Puhinui Warkworth Centre Plan

Creating a unique and beautiful riverside town

The goal is a Puhinui Warkworth centre that meets the needs of the whole community, nurtures and protects the river and provides a well-designed, vibrant and attractive place for everybody.

About the project

As the surrounding district grows, the existing Puhinui Warkworth township and adjacent riverside will become an increasingly treasured focal point for the community. There will also be exciting new opportunities to enhance and improve these areas and the Rodney Local Board wants to make sure any changes are driven by community needs and priorities as well as excellent urban design practice.

The Rodney Local Board has contracted Community Think (a community development collective) and an urban design team (Motu Design) to work alongside mana whenua and the community to create a plan for the town centre and river. The Puhinui Warkworth Town Centre Plan will set the direction for the development of the area and will guide future decisions on place-making projects, public spaces, accessibility and connectivity projects, land use and community projects in and around the town centre and riverfront. It will also demonstrate more sustainable and collaborative ways of designing and developing the town centre to private investors, businesses, council and the wider community. More information here

The name Puhinui is the traditional name for Warkworth. This name holds meaning for all our communities here as a place of reflection and connection. The name Puhinui will be used alongside Warkworth in this project to honour the traditional name of this area while we reflect on its future.

Our community engagement process

Over the past few months, you might have been involved in a  community engagement process to capture the ideas of the community to contribute to the development of the Puhinui Warkworth Centre Plan.

We are now moving from ‘what’ you want to see in the community to ‘where’ and ‘how’. On Friday 09 and Saturday 10 December, 2022 we came together again to refine and test these ideas. If you missed out on attending the in-person sessions or completing the online form and still want to contribute, please email harriet@communitythink.nz

Take a look at the engagement process.

The timeline

The project commenced in May 2022 and we anticipate that the centre plan will be developed well inside 12 months.