What's Happening in Lyall Bay? The Transformation on Our Doorstep

Lyall Bay is one of the most watched suburbs in Wellington right now — and if you work from here, you’re watching something remarkable unfold in real time.

A world-famous filmmaker has spent $136 million assembling land directly across the road from us. A $100 million seawall has just been fast-tracked by the government. The beach promenade is being transformed into a coastal destination that will genuinely rival the best in the country. New bike lanes are making the neighbourhood more connected than ever. And the public spaces, parks, and community facilities around the bay are being rebuilt from the ground up.

We’re not pitching a vision. This is all confirmed, underway, or already built. Here’s the full picture.

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Peter Jackson Is Betting $136 Million on Lyall Bay

The clearest signal of where this suburb is headed: Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh have spent over $136 million assembling land on and around Kingsford Smith Street — directly across the road from Lyall Bay WorkHub.

Their company, LB HC (Lyall Bay Holding Company) — Jackson and Walsh are the sole directors, with Wingnut Films as ultimate shareholder — purchased seven properties in 2023 for approximately $31 million. Then in June 2024, as reported by NZ Herald and The Post, they acquired a further portfolio of 13 properties on Tirangi Road and Kingsford Smith Street from Primeproperty Group for $105 million — approximately $40 million above rating valuation. BusinessDesk described it as the largest single land deal in New Zealand for the first half of 2024. The Post reported the total cumulative spend as $136 million across both phases.

The combined site spans 2.7 to 3 hectares across two city blocks immediately south of the airport.

The widely reported intention is a potential film museum — NZ Herald has reported plans for a permanent destination showcasing costumes, props, sets, and interactive exhibitions from Jackson and Weta Workshop’s productions. NZ Herald also reported in early 2026 that a resource consent application was being prepared. Mayor Andrew Little confirmed council met with Wingnut Group representatives in late 2025 to discuss, in the words of a Wingnut spokeswoman quoted by NZ Herald, “processes and requirements for potential long-term development initiatives.”

Jackson and Walsh have not officially confirmed the film museum plans. The land purchases are a matter of public record. But $136 million assembled on a single block, $40 million above valuation, sends a fairly clear signal. When that potential museum opens, Lyall Bay will be on every tourist itinerary in the country — and the street it sits on is Kingsford Smith Street. Our street.

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Next Door: The Lyall Bay Junction Is Already Alive

You don’t have to wait for the museum. The Lyall Bay Junction — right at the corner of Kingsford Smith Street and Lyall Bay Parade, immediately next to the WorkHub — has already been activated by Wellington Airport, with hospitality and commercial venues open since early 2024.

This is where you step out mid-morning and tick off whatever the day needs. A haircut. Flowers. Something for dinner on the way home. Bumping into your builder to nail down a start date. Catching your architect for a ten-minute conversation that would have taken four emails. The kind of small life things that used to eat into evenings and weekends. Working from somewhere that handles the friction of daily life — that’s not a small thing. It means you show up to your desk without a mental to-do list dragging at you, and you leave without one building up.

And then there’s Parrotdog. One of Wellington’s most celebrated craft breweries is right here on Lyall Bay Parade — their L.B (Lyall Bay) Beer series is named after the suburb. Seventeen taps, a sunny deck, surfers and dog walkers and airport workers all mixed in together. End-of-week drinks without a commute is quietly one of the best perks of working from here.

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The Beach Precinct That Could Rival the Country’s Best

Here’s where the suburb’s long-term character really takes shape.

Wellington Airport is funding a full transformation of the public spaces running along Lyall Bay Parade, from the Spruce Goose café down to the Leonie Gill shared pathway. Wellington City Council voted unanimously in May 2025 to support the project. The airport is funding 100% of it.

What started as a community dream is now a fully committed, airport-funded development — and the scope has grown considerably.

