TWO cornerstone waterfront projects are in doubt this week throwing the future shape of the waterfront into confusion.

The Waterfront Development Subcommittee on Monday considered moving the Chinese Garden proposed for Waitangi Park to Frank Kitts Park as part of a redesign of the Frank Kitts area.

Such a move would not only require Frank Kitts to be altered, it would also throw the Waitangi Park development into disarray.

The Chinese Garden was a key feature of the park and when a design competition for the area was held each design, including the winning one now partly implemented, contained the Chinese Garden.

In between Frank Kitts and Waitangi Parks, the Wellington Tenths Trust has withdrawn plans for a waka house and wharenui that were to have been a centrepiece of the redevelopment near Taranaki Wharf.

Resource consent for the buildings was granted in 2005, but the Trust has decided to combine them into one building that will house waka, a café/dining space and conference/meeting facilities. It hopes to finalise concepts for the new building before the end of the year.

Work begins this week to flatten the "grassy knoll" alongside Frank Kitts Lagoon, making way for construction of the wharenui.

Wellington Waterfront Ltd (WWL) Chief Executive Ian Pike says amalgamating the buildings will make little difference to development in the Taranaki Wharf area.

An agreement on car access and parking for the Star and Wellington Rowing Clubs, negotiated in the wake of the wharenui plan and after two visits to the Environment Court, is likely to be maintained regardless of the new design of the combined Tenth’s Trust buildings, Pike says.

Laurie Counsell, for the Star and Wellington Rowing Clubs, says he is disappointed the clubs were forced to go to court, running up legal bills in excess of $40,000.

"That was money that could easily have gone into equipment or getting rowers to regattas. That’s the most frustrating thing," Counsell says.

"Perhaps WWL and us would have been able to negotiate a similar deal without it having to cost anything. It is a real pity."

Trust spokesperson Liz Mellish says access issues are behind the decision to house Te Raukura (the Wellington City waka taua) on the site originally proposed for the wharenui.

"It’s about getting to the waka from land, and ease of transport on land," she says.

Mellish says the size of the new building, and general activities there, will be consistent with the original plan and the Trust is hopeful it will not need to seek a new resource consent.

The proposal to move the Chinese Garden to Frank Kitts Park would allow the garden, which was first proposed a decade ago, to be built sooner, says Pike.

There are "issues" to work through in relation to buildings at Waitangi Park, which would hold up the garden, Pike says. "Till they have been worked through we can’t progress the Chinese Garden."

Pauline Swann, president of Waterfront Watch, is surprised the Chinese Garden is still a designer’s football. She also questions the need for a revamp of Frank Kitts Park, which is a successful venue for events such as dragon boat racing, summer city concerts, the Cancer Society Race for Life, and Waitangi Day celebrations.