CHANNEL FEATURE INTERVIEW PETER WOLFKAMP
Building Devonport's Future Peter Wolfkamp looks at the challenges facing village life By Christine Young Peter Wolfkamp
Devonport local Peter Wolfkamp may be best known for his role as site foreman on The Block NZ. Or his own programme Creative Living on TV3. Or, if you’re an early riser, for his radio show at 6am on Sundays. Then again, he could be known to you as the local carpenter or member of the St Leo’s school board of trustees. Whatever the role, you can be sure Peter is providing building support and advice to whoever he’s working with at the time. He may also be expressing views about building, architecture and heritage that don’t always follow accepted Devonport wisdom. At a recent Rotary/Devonport Business Association breakfast, the audience (Channel among them) settled in for what they imagined was to be a presentation about life on The Block or inside his Newstalk ZB programme. They may have been just a tad discomfited as Peter launched instead into an appraisal of the state of Devonport – and some of his solutions for improvement. Peter is quick to confess he’s not a Devonport “local” – he’s only lived there for the last 20 years – but his wife’s credentials go back three generations and he’s happy to hang on her coat tails. And having worked on numbers of heritage buildings around the area, he knows the issues. When Channel met with him to follow up on his breakfast comments, he muses, “What do you do about heritage areas, and how do you protect them? In the end, as I know only too well because I’m working on mine, old houses tend to fall apart. So when they do and are no longer fit for purpose, the challenge is what you replace them with. “I’m not a big fan of replica villas. I believe that heritage areas are best protected by encouraging good architecture. A modern piece of architecture, a new build, can fit in a heritage area because it’s outstanding on its own merits.” Of course that depends on the quality of design and what the planners approve. “There are examples of either extensive renovations or new builds that are not in any way sympathetic,” he
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Issue 73 - February 2017 www.channelmag.co.nz
…if there were nicely done two or three bed apartments in the village where they could enjoy the cafés, the proximity to ferries, all those things we prize about village life, it would be a huge success. admits. “Yet something completely distinct from its neighbours can still fit in, just because it’s really good. That’s the challenge.” The Devonport Library is a prime example, he says. “It’s a great building, it’s got lovely spaces and it’s engaged a whole new generation of readers. It’s a perfect illustration that the best way to protect heritage is to allow good architecture. They could have taken an approach that the building should look like the ones across the road. But they opened it up in competition [won by Athfield Architects]…. And people have embraced it.” There’s another issue that Peter also sees as a challenge for Devonport. Under the new unitary plan, there is little opportunity for new residential development from the golf course south. “We’re not going to see any [intensification] in land use in most suburban streets. But if you stagnate you die,” says Peter. Most of the schools on the Devonport peninsula are facing stagnating or declining rolls, and no growth is not good for schools or local businesses. “Any of the businesses in the village will ask how we maintain a certain population and what that can look and feel like.” At the same time, there are few options in Devonport for baby