Huetepara Park — Lyall Bay Park

The east side of the bay is becoming Huetepara Park — a proper community waterfront precinct. Here’s what’s confirmed:

• A dedicated Surf Hub with showers, changing rooms, and toilets — the most-requested community facility in Lyall Bay for years. It’s finally coming.
• A basketball hoop. Because nothing clears your head at lunchtime like nailing a swish or hitting a clean layup. Step away from the screen, drain a few shots, come back sharper. This is what a proper break looks like.
• An elevated viewing platform with panoramic views across the bay
• Accessible boardwalk and beach ramps connecting everyone to the sand
• Nature play areas and sheltered picnic spaces
• Sand dune restoration along the coastline
• Architecturally designed spaces for hospitality, retail, and recreation

Once built — and the airport aims to move quickly once consent is granted — this becomes the kind of place you find at coastal destinations people fly to visit. The WorkHub is a five-minute walk from all of it.

The Parade — A Whole New Waterfront

This is bigger than just one park. The entire Lyall Bay Parade is being transformed into a continuous coastal promenade — new walkways, boardwalks, seating, and proper public space running the full length of the bay. The whole parade front, not just a section.

The Island Bay section of The Parade has already been upgraded — cycling lanes, pedestrian improvements, new landscaping. Done. The Lyall Bay section follows: the airport-funded coastal revamp stitches the whole corridor together from end to end.

And Lyall Bay already has things that money alone can’t build. Miramar Golf Club (Miramar Links) — a spectacular historic 9-hole course right alongside the airport, with panoramic views across the bay. A local community that surfs before work and walks dogs at sunset. An urban community garden. A surf beach that actually works. The Parade upgrade doesn’t manufacture those things — it gives them the setting they deserve.

Think about what makes Bondi or St Kilda iconic: it’s not just the beach. It’s the combination of the promenade, the surf culture, the food, the public facilities, and the sense that the whole neighbourhood faces the water. The Parade, when this is finished, is heading toward that. At Wellington scale, with a potential film museum across the road.

We’re on the doorstep of all of it.

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A $100 Million Seawall to Protect It All

Beneath all of this is serious long-term infrastructure investment.

The airport’s southern seawall — 400 metres along the Lyall Bay coastline, built in 1972 — has reached the end of its life. In May 2026, its replacement was approved as the first fast-track consented project in the Wellington region under the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Act 2024, confirmed by Minister James Meager and listed on the government’s fast-track consenting register at fasttrack.govt.nz.

The renewed seawall will extend and reinforce the existing structure, cost over $100 million — with the independent expert panel assessing benefits over its design life at up to $690 million — and create two kororā (little blue penguin) colonies as a direct environmental outcome. Enabling works start mid-to-late 2026. Primary construction runs 2029 to 2031.

What this really means: the bay itself is being protected for generations. The surf break, the promenade, the potential film museum, Huetepara Park — all of it sits on a coastline that is now being formally committed to. That’s a different kind of confidence signal than a development announcement. It says this place is being invested in at a timescale that spans decades.

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The Airport Is Growing — Fast

Wellington Airport’s 2040 Masterplan — published on wellingtonairport.co.nz — targets 12 million passengers per year, roughly double current volumes, with terminal expansion and new facilities. Passenger growth was +7.4% internationally in FY2024/25, and a further +4% in FY2025/26. Qantas is now Wellington’s largest international carrier by seat count.

In March 2026, the airport completed installation of an Engineered Materials Arresting System at both runway ends — confirmed on wellingtonairport.co.nz — effectively extending the operational runway without physically lengthening it, and opening the door to long-haul routes that were previously not viable. Wellington as a direct international gateway is a real and growing possibility.

The airport is in Rongotai. We’re in Rongotai. A growing airport means more people needing somewhere professional to work, meet clients, or base themselves between flights — and none of the CBD options are five minutes away.

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Getting Around Is Getting Easier

Cycling to the WorkHub from Kilbirnie, Miramar, Hataitai, and the surrounding eastern suburbs is already a genuinely comfortable option — separated bike lanes on Onepu Road are done, a 30 km/h zone runs along Lyall Parade, and safer crossings connect the route. All documented on transportprojects.org.nz as part of Wellington’s citywide cycling programme. More of the network is coming.

Looking further ahead, the SH1 Wellington Improvements project — including a second Mt Victoria Tunnel — is targeting fast-track lodgement in July 2026, per NZTA’s project page. Up to 10 minutes of peak-hour savings between the eastern suburbs and the CBD. Construction is a decade away, but the planning is active and committed.

