Wellington has long had a good sense of social justice in its housing portfolio – but has also been lagging behind with the upgrades, until recently. Over the last 10 years many of the social housing blocks in Wellington have been substantially refurbed – and now comes the turn of Arlington. This block, a large central city Mt Cook / Te Aro / Edge of Aro…
Fish
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Leviathan
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Newsflash – the RIBA have just awarded the Gold Medal to Zaha Hadid. Fantastic news – she’s one of my heroes. Totally brilliant, totally mad, totally British, totally uncompromising, totally scary. Fantastic woman, fantastic architect – and fantastic also that this is the first time ever that the RIBA, traditionally a collection of crusty boring old men, has crowned a woman with the Gold Medal. I…
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Leviathan
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It’s Wellington Architecture Week, apparently, and it has been going on all week long – apparently. Sorry – I’ve nearly missed the whole thing. Been busy. So, without more ado, here is the info on what’s going down. There are a couple of pages with info on, writing is a bit small to read, so not sure if this will work: and then there is this,…
Leviathan
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Wellington is in an interesting place right now. We are not growing as fast as they are in Auckland, but I don’t hear anyone complaining over that. Auckland’s growth figures in housing cost are frightening in both the short term and the long term, with a property bubble seeming ready to pop. It is a volatile situation, on the verge of being totally out of control,…
Leviathan
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Leaving the smokescreen that is the Flag debate behind, to concentrate on more important things: how would we house refugees? Yes, I think everyone except for John Key gets it that there is a massive problem with floods of people moving countries, and that New Zealand needs to play its part. 750 people per year is pathetic. Even Labour and the Greens proposals for 1000, or…
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Leviathan
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I’ve not yet heard a single person say that they think any of the 4 selected flags are the right one – so, fairly predictably, the whole flag / rebranding exercise has failed. Which is not surprising when you get people as design-unsavvy as an aged ex-AllBlack and a reality TV show creator on the panel. A horse/flag designed by a committee is a camel –…
Leviathan
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It really is quite extraordinary how narrow-minded Government departments can be. And how an answer can be staring someone in the face. The Prime Minster is quoted today as saying: “We need to find a solution. My understanding was historically was the flyover was deemed to be by far the best solution at the most affordable price,” “Options of tunnelling, for instance, weren’t as realistic as…
Leviathan
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I took the morning off to sit down and read the High Court ruling on the Basin Bridge appeal. As you will have heard by now, the Judge ruled that the Board had not committed any errors in law, and so their decision stands – the Basin Bridge remains declined. It is therefore as dead as a very dead thing. The background you will all be…
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Leviathan
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A guest post by regular reader Guy Marriage, about the recent death of Robert McGregor – the man behind the rebirth of Art Deco Napier: “It is with a great sense of sadness that I write of the death of Robert McGregor, of Napier. He was many things: a father to Angus and Isobel, a grandfather to two adorable grandchildren, the much-loved husband of Helen, as…
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Leviathan
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If you’re not aiming at a substantial – a SUBSTANTIAL – increase in PT numbers, then what are you doing here? Wellington City is already aiming at a substantial increase in the number of people living in the city over the next 20-30 years, of about a 30% increase in population. NZTA have already established quite thoroughly in the Basin Bridge Board of Inquiry, that all…