Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Viv Beck: Heart of the City CEO on the State of the City report for Auckland

Transcript

Viv Beck: Heart of the City CEO on the State of the City report for Auckland · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: New report shows Auckland quickly becoming a world-class city once again,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: as it should be. This is a State of the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: City report by the Committee for Auckland. They say our
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: private investment is up, international events are up, but we've
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: got a bit of work to do when it comes
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: to intensification, getting more people living closer together. Viv Beck,
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  Speaker 1: Heart of the City CEO with me this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Hi, Viv. Hello.
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  Speaker 1: Are these reports even worth the time? I mean, they
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  Speaker 1: give you some headline numbers around international students, visitor numbers
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  Speaker 1: that we already knew. What are we learning here?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think what's particularly exciting right now is that
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  Speaker 2: we are genuinely heading into a new era. It's pointing
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  Speaker 2: out the importance of the city centre, for example. With
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  Speaker 2: the city rail link about to open, the convention centre
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  Speaker 2: now open, and quite a lot of, in fact, billions
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: of dollars of public and private investment that's been happening
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  Speaker 2: all through this period. We've got that opportunity now to
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  Speaker 2: leverage this investment to drive that density, the growth, the vibrancy.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: So I think this one is really saying, it's highlighting
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  Speaker 2: things that's highlighted before but in a slightly different way.
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  Speaker 2: And I think what we've got to do now is
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  Speaker 2: drive that growth and density. And the opportunity is definitely there.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: So I'm actually finding it pretty exciting. We've really been
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  Speaker 2: working towards this year where we see these major pieces
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  Speaker 2: of infrastructure come on stream. and it's now a case
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  Speaker 2: of how we really drive them and leverage them.
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  Speaker 1: How much of that $ 6 billion that's being invested in
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  Speaker 1: the city centre is to do with construction around or
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  Speaker 1: related to the city rail link?
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  Speaker 2: Well, actually, in that midtown area, JLL did a study
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  Speaker 2: earlier in the year and said there's about $ 10 billion
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  Speaker 2: of investment that's happened there, and it's across all the
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  Speaker 2: things that are going to drive demand. So, for example,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: there's construction Hotels, new hotels, refurbished hotels. There is investment
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: in office accommodation with different styles of working. For example,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: the formery right by the news station is virtually full.
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  Speaker 2: More purchasing of big buildings in that area. Private investment,
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  Speaker 2: recognising that opportunity for people to be able to get
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  Speaker 2: in and out much more easy. The student accommodation is
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  Speaker 2: a great news story. We're back to pre-COVID levels. Lots
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  Speaker 2: of good investment there. They drive growth as well. And then,
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  Speaker 2: of course, is the ability to connect all the various
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  Speaker 2: things like, for example, the tech, the innovation and having
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  Speaker 2: people being able to move in and out much more
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  Speaker 2: freely is actually a real opportunity now that we can
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  Speaker 2: actually see happening. I mean, you can see it in
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  Speaker 2: the downtown area. where there's been the drive to great
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  Speaker 2: new office premises, for example. But we've really got the
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  Speaker 2: opportunity now in midtown, and you can see it happening, actually.
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  Speaker 2: So it is real.
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  Speaker 1: All right. I believe you've heard of the city's CEO
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: with us this morning.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: to Newstalk ZB from 5 a.m. weekdays, or follow the
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: podcast on iHeartRadio.