Focus 01 Housing Winter 2016

Focus

01 Housing Winter 2016

FOCUS 1

Paying attention to housing

2

Community Housing Aotearoa

6

Social housing in Wellington: making places where people want to live

10

Ōrākei Kāinga Tuatahi: traditional values shape contemporary papakāinga design

12

Outdoors important in aged residential care

16

Affordable housing in Papamoa

18

Optimising collaboration helps get houses built

22

Ruakura ready for residential development

24

The trend towards housing diversity

29

Your housing team

Paying attention to housing Barely a day passes without housing issues being front and centre in the news.

Gone are the days of the traditional New Zealand ‘¼ acre suburban dream’. As our population grows the need for medium density development is increasing, our aging demographic needs more housing choice and housing affordability is a major concern – the issues are broad and pressing.

So how do we meet the range of today’s housing needs and the expectations for sustainable urban growth?

This housing special feature reflects on the complexity of the New Zealand housing scene and why it is so important that we don’t lose the essence of our culture as we meet these growing demands, and that good built outcomes are always at the forefront of development.

At Boffa Miskell, we feel passionately about the positive difference we make helping clients create high quality housing environments through our planning, design, cultural advisory and ecological services. How we help is through: understanding the wider context of any housing site, seeking to enhance the sense of place and links to the wider community; engaging with the local people to understand each community’s needs and working collaboratively with communities, councils and skilled teams of professionals to develop ‘best fit’ masterplans and design details; seeking outcomes that will result in a decent quality of daily life for all those who live in a community, no matter what the price point; establishing sustainable site development principles, including design that fosters community development and robust implementation that will stand the test of time.

Housing developments vary in type and context, yet it is important that every development provides for the needs of the community, reflects the place and, in the broadest sense, improves the sustainability of our living places.

Sarah Collins Partner, Landscape Architect

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Community Housing Aotearoa FOCUS | HOUSING EDITION | BOFFA MISKELL | WINTER 2016 | 2

The pressure is on in New Zealand to see more affordable and social housing built and occupied as soon as possible. This is largely driven by a concern that house prices are markedly higher than they were a decade ago and that this has contributed to general declines in housing affordability and home ownership rates. So, what needs to happen next?

This is the question that Boffa Miskell has been exploring with Community Housing Aotearoa (CHA), the umbrella body that represents the wide range of organisations throughout New Zealand that provide social and affordable housing.

Boffa Miskell joined CHA last year in order to get to know this rapidly growing sector better, share knowledge and assist with capacity building in delivering good quality housing that will meet a range of community needs.

“The biggest challenges in this sector are how to deliver social and affordable housing in the ‘right place’ where there are jobs and amenities; of the ‘right size’ for a changing demographic; and of the ‘right quality’ for healthy, safe living,” Boffa Miskell urban designer Tim Church observes. “Everyone wants these things, of course, which is why those who are less affluent and have special needs struggle. It’s both a supply and a demand crisis.”

Looking at the big picture first In 2013 the Government introduced the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act. This special purpose legislation enabled a streamlined consenting process for agreed special housing areas, with the objective of speeding up the provision of new affordable housing in high-need areas of the country. Since then, a number of special housing areas have been approved for development in the eight areas where the Government has entered into housing accords with councils.

In September this year the opportunity to establish special housing areas under this legislation comes to an end. After that time, policy on housing provision is likely to be set out in proposed changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) and a National Policy Statement on Urban Development. The proposed RMA changes include making councils responsible for ensuring sufficient residential housing capacity, and limiting the scope of affected parties and appeals relating to residential development.

Meanwhile, those involved in the community housing sector are focusing on what will happen next. How can more social and affordable housing be built more quickly whilst also ensuring that it meets acceptable design-quality standards and is conducive to well-functioning communities?

CHA has been working with its members, with developers, and with Government to look at options involving different combinations of provider organisations, funding sources and types of development. New partnership models are emerging from this work, which will see not-for-profit community housing providers taking on a larger role in the sector, working with building developers to increase the supply of new housing.

