Why are our ‘high streets’ in decline? Cars are neither the problem nor the answer!
10 August 2021,
by Dean Croucher
What’s wrong with our high streets? Everywhere you look, our traditional ‘high streets’ are in decline – from Queen Street to our local suburban centres and even across parts of provincial New Zealand.
Many are old and tired and often defined by failed ‘mom and dad’ retail ventures, derelict buildings, unloved public spaces and an increasing homeless population – all despite local government spending a fortune on street beautification and renewal projects over the past 10 years in numerous communities.
So what’s the problem? Covid-19 and the transformation of retailing is partly to blame. Traditional high street retailers are getting slammed by online shopping, regional malls (that are only getting bigger) and recently, C-19.
But many think our transportation planning is the main issue. Too many cars and carparks (if you are Wellington City) or not enough cars and carparks if you are the Save Queen Street Society (SQSS). So what’s the right answer? Many traditional retailers still want customers to be able to easily drive and park close to their store. While in principle I support WCC’s decision to pedestrianise the Golden Mile in Wellington (maybe not across the full length as mooted), too many cars are not the problem or the answer for that matter.
Queen Street
If you’ve walked down Queen Street recently, there’s no denying it’s pretty bleak – vacant retail shops, temporary site works/pedestrianisation initiatives and an increasing sense of unease for personal safety the further you go up Queen Street from the waterfront. I certainly caution my kids living in Auckland about avoiding it after dark.
Many of the leading building owners and retailers in the Auckland CBD believe the problem lies with Auckland Council and Auckland Transport, who’ve spent years trailing new initiatives, resulting in fewer cars and carparks for visitors to the CBD.
Some feel so strongly they’ve formed the Save Queen Street Society and are taking legal action against the Council who argue that a full redevelopment of the area is underway that’s in line with their CDB masterplan – similar to what’s happening along Quay Street.
The Auckland frustration no doubt comes on the back of over five years of total chaos around the lower CBD with the City Rail Link project closing off several roads and businesses and major projects like Commercial Bay and Quay Street often bringing the roads around this part of the city to a standstill.
The real issue
While Council needs to get on with the renewal works, I don’t think cars and parking is the problem or the answer. And many parties are missing the point.
A common theme across the CBD and many other urban centres is the lack of people actively living, working, learning and ‘playing’. No manner of landscaping or streetscape enhancement will replace the energy that people bring to these places.
If you look at Queen Street, it lacks three fundamental elements to attract people:
The office buildings are old and obsolete having been replaced by low-rise campus style buildings along the waterfront (Britomart, Viaduct, Wynyard) or by premium international-class office complexes like Commercial Bay. Heritage/boutique office space has its place, but there are very few contemporary office options along Queen Street that will attract large corporate or government occupiers who have large workforces to accommodate, even post the C-19 WFM adjustment
There are few modern purpose-built apartment or townhouse complexes that appeal to middle to high-income city dwellers. Again there are heritage and budget-driven conversations, including hotel accommodation, but nothing that would compete with the options in and around the Viaduct or Wynyard for outlook, views, amenity and living experience (noting some newer options are emerging nearby like in Albert Street which will help gentrify the CBD – which, in this context, is a good thing in my view)
The public spaces are not curated or maintained with any care. It is pointless investing in streetscape initiatives when they’re not maintained and curated on a daily basis to create a community feel. Britomart works so well because the owner/manager has set strong design and aesthetic guidelines and meticulously manages, maintains and curates the spaces on a daily basis to create attractive and welcoming areas for the office occupiers, nearby residents and retail customers to use
Part of the solution
The answer is people – the presence of people who activate, curate and breathe new life back into these spaces. But for that to happen, they need a reason for being there.
This requires (among other things):
Smaller sites/landholdings to be aggregated, with smaller owners clubbing together in consortia type arrangements to create larger development opportunities
Demolition of older properties to create a mixed use precinct, retaining genuine heritage amenity
Coordinated streetscaping, transport planning and private development to create boundless urban areas that blend between the private and public domain, as has successfully occurred in Britomart, Wynyard and other precincts
Breaking up Queen Street into sub-precincts with their own nuance, rather than creating a single street view
Deliberate curation of the public space, increased security built in to the design of buildings and places, and meticulous maintenance of private and public spaces to create an inviting place
A first-mover investor/developer to take a leap of faith and develop an anchor offering, to attract new investment and interest
Maybe it just a timing thing – but why have other precincts around the city undergone transformation and Queen Street continues to wain? It’s not about cars, carparks or pop-up installations. It’s about creating spaces where people want to live, work and play. Until this happens, many of the efforts are wasted.
