Tawa Deserves Better

Tawa Deserves Better: A Future-Focused Community Hub for a Growing Suburb

By Andrea Compton | Candidate for Northern/Takapu Ward

Tawa is a growing, vibrant community, but its key public facilities are long overdue for an upgrade. The Tawa Community Centre, originally built in 1984 and last refurbished in 1991, is no longer fit for purpose. Alongside the Mervyn Kemp Library, the centre is showing serious signs of age, with weather-tightness issues, poor seismic resilience, and a layout that reflects a bygone era.

This building was designed for a population of just over 10,000. Tawa is now home to more than 16,000 people, and that number is only increasing. With more than 80,000 annual visits — over 300 people a day — the pressure on the space is immense. The facility can no longer accommodate the programmes, digital learning, meetings, and community services that modern suburban life demands.

That’s why I support the vision behind the Tawa Anchor Project, a proposal that brings together the Tawa Community Board, Residents' Association, Business Group, local iwi, and Wellington City Council to create a single, purpose-built, future-proofed community hub at 5 Cambridge Street.

This isn’t about luxury or vanity. It’s about value — about building a facility that is safe, inclusive, accessible, and reflective of how communities connect today. It would be weather-tight, seismically sound, and designed with older residents and those with mobility challenges in mind. The hub would provide flexible, multi-use spaces for events, co-working, classes, community services, and digital access — all under one roof.

Merging the existing library and community centre would reduce duplication, improve operational efficiency, and deliver long-term savings. And most importantly, it would reinvigorate the town centre, increasing foot traffic and supporting local businesses.

But this must be done smartly, with transparency, careful staging, and strong community consultation. Council must explore all possible funding avenues, including central government partnerships, philanthropic support, and local development contributions, to reduce the burden on ratepayers.

We also need a transparent cost-benefit analysis that compares this proposal with the ongoing costs of maintaining two failing buildings. Patch-fixing is no longer an option — it just extends the risk, the cost, and the limitations on how we serve our community.

Tawa deserves better than a tired, leaky, earthquake-prone facility that no longer reflects the needs of its people. It’s time to invest wisely and deliver a space that supports our suburb’s future — safely, sustainably, and affordably.

Let’s get this right. Let’s do it together. Let’s give Tawa a facility it can be proud of for generations to come.