| 41 Grey District Council REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT T T Virginia Wright Port upgrades a win for Greymouth Grey District Council has been working on upgrading and rejuvenating the Port of Greymouth. Known as the ‘Heart of the West Coast’, the Grey District sits between the Westland and Buller districts, and covers close to 3500 square kilometres along the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Bounded by the south bank of the Punakaiki River in the north, its southern boundary follows the Taramakau River to the Tasman Sea, and its towns include Blackball, Runanga and Greymouth, which is the largest town on the West Coast. The Grey District Council (GDC) is responsible for managing various services and infrastructure on its residents’ behalf, such as roads and rubbish, recycling and recreation facilities, and including both the Greymouth Port and its library. As part of a multi-faceted rejuvenation initiative for the district, over the last four years the Grey District Council has been working on upgrading and rejuvenating the Port of Greymouth, which went into decline in the 1960s, a century after the gold rush, and New Zealand’s reliance on West Coast coal and timber saw it developed. Working with Development West Coast (DWC) Kānoa – Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit to secure funding, they have rebuilt the entire slipway, complete with a covering shed, which allows vessels to be serviced and repaired 24 hours a day, regardless of the weather. “We can already take vessels up to 90 ton, and we’ll shortly be able to go up to 150 ton once we’ve done some more work on the underwater section of the slipway,” says Peter O’Sullivan, group manager for GDC’s Economic Development and Regulatory Systems, who is responsible for the port. Having removed some of the old wharf structures and constructed a new floating jetty, which is already proving popular with the fishing fleet, a second stage will soon be underway, again thanks to Kanoa, to replace more of the old berthing arrangements in the harbour with another floating jetty and a heavy loading wharf, complete with toilet and washing facilities for port users. Having a covered slipway building allows vessels to schedule maintenance according to their own timetable, and the investment, which is aimed not only at the local fishing fleet but to encourage vessels from around New Zealand into Greymouth, is starting to pay off, explains Peter. “We’re now getting commercial vessels coming from as far away as Port Tauranga to do their annual maintenance here, which has a flow-on effect to local engineering companies, painters, and so on, and we’d like to welcome additional recreational vessels coming to use our facilities as well.” The new library under construction is more about improving the social fabric of the Grey District, although thanks to a Grey District Council mandate to procure locally where possible, it’s adding to the district’s economic wellbeing at the same time, says Sam Summerton, director at Smart Project Management, who is in charge of successfully delivering the library project on behalf of the GDC and Development West Coast (DWC). “We’ve got a local main contractor, Tony Wilkins Builders, and the majority of our subcontractors are local as well, so the money is staying in the district.” The new library will be two-storey, and as well as a modern, warm, safe space twice the size of the old library at 1200sqm, its upstairs café, complete with outdoor balcony, will mean that residents can enjoy the view down the river and out to sea for the first time, including looking over the newly refurbished port. Complete with high stud and plenty of natural light, the library-come-community hub will feature multi-use rooms for older and younger generations alike. Woven into the fabric of the building, thanks to the collaboration between the GDC, DWC and Te Runanga o Ngati Wae Wae, Mahana Coulston’s basket-weave pattern references the net of knowledge, which is also referenced in the building’s name, to be revealed later this year. Looking ahead, the different upgrades planned for the port and river are designed to make it safe and easy for coastal river shipping to increase, while at the same time increasing the region’s resilience to natural disasters by providing an alternative to road and rail. Also built for resilience in the event of a natural disaster, the new library showcases local culture and history, while meeting the current and future needs of an increasingly vibrant community. 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