About the author
Loves anything blue. Avoids routine and making plans. Dreams of playing golf on the senior tour. Should have been a chef or writer. Fond of chardonnay and food (any kind).
Dean is one of NZ's leading property advisers with 30 years of consulting experience acting for major tenants and owner-occupiers. He specialises in property strategy, tenant representation, project leadership and major transactions. He also continues to provide peer review advice across all major projects.
At the forefront of guiding organisations in aligning place-based investment decisions with strategic intent, our Strategy22 practice continues to excel.
The recent LGNZ Conference in Ōtautahi Christchurch was a great opportunity for local government leaders to share their challenges and explore new ideas and opportunities, with the thought-provoking programme of local and international speakers creating...
To support the continued growth of the business, we have recently announced four changes to strengthen our leadership.Chris Ware and Matthew Peko-Fox have been promoted as Principals and join the TwentyTwo Leadership Team.
Our thoughts are with all of the communities across New Zealand dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, particularly those in the Northland, West Auckland, Tairāwhiti, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay areas who are facing a devastating time.
Following the successful completion of Fonterra Brands NZ (FBNZ) new cool store in Penrose, Auckland in 2022, TwentyTwo has been engaged to support FBNZ acquire a new South Island Distribution Centre in Christchurch.
TwentyTwo’s Dean Croucher recently led a panel discussion at the RICS ANZ Real Estate Conference 2022 focused on ‘How are occupier behaviours affecting demand for real estate?’.
Senior Adviser, Steffi McKeown, was announced as the inaugural winner of The CoreNet Global NZ Young Leader of the Year award 2021 at the long-awaited Proactive Property Awards in Auckland last Thursday.
TwentyTwo’s Dean Croucher joined NZ Police, Tainui Group Holdings (TGH), Waikato Tainui and the local community last week to celebrate the opening of the new community police hub in Cambridge.
Post-COVID, the return to the office continues to be a much-debated topic.The Employee Experience Design School was keen to hear Dean Croucher’s insights on the challenges this is presenting leaders as part of its Masterclass panel earlier this month, which was facilitated by Samantha Gadd, Founder of EXDS and HumanKind.
E22 = (IQ + EQ + C) * PThe TwentyTwo Tribe creates exponential property outcomes (E22) for many of New Zealand’s largest and most well-known businesses.
The report out this week indicating that the impact of climate change on many of New Zealand’s coastal urban areas is likely to be more rapid than predicted is a timely reminder we need to...
I’m standing in front of the site of Archives New Zealand’s new building, 'Heke Rua Archives', on the corner of Aitken and Mulgrave Streets in Wellington.
As we come to the end of a difficult and challenging year, we pause to reflect on some of the positive outcomes, not least the support New Zealanders have provided to each other and their...
The Auckland and Wellington teams (minus a couple of people) enjoyed a long, late lunch and plenty of sun at Mudbrick Vineyard, Waiheke Island on Friday, as part of our 2020 Hui held in our...
We often see businesses and senior leaders ‘chasing their tail’ when leasing office space, as they haphazardly chase one option after the other.This often results in wasted time, energy and cost.
Last month, we undertook market research to gauge the state of organisations’ thinking on their office requirements and workspace post-COVID-19 to give us a better understanding of how businesses are reacting to the crisis from...
Businesses’ response to COVID-19 has been rapid as many face significant revenue falls and need to put contingency measures in place immediately to mitigate as much cost as possible.
As businesses put emergency measures in place to cope with the rapid economic impact COVID-19 is having on all sectors, one of the areas of focus will be reviewing large fixed overhead costs such as...
Most larger organisations have either an in-house property/facilities team and/or outsourced providers managing a portfolio of owned and leased property.
Before the year runs away completely TwentyTwo's Managing Director, Dean Croucher wanted to share his quick tips on how you can prepare for next year!While many of you will still be in Q3 from a...
Commercial property expert Dean Croucher shares his insights on the buoyant Wellington CBD office market and the best ways for tenants to tackle their next property move using “strategic sourcing principles” rather than being...
Recent research by Colliers highlights increasing risk that Auckland CBD office tenants will have fewer options to choose from in the future as vacancy levels sit at the lowest level seen (since records began in the mid-1990s).
As part of our ongoing partnership with NZ Police, TwentyTwo (Dean Croucher and Rob Campbell) were engaged by Annabel Bayes (Strategic Property Adviser with NZ Police) to the lead the procurement of a new workplace for Auckland Police in Auckland City to replace the current Auckland Central Police Station at Cook Street/Vincent Street.
