In early 2019 we were invited to a meeting at Hastings District Council with Graeme Hansen and Steve Cave – Council’s water infrastructure engineers. The meeting was to discuss two new water storage plants that were required in Hastings as part of the response to the Havelock North water contamination event in 2016. Each plant included a relatively large Water Treatment Plant (WTP) alongside a tank capable of storing up to 8,000m3 of drinking water (32 metres in diameter, 10 metres tall). 

 

Graeme outlined that the plants needed to be located near the Council’s existing infrastructure network and on land either owned or easily/quickly acquired by Council. The tanks were likely to be of steel construction, and the WTP would essentially be a windowless concrete box (30 x 16 metres in area, up to 6m in height) in which to house chemical and UV treatment systems. 

 

Of key concern was the potential visual effects of the proposal. Although seemingly suited to an industrial location, we all agreed that the nature of the activity – managing the community’s drinking water – did not comfortably sit next to manufacturing plants and storage yards. Rural locations were also ruled out because of the cost of pipework from the existing water mains. The plants needed to be located in town where they would likely be highly visible. Our role was to determine how best to mitigate them.

 

 

At this moment, Waiaroha was born. 

 

We identified in our project vision the requirement to engage with Mana Whenua, with a desire to partner with Ngāti Kahungunu throughout the whole project. After initial contact, we were asked to liaise directly with Hira Huata, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga. 

 

Through our discussions, an overall narrative for the project emerged – ki uta ki tai, from the mountains to the sea. At face value, a simple concept, but to us we recognised that it meant we had to explore and explain all aspects of the water journey. Heretaunga was our reference, and we started mapping all aspects of the water system (below), thinking about how we could incorporate these into the design. 

 

We recognised that the project was a response to the Havelock North contamination event. This event will remain significant in New Zealand’s history, as it was when the real state of our water infrastructure – and the way it is managed – came to light. Graeme knew as much as we did that an opportunity existed to do something different.

We didn’t want the project to be a memorial, but we wanted to acknowledge the loss of lives from the Havelock North event, and the extent of community sickness. We wanted to investigate how we might change generational thinking, particularly in the management of our most precious resource. 

 

Waiaroha is the project that emerged. At its core, it is a landscape response to an infrastructure project – finding an appropriate narrative, understanding the values of the project context, and weaving them together to deliver a solution that couldn’t be anything else. As our other award entries describe, this was both a design project and a mitigation project – but fundamentally it was about setting a new benchmark. 

 

Key to delivery of the project was allowing landscape architecture to be the lead. Whilst there were obvious requirements for the infrastructure components, we were given the license to develop the site design, control the footprints and the site levels. Stantec, the WTP designers, had to be creative – finding ways to deliver the critical infrastructure in a way that met our brief. We even asked them to change the internal layout of the WTP so it would appear more logical when viewed from outside the window.

 

We worked closely with DGSE, the architects, determining the appropriate placement of Te Whare Waiaroha, including determining its footprint and levels. It was important that this building not only contributed to the cultural arrangement of the site (in particular how it addresses the ātea), but also how it provided visual mitigation of the tanks to the neighbours over the road.

 

We also worked closely with the water engineers to find innovative ways to showcase the various states of water – integral to our story and the educational aspect of Waiaroha. This included the installation of the misting device in the “mountains”, the use of permeable concrete for our river and beach features, and the creation of the wave machine which delivers precise waves that curve around the base of the water feature and break just back from the shore. 

 

The project design integrates multiple space requirements. Underlying the design is a cultural narrative, and the waharoa and ātea are laid out in a manner that allows for traditional gatherings to take place. These spaces are designed to accommodate large groups of people (particularly school groups), without feeling empty during less busy periods. Particular accessibility requirements are integrated and not immediately visible. 

 

This has been a unique, once in a lifetime project to imagine and deliver. Both Council and Mana Whenua embrace what the project stands for, and the process undertaken to realise it. But we are equally thankful to them for allowing us the freedom to explore everything this project can deliver.