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What This All Means for WorkHub Members

Pull it all together and here’s what the WorkHub experience looks like as this neighbourhood evolves — not hypothetically, but based on what’s already confirmed.

Easier to get here. Separated bike lanes already in, more coming. Parking is free all day. The eastern suburbs are being reconnected to the city in ways that benefit this location directly.

More to eat, drink, and do next door. The Lyall Bay Junction is already open. Parrotdog is already open. Huetepara Park adds a surf hub, a basketball hoop, a viewing platform, and beach access with proper facilities. Miramar Golf Club and the community garden are already part of the fabric.

Better breaks. A lunchtime walk along a proper coastal boardwalk. A quick surf — board already racked inside, outdoor shower at the entry to rinse off, hot shower to follow. A game of hoops. A flat white at the café. A round of golf at Miramar Golf Club. These aren’t extras — they’re the difference between a productive afternoon and one where you’re just staring at a screen.

A more vibrant neighbourhood. The film museum — if and when it opens — will bring tourist foot traffic, new hospitality, and national profile to this block in a way very few Wellington suburbs will ever experience. The Lyall Bay Junction activation is already showing what that energy looks like.

A professionally credible location. Kingsford Smith Street is surrounded by investment from Wellington Airport, Wellington City Council, and one of New Zealand’s most celebrated creative figures. This is not a backwater. It’s a suburb that serious people and serious organisations are betting on.

Long-term security for the bay. The $100 million seawall is the detail that matters most for the long game. It says the coastline is being protected — not managed around, not worked with, but genuinely secured for the next generation. The beach, the surf, the promenade, everything happening along the parade — it’s all built on a foundation that is now formally committed to.

Working from here isn’t just a practical decision. It’s getting in early on one of the most interesting transformations happening in Wellington.

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FAQ

What is happening in Lyall Bay in 2026? Lyall Bay is mid-way through one of Wellington’s most significant neighbourhood transformations. Sir Peter Jackson has spent $136 million assembling land directly across the road from Lyall Bay WorkHub, with a potential film museum widely reported as the intended development. Wellington Airport has fast-tracked a $100 million seawall renewal and is funding the full Huetepara Park and Lyall Bay Parade coastal precinct — surf hub, basketball hoop, boardwalks, and walkways running the full length of the parade. New cycling infrastructure is already in place.

Is Peter Jackson building a film museum in Lyall Bay? Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh’s company LB HC (Lyall Bay Holding Company) has spent over $136 million assembling a 2.7–3 hectare site on Kingsford Smith Street and Tirangi Road, immediately south of Wellington Airport. A resource consent application was being prepared as of early 2026. The film museum plans have not been officially confirmed publicly, but the scale of the land purchases — including $40 million paid above rating valuation — have been widely reported by NZ Herald, The Post, and BusinessDesk as pointing toward a major cultural destination.

What is Huetepara Park? Huetepara Park (also called Lyall Bay Park) is the planned community waterfront park on the east side of Lyall Bay, fully funded by Wellington Airport on land purchased from Wellington City Council (deal approved unanimously May 2025 — confirmed on wellington.govt.nz and wellingtonairport.co.nz). Confirmed features include a surf hub with showers and changing rooms, a basketball hoop, a beach boardwalk with accessible ramps, a nature play area, a viewing platform, sand dune restoration, and architecturally designed spaces for hospitality and recreation. New walkways and seating will run along the full parade front.

Is there a golf course near Lyall Bay WorkHub? Yes — Miramar Golf Club (Miramar Links), a historic 9-hole public course right next to Wellington Airport, is a 5-minute drive from the WorkHub. It’s one of the most scenic rounds in the city, with views across the bay.

Is there coworking near Wellington Airport? Yes — Lyall Bay WorkHub is at 66B Kingsford Smith Street, Rongotai, five minutes from the terminal. Hot desks, dedicated desks, meeting rooms, and day passes are available with free all-day parking. Book a free trial day to see the space and the neighbourhood for yourself.