DCC: $6.2M propagation house —Dunedin Botanic Garden

Otago Daily Times Published on Aug 6, 2015
Praise for garden’s ‘striking’ new facility
The biggest investment in the Dunedin Botanic Garden’s history can simulate arid deserts, tropical forests and sub-antarctic islands on the slopes of Signal Hill.

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Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Botanic Garden’s New Propagation House Opened

This item was published on 06 Aug 2015

The Dunedin Botanic Garden’s new propagation house is a wonderful addition to the Garden’s celebrated features, Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull says.

“In many ways the propagation and nursery facilities are the engine room of the Garden. This modern facility provides excellent conditions for plants as they are nurtured before going on public display around the Garden. This impressive new building helps us reinforce our reputation as a Garden of International Significance,” Mr Cull says.

The new propagation house was officially opened this afternoon at a civic opening with invited guests. An open day, at a date to be advised, will be held in spring so members of the public can tour the new facility. The new facility, on Lovelock Avenue, replaces the old and dilapidated glasshouses and plant nursery near the aviary. Work on the $6.2 million project began in October 2013 and the completed building was handed over in May this year.

Botanic Garden (Curator) Team Leader Alan Matchett says the new propagation facility provides the space and technology for the Garden to produce a more extensive range of plants from succulents and cacti, to alpines, tropical, subtropical, and ferns and orchids. The need for an updated facility had been apparent for some years as the former glasshouses, built in the early 1900s, began to deteriorate and the environmental management systems became less energy efficient and inadequate to produce the variety of plants needed by the Garden. The new facility provides about 600sq m of indoor space and has been designed to make the most of natural elements, such as the sun. Environmental conditions in the seven glasshouses can be controlled centrally to suit the different varieties of plants growing in each area. Watering and humidity levels are now computer controlled. The glasshouses can hold more than 12,000 plants, excluding seedlings.

As well as providing plant nursery facilities, the new building provides a base for education activities for school groups, public workshops and demonstrations. It also provides room for the Garden’s long-time supporters, the Friends of the Garden, to work. The new propagation house is the first part of a larger vision for that area of the Garden, which includes establishing a café, and visitors’ centre. Moving the nursery and glasshouses means the site they currently occupy in the upper garden can be developed to achieve its potential as a prime landscape feature.

Contact Dunedin Botanic Garden (Curator) Team Leader on 03 477 4000.
DCC Link

█ 21.1.15 ODT: Propagation unit preview [photographs]

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● Culmination of 19-year journey, nursery replaces 90-year facility

### ODT Online Sat, 8 Aug 2015
Praise for garden’s ‘striking’ new facility
By Craig Borley
The biggest investment in the Dunedin Botanic Garden’s history can simulate arid deserts, tropical forests and sub-antarctic islands on the slopes of Signal Hill. The garden’s new propagation and nursery facility was completed in May but officially opened on Thursday, showcasing its seven separate growing environments – alpine, arid succulent, temperate, arid cacti, subtropical, tropical, and propagation.
Read more

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● New nursery designed with school groups in mind

### ODT Online Sat, 8 Aug 2015
Maintaining a living museum
By Craig Borley
There are public parks and public gardens with great collections of plants, but they are not botanic gardens, Dunedin Botanic Garden propagation services officer Alice Lloyd-Fitt said yesterday. Explaining why the garden needed a nursery and propagation facility, she said a botanic garden’s point of difference was its role as a living museum. Education, conservation and plant collection roles all mattered, and those roles could not be filled without a functional nursery.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: (top) 39 Dunedin Television – Propagation House [screenshot]

DCC Residents’ Opinion Survey (ROS)

Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Tell Us What You Think!

This item was published on 23 Jun 2015

Letters have been sent this week to 4500 Dunedin residents inviting them to take part in the Dunedin City Council’s annual Residents’ Opinion Survey (ROS).

DCC General Manager Services and Development Simon Pickford says, “The ROS provides valuable feedback on what Dunedin residents think of their Council and the services and facilities we provide. It is particularly useful as it allows us to hear from the ‘silent majority’ of residents who are less likely to tell us what they think in other ways, such as the Long Term Plan consultation.”

The 4500 residents, randomly selected from the electoral roll, will be invited to complete the ROS online using a unique code. A hard copy questionnaire will be provided on request.

The survey is also open to other residents, who can fill out the survey at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/ros.

Everyone who provides feedback will have the opportunity to enter a draw to win one of five $100 supermarket vouchers.

