Four invited to submit CBD designs

Invercargill’s Inner City Working Group has selected four consultants who have been invited to present a proposal for design improvements for the inner city.

Invercargill Inner City Working Group Chairman, Cr Norman Elder, said this work followed on from the Invercargill City Centre Outline Action Plan prepared by Kobus Mentz from UrbanismPlus in December 2011.

“Council advertised for Expressions of Interest early in the project and, following the evaluation of the eight responses, four consultants have been selected.

“The consultancy groups have strong and proven capability to deliver urban design projects to their clients’ requirements. They also have a wide and diverse client base and have undertaken recent projects in both provincial areas and metropolitan centres and look to be able to transfer these ideas, where appropriate, to this project.”

Cr Elder said the Working Group was encouraged at the interest from consultants in this project and was looking to seeing how they would interpret the Outline Action Plan for the city centre.

“The Council and the community need to work together to create a city centre that encourages people to visit and creates a positive vibrant heart for our city.

“The Working Group will be looking to see how the consultants interpret the outline Action Plan and how they will bring some ‘wow’ to this rejuvenation work.

“The consultants may well form alliances with local professional groups to assist in the design and potentially delivery phases to add extra value and local knowledge,” he said.

The selected consultants are

Boffa Miskell (Christchurch)
Baxter Design Group (Queenstown)
CCM Architects Ltd, including Isthmus Group, McIndoe Urban, Stoks Limited (Wellington)
Pocock Design: Environment Ltd (Christchurch)

Cr Elder said that each consultant had been invited to present their proposal to the Inner City Working Group in November and the Committee would identify their preferred consultant and make a recommendation to the Council meeting in November