Watch the birdie
This morning, the ravaged environment of Ghuznee St finally got a positive addition to the streetscape: the world's largest tui landed on a roof to feed on some equally giant kowhai blossoms. It's part of the eye-catching new signage for the Forest and Bird headquarters.
The next step, of course, would be to plant some more trees along the street, rather than cannibalising the footpath for carparks, to bring some more real tui back into the city. And it's a pity that the old Forest and Bird building, with the memorable mural, is about to succumb to an apartment development that by all accounts exhibits even more mind-crushing banality than its proposed neighbours in Taranaki St. Still, it's nice to think that some organisations go out of their way to bring a bit of charm to our streets.
posted by Tom @ 12:46 pm
3 Comments:
"The next step, of course, would be to plant some more trees along the street, rather than cannibalising the footpath for carparks, to bring some more real tui back into the city."
I'm in favour of a district plan change requiring green space on the roofs of any new CBD development. . . I'm sure the Tui's wouldn't mind. . .
A four-metre tui? That's a moa!
Hard to tell from the photo, though...
I'm with you, p-style: I'd love to see more green roofs around. They have a lot of benefits, both for the building (good insulation, potential roof garden for the inhabitants if it's strong enough) and the city (less runoff, habitat for birds and insects). I'd support a change, if not to make it mandatory, then at least to allow a rates rebate. I think they do that in Germany, since the reduced runoff means that green-roofed buildings don't put as much strain on stormwater systems as hard roofs.
Baz: yep, my crummy old phone camera again. There's a better photo on the Forest & Bird homepage.
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