Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown was the first to swim laps in a new open-air seawater swimming pool in the Viaduct Harbour. The highly anticipated Karanga Plaza harbour pool will open to the public this Friday, just in time for the summer season.
The Karanga Plaza harbour pool
“Aucklanders elected me to make the most of our harbours and environment, which is one of my top-five priorities. This new harbour pool is part of a much bigger piece of work that will see more of Auckland’s prime waterfront transformed into vibrant public spaces for everyone to enjoy,” says Mayor Brown.
The free-to-use harbour pool will open during daylight hours, seven days a week, with lifeguards on duty during the peak swimming period.
Over the past three months, the Karanga Plaza Tidal Steps have been transformed into a multi-purpose swimming area enclosed by floating pontoons. The area features a 33m-long harbour pool with four roped swimming lanes and a casual swim space, which is flanked by a jumping platform. New changing sheds and showers are located by the existing public toilets.
Earlier this year, the Mayor asked Eke Panuku to investigate a potential swimming area in the city centre harbour. The Karanga Plaza Tidal Steps were already a popular spot for people to swim and jump into the water, making it the ideal option. Plans to develop a safer dedicated jumping platform were expanded, with an additional investment of $500k, to include a swimming pool and changing facilities.
“The idea was to develop a safe, affordable, lightweight structure to test the appeal of lap swimming in the city centre harbour. Utilising existing pontoons helped keep the costs down, and it’s a good example of doing things better, faster, and cheaper,” says Mayor Brown.
The Karanga Plaza harbour pool, which is managed by Eke Panuku and operated by Auckland Council Pools and Leisure, will initially operate as a pilot project to allow real-time testing of the concept, location, structure, and operational requirements.
Improving water quality in the city centre
This new addition to the city’s waterfront offers Aucklanders and visitors a unique opportunity to enjoy safe swimming in the heart of the city. Water quality is closely monitored and tested with live updates posted on SafeSwim.
The Mayor is a strong advocate for protecting Auckland’s harbours and waterways. He is an advisory trustee of Sea Cleaners, a non-profit organisation committed to preserving New Zealand’s coastline, and former president of Surfing New Zealand.
“Auckland’s unique identity and lifestyle are closely connected to its waterways. We have two major harbours as well as stunning beaches, rivers, and estuaries. As an avid surfer and boatie, I’ve spent a lot of time on the water, which is something our grandchildren and their children should be able to experience,” says Mayor Brown.
A new green waterfront space
The Karanga Plaza harbour pool and neighbouring Wynyard Point bioremediation works reflect ongoing efforts to improve water quality in the city centre harbour.
Over the next 10-15 years, the northern end of Wynyard Point will be transformed into a five-hectare public open space, supported by additional five hectares of mixed-use development. Before this transformation can take place, contamination from the site’s industrial past as a tank farm for bulk petrochemical-related storage needs to be managed.
Te Ara Tukutuku, the name gifted to the regeneration of Wynyard Point, was allocated $119m in Auckland Council’s Long-term Plan (10-year Budget) 2024-34, with the support of the Mayor.
The staged work programme, which starts in early-2025, will see all surface structures and concrete, and obsolete underground infrastructure, demolished and removed from the site. Work will also include a solid bund or embankment along the western edge to prevent contamination leaching into the harbour.
“The bioremediation of Wynyard Point is not just a ‘nice to have’, this is long overdue work to restore the health of the land and our Waitematā Harbour. It presents an extraordinary opportunity, which calls for an equally extraordinary public project and that is the largest new green open-space Auckland City has seen in 100 years,” says Mayor Brown.
The vision for Te Ara Tukutuku includes lifting, restoring, and enhancing the mauri (life essence) of the moana (harbour) and the whenua (land), before bringing tāngata (the people) back to the area. This is a co-design process between Eke Panuku and Mana Whenua partners and technical specialists.
“This is another significant step toward delivering the most beautiful and loved publicly owned waterfront of any harbour city in the world,” says Mayor Brown.
