8 | Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa Trust - North Taranaki Visitors’ Centre REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT A tribute to iconic maunga The building is sited at the end of one of the three roads that lead into the maunga, each with their own visitor facility, and each providing its own experience. T T from page 6 “It’s built for an alpine environment so it has to be robust, but we don’t want it to stand out on the side of the maunga, so it’s designed to integrate into the existing landscape.” FOR ALL YOUR REINFORCING NEEDS Supply, Cut, Bend & Install Residential • Commercial • Industrial MOB: 021 999 375 14B Constance St, Waiwhakaiho N.P. www.taranakireinforcing.co.nz 06 753 0023 office@arikiplumbing.co.nz We are a passionate team of quality Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers based in New Plymouth, servicing Taranaki wide. arikiplumbing.co.nz Give us a call today “Te Kotahitanga is leading the project management, co-funding alongside Kānoa, and TOI Foundation is a major funding partner, due to the project’s broad community benefit,” she says. “The project is an excellent example of partnership between iwi, the community (as represented by the Toi Foundation) and the Crown, “ explains Dion. “We’re working together to provide a safe facility for the community to connect with Taranaki Maunga, and in a way that shares all of our stories about the maunga and the peoples of the maunga.” The building is sited at the end of one of the three roads that lead into the maunga, each with their own visitor facility, and each providing its own experience. At an elevation of 945 metres above sea level, this particular site at the end of Egmont Road, 30 minutes’ drive from New Plymouth, is a key gateway, not only to the summit climb, but also to tracks ranging from easy through to difficult. At its heart, the new centre will continue to deliver essential visitor services, including public restrooms open 24/7, and interpretive displays, ensuring that tourists and locals alike have access to welcoming, informative amenities. Given the centre’s position on the mountain, that information will include weather and track information, encouraging everyone to be prepared for the cold, icy conditions that can arrive seemingly out of the blue. Accessibility features large in the single-level, 614sqm building, which is designed to allow everyone to enjoy what it has to offer. Protective environmental work for the existing flora and fauna, including kiwi fencing to protect the local population, was dictated by extensive research and planning. Staying within the former site, while significantly improving the necessary systems for waste, storm, and drinking water, also works to minimise any environmental impact, including visual impact, explains Liana. “It’s built for an alpine environment so it has to be robust, but we don’t want it to stand out on the side of the maunga, so it’s designed to integrate into the existing landscape.” Dion adds: “The side you see looking up the maunga is clad in a dark grey, almost black, colour similar to the andesite rock seen on the maunga, to blend in, but if you’re above looking down, it’s green to blend in with the forest canopy. The building is a curved shape so it embraces the mountain and it hugs its natural contours.” After years of planning, this modern, iconic structure will include the DOC information centre with traditional visitor centre functions, and a public café complete with a commercial kitchen. which can also serve the conference area, a flexible community space. With its spectacular alpine setting, it’s designed to accommodate a wide range of events from business meetings and community gatherings to educational workshops and cultural presentations. School groups can visit, with the ability to spend the night in a marae-style setting and when, as happened recently, there’s a major search and rescue operation, this space can serve as the command centre. If there’s an adverse weather event and people can’t get down from the maunga, it’s a safe space for them to wait until it passes. As construction progresses on what promises to become a key piece of world-class regional infrastructure, the project stands as testament to what can be achieved when regional vision, cultural leadership, and government investment align. At the same time, it provides an avenue for local hapū and iwi to celebrate the maunga and recognise their connection to their maunga, which in turn impacts the entire region it presides over, and it’s all made possible by the collective settlement arrived at by consensus among Taranaki’s eight iwi, explains Dion. “The settlement doesn’t come to the iwi as such, it’s for the mountain, which means it’s for everyone here. Everything that came with that settlement is about protecting the health and wellbeing of the maunga.” “The arrangements are a new way of engaging with our maunga and the visitors’ centre is too. “You’ll be able to go in and see out through all the glass to look back over North Taranaki all the way to the coast,” says Liana. And it’s so far so good as the build gets underway, and Clelands stay on track to deliver this deceptively sophisticated structure: unobtrusive, durable, elegant, and deeply connected to the land.
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