The survey is open until 17 July 2015. A reminder letter will be sent to those who have not responded about two weeks after the initial letter. This practice has proved successful in increasing the response rate. The survey results are expected to be publicly available by late August.

Mr Pickford says, “We have been using this survey for more than 20 years and it has become a key tool for us to assess how well we are doing and ultimately guide our planning and decision making. ROS focuses on how well we deliver our services and asks questions about residents’ perceptions of our performance. Some of the results are used as official measures of the DCC’s performance for audit purposes. But equally importantly, the feedback is used by staff and the Council to guide our thinking about how we might best deliver services to better meet the needs of Dunedin residents.”

The survey, which costs about $40,000, will be undertaken by independent research company Versus Research.

The results of previous surveys can be viewed at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/ros.

Contact Simon Pickford, General Manager Services and Development on 03 474 3707.

DCC Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Botanic Garden: Visitor-vandals caught by DCC webcam

“Dunedin City Council parks manager Mick Reece said the botanic garden team had been intending to install security video for some time, but the weekend’s vandalism had made it an imperative.” –ODT

oooooohhh . . .

Ouroboros with nighttime visitors via DCC webcam. Photo supplied.
[click to enlarge]

The group were there for about 15 minutes on Saturday 11 January.

DCC website: Dunedin Botanic Garden cam
Views of the botanic garden from the top of Croque-o-Dile café.

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### ODT Online Wed, 15 Jan 2014
Vandalism spurs CCTV move
By Debbie Porteous
Closed-curcuit television is to be installed at the Dunedin Botanic Garden after vandals damaged the city’s latest piece of public art. Someone entered the garden at the weekend and put a dint in the steel worm sculpture, also known as Ouroboros. The sculpture was installed in mid-December.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
30.12.13 Botanic Garden: Ouroboros (more images)
15.7.13 Art in public places: Dunedin worms and wyrms #snakesinthegrass
3.1.12 Art in public places #Dunedin

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Botanic Garden: Ouroboros

### ODT Online Sat, 14 Dec 2013
The worm has turned up
By Debbie Porteous
A giant glowing worm has appeared above ground at the Dunedin Botanic Garden. It is not a supernatural phenomenon, but the city’s latest piece of public art. The flexible worm, which can bend because it is constructed from thousands of pieces of interlocked and articulating marine-grade stainless steel, was installed over the past two days.
Read more

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Comment at ODT Online:

Worm and landscaping spend
Submitted by ej kerr on Mon, 23/12/2013 – 3:20pm.
Interesting as always to read your columnist Peter Entwisle’s opinions of the stainless Ouroboros at the Botanic Garden (Art Beat, 23.12.13), and the shoddy process adopted by the city council. This alien is planted in an exceptionally poor section of ‘landscaping’ – a meaningless affront of professionally laid and poorly envisioned hard paving, with a ‘playground’ landing pad. The effect of this cynical deadening forecourt on the tea kiosk with its umbrella-style roof is harsh and fully remiss, architecturally – a boffin job of worst kind. Even the ducks are electing to rest for the evening on nearby lawn – having left their excrement across the pavers. Not sure this metalwork is composting!

On Sunday afternoon I was photographing the wormy presence, it’s bluntly phallic at the supported ‘head’ end… when a local resident asked me what I think of the whole thing. Not a good thing to say. He wasn’t terribly impressed either – he said the project in total was worth about $150,000. For such a cruel mess.

Poor Wendy and … Attendants, they need rescue! The fairy tale plot is lost, crashed, abused.

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Related Post and Comments:
15.7.13 Art in public places: Dunedin worms and wyrms #snakesinthegrass
20.5.13 Comment [ODT item and DCC report]

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Post and images by Elizabeth Kerr

Art in public places: Dunedin worms and wyrms #snakesinthegrass

Updated post Monday, 2 Feb 2015 at 4:07 p.m.

### ODT Online Mon, 15 Jul 2013
Editorial: How the worm turns
It seems there is nothing quite like the issue of public art to stimulate debate. Whether it be form, function, meaning, materials, longevity, cost, location, the work’s title, or the artist’s “qualifications”, the works inevitably prompt a great outpouring of comments from the public. When it comes to publicly-funded art in the outdoor public arena, it is understandable some ratepayers want to have their say. After all, they have to see it and they have to pay for it. One of the most-debated issues is often the cost, with many projects being deemed expensive.
In a city rich with educational institutions, heritage, and a strong artistic legacy, such projects have been deemed worthy of funding by the council for many years, and frequently indicated as important by the public in the likes of residents opinion surveys. There is no doubt striking the right balance is no easy task, particularly given art, by its very nature, is subjective, and cannot necessarily “please” everyone.
Given that the response to art works is the huge unknown – it is all the more important the areas that can be calculated are done so – and done so clearly: the artist, the artist’s brief, the art work’s purpose, visual expectations including height and size, suitability for its location, and of course, cost. And, sadly, it is in these fundamental areas in which the latest controversial public art proposal appears to have fallen down.
Read more

