Mt Roskill Village in for upgrade

Auckland’s Mt Roskill Village centre is in line for a long-awaited upgrade, but some of it will have to be re-done if light rail ploughs through the area.

A local leader, however, says the pattern on the road surface will only be anti-slip paint, not new paving.

Sketches by a design firm of how the scruffy area at the intersection of Dominion and Mt Albert Rds might look have been published by the Puketa¯papa Local Board.

They show elegant, patterned basalt paving for footpaths, timber poles forming decorative sculptural elements and irregularly shaped seating “modules”. Part of the road is to be covered with an anti-slip treatment which is coloured grey and black, and patterned like the footpath.

“Patterns derived from wha¯riki — woven mat — designs contain meaning and make references to the stories and features of the landscape, flora and fauna,” say the design firm, Boffa Miskell.

“Tall timber sculptures symbolise the tree species that made up the forests that once stood in Mt Roskill.”

Board chairman Harry Doig is excited to be on the cusp of the upgrade at the Mt Roskill Village.

“We have been wanting to do something with all the Dominion Rd shopping centres [which are] looking the worse for wear.

“We’ve got an opportunity where Auckland Transport is doing major work to get Dominion Rd ready for double-decker buses. We’re piggybacking on their street work, to pretty-up and make the centre a bit more attractive.”