According to CHA Director, Scott Figenshow, however, there remains a massive information gap between the three major ‘big picture’ players: the developers, the housing providers and the government agencies responsible for regulation and funding.

“As a result of the Housing Accord, we’re starting to get developers calling up who want to participate but don’t understand how it works and how to generate value, because it’s complicated,” Scott says. “We’re trying to address the information gap by establishing some common language, building relationships and having a plan that sets a clear direction.”

The plan, called ‘Our Place’ sets a goal of providing homes for 50,000 more New Zealanders by 2020 – over and above the existing social and affordable housing stock.

“It is an ambitious target but needs to happen. We know that to deliver mixed income and mixed tenure housing developments, community housing providers can be a source of pre-sale arrangements to help fund development. But for that to happen at greater scale and pace, we need better enabling regulatory frameworks and rock solid clarity about what each party is expected to deliver.”

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Making it happen Of course, the aim is to actually design and build social and affordable housing that appeals to people and makes them feel like it is ‘their place’.

“Placemaking for community is what we’re particularly interested in as a company,” Tim says. “We know from experience that it requires a range of disciplines and stakeholders working together. Policy and design guidance at the high level is needed, as well as creative design and consultation skills to achieve innovative, place-based design solutions on the ground. Important, too, is to follow up and review what worked and what could be improved from a development perspective. We want to ensure that medium density communities continue to be appealing, viable places to live.”

SOME DEFINITIONS

“Placemaking for community is what we’re particularly interested in as a company. We know from experience that it requires a range of disciplines and stakeholders working together.”

Tim, who was involved in some large-scale social housing renewal in the UK, says high quality design is essential to dispel negative perceptions of social and affordable housing environments. Higher quality outcomes sometimes necessitate higher levels of investment but, in the long run, add value because the housing stock is more resilient and, if well-designed and supported, can be conducive to flow-on community, health and social benefits.

Measuring the benefits of well-designed housing is not an area that is particularly well advanced in New Zealand, though, according to Scott. “Research from overseas correlates good housing with improvements for families and communities but we really need to look at successful kiwi examples – and they do exist – to see what good social and affordable housing looks like here and how it can work legally, financially and planning-wise.”

Tim agrees. “At an urban design level, for instance, mixed tenure and mixed use development lends itself to better integration of different housing types – avoiding the situation where entire blocks of social housing are singled out and fail to connect well within a community. The site context is also a factor. People can find it easier to settle in to redeveloped sites in existing communities where infrastructure and services are already established but suitable sites are not always readily available for redevelopment. The advantage of greenfield development, on the other hand, is that large numbers of houses can be built, with economies of scale, even though it can take longer for the sense of community to develop.

“Either way, good planning and design is fundamental to achieving the objective of people being ‘well-housed’. We’re keen to contribute through our ability to work with public sector agencies, housing providers and property developers, bringing our practical experience in translating the concepts into real places on the ground. That’s what really drives us.”

Tim Church tim.church@boffamiskell.co.nz

Mixed tenure housing:

Community housing:

Social housing:

Where there is a mixture of rental and owner-occupied homes in a locality and which can include a range of financial arrangements to assist affordability or ownership, such as rent subsidies, right-to-buy rentals and mortgages. Considered desirable for the range of housing choices and diversity it brings to communities.

Providers in this sector build, buy, lease, manage and refurbish affordable housing and also provide ‘wrap-around’ social services to support sustainable tenancies

Social housing is partially or fully subsidised housing provided by central or local government or non-profit organisations to people who are in most need of housing due to low income or other particular needs.

Registered community housing provider: An organisation that is either registered with the Community Housing Provider Regulatory Authority (CHRA) of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment or is prequalified with the Social Housing Unit of the Ministry.

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The ‘housing continuum’: what does it mean?

Our Place 2015 Community Housing Aotearoa

Housing provision covers a continuum of occupancy situations from emergency housing for people in extreme need through to home ownership where people buy their homes, unassisted, at full market prices. The community housing sector delivers a full continuum of housing from emergency housing and the provision of affordable and secure rental housing, to the development and construction of new housing with facilitation of affordable home ownership options. The mix of housing is ideally provided within mixed-income, mixed-tenure communities. Diagram: Community Housing Aotearoa

Our Place 2015 Community Housing Aotearoa

Future Community Housing Choices CHO

Council

HNZC

Private

Emergency Housing Supported Rental

Affordable housing: Assisted Rental

Perceptions of ‘affordability’ vary but, broadly, housing where people RentittoisBuy on low to median incomes can afford to pay their Owner rent or mortgage without Shared jeopardising their ability to pay for their basic living costs. Quite where the Market Rental thresholds lie is always open to debate and depend on what is happening in the housing market. Assisted rentals or assisted pathways to home ownership are tools to aid affordability.

Market rate affordable housing: Housing that is offered for sale or rent on the open market without any form of subsidy or direct public assistance and which is affordable to households with moderate incomes because it is below median house prices due to its location, size and/or design.

Market housing: Housing where occupants pay purchase or rental costs that are determined purely by the market and may or may not be affordable for those occupants.

Find out more at: http://www.makinghomeshappen.co.nz/activities/

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Social housing in Wellington: making places where people want to live Since 2007, the Wellington City Council has been upgrading its social housing stock – and involving tenants in the design and review process to better understand what helps people feel at home in these housing complexes.

Participatory design This participatory approach has been adopted to engage tenants in decisions that affect them and to get a better result by incorporating their feedback. Wellington City Council had the challenge of overcoming tenants’ initial distrust of their intentions. An upgrade of this scale was a huge undertaking for the council, which is New Zealand’s second largest social housing provider after Housing New Zealand. However, a joint venture partnership with the Government is enabling a 20-year upgrading programme to ensure warm, safe and well-designed living environments for the 4,000 tenants in the council’s 40-odd complexes. The need for improvement

was fuelled by delayed maintenance issues and changing demographics, which meant the type of housing available was no longer meeting the needs of increasingly diverse families and households.

According to Rosie Gallen, the council’s Community Action and Engagement Manager, the council deliberately set out to strengthen the sense of community alongside the building and site upgrades. A Community Action Programme was launched with numerous initiatives - including tenant surveys, focus groups, open forums and workshops - focusing on how council could work alongside tenants in resolving various needs and issues.

“We wanted to encourage residents to overcome their sense of powerlessness and take ownership through participation.

The ‘Activate sessions’, where they talked directly to the designers, were very empowering, especially because the designers’ drawings helped them visualise the proposed changes. Then, to see their own ideas and suggestions translated into the upgrades has been very affirming.”

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Boffa Miskell landscape architect, Steve Dunn, who led the design of the outdoor living space upgrades at the Te Ara Hou, Central Park and Regent Park Apartments has found the participatory process very valuable.

“The tenants are the ultimate clients, so talking about the plans with them is a good way of testing ideas and teasing out issues and needs that we might not otherwise have understood.”

Outdoor living environments Steve was one of a team of consultants that reviewed all the council’s major social housing sites in order to set priorities for upgrading. He reviewed the outdoor living environments and from that developed a landscape design approach that addressed wayfinding, the delineation of public and private space, personal safety and the provision of facilities such as community gardens, playgrounds, rubbish and recycling management, letterboxes and parking (see p.8 panel).

In some situations, addressing these requirements whilst being restricted by existing site layouts has been quite challenging. At the Central Park complex, for instance, the ‘rabbit warren’ of poorly organised open spaces, dominated by vehicles, needed simplification and better public/private definition for residents to feel safe.

Some lessons learnt The council has subsequently carried out in-depth reviews of the upgrades carried out so far. The outdoor living environments have, overall, been highly successful with positive feedback from residents. Rosie says the central courtyard at the Central Park Apartments, for instance, is “valued and loved” and used for meetings, picnics and the popular barbecue that tenants now organise annually.

Nevertheless, lessons have been learnt that will usefully inform the next upgrades.

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Trees and plants on one site were significantly damaged after planting where the only ongoing maintenance of the grounds was contract lawn mowing. The situation has improved with the council’s Parks and Gardens team taking over the grounds maintenance and encouraging interested tenants to get involved in aspects of site management. That, too, needs monitoring to make sure tenant and council responsibilities are clearly understood and respected.

used. We’ve learnt that more attention at the establishment phase is needed and that incorporating plant protection within the design will give better results. For instance, incorporating a fence in the middle of hedges to stop people crashing through gives an immediate barrier while the hedge grows up and becomes the key landscape element.

The character of planting has also been an issue, in that maintenance teams prefer to reduce maintenance by using a small palette of tough plants typical of public parks and streets. Steve, on the other hand, tries to avoid that institutionalised look.

“There’s a fine balance between low maintenance massed planting and achieving a more homely environment. My guiding principle is to think about the kind of environment that anyone would want to live in. Trees and hedges can provide a useful framework and within that some highermaintenance plants such as fruit trees and herbs can be

“We’ve also learnt that, because resident uses vary so widely, private courtyards work best as simple paved spaces that can be used flexibly in numerous ways.”

In the end, of course, it’s the tenants who judge whether or not the upgrades and the council’s community building efforts are helping them to feel at home. Overwhelmingly, the answer is ‘yes’. As tenants of the Regent Park Apartments have commented, “we are very happy”, “also like all my neighbours”, “the kids can sort of run free and feel safe”.

Steve Dunn steve.dunn@boffamiskell.co.nz

“We wanted to encourage residents to overcome their sense of powerlessness and take ownership through participation.”

Key landscape master plan considerations include: •

applied principles of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED)

•

clearly defined public / private thresholds at street boundaries to ensure people are aware they are entering a private zone and will be monitored on entering the space;

•

a logical hierarchy of paths and routes that direct visitors to key destinations within the complex and also guide visitors and residents to nearby facilities and the street network;

•

communal outdoor spaces designed to encourage social interaction and community activities such as social gatherings and performances;

•

overview of communal spaces from ground floor or upper level units for passive surveillance that enhances people’s sense of personal safety;

•

private spaces clearly marked, including screened private courtyards that allow indoor/ outdoor living for tenants of ground floor units and private gardens where space allows;

•

exterior lighting sufficient to provide a safe night-time environment;

•

screened rubbish collection areas discretely located, yet accessible, and designed to accommodate recycling as well as rubbish to encourage sustainable reuse;

•

provision for transport requirements such as bicycle storage and car parking.

•

community gardens for shared use and/or allotment (depending on the site) to encourage tenant interaction and have walling with limited entry points to signal special use in locations allowing for passive surveillance;

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Social housing empowers children too The Te Ara Hou playground, which was designed jointly by Boffa Miskell, local children and artist Debra Bustin, has set a model example for incorporating play spaces where possible at all the council’s complexes with a large number of family units.

Jo Burleigh, the Senior Community Advisor who manages community assets at the housing complexes, says that parents tend to want to stay close to home with small children even when there are public play areas nearby and they highly value the facilities the council has provided on site.

Jo also notes that “engaging children in the design has both empowered them as users and encouraged them to see themselves as guardians of ‘their’ place.”

The one and only time the Te Ara Hou playground was defaced with graffiti, the horrified community helped paint over it and Community Action applied graffiti-guard to the whole playground. The community also applied themselves to tracking down the offender.

City Housing communal areas and playgrounds are all clean air zones. Signage has been installed in all of the complexes welcoming tenants and visitors to the spaces and thanking for not smoking inside and around the buildings including all of the shared communal spaces.

Steve Dunn steve.dunn@boffamiskell.co.nz

Landscape architect Steve Dunn (right) has found the activate sessions, where residents and designers work together, invaluable.

With improved organisation and surveillance of outdoor spaces, tenants report feeling safer.

Defining public/private thresholds: important to security and sense of belonging.

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Ōrākei Kāinga Tuatahi: traditional values shape contemporary papakāinga design

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A 30