The Waikeria Prison Project set a standard for the planning and design professions on engagement with stakeholders, and ongoing involvement with tangata whenua and the local community.

The Waikeria Prison landscape project began in July 2016 with a Prison Capacity Alternative Site Assessment to determine the most appropriate location for a proposed new prison facility in the upper north island. Three alternative sites were assessed against a number of criteria, including landscape and visual considerations. Waikeria Prison was determined to be the most suitable. To enable the building of a new prison facility, an amendment to the existing designation was required.

The final conditions of the designation required the preparation of a Landscape Visual Mitigation and Management Plan (LVMMP) to be integrated with an Ecological Management Plan.

The concept throughout all stages of the project process was to ensure that the facility could be integrated into the existing rural landscape to minimise adverse effects on rural character and the visual amenity of neighbours, while also managing the expectations of tangata whenua and other stakeholders.

Location

Waikato

Worked with

Te Onewa Consultants
Maniapoto ki Te Raki
Punui River Care Incorporated
Raukawa Charitable Trust
Te Roopū Kaumātua o Waikeria
Waikeria Prison Tangata Whenua Liaison Group

Project date

2016 - 2020

Awards

Award of Excellence | Project-based Landscape Planning | NZILA Resene Pride of Place Landscape Architecture Awards

The Waikeria Prison landscape project team was able to facilitate opportunities for Corrections, as a government department, to give effect to the principles of partnership in the Treaty of Waitangi and enable tangata whenua to exercise some form of Kaitiakitanga over their ancestral land (the Waikeria Prison site was taken for Prison purposes and has been used as a prison site since 1911) within the constraints of the Corrections Act and the security requirements of an operational prison.

The ongoing stewardship of the Waikeria Prison site and farmland is the key guiding principle for the landscape and ecological works. This has involved conservation of existing highly valued resource areas, enhancement of existing landscape and ecological values, restoration of degraded landscapes and a long-term vision of ecological biodiversity.

The planting programme involves enhancement of the farmland by restoring degraded waterways and wetlands. In addition, employment of local people to collect seed, propagate plants and undertake the planting and ongoing management of the revegetation has added value to the local community. The overall injection of funding to the local and regional community will improve the economic condition of the townships of Te Awamutu and Otorohanga and the lower Waikato.

The Waikeria Prison project has shown that hands-on protection, mitigation and enhancement of rural character, amenity and ecological values can provide numerous opportunities for rehabilitation of those incarcerated within the New Zealand prison system through skills training, reconnection with the land and potential post-release employment.