Business View Oceania | December 2019

23 24 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA DECEMBER 2019 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA DECEMBER 2019 CBD Plan; adding mixed-use commercial and residential development to bring vibrancy and attract people into the town. Because Grey District is the centre of the West Coast, they have a lot of travellers, so there is definitely room to build more accommodation to cater to the hospitality sector. Most of the District’s residents live and work in Greymouth. After the Pike River Mine disaster in 2010, the community lost many high-paying jobs that were based at that mine and others that closed in the aftermath. It had a huge impact on the economy and a large number of families were affected. Today, many of those people are working in the service or hospitality industries. Greymouth Hospital is a major employer and they’re building a new facility – an integrated family health centre with doctors, physio and chemists all in one location. “Our economic driver used to be mainly extracted minerals,” says Thompson. “There’s still some of that, but we’re definitely moving more towards engineering, service industries, tourism, and hospitality. Also we’ve got UFB (Ultra Fast Broadband) in the District, so it gives quite a lot of opportunity for people to come and live here for the lifestyle, but then also do work for other places from here.” With the impetus on getting more greenery into the CBD, “rewilding” is a key part of the Redevelopment Plan, going forward, in keeping with a theme that was done in the Town Square. The town is also looking at a living wall and thinking about the government’s push for zero carbon, zero waste; how they can contribute towards caring for the environment. “And we’re working on a pedestrian access up to the flood wall,” says Thompson. “It’s a massive cement flood wall that runs beside the Grey River and protects the town. The last flood was in 1988 and the wall was put up after that. It has been raised twice and with climate change, it may need to be raised again.” On the recreational front, Grey District is celebrating the opening of the Paparoa Track which starts out of Blackball and is the 10th Great Walk in New Zealand. The path is a 55 km, three- day walk and tramp or two days by mountain bike. An exciting and much anticipated boost for the local economy. Greymouth also has the Westland Recreation Centre, a well-used community hub with basketball courts and aquatic facilities. And work is underway on the West Coast Sports Places and Spaces strategy to define what is available and what is needed in sports facilities. With an aging demographic and volunteers getting older, the community needs to address how to get more interest from young people. Given the growing senior population, retirement housing is also on the agenda. Grey District Council has 118 retirement housing units and around 65 people on a first priority waiting list; some have been on it for two years. On the whole, the real estate market is buoyant, homes are selling quickly, and a lot of people from outside the district are moving in. And that’s purely for the house prices, which average about $270,000 – compared with Auckland, Grey District is quite affordable. There is a large stock of older houses and a lack of rentals, which has a lot to do with the Healthy Home standards. Houses must meet certain regulations GREY DI STR I CT , NEW ZEALAND