It's been a hard slog but we got there

Queenstown's multi-million-dollar downtown streets revamp was officially opened on Friday.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was expected to attend but the persistent fog meant his flight could not land, so Mayor Glyn Lewers stepped up to the mic.

Lewers said while the project "took a little bit longer than was originally anticipated", everyone was "incredibly proud of the result".

"You only have to walk around the streets on any given day to see countless locals and visitors enjoying a safer, more inviting and more accessible spaces," he said.

Lewers thanked the local businesses affected by the challenges during two-and-a-half years of construction. They coped with delays, detours, lack of access, dust and noise.

"Thank you for your patience and your openness to tell us when you weren't feeling so patient, and your perseverance, maintaining business activity in the face of uncertainty."

Mayor Glyn Lewers at the opening ceremony

Funding for the project was announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on a visit back in June 2020, as the tourist town experienced a major downturn due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Covering Beach Street, Lower Beach St, Park St and Brecon St, the work, which included full redesigns with new paving, lights, street furniture, and underground services, was originally expected to cost around $57 million, with Central Government contributing $35m.

But the eventual cost was around $66m and the project has proved controversial. Businesses owners expressed frustration about the way it was staged, with work grinding to a halt on half-finished streets, while starting up on others.

Some of the elements, including the gold poles and inlayed pounamu, have also attracted criticism.

Before Friday's opening ceremony, a small group of housing protestors took to the stage on Lower Beach St, led by Unite Union Otago-Southland organiser Simon Edmunds and Queenstown Housing Initiative leader Lindsay Waterfield.

"Today we're celebrating the opening of a street lined with golden lampposts and $20k pounamu bricks in a town where people are sleeping in their cars and treated like dirt by some of the employers and landlords in this town," Edmunds said.

"From our perspective, the most important thing to celebrate is the workers who actually do the work in this town, keep it running and deserve to be treated with respect, to earn decent wages, decent conditions, with a roof over their heads."

Edmunds lambasted the council for its inactivity on the rental housing crisis, particularly its decision not to fix up vacant cabins in the Lynch Block nearby.

"We're not going away. We're going to be here. We live here. Queenstown is ours as well."

 

Simon Edmunds at the protest

But Lewers, in his speech, celebrated the cultural elements of streetscape project, which include the golden coloured poles and pounamu stones.

"I just want to thank our mana whenua partners for the time and care that has been given to bring a richness and a sense of history and culture to Tāhuna Queenstown's upgraded streets," Lewers said.

"Thank you for being here today with us and showing the depth and importance of the cultural elements woven into our streets."

Lewers also paid tribute QLDC's former property and infrastructure general manager Peter Hansby, who died during the Christmas holidays, after a battle with cancer.

"Pete was a tireless campaigner for improving the way people lived, worked, travelled and played in the district, and a driving force behind transforming our town centre," he said.

"This legacy can be seen right across the district, but nowhere more so than in these upgraded streets. As I heard him say many times, 'the scale of these construction projects is significant and the challenges can feel overwhelming at times, but keep the end goal in mind, it will be worth it'. I think we can safely say that it is."

Lewers also thanked the massive team involved in delivering the project through Kā Huanui a Tāhuna, the alliance of QLDC, Waka Kotahi, Downer, Fulton Hogan, WSP and Beca.

 

The junction of Beach St and Rees St