Cafe focus as council eyes revamp of botanic garden

An overhaul of the Dunedin Botanic Garden is on the cards, as the city council plans for the future of its cafe and looks to upgrade its educational spaces.

The council has just released a workshop document about the gardens, which outlines an implementation plan.

Among the suggestions in the document are reviewing and evaluating the plant and aviary bird collection, and reviewing the cafe facilities operations to "provide visitors a sustainable high-quality visitor experience".

Cr Sophie Barker said the age of the cafe and the fact its lease was due to expire in August next year provided an excellent opportunity to rethink the space.

"The cafe is as old as I am, but it’s one of the key reasons people go to the botanic gardens and so there’s the opportunity to build something new.

"It’s about thinking how all the parts fit together.

"It’s quite an iconic building, so I imagine there will be a lot of analysis and public consultation before we press on with anything. It’s a tight environment."

Education would be a key focus for the gardens in the coming years, and there was a proposal to design indoor and outdoor classroom and training facilities, along with designing and developing a demonstration garden, Cr Barker said.

"There’s a space at the top of the gardens that could be used — it’s about moving the gardens away from just being something you look at to a place where you could teach young people how to grow your own food.

"It’s about having the ability to learn stuff. There are a lot of expertise sitting within the garden staff and if we are going to look after the environment, we really need to share these skills."

The garden playground would also be upgraded soon, she said.

"That’s going to be really exciting — it’s going to make it a lot bigger and more accessible."

The botanic garden was one of the key jewels in the crown for Dunedin, and was visited by thousands of tourists every year, including those from cruise ships, she said.

"A plan such as this is long overdue; we need to look at things strategically.

"We get a lot of cruise visitors who get dropped off at the gardens, so it’s about finding a way they can contribute to the upkeep, because it’s expensive."

The strategy also discussed the need to determine the carbon footprint of the botanic garden and identify how carbon emissions could be reduced, while there was scope to further engage with the Friends of the Dunedin Botanic Garden society to devise a strategy for recruitment and support.

Cr Barker said she expected many of the suggestions would go out for public consultation shortly.

matthew.littlewood@odt.co.nz