An air of anticipation and excitement is finally being felt in Cromwell’s dated mall, as design work for its multi-million-dollar revamp gets underway.

Visiting the town last week were architects from Wellington-based firm NMA who have been contracted by the Central Otago District Council(CODC) to transform the space.

The mall was constructed when Cromwell’s town centre was relocated to accommodate the arrival of the Clyde Dam and Lake Dunstan 30 years ago. 

The design had its critics even then, and the concern that it closed retail off from the outside world was repeated by last week’s visiting experts.

NMA architect and urban designer Neil Penney said the mall required a “significant refresh” including being opened up to allow people to see the landscape when they are inside the mall.

“There is a lot of clutter. This is a 1970s experience and we want to make it a 2020s experience,” Neil said.

NMA urban designer and landscape architect Rebecca Finn said the company aimed to make the mall attractive, visible and ultimately more “safe and inviting”.

She said, while a new layout was yet to be created, initial impressions were that the creek was a unique and interesting feature which could be retained. 

The courtyard area near the library had potential for enhancement, to make it more appealing and usable, she said.

NMA and CODC are working with a Mall Upgrade Group (MUG) which represents the building’s owners as “significant stakeholders”, MUG spokesperson Tom Pinckney said.  

He said there had been a continued lack of private investment in the buildings over recent years.  

“Building owners have not upgraded as they have been waiting for guidance from council in the form of a masterplan – now imminent – before committing funds to any upgrades.”

MUG, which also has council staff on its membership, met last week and gave input to the design process.

They were pleased with the level of attention given to their ideas, Tom said, and their hope was for an increase in retail activity as well as community and visitor use of the area.

“The MUG group and the council are working closely together to ensure there is a consistent approach and consistent messaging and progress around this project.

We’ve had a number of meetings internally and with council and discussed how the upgraded mall should function and how it should serve businesses as well as visitors.”

Tom said the group could not influence the timing of the creation of the design but once it was complete it could have input to prioritising the timing of work projects.

“We have put a plan to them but none of us are professional planners so we do defer to Neil and NMA for the design. We’ve got an open mind and are prepared to go with whatever the plan is, but once it’s finalised, we can be saying ‘let’s get going’.” 

The design portion of the $42M project is on track for completion in about 12 months’ time with physical work to begin immediately after.    

CODC property and facilities manager Garreth Robinson said it had not yet been decided which, if any, buildings would be demolished. A reason council had not previously addressed the outdated mall was because the retail buildings were all privately owned, he said.

The move to get a revamp funded and underway had come about through the council’s Long-Term Plan(LTP) and masterplan processes. Feedback from residents given as part of those processes had been strongly in favour of a revamp with council being told to “get on with it”.

The budget had initially been estimated at $42M with $12.3M of that for a new service centre, $11M for a new library and $5.5M for a resource centre. The balance, $13.2M, was allocated for landscaping, demolition of existing civic buildings and project management. 

After strong opposition from people giving feedback on the LTP, however, the Cromwell Community Board recommended the existing service centre and library buildings be retained.

Last week Garreth confirmed the way funds were allocated to each portion would change as design work progressed.

“As the project evolves there will be gains and surprises that will affect the budget, however, the project team will be closely monitoring that process and be reporting back to the board and council.”