Feasibility for Ōhaeawai Cultural Community Centre

Feasibility Report and concept design for the Ōhaeawai Cultural Community Centre (Ngāti Rangi Hapū). Led project management, landscape design, and cultural inputs at Boffa Miskell for an indigenous visitor experience at the historic Ngāwha Native School site. Successfully funded by MBIE Provincial Growth Fund, securing further $1.7M for restoration

Location: Ngawha
Region: Te Tai Tokerau
Iwi + Hapū: Ngāti Rangi
Ngā Aho practitioner(s): Josephine Clarke
Other participants: Boffa Miskell Ltd, GMC Architects, Tim Walker Associates (Tourism), Williamson Water & Land Advisory (Hydrology), Christian Building Services, Quality Tourism Development, and Brown Project Services (Quantity Surveying
Discipline and Expertise: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Cultural & Heritage Landscape, Co-Design

Tāhuhu Kōrero & Site Context
Located on Ngawha School Road (1.5564 ha), the site sits on the historic Puketapu C block gifted in 1871 by Ngāti Rangi chief Heta Te Haara under the Native Schools Act. Operating from 1874 until its closure in 1980, the schoolhouse has long served as a vital community hub. The adjoining Puketapu 3B block contains a sacred puna (spring). In 2014, the Ōhaeawai Cultural Community Centre (OCCC) established a vision to refurbish the site into a modern educational, cultural, and spiritual facility for the wider community and visitors.

Kaupapa & Project Objectives
Funded by the MBIE Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) in 2019, the project sought to develop an indigenous visitor experience centered on the Ngāti Rangi narrative of the historic 1845 Battle of Ōhaeawai and key local identities:

Renovate the existing Ngāwha Native School building to house educational and community facilities.
Establish a new world-class Indigenous Visitor Centre incorporating interactive storytelling technology, a café, outdoor ātea, an amphitheatre, an astronomy viewing platform, and a hapū plant nursery.
Foster economic sustainability, eco-tourism, and job creation enabling whānau to work on their ancestral land.

Project Role & Multidisciplinary Collaboration
: Josephine Clarke as Project Manager, Lead Landscape Designer, and Cultural Advisor at Boffa Miskell Ltd, the role encompassed leading cultural inputs, ecological alignment, planning coordination, and managing a multidisciplinary team including GMC Architects, Tim Walker Associates (Tourism), Williamson Water & Land Advisory (Hydrology), Christian Building Services, Quality Tourism Development, and Brown Project Services (Quantity Surveying — total preliminary cost estimate of $7.54M + GST).

Concept Design & Mātauranga Māori Framework
Following a hapū wānanga on 20 June 2019, design principles were anchored in three core values: Tino Rangatiratanga, Hauora (wai and kai), and Manaakitanga.

Architectural Integration: The new Visitor Centre is recessed into the terrain—a direct architectural nod to the innovative trench warfare engineered during the Battle of Ōhaeawai—allowing the restored schoolhouse to maintain its mana as tuakana.
Low-Impact Design & Ecology: Incorporated a planted green roof, solar technology, and natural timber and local stonework palettes. Vehicle areas feature swales and rain gardens for stormwater treatment.
Restoration & Kaitiakitanga: Native buffer planting to the south protects and re-establishes the ancestral puna, supporting hapū-led seed collection and propagation to restore both the taiao and the people.

Outcomes & Hapū Impact
The feasibility report was warmly received by MBIE in 2020. The success of the study directly enabled OCCC to secure an additional $1.7 million PGF extension to restore and rejuvenate historically connected sites on the nearby Te Haara farm.