Entry received from: Tauranga City Council
Category: Te Tohu Waka Hourua - The Buddle Findlay Award for Māori-Council Partnerships
Te Manawataki o Te Papa - the Heartbeat of Te Papa - is a $303 million transformative redevelopment of Tauranga's Civic Precinct, which will reinvigorate our city centre and make it the cultural, historic, economic and social centrepiece of New Zealand's fastest growing city.
Over the next five years, a series of phased developments will see the construction of a new library and community hub; a civic whare (community meeting place); a museum where the city's heritage can be displayed; an exhibition gallery; and quality landscaping linking the Civic Precinct to the nearby waterfront reserve. The waterfront and the linking Masonic Park will also be significantly upgraded to create another compelling reason for people from near and far to spend time in the city centre.
The land underlying the Civic Precinct has been the subject of disputed ownership since it was gifted to the Crown by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in the 1860s, in contravention of mana whenua's understanding when it was sold to the CMS in 1838, that the land would be held for the benefit of Māori.
In undertaking this project, Tauranga City Council (TCC), in collaboration with iwi and hapū, sought and implemented a joint ownership solution which has restored the mana of the whenua to its original owners.
Thank you to our category sponsor