Related ODT stories:
8.7.13 [Opinion] Art Beat: More than just a muddle
3.7.13 Council rejects artwork criticism
2.7.13 Sculptors question selection process
1.7.13 Botanic Garden to get huge worm
30.6.13 Botanic Garden marks 150th
30.6.13 [Magazine] Putting down some roots

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Related Posts and Comments:
15.1.14 Botanic Garden: Visitor-vandals caught by DCC webcam
30.12.13 Botanic Garden: Ouroboros
3.1.12 Art in public places #Dunedin

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images via ODT [screenshots]

Redesign for Botanic Garden, without Lovelock Ave realignment

### ODT Online Tue, 16 Nov 2010
Realignment rejected after long debate
By David Loughrey
The Dunedin City Council has realigned its policy on Lovelock Ave, reversing its decision on a project that has been years in development… In the end, the project’s backers were told to go away and redesign the project, and come back to the council with a plan that did not involve realigning the road.

After about three hours’ debate, Crs Cull, Vandervis, Thomson, Teresa Stevenson, Chris Staynes, Kate Wilson, Neil Collins and Jinty MacTavish voted not to go ahead with the realignment. Crs Bezett, Syd Brown, Bill Acklin, Paul Hudson and Andrew Noone voted for the project.

Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
13.11.10 Mayor Dave Cull shows prudence
16.10.10 Lovelock Avenue Realignment

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

D Scene – Kerbside collections, coastal erosion, Lovelock Avenue

### D Scene 16-12-09

Cost of bins set to be included (page 2)
By Wilma McCorkindale
New kerbside collection companies will include the cost of new recycling bins in contracts if the Dunedin City Council gets its way. The council’s preference is that the contractor owns the bins.
{continues}

Council discussing multiple tenders (page 2)
By Wilma McCorkindale
Multiple tenders for Dunedin’s kerbside collection have been discussed by the Dunedin City Council. More than one tender could be let under the council’s new kerbside collections scheme approved on Monday.
{continues}

Register to read D Scene online at http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

Sand erosion exposing history (page 13)
By Wilma McCorkindale
Erosion of sand was steadily uncovering dozens of archaeological sites from Moeraki in the north to sites as far south as the mouth of the Clutha River. People who stole from sites were possibly unaware they were breaking the Antiquities Act.
{continues}

Talk: Dunedin on Dunedin
Your say: Letters to the editor (page 14)
Battle over Lovelock Avenue
Letters by Islay Little (Dunedin), Gavin MacDonald (St Kilda)

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Further to the item in D Scene about coastal erosion uncovering archaeological sites and artifacts, the following information is found at the New Zealand Historic Places Trust website.

www.historic.org.nz

Maori Heritage
Nga Taonga Tuku Iho no Nga Tupuna
Maori heritage can be described as nga taonga tuku iho no nga tupuna = treasures handed down by our ancestors.
It comprises a wide range of different places and items from the physical and tangible to the natural environment and the intangible. For the purposes of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust’s responsibilities, cultural heritage excludes te reo, performing arts, most portable taonga, radio waves, etc.
Maori heritage can be divided into the physical/tangible, natural and intangible. More

Legal Protection of Archaeological Sites
The Historic Places Act 1993 makes it unlawful for any person to destroy, damage or modify the whole or any part of an archaeological site without the prior authority of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. This is the case regardless of whether the land on which the site is located is designated, or the activity is permitted under the District or Regional Plan or a resource or building consent has been granted, the Act also provides for substantial penalties for unauthorised destruction, damage or modification.
Archaeological sites are an irreplaceable part of our heritage and although our history is short, it is rich, varied and unique, and belongs to all New Zealanders. What we discover from archaeological sites helps us to better understand our past and to learn from it. The NZHPT takes compliance seriously, and the Historic Places Act has strong provisions for non-compliance. More

Answers to commonly asked questions are provided in this brochure (pdf 285kb). If you have other questions please call the Regional Archaeologist in the NZHPT office nearest you.

Post by Elizabeth Kerr