Re-purposing the former Church College of New Zealand campus - Chris Dawson and Don White

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http://www.planning.org.nz/Folder?Action=View%20File&Folder_id=269&File=DAWSON_Chris.pdf

The Temple View Project
Re-purposing the former Church College of New Zealand campus
Chris Dawson1, Don White2
The Hamilton New Zealand Temple is spiritually significant for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Church) both in New Zealand and throughout the Pacific Area and also to the Hamilton City community. The closure of the adjacent Church College of New Zealand at the end of 2009 has provided an opportunity for the Church to review the way in which it manages and develops its land to ensure that the environment surrounding the Temple is protected and the Temple View community is enhanced.
Project Goal: To protect the environment surrounding the New Zealand Temple and to undertake the long term development of the church owned land around the Temple precinct in a manner that is economically, environmentally, socially and culturally sustainable, efficient and flexible by;
(a) Preserving cultural heritage;
(b) Stimulating economic development;
(c) Developing opportunities for additional residential space;
(d) Improving meetinghouse facilities;
(e) Enhancing community resources;
(f) Exploring tertiary educational opportunities;
(g) Resolving the Hamilton City/Waipa District boundary issue.
(h) Cleaning up and mitigating contaminated areas.
The project team has had to respond to some challenging questions;
How do you repurpose a former secondary school built in the early 1950s and revitalise a community that has largely developed around the school and its activities? How do you address the heritage values inherent in a group of former school buildings that have their design loosely based on 1950s modernist architecture and yet still provide clear but flexible guidance for future development? How do you simultaneously address contamination issues, deep peat, unusual territorial authority boundaries and aging infrastructure to make this dream a reality?
How do you recognise the spiritual importance of the Hamilton New Zealand Temple while trying to interpret and remember the history of the adjacent former school campus. The challenges in working under an Operative District Plan while also addressing a Proposed District Plan process are explored. Lessons learnt are explored and the methods used by the project team to engage with the community are discussed.
H:\NZPI\2013\NZPI Conference 2013\Temple View presentation\Temple View presentation abstract.docx