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 in two stages to Lake Road, to edge the new Northcote shopping centre (expected to be constructed from 2027).  See here for more information.

The street extension will be completed in stages to minimise disruption to the town centre.

Staged construction

Staged construction is expected to start from late-2025. This will initially extend the road from College Road to the new town centre section of Te Ara Awataha, Northcote’s new greenway, which is also starting construction from late-2025. Later the street will then be further extended to Lake Road.

To enable the extension of the street to go ahead, several aging buildings, including the Norman King Building, next to Northcote Library, will be sustainably deconstructed in early 2025. Rather than simply 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. Find out more here. This supports Northcote’s aim to be a zero-waste community.

Key features

Once completed, key features of the new Ernie Mays Street include:

• Interconnectedness. The street will become the new main street, bus route, and key pedestrian entrance to Northcote Town Centre from Te Ara Awataha – Northcote’s new greenway –- and the new community hub (on the Northcote Library site). With the Norman King Building no longer there, there will be improved visibility of the future public facilities in this area – the hub, the upgraded Puāwai Cadness Reserve and plaza (in front of the hub), and the new town centre section of Te Ara Awataha.
   
• Safety features. There will be three controlled crossing points and five uncontrolled crossing points to make it easy for pedestrians to cross the road.
   
• More effective drainage. Flooding has been a significant problem in the past for the library, so there will be improved drainage and planted swales (channels) in the middle of the street, to treat and better manage stormwater and prevent flooding.
   
• Improved environment. There will be a central planted swale and trees on each side of the street to make the street look attractive, while providing environmental benefits, to help reduce climate change. Street furnishings will also improvement the environment, particularly for pedestrians.

What it will look like

Below are artist impressions of what Ernie Mays Street will look like.

This is Ernie Mays Street at the end of Pearn Place, looking towards Northcote's new community hub (on the current library site).

Below is Ernie Mays Street, with Northcote's new community hub in the background, on the right. On the left is the new town centre edge section of Te Ara Awataha, due to start construction in late 2025.