In the C-Suite of most large organisations you’ll typically find the roles of CEO, CFO, COO and even a CIO, CTO or CDO (Chief Information, Chief Technology or Chief Digital Officer).
I recently saw an article online (from a friend of mine (Glenn Blumenfeld) who runs a similar independent property advisory practice in Philadelphia) talking about the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the property markets – pointing out that the uptake of AI will replace many of the traditional processing/research roles in professional services firms (legal/accounting) – who have been the largest occupiers of CBD office space in the past.
With 2017 coming to a close, here’s my take on some key markets, our diversifying client base, the corporatisation of the co-working space, the shift in corporate capital away from bricks and mortar and our...
2017 has been another busy year for TwentyTwo, our team continues to grow and I thought it was a good time to share the exciting new people, and their skills that have recently joined...
Marketing Communications Coordinator (Part Time/Wellington or Auckland based). TwentyTwo is a leading professional services practice providing strategic property advice to government and corporate clients, from offices in Auckland and Wellington.
TwentyTwo has recently been appointed to the Government Property Panel, an appointment that recognises our deep understanding and experience of working for the main Crown/Government agencies over the last 27 years.
At the recent Property Institute Government Property event in Wellington, TwentyTwo’s Dean Croucher joined David White from Government Property Group, Peter Dow (deputising for an unwell Maurice Clark) and Steve Maitland from Colliers to discuss...
Team TwentyTwo celebrated the end of another fantastic year last weekend by heading up to Auckland to see Coldplay live at Mt Smart Stadium! The previous night, our team got together for a few quiet red...
Faced with a rapidly growing Auckland team and a new strategic focus on Auckland, the Commerce Commission had to make a choice about exiting early from a lease and relocating within the CBD.
Z Energy’s customers in Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty will soon be able to fill their tanks with ‘Z Bio D’ – a sustainable diesel which will be manufactured at its new bio-fuel...
We're passionate about the success of Wellington and its contribution to the economy. Our business contributes to that success by helping organisations make better property decisions that help them unleash their potential.
Independence was a founding principle for TwentyTwo because we believed it was a critical differentiator that mattered to clients.Today, in our sector, we think it matters even more.
It's been fantastic year for TwentyTwo thanks to our hard working and talented team.So we decided to celebrate and reflect with a big day out.It was a cracker.
In Part 3 of a series of blogs on the New Zealand Green Building Council, we review the future of NZGBC and what it offers organisations, particularly tenants and owner-occupiers…The NZGBC is 10 years...
Following Part 1 published last week where we introduced the NZGBC and outlined our early involvement and renewed commitment to the Council, Part 2 gives a brief history, along with our experience of tenant/end...
TwentyTwo has recently renewed its commitment as a member of the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC).And since World Green Building Week is all set for 21-27 September, we’re marking the occasion with a series of three blogs over three weeks to highlight NZGBC’s role in working to improve the quality and sustainability of NZ properties, as well as our involvement over the years.
Great to see some real progress on site last week with two of our projects…
Cuba Central
On Monday morning, I attended the ‘ground breaking’ ceremony for Cuba Central – the new Creative Technologies and Arts Centre being developed by Willis Bond for WelTec and Whitireia.
‘Disruption’ is a buzzword in the business world at present and, here at TwentyTwo, we also talk about being disruptive.About being a challenger brand.Challenging convention.
A recent issue of boardroom, the IOD’s bi-monthly magazine that keeps members informed of relevant governance and business issues, includes a feature written by Managing Partner Dean Croucher.
A key part of our unique end-to-end process is to intimately understand each property market and ensure our clients have visibility on the the widest range of accommodation and property options.
TwentyTwo has been appointed to undertake a National Property Strategy for Callaghan Innovation.This work will involve some more detailed planning for their Gracefield Site.
Following our re-brand in 2012, we decided to take some of our own medicine!
To align with our strategic intent and values, Duncan and Dean developed a 'brief' in the same way we do with clients.
On 24 September a number of clients joined us to celebrate the start of our sponsorship for the 2014/2015 season with Andrew Durante, Captain of the world famous Wellington Phoenix!
Andrew was a real hit and...
We've completed quite a bit of work over the last 18 months helping Government Agencies with their Property Strategies.Together, we've learnt some good things which we've outlined here.
Office moves for the better is an interesting article by the UK's Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on the roles and responsibilities around workplace procurement and design.
A robust, well-researched white paper released by Gail Corder Fischer of US tenant representation business Fischer explains how corporate tenants might be “leaving more money than they realise on the table when they place their property portfolios in the hands of large real estate brokerages that serve multiple stakeholders”.