Northcroft Street upgrade

15 October 2021 - 31 March 2024

Takapuna
Undergoing Construction

We’re upgrading Northcroft Street to create an attractive and safe, people-focused environment to support the growth of Takapuna.

With more people set to move to the neighbourhood, we want to improve the street environment and create a vibrant place where people want to live, work and visit.

Find out about other projects in Takapuna here.

Why we're making the changes

Northcroft Street has an important role in connecting to the centre of Takapuna, coupled with its potential to be a more pleasant and welcoming space for people living locally or visiting shops.

Currently Northcroft Street:

is heavily dominated by cars
has no safe crossing points
has little character

The upgrade is part of the wider regeneration plan for a thriving Takapuna town centre. It will be a celebration of Takapuna’s unique character, much like the completed Hurstmere Road transformation.

An increase in foot traffic

Foot traffic on this street will increase due to development in the area, including:

Takapuna Central Apartments
Auburn Street build-to-rent-development - a future mixed-use development on the corner of Northcroft and Auburn streets
other private residential developments

With more people using this street, the upgrade will:

support better walking and cycling connections
provide space for vehicles and car parking

Informed by the Innovating Streets trial

The project follows on from the Innovating Streets trial in 2020-2021, during which we co-designed, tested and trialled design elements on the street with the community.

This included two iterations of on-ground testing with workshops, engagement and feedback sessions. We have used the feedback and findings from the trial to develop the Northcroft Street concept design.

Public consultation on the Northcroft Street upgrade

In October and November 2022 we asked for feedback from the public on a proposed concept design to help us finalise the design, before moving towards construction later in 2023.

You’ll find information about the public consultation here - Have your say

We would like to thank people for providing their feedback. Here's a summary of the feedback we received.

About the consulted upgrade design

The design we consulted on was proposed to:

increase safety for pedestrians and people on bikes
enhance retail vitality of the street
create a more attractive streetscape with native planting, street furniture and better lighting
introduce planting to improve the quality of stormwater runoff
improve the journey for people travelling between Toka Puia car park, the town centre, and future developments.

The proposed upgrade was designed to be robust and high-quality with the required infrastructure for future growth.

It proposed similar street furniture and planting used in the recent upgrade of Hurstmere Road.

The final concept design

Using the public consultation feedback, we have revised the concept design and discussed this with the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board and Auckland Transport.

The finalised design focuses solely on those things that are critical to change in Northcroft Street - safety and wind impact improvements:

Safety improvements - lighting is currently a safety issue so we will improve this to bring it up to standard.
Wind impact improvements - trees are important for the future climate and will also help with the wind impact felt by people walking on the street. The final design shows six major street trees and some smaller trees (shown as large and small green circles). The exact number and their locations is yet to be finalised, as this is dependent on the location of underground services, a traffic safety audit and budget.

Other changes include:

The removal of one of the proposed pedestrian crossings, as suggested by community feedback.
More car parks. There are now twenty-four carparks, plus a loading bay, included in the final design - 6 more than we consulted on at the end of 2022.

With the recently announced Auburn Street build-to-rent-development, on the corner of Northcroft and Huron streets, the number of people living in the area will grow substantially in the next five years and the upgrade to Northcroft Street will support this growth.

Construction

We expect construction to start on Northcroft Street from late 2023/early 2024.

As improvements to stormwater infrastructure have already been completed and there are no major changes to the road, we expect minimal disruption during construction for local businesses and those using Northcroft Street.

A future upgrade for Huron Street

Auckland Council is looking to improve stormwater management across Takapuna. This could affect the designs to upgrade Huron Street significantly but does not notably affect the designs to upgrade Northcroft Street. As a result, we are progressing with the design and construction of Northcroft Street first.

This staged delivery also helps to mitigate construction disruption for residents, visitors and businesses. A proposal to upgrade Huron Street will be shared with the community at a later date.

Northcroft Street Reduced Design 03 Final 8 May V2

Project updates

Met local stakeholders

November 2020

Eke Panuku and its community engagement partner met with residents, business owners and operators on Huron and Northcroft streets to hear their experiences and ideas to improve these streets and their immediate surroundings.