America's Cup: Late base option unwelcome

The gap between 100year old Wynyard Wharf and adjoining Brigham Street will be filled in and the old piping removed © Richard Gladwell

A fourth group has popped up with just four working days left before Submissions close on the Panuku Developments sponsored America's Cup base construction.

Viaduct Harbour Holdings, who as their name suggests, own large tracts of property around the Viaduct Harbour following its development from a harbour backwater after Team New Zealand's first America's Cup win in 1995. They have said they will oppose Panuku Developments' Resource Consent application for hosting the America's Cup when it is heard in the Environment Court later this year.

Despite the America's Cup hosting having been in the public domain virtually since Emirates Team New Zealand won the America's Cup in late June 2017, Viaduct Holding has left it until today to show their hand.

The latest plan picks up the common theme of not building wharves, or intrusions into the harbour and has all the bases located on various sites around the Wynyard Point area.

It proposes that Emirates Team New Zealand is perched on the end of Halsey Street wharf.

The new plan would appear to incorporate the worst aspects of all plans presented to date and is very similar to one that was rejected early in the base planning process.

It takes Site 18 - now used for superyacht rig servicing. Use of that area was briefly contained in Minister for Economic Development David Parker's first preferred plan developed after a walk around the Viaduct Point area. That triggered a broadside Southern Spars and others who used Site 18, saying its loss would force the superyacht servicing business to relocate out of New Zealand. The area also requires substantial dredging to be able to accommodate the AC75 yachts which draw 5.5 metres.

For all the fine talk about vistas and harbour views the fuel storage facility will remain operational throughout the 36th America's Cup and build up. - photo © Richard Gladwell

It also uses the ASB carpark, which was grabbed by Minister Parker in the third iteration of America's Cup base planning. The area now used as a carpark and formerly contained several storage tanks which dated back to 1940. While there has been no specific testing of ground contamination by either Sherpa Consulting or Beca, consulting reports by both commenting generally on the Wynyard Point area suggest that the area is highly contaminated, requiring the excavation and proper disposal of the contaminated soil.

The third area used in the Viaduct Harbour Holdings Plan includes Wynyard Wharf a structure which is 80-95 years old and according to reports for the current Resource Consent process is in a poor state of repair and well past its designed end date. Wynyard Wharf also contains many old fuel pipes some of which are in a poor state of repair and according to consulting reports will need careful handling if buildings are built over the top of the pipes and during construction.

The Viaduct Holdings Plan houses all Challenger bases on Wynyard Point - photo © Richard Gladwell

An earlier Wynyard Point Dispersed Option - the option initially favoured by the the Minister for the America's Cup despite the fact that two of the bases need to be dredged by a further 3 metres and several are badly exposed to strong winds. The plan which was quickly dropped is very similar to that proposed by Viaduct Harbour Holdings - photo © Auckland Council

Viaduct Holdings has not approached Emirates Team New Zealand directly with their plan.

The America's Cup champions appeared irritated and disappointed with the Viaduct Holdings move which was announced on prime-time television news. A terse statement by the team made their position plain:

“We haven’t seen anything from Viaduct Harbour Holdings, and they have not tried to contact us at any time, but one imagines anything they come up with will be laced with money making self-interest.”

The Viaduct Harbour Holdings plan like others which use land on Wynyard Point fail to realise that time is running out fast with just 18 months remaining until America's Cup teams begin arriving in New Zealand to set up for the for the March 2021 Regatta. Of that 18 months, six months will be taken up with a fast-tracked planning process going directly to the Environment Court. If the Resource Consents are granted by the Court, there will be just 12 months remaining to construct the facilities.

Given the complexities inherent in the Wynyard Point sites, and the lack of decisive leadership from the Council and Government it is hard to see Team New Zealand having any confidence in construction being completed in time which has an obvious ramification.

Emirates Team New Zealand's preferred plan involves using two 75 metre wharf extensions already approved by Council's Governing Body, it would appear to be the cheapest solution by $50million and is the one able to achieve its construction deadlines. The timelines involved in the other plans that have popped up in the past ten days are more appropriate to AC37 than the immediate event.

The new plan from Emirates Team NZ showing all bases located on the Halsey Street extension - with bases reduced from eight to seven - photo © Emirates Team New Zealand