Winner of:
Excellence in Placemaking Award

It’s Flaxmere’s Time

It’s Flaxmere’s Time is both a revitalisation programme for Hastings District’s lowest socioeconomic community and a means for building trust and engagement between the people of Flaxmere and the Council. The programme is an amalgam of housing development, parks development, expanded health, wellbeing, sporting opportunities and social services expansion. 

The Judges said: Hastings has actively harnessed the skills, expertise and resources of a wide range of partners both in Government, in the community and the community itself not least to create trust and a sense of pride in the community. The multifaceted approach focussed largely on people and human networks, not just building things. This is the very definition of local placemaking and makes Hastings a worthy winner of this, the inaugural placemaking award. 

See more award winning entries

Excellence in Māori-Council Partnerships - Te Tohu Waka Hourua (the Double Canoe)

Joint Land Ownership – the Right Thing to Do

Tauranga City Council
Te Manawataki o Te Papa – the Heartbeat of Te Papa – is a transformative redevelopment of Tauranga’s Civic Precinct, which will reinvigorate its city centre and make it the
Award Year: 2023
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Excellence in Collaborating for Results

Stronger Together Councils’ buy-out puts people at heart

Hastings District Council
Helping flood-devastated homeowners get their lives back on track following Cyclone Gabrielle drove the Hastings and Napier Voluntary Buy-out Programme, a pioneering model for disaster recovery in New Zealand. The
Award Year: 2025
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Excellence in Community Engagement

Whirinaki Managed Retreat

Northland Regional Council
In Whirinaki, Te Hikutū Hapū, supported by Northland Regional Council, led a proactive, hapū-driven managed retreat to address severe flood risk. Using mātauranga Māori and the PARA framework, the community
Award Year: 2026
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