A quick link to a
video of RWC Minister McCully who puts on a good show when confronted with some reasonable questions.
The first twenty seconds are probably the most entertaining for me, as McCully squirms visibly at suggestions from NZ Herald reporter Edward Gay about the timing of the project effecting its outcome. As the report continues, we hear from the Chairman of the Auckland Regional Council Mike Lee, who throws in a few gems, and between them we end up with the fairly predictable picture of a cheap, pragmatic scheme (god knows why it might be shaped so awkwardly..), which will probably linger on the waterfront like a post-RWC hangover. Fortunately at least, the necessary strengthening of the Wharf is secured, and the building itself -a prefabricated series of frames that slink down the Wharf- bears a fairly low cost ($9million).
You can check out more detailed discussions on the project over at the
Auckland Architecture Association, who in particular are voicing concerns about the hasty demolition of the historic sheds onsite, so give them a visit for more on that, as well as info about the opening of the famed red gates.
But back to the
squirmish interview, here's the opening scene that completely reveals McCully's awkward avoidance of the question about timing and design outcome:
(Reporter Edward Gay): "How long will this take to build Mr McCully?"
(Murray McCully): "It's actually a very easy build, it'll take about six weeks roughly to put up, it'll take three months to construct [
aah the old two-week months], we've got plenty of time in that respect, and we envisage construction will start probably in March of next year, the pre-fabrication work having been completed between now and then.
EG: "How much did the time constraints impact on the design though?"
MM: Not at all. I asked the officials to come back with the best possible design that met all of our requirements, and ah, they did that, there were no compromises built around timing."
Brilliant, first, watch for the twitching of McCully's eye as he sees the question coming, as "constraint" is uttered, he carefully resets his posture and throws back the retort. As he stutters vaguely into the next sentence –apparently architects are just 'officials' now, although there must indeed be a swathe of officials between him and Jasmax (it was them wasn't it?)- he makes the classic move of resetting his jacket with his left hand, a great power status move to assert his authority on the reporter, suggesting that despite the blatantly self-evident lie, he stands his ground.
The next scene at the press conference is a bit glum, with Mike Lee assuring us that "it's not what we originally wanted to build there, but we're going to give it our best shot [
feel good moment!] to make us something that looks really nice and attractive to our visitors." Wow I'm enthused, if only more key strategic urban projects were 'really nice'...
He continues, "the silver lining of the Mayors decision, and chronic leadership failure [
Ouch, some inflammatory and confusing editing there], is that we're dealing with something which is way more cheaper than was envisaged only a few months ago, this is way cheaper [
orsome!], a) than the preferred cruise ship design, and way-more cheaper than Auckland City's suggested temporary options." I'm not sure Councillors are supposed to say 'way more', which makes him kind of cool, but also fairly unconvincing.
The new temporary design imagined on site.
The truncated face of the new shed.
Fantastically, McCully has invited us to invent our favourite icon-labels, offering a 'cloud' and a 'sail' to the reporters 'slug'. I'd love to hear more...