Draft design to be revealed for Guyton Street makeover

Published on 19 April 2023

The Whanganui community will have a chance to view and scrutinise initial design concepts for the Streets for People Guyton Street project early next month – with draft design reveal workshops being held on Thursday 4 May at Cook’s Gardens Events Centre at 1.00pm and 5.30pm.

This Whanganui District Council project, which is 90% funded by central government through Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, focuses on the section of Guyton Street between St Hill and Wicksteed streets. So far the council has carried out four community co-design workshops to gather ideas and get a sense of the community’s priorities for the area. 

The council’s community property and places general manager, Sarah O’Hagan, says the co-design workshops were a new process for the council – but have proved effective.

“For this project we’ve really emphasised that we’re up for hearing any suggestions the community may have for Guyton Street and in response workshop participants have come back with lots of interesting, well-reasoned ideas.”

O’Hagan says the consultation process has included direct engagement with Iwi, the Youth Council and various community advocacy groups – and despite some robust debate at times, some clear themes have emerged which have helped shape the design approach.

“The community has told us they’d like to feel safer when crossing the road, they’ve told us that the intersection with Wicksteed Street is problematic – and they’ve told us they’d love to see new life breathed into this culturally significant, historic Whanganui street to make it a greener, vibrant, more inviting destination for everyone – not just those using cars.”

Other themes to emerge include a desire for the designs to reflect Whanganui’s identity, to match up well with the heritage values of the surrounding area and to consider the future, especially climate change and flood-risk.

O’Hagan says the project team has been fortunate to build some great relationships with the businesses and property owners on central Guyton Street, including Guyton Group Trust.

“We’ve been lucky to have a highly motivated group of stakeholders on the street who aren’t just accepting change – they’re embracing it.

“Case in point is local property developer, Richard White, who owns the block of land next to Mischief Café. After attending several workshops, he decided to offer the use of some of his land for a new parklet area on Guyton Street – where people can enjoy a coffee and relax with comfortable seating and shade.

“Similarly Hadleigh Reid, one of the owners of 73 Guyton Street, has offered us the use of the alleyway next to Shotz Bar, colloquially known as ‘pigeon alley’. The alleyway was a common topic at workshops, with the community asking for work to beautify it and dissuade pigeons from roosting in it.”

She says the Guyton Street regeneration synchs nicely with the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua redevelopment.

“We expect the upgraded Sarjeant gallery will bring increased numbers of visitors to Whanganui from when it opens in mid-2024. Developing Guyton Street will enhance the approach to the gallery and the overall visitor experience.”

O’Hagan says that while the design team at Patchwork Studio now have a pretty good idea of the community’s priorities for Guyton Street, the community will still have further opportunities to have their say.

“When we present our draft design concepts, we’ll essentially be asking people ‘have we got this right?’ So there’ll certainly still be opportunities to make further changes. And another thing to keep in mind is that this project uses adaptive design principles. That means we’re trialling changes using non-permanent infrastructure – so we’ll be able to listen to the community over the course of the two-year trial and make changes accordingly.”

The draft design reveal workshops for the Streets for People project on Guyton Street will take place on Thursday 4 May, with sessions at either 1.00pm or 5.30pm. All community members are welcome, regardless of whether they’ve attended previous workshops or not.

For more information, email streetsforpeople@whanganui.govt.nz