Hopukiore (Mount Drury) play area upgrade

The Hopukiore (Mount Drury) playground has been a much-loved icon since the 1960s. As it’s due for an upgrade, we want to make this vibrant space even better for children, whānau, and visitors of all ages and abilities. This upgrade offers us a valuable opportunity to make the play space more accessible to and inclusive of our disabled and neurodivergent community.

The playground will aim to cater for a range of different ages, with a focus on improving overall accessibility. 

We’re working with our iwi and hapū partners to incorporate cultural values and narratives into the play area and surrounds. We’re also exploring the possibility of incorporating some nostalgic storytelling of Hopukiore's (Mount Drury) bygone era.

Feedback is a crucial part of the design process, helping guide what the play area might look like and what playground equipment might be included. We’re also talking to key stakeholders such as the Accessible City Interest Group, local schools and kura, and our iwi and hapū partners, to get their input. We’re consolidating all the feedback we receive to use as a starting point to create a design that is inclusive and enjoyable for everyone.

While feedback has now closed, we’ve loved hearing from our little experts in play via the online survey, the ‘Dream it, Draw it’ feedback forms and at our public feedback sessions. A firefighter’s pole, sand pits, more climbing activities and swings – these are just some of the inspired ideas we’ve received which will help shape the concept designs.

Feedback was open to everyone—locals, visitors, and anyone who loves the area!

We wanted to hear …

• What people LOVEd about Hopukiore and what made it such a special space.
• What our community WISHed for that would make Hopukiore even better.
• What people might have been WONDERing about Hopukiore.

We’ve loved receiving everyone’s creative ideas. We do have technical and site-specific considerations to work within and we’ll take these considerations into account when reviewing all the feedback, alongside iwi and hapū values. We also need to be sensitive to the archaeological significance of the area, so Hopukiore (Mount Drury) isn’t an ideal location for additional underground utilities or foundations of large structures.

Now feedback has closed, we’re working through the hundreds of submissions we’ve received, alongside feedback from our other key stakeholders. Concept designs will be developed, which we aim to share with the community for further input between August and September 2025.

Because of the popularity of the Hopukiore (Mount Drury) playground, we want to keep the play space open over the busy summer period. With this in mind, construction of the upgrade is anticipated to get underway in early 2026.

Tauranga Moana is home to more than 100 playgrounds, many of which were originally constructed in the 1990s. This means that some existing play equipment is nearing end of life and needs to be renewed for safety reasons. We’re looking to upgrade some of the play equipment at Hopukiore (Mount Drury) for both safety reasons and also to make the play space more accessible to and inclusive of our disabled and neurodivergent community. We’re also exploring how some of the newer equipment can be retained in the refresh or potentially relocated to another playground across the city.

To ensure the safety of our community, the Liberty Swing has since been removed as it had reached the end of its life. But don’t worry - we’ve got big plans to bring even more fun, inclusive play equipment to the Hopukiore (Mount Drury) play area!