Vision for train station gaining momentum
Next, a meeting with ARTA

Thanks to the East & Bays Courier for Wednesday's great Page One coverage of our vision for the Parnell Train Station as part of a mixed use commercial/residential development.

The centrepiece of the development would be the adaptive re-use of the existing carriageworks building, as an innovative public asset (along the lines of the CarriageWorks Contemporary Performing Arts Centre in Redfern Sydney, developed by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer - see pictures here.)

The vision for the project's outcome is to create a major draw card and destination for Parnell and Auckland, contributing to the current drive for vibrant public spaces, as Auckland strives to become a world class city.

Parnell Inc. and Parnell Community Committee, together with Stevens Lawson, have made presentations to Hobson Community Board, Council's City Development Committee and KiwiRail. You can see our presentation here. It includes award-winning Parnell architects, Stevens Lawson's vision for development of the site, and highlights the very convenient access ways from the site to Parnell, the Domain and Learning Quarter.

Next, Parnell train station supporter Mike Lee, Auckland Regional Council's chair, is organising for us to meet with management at Auckland Regional Transport Authority - the organisation that determines where new stations will be built. Watch this space!

Great Coffee Makes a Great Day- 4 August
Celebrate Esquire's first birthday with a free coffee

If great coffee is your passion and you want a cosy place to take a break from your hectic day, Esquires Parnell is for you. Our store here is celebrating its first birthday and you're getting the present.

Help us celebrate AND JOIN IN THE FREE COFFEE DAY ON TUESDAY 4TH AUGUST. Especially for those of us with coffee love affairs, Esquires cups are larger than other places so you know your craving will be satisfied.

Service with a smile, freshly ground fair-trade coffee, Open 7 days.
215 Parnell Road. Phone 368 9094.

Greentailing our way to recovery
It's good to be green

In "Retail 2020: The future of retail. Insights from NZ and Australia*," The Australian Centre for Retail Studies - Monash University, highlights a number of major trends including that of ‘green’
and sustainability, with an increasing percentage of customers prepared to pay more for companies and products that are green, organic, sustainable, eco-friendly etc.

The report expands on the "greentailing" scenario and argues that going green may well aid the recovery of the recession and beyond.

Greentailing is defined as retailing of environmentally friendly products:  environmentally responsible retailing that involves the sale of products with the least impact on the environment or that increases the ecological awareness of the consumer.

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Greentailing is capitalising on the huge and growing demand for organic, sustainable and wellness-related products. As it evolves, greentailing will force both suppliers and retailers alike in every category to take notice. Leading edge greentailers, like Whole Foods and WalMart in the US and Tesco and Marks & Spencer in the UK , continue to grow and innovate at rates much faster than traditional competitors, and are forcing competitive responses.

Many consumers don't believe that green products can actually perform and be priced competitively with non-green items.  But retailers, led by WalMart and Tesco, are clearly demonstrating that investments in green pay off and that facilities, products, packaging and recycling can be both green and cost effective.

Driving consumers towards making green choices are consumer guilt and social pressures to become sustainable. Governments increasingly need to be seen to be responding and NGOs and charities ratchet up the guilt factor through public campaigns.

And greentailing continues to grow, even in the recession, because there are cost savings to be made from using less packaging, less power, charging customers for plastic bags etc. Going green is becoming mainstream. In Australia greentailing is growing 20% annually and is estimated to be valued at AU$25b within the next two years.

A multitude of studies show that consumers are prepared to reward companies with green credentials. In 2008, AMP surveyed 3,200 consumers aged 18-49 for its Green AMPlified study, which sought to understand consumers' relationship to and feelings about the green movement. 57% said they would likey trust a green company; 60% would be likely to purchase products and 58% would be likely torecommend these products to others.

However, be sure of your green credentials before leaping on the green bandwagon. You may be accused of Greenwash - from Wikipedia: a term used to describe the practice of companies disingenuously spinning their products and policies as environmentally friendly. But maybe you're only trying to give yourself a green sheen - again from Wikipedia: the term used to describe organisations that attempt to show that they are adopting practices beneficial to the environment.

*The report is available at $695 (earlybird rate until 1 September, 2009, then $995) from www.buseco.monash.edu.au