Realignment and extension of Ernie Mays Street

Ernie Mays Street is a short road that currently provides access to a car park, by College Road, and a service lane for local shops and eateries.

As part of the transformation of the town centre, the road will be repositioned to directly align with Deuxberry Avenue and extended to Lake Road, to edge the new Northcote shopping centre – Northcote Central (expected to be constructed from 2027).  See here for more information here.

To enable this to happen, the Norman King Building, next to Northcote Library, will be sustainably deconstructed, due to its age, to create the space for Northcote Central.

Rather than demolishing the Norman King Building (shown in the photos below), any parts of it that can be reused will be repurposed to minimise the amount of material sent to landfill. This supports Northcote’s aim to be a zero-waste community. Find out more here.

Once the Norman King Building has been sustainably deconstructed, Ernie Mays Street will be realigned and extended in sections. The new street will pass in front of Northcote Library (which is being refurbished and extended to become an impressive new community hub), an enhanced plaza in front of the new hub, a new section of Te Ara Awataha and the Woolworths supermarket.

Key features

Key features of the new Ernie Mays Street include:

• Improved interconnectedness. The street will provide easy access to Northcote Central, the new community hub (on the Northcote Library site), an upgraded Puāwai Cadness Reserve and plaza (in front of the hub), and the new town centre section of Te Ara Awataha, which will complete Northcote’s new greenway.  Plus, it will be on the bus route, to give bus users easy access to the transformed town centre.
• Safety features. Two pedestrian crossing between Pearn Place and the new community hub, and by College Road, will make it safer for pedestrians to cross the road.  
• More effective drainage. Flooding has been a significant problem in the past, so there will be improved drainage and planted swales (channels) in the middle of the road, to treat and better manage run-off stormwater and prevent flooding.
• Improved environment. They will be trees and plants to make the street look attractive, while providing environmental benefits, to help reduce climate change.

Timing

The Norman King Building is due to be sustainably deconstructed early in 2025, to enable the construction of Ernie Mays Street to go ahead in sections from around mid to late 2025.

There will be disruption during construction. We will work to ensure that this is kept to a minimum as much as possible. More information will be provided nearer the time.