Environment Centre & Nursery

Environment Centre and two nursery sites

Our Environment Centre at 17 Lauderdale Road in Birkdale serves as our office, classroom and a meeting venue, holding up to 30 people. The centre can be booked for meetings for a small charge or in return for some volunteering!

Our main nursery is adjacent to our Environment Centre and the Engine Bay Community Plant Nursery is on Bomb Point Drive in Hobsonville Point.

Every year, we eco-source, propagate and pot up tens of thousands of native plants to help restore the bush for our native birds, animals and plants, and remove carbon from our atmosphere. Our community-driven, chemical-free kaupapa is part of our regenerative, whole system approach.

We welcome weekly volunteers at both nursery sites.

Planning sustainable building on home soil

We are excited about the decision by Kaipātiki Local Board to go full gas with a sustainable building renewal
for our Environment Centre.

The aspirational concept for a building large enough to realise the community’s goals of a bustling EnviroHub of learning, plus one that demonstrates zero waste de/construction and green building has been signed off.
Detailed design is expected to be completed in February with on-site construction commencing mid-2020.

We look forward to sharing more detail as it comes to hand. Please let us know if you would like to be involved with
this exciting project.

Native plant nursery

17 Lauderdale Road, Birkdale

Our native plant nursery and teaching gardens have greatly expanded in recent years. Thanks to Kaipātiki Local Board we can now overflow plant production and storage into the reserve at the rear of the Environment Centre. Alongside new irrigation systems and a 16,000 litre rainwater tank we now produce 30,000+ new plants here annually.

We plant the majority of the plants we produce each year into the local reserves. A small proportion of our plants are sold in bulk to various groups around Auckland.

native plant nursery at birkenhead kaipaiki project

Engine Bay community nursery

Bomb Point Drive, Hobsonville Point

We operate our second nursery at Hobsonville Point, which includes a small orchard tended to by the local volunteers. The plants grown here are being used to regenerate the weed-infested fringes of this peninsula, previously home to a historic air-force training base, and now a thriving sustainably developed new suburb. Around 10,000 plants a year are propagated here at the Engine Bay nursery close to the coastal walkway.

Iwi, Hapū, Community Nursery Network

With funding from Auckland Council Biosecurity, Kaipātiki Project initiated Iwi, Hapu, Community Nursery Network in the Auckland region. In addition to ongoing learning and support, this work will help us identify who’s growing which species, where and for what purpose, as well as what help people need in growing plants for their projects.

During our visits to various nurseries, we’ve learnt that people would like more support with how to get started in setting up a native plant nursery, how to grow once they're up and running, and how different nurseries can better support each other.

If you run, work in or plan to set up a native plant nursery in the Auckland region, please get in touch and join our Facebook. Individuals and organisations welcome.

Please see June 2019 Report here.