a busy part of the city".

However the area around the park had seen a large rise in the number of residents over the last 10 years, increasing pressure on the existing open spaces. While the park was appropriate for the 1970s, the increasing population and need for better quality green space in the city meant we needed to redevelop the park.

Project Aims

The aims of the redevelopment project were to:

• increase usage
• improve safety
• provide better connectivity and pedestrian routes as part of a larger central area network
• provide flexibility of use through simple design.

Concept Plan

Underplanting and sculpture seats

The Council's Strategy & Policy Committee approved the proposed design by Wraight & Associates for redeveloping the park, along with the following suggestions:

• replacing the café with an active space such as a hard court area and/or an informal open area
• replacing the patterns on Dunlop Terrace with a more practical alternative.

• Concept Plan (124Kb PDF)
• Design Statement (346Kb PDF)
• Artist Sketch (430Kb PDF)
• Proposed Hard Court Area (567Kb PDF)

The Council worked with external stakeholders - the New Zealand Transport Agency, iwi, Victoria University Facilities Management, the Disability Reference Group, Living Streets, and Cycle Aware Wellington - to finalise the design for the park.

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Budget & Project Timeline

The Council funded $1 million towards this project, which was completed in mid 2010.

Construction

Five mature trees were moved within the park to different locations in July 2009 to fit with the landscape designs for the new park.

Construction of the park began at the end of 2009 and included demolition of the existing park, and excavation and construction of a series of new terraces. The main contractor was Juno Civil Limited.

Other Work

Raised pedestrian crossing 'platforms' were also installed across the Vivian Street entrances to Dunlop Terrace and Knigges Avenue at each end of the park.

More Information

Pete McEvoy
Project Manager
Project Office

Department Details:
Strategy