Wellington.Scoop
Ben Schrader, historian and advocate for social housing and heritage, has died from cancer. He was 59. Read more »

by Ben Schrader (in 2021)
Over the last 24 months, Wellington’s built heritage has come under a sustained attack that’s been confronting for those of us who value it. Heritage has become an emblem and scapegoat for range of city ills: unaffordable housing, restrictive and officious planning practices, poor health among renters, generational warfare, nimbyism, colonialism, and more. Read more »

by Christine McCarthy
The recent attacks on rainbow crossings in Gisborne and Auckland’s K Rd suggest we need to up our game to proactively support gay pride across New Zealand. Wellington’s Gordon Wilson Memorial Apartments might hold the key. Read more »

by Paul Ridley-Smith
Every so often, a newsflash brings good news. Today’s plaintive announcement by Mayor Whanau that the Reading Cinemas welfare deal is off is one of these. But let there be no doubt what’s happened here – the Mayor has been forced to withdraw from the deal because of the Council’s own flawed analysis. Read more »

by Lindsay Shelton
Sixteen years ago, the Wellington city council said it didn’t want to have a large empty building site in Mt Cook. A year later it got what it didn’t want. And the large empty building site in Mt Cook has stayed empty for fifteen years. Read more »

by Helene Ritchie
Blood and guts from “The Meatworks” were a feature of the Petone wharf and beach when I was a ‘Hutt girl’, so I never swam in the slick there. Few did. From 1874 to 1981, the Gear Meat Company spilled its guts, and was one of the major employers in Petone. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
The Architectural Centre has written to the Minister for Housing Chris Bishop giving reasons for the retention and refurbishment of the Gordon Wilson Memorial Apartments on the Terrace. It says: “We acknowledge this is a critical time in the building’s future with your pending decision on whether to retain its heritage listing. Your decision will impact its retention.” The letter gives these reasons why the building should be retained and re-used. Read more »

by Gordon Campbell
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Read more »

by Helene Ritchie
Wellington’s mayor and councillors will decide on Thursday whether to give staff the go ahead to negotiate with Precinct Properties, a development company, to lease long term or sell a large chunk of public land in Te Ngakau/Civic Centre for a new building which will be privately owned. Read more »

Wellington.Scoop
Among the critics of Simeon Brown’s Long Tunnel idea is Nemo on his eyeofthefish website. His headline is “Sheer stupidity.” He’s provided a dozen reasons to back this up, saying many things about the plan are “totally incongruous.” Here are some of them. Read more »