Manukau City Council and Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) have announced plans for a city centre tertiary campus closely linked with the new train and bus station. They will be built on a section of Hayman Park on the corner of Davies Ave and Wiri Station Rd that has been ear-marked for development for a number of years.
Work should begin soon on the train and bus station, which is due to open in late 2010. Stage one of the planned tertiary campus is likely to be open to its first students at the start of the 2012 academic year.
MIT will open the campus with an initial 1500 full time equivalent students, with numbers expected to increase during the next decade. The initial building will have a floor area of approximately 10,000 square metres.
Manukau Mayor Len Brown said the campus and station plan has a number of benefits for the city.
“It will have major spin-offs by increasing the educational achievements of our residents and by unlocking the economic potential of the city centre.
“The council has been pushing for many years to get a tertiary campus in the city centre that offers a full range of courses. Education needs to be available close to home for Manukau residents so they have the best opportunities possible.
“This is the first stage in a long term plan to lift the city centre to a new level. The campus and station will attract a lot more people to the city centre and help kickstart further investment.
“This should help create a better city centre – one that is easy to get around attractive, well used, safe and lively both day and night,” Mr Brown said.
“MIT is uniquely placed because of its history of success in partnering with universities to be the driver of this exciting development,” Manukau Institute of Technology Acting Chief Executive, Peter Quigg, said.
“The facility will encourage both new and returning students to fully participate in tertiary and university education.”
Manukau City Council Portfolio Leader David Collings said the Manukau train station and bus interchange is expected to be one of the busiest in the country.
“Approximately 600,000 passengers a year will use the train station, a similar level to Newmarket, only Britomart will be busier. About 1.2 million people are expected to use the bus station each year.
“We want people to be able to have the choice of using public transport for getting around the city. Having a train and bus station only minutes away from where they study will make it easy for students to use public transport,” Cr Colling said.
The transport interchange and tertiary campus projects are part of a draft masterplan the council has developed to create a better city centre – one that is easy to get around and attracts people and investment to the area.
The long term aim is to create opportunities for investment, economic development, better public spaces and to make the environment an attractive part of the city centre.
