City Welcomes Te Komititanga
Auckland’s summer of holidays, sport and sun has been given the best possible people-friendly start by CRL with the official opening of the city’s newest destination – the square known as Te Komititanga in lower Queen Street.
Te Komititanga means to mix or to merge and it’s ideal for people to do just that with its easy location next to the Britomart Station, the ferry terminal just across the road, and buses, shops and offices all nearby.
The square for people on the move was built by City Rail Link as part of its C1 contract at Britomart – the two rail tunnels run under the square, below Commercial Bay and up Albert Street.
CRL’s Chair, Sir Brian Roche, says CRL is committed to leaving behind community legacies like Te Komititanga that people will continue to enjoy long after work on the project has ended.
“When we put down our spades and shovels, CRL is determined to leave behind a better Auckland – above and below ground. I believe Te Komititanga and other locations where we’ve made a mark show that we mean business,” Sir Brian says.
As well as the mixing of people, the name reflects the square’s location where the waters of Waitematā Harbour and Wai Horotiu, the stream that runs under Queen Street into the harbour, merged.
The name Te Komititanga was gifted by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and accepted by CRL’s Mana Whenua Forum before it was adopted by Auckland Council’s Waitematā Local Board.
Elders from Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei blessed Te Komititanga before Transport Minister Michael Wood, supported by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, Councillor Pippa Comb and senior representatives of CRL Ltd, officially welcomed Aucklanders to use the square during a ceremony in mid December.
The striking square includes over 137,000 individual pieces of basalt pavers laid in traditional Mana Whenua patterns.
In front of the historic Chief Post Office is a whāriki, a welcome mat designed by Mana Whenua weavers to depict a woven harakeke (flax) mat that greets visitors to Tāmaki Makaurau from the sea. Other designs reference a meeting point of the Waitematā Harbour and Wai Horotiu, before the area was reclaimed.
Te Komitanga’s official opening marks the end of the first of a two stage programme of improvements in this area of downtown Auckland.
Stage Two includes works on sections of nearby Tyler and Galway Streets, the Britomart plaza and part of Customs Street, scheduled for completion by the middle of next year. The work includes laying pavers, installing new street furniture, planting new trees, and laying foundations for a new plaza and pedestrian-friendly roads.
The reopening of the Chief Post Office is planned for next March. The exact timing is dependent on how long it will take to carry out tenancy fit outs on the historic building’s ground floor.