Wellington mayor Tory Whanau. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Wellington's Mayor says the city will be transformed in a few years time if the capital stay the course.
Te Ngākau/Civic Square was currently a demolition site, blocked off from public access. It's surrounded by public buildings, and plans are in place for private developer Precinct to redevelop the two-building site with an office block to include hospitality and retail.
Mayor Tory Whanau and managing director of The Wellington Company Ian Cassels spoke to Nine to Noon about the development, as well as other major projects going on in Wellington including the Golden Mile and the Town Hall.
Whanau said in order to revitalise the city the projects need to be done.
"People are leaving our city because our city isn't changing. So, I'm trying to accelerate that change to actually make our city resilient and future focused," she said.
She said in terms of Civic Square, in a couple of years it would be transformed an life would come back to it.
Cassels said there were many other things that could be done to improve Wellington without massive investment.
He said the city needed to learn from big projects like the Town Hall had become very costly and he also believed the Civic Square project could have been done at a lower cost.
"We need to start doing lots of small things well," he said.
Cassels said young people were "wafting off" and things needed to be done to get them into the city.
Whanau who is seeking re-election in this year's local body elections, was also asked what she thought of former Labour Leader Andrew Little challenging her for the role of Mayor.
Seven candidates in total who will vie for the title, with Little the latest to announce his bid.
"That they've had to pull in an ex-cabinet minister to run against me, I'm OK with that," she said. "I see it as a compliment that I'm up against such a heavy hitter."
Listen to the whole interview:
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