| 23 T T Kim Newth Experience Centre takes shape The Experience Centre build at Dolomite Point is scheduled for completion late October. Department Of Conservation: Dolomite Point REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Proudly working with Naylor Love and consultant team to deliver concrete work and carpentry on this very special building. Ph: 03 7626040 Fax: 03 7626090 E: 19 Hebbard Road Gladstone P.O. Box 44 | Greymouth 7840 www.cybl.co.nz Kamo Marsh is a landscape architecture company based in central Christchurch and Queenstown. As well as residential design, we have worked and collaborated on a variety of subdivisions, educational and commercial projects throughout our 40 years in business. We take pride in offering a friendly and personal approach to each project we are involved in. Our talented team look forward to working with you on your next residential or commercial project. kamomarsh.co.nz 03 366 8181 West Coast tradespeople are finding plenty of work as part of the team for the large-scale Dolomite Point Redevelopment Project at Punakaiki, DOC’s largest capital project in the country. This significant project is being funded with $25.6 million from the Provincial Growth Fund and $2.15 million from DOC. Partnership with Ngāi Tahu hapu Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae is at the heart of the work. Other key stakeholders are the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Punakaiki community, Waka Kotahi, Buller District Council, and Development West Coast. Home to the Pancake Rocks and known as the gateway to the Paparoa National Park, Punakaiki is a key anchor for West Coast tourism. The redevelopment project was sparked by a massive increase in visitors to the Pancake Rocks between 2008 and 2018 which put existing dated facilities under significant pressure. A concept plan for the redevelopment of Dolomite Point was finalised in October 2018, with construction beginning in 2022. Local subcontractors, including Paul Smith Earthworks, Gray Brothers Engineering and CYB Construction, are playing a big role as the work continues. As well, local hospitality businesses are feeling the benefit as staff from the main building contractor, Naylor Love, stay locally and eat out. “There are tangible economic benefits for the wider West Coast as well as Punakaiki,” says Mark Davies, DOC’s Western South Island Director Operations. Aside from the immediate economic boost, the redevelopment is also positioning Punakaiki as a strong and sustainable tourism destination with purpose-built amenities that will readily absorb future growth in visitor numbers. The new Experience Centre is the project’s centrepiece. It will feature a green/living roof and will celebrate the stories of the area’s people, striking geology, unique wildlife and cultural heritage. Ngāti Waewae will own and manage the building, with the goal of hosting manuhiri (visitors) and connecting them with the natural and cultural significance of the area. DOC’s Paparoa National Park Visitor Centre service will operate from the new centre. Built largely of wood, the centre is part of the project’s first stage construction which started in May 2022. There have been major deliveries of engineered timber to site this year, and the building is really starting to take shape with the roof beams and many of the timber columns installed. A large weather protection canopy is now in place over scaffolding to protect the building site during winter. In the current work phase, sub floor plumbing will be installed, entrance portal steel positioned, mezzanine floor carpentry progressed and the engineered timber structure will come together with the erection of more columns and roof beams. The Experience Centre build is scheduled for completion late October. More than 11,000 plants are planned for the centre’s striking green roof. Once established, it will be self-sustaining. “Conservation Volunteers NZ have gathered seeds and seedlings of about a dozen suitable native species from Dolomite Point and the wider Punakaiki area,” says DOC Project Manager Phil Rossiter. “They’re being raised at their nursery on the Barrytown flats.” Car parking to the north of Dolomite Point’s commercial precinct has already been extended and improved. A shared pedestrian/cycle pathway connects Truman Track in the north to the Paparoa Track Great Walk at the southern end. Access to the existing visitor centre remains unaffected as work progresses. The project’s second stage includes a visitor exhibition space connected to the experience centre and development of a short nature walk and lookout at the rear of the site.
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