Hobsonville community pleads with council to save historic Wasp Hangar

A petition has been launched to save the wasp hangar in Hobsonville Point in response to proposals made by council-owned Eke Panuku Development for a large-scale project.

The hangar, which originally housed the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s wasp helicopter fleet, sits on the 13,985 sqm of land included in Eke Panuku's purchasing agreements.

Due to its historical significance, the building must be integrated into future developments; however, locals are concerned the building will lose its heritage.

Assets & Delivery General Manager for Eke Panuku Development Marian Webb said in a 2021 letter, "In terms of the future of the wasp hangar building itself, it will be retained on site as part of redevelopment.

“Eke Panuku will work with prospective development partners to incorporate the hangar building into designs for the site."

Hobsonville Point has the potential to house over 11,000 people, with Auckland Council believing this development is necessary given the growing population in the area.

The wasp hangar was supposed to be the heart of the community, with Catalina Bay marketed as a retail area and plans for a cinema and art space.

All these ideas were scrapped, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the council voted to sell off land to private developers.

Local activist Renata Wiles says that when Hobsonville Point was originally planned, it was designed for 2,500 homes, with there now being over 6,500.

"The community who live here really bought into a vision of what it was pitched to us.

“It was going to be this amazing community, it was going to be walkable, lots of retail, all these great facilities.

"There has been high-density housing built on the spaces that were meant to be community spaces," says Wiles.

Eke Panuku planned to repurpose the space, which has been empty since the wasp helicopters were phased out in 1967.

The planning committee proposed mixed-use development including retail, commercial, residential, and employment infrastructure.

Submissions for Auckland Council's 2025/2026 annual plan close on March 28, so locals are scurrying to gather support before the deadline.

Wiles says, "We're trying to put pressure on Auckland Council to reverse the decision they made previously around selling it… what we’ve put on the submission is a compromise."

The submission proposes that the council sell half of the section and retain the wasp hangar for a community facility, with the empty land being sold for housing development.

Submissions on the annual plan can be made here.