Wellington City Council

Te Ngākau Civic Square Precinct Development Plan

This Request for Proposals (RFP) is for master planning design services to create and deliver a visual plan of Te Ngākau Civic Precinct (the Precinct).

The Precinct is Wellington’s unique civic place: an anchor point that connects the central city and the waterfront, both a place and a gateway between the city and the harbour. It is the result of Wellington’s evolving planning, civic and architectural ideals of the 20th Century and represents an enduring place for Wellingtonians to engage with civic life. Most of all, it is a place that Wellingtonians identify with and love.

The Precinct is entering a phase of transition. The civic buildings and assets within the Precinct are in various states of operation:
• Closed due to earthquake damage or as a precaution due to seismic risk: the Civic Administration Building (CAB), the Municipal Office Building (MOB), the Basement and Capital E;
• Under repair: Wellington Central Library (Te Matapihi) and the Town Hall; or
• Open: the square itself, Michael Fowler Centre and the City Gallery.
Beyond seismic resilience challenges, the Precinct also faces significant issues relating to the management of water, including current flooding and inundation issues, and the overall threat that climate change and sea level rise poses to this coastal precinct, which will increase over time.

While some of these buildings, like the Town Hall and Te Matapihi, are on a course to repair and restoration (and will see out another era in the square), there are still outstanding issues that require resolution to reinstate the Precinct as the vibrant heart of the city. These include significant resilience and spatial issues relating to how the Precinct is laid out, connected, and accessed, as well as individual building performance, programming and activities

The plan we are seeking will be a hybrid of conceptual vertical designs and detailed landscape design which will be used for future development and strategic planning of the Precinct and therefore this tender opportunity is for design services of a “Development Plan”.

This RFP includes a gateway to enable the Council to shortlist a group of respondents to be invited to participate in Stage 2.
Note that those Respondents shortlisted to Stage 2 will receive additional tender documents and be expected to provide a design and further Proposal.