Boyd to turn green

The section of land between the Boyd school building and Kingsway will soon be an apartment tower but, until then, developer The Mackie Group has decided to turn it into a grassy haven for visitors to the community centre.

The space has been unusable until this month when a portable class room was removed and the ground cleared of rubbish. The land is currently being levelled and grass will be seeded once that is complete.

Mackie Group CEO, Ralph Mackie, said he was pleased to be able to provide the temporary space, until the construction on the tower began.

“One thing that Southbank needs is some green grassed areas,” said Mr Mackie.

“It’s so dark around at night time, I could imagine Darth Vadar lives around here. Hopefully the grass will lighten it up a bit.”

Community animator at Boyd, Natalie Warren, said the site was a great chance to create some desperately-needed green space here in Southbank, before the tower and eventual garden space was built on the Boyd site.

“There are so few grassed areas in Southbank that any piece of grassy land will be used and I am guessing it is right next to KereKere so cafe users will hang out there with their lunch and coffees,” Ms Warren said.

“I would hope that we could somehow do something creative with the cyclone fence on the outside boundary, perhaps a temporary community art project on the fence that will provide some screen from the traffic.”