$13M complex approved for New Brighton

Press, 6 September 1989, Page 9

$13M complex approved for New Brighton

By

KAY FORRESTER

Two New Brighton architectural design companies are behind a $l3 million development for the foreshore, which was approved yesterday by the Christchurch City Council’s parks and recreation committee. The development includes a Kelly Tarlton-type aquarium, marine museum, gift shops, beach equipment hire, international food fair, conference facilities, tearooms, nightclubrestaurant, bar and fast food outlets and pier. It won councillors’ approval yesterday ahead of two other proposals reviewed by a sub-committee of councillors and community representatives. They were the Jammand Group’s $65 million hotel-casino-aquarium proposal and the proposal

of Works Consultancy Services for a restaurant, pavilions and mini piers. The sub-committee said the proposal from M. B. Jones and Associates, Ltd, and Paul Foley Design, Ltd, better fitted the setting of the foreshore beside the New Brighton Mall.

Messrs Malcolm Jones and Paul' Foley designed the proposal as a response to the Jammand proposal. Both residents of the area, they believed a $65 million project was beyond the New Brighton community and that it would be out of scale with the rest of New Brighton’s business area.

Their development was a people building, Mr Jones said. It aimed to connect the mall, the beach and the development itself by encouraging

people to move around the whole area.

Mr Jones believes the proposal, for which he says there is an international investor interested, has the potential to inject “an amazing amount of confidence back into our (New Brighton) community/” Councillors, too, were taken with the development which would focus on the marine life of the area in the aquarium and museum. Mr Jones told them a feasibility study had still to be completed; although negotiations with investors and a construction company had begun. The committee approved the proposal in principle and gave the developers until March 31 to prepare a final submission to the council. A

decision by the council on the project would be made then. The site is that of the Shoreline Night Club, which was destroyed by fire in 1980.

The council last year withdrew its approval of an aquarium restaurant complex by Goston Property Services, of Wellington, because of delays with the project. The Jones-Foley proposal includes a glazed tunnel with a circular terminal at the end. The terminal would have displays and an audio-visual room with a sight and sound show. The aquarium would concentrate on southern region marine life. It would be on the ground floor with three specialised retail shops, hire equipment areas, fast food outlets, a central foyer, decks and a service

lane. An international food fair with 10 outlets, offices, a conference room and tearooms would be on the first level; a pedestrian bridge, lounge bar, and restaurant on the next level. Mr Jones said both he and Mr Foley were members of the NewBrighton Pier and Foreshore Society and were pleased to design something for their own community. Both their design companies had backgrounds in large office buildings, institutions and domestic buildings. The proposal had the support of the New Brighton Business District Association, he said. The project would continue under the present arrangement rather than have a special project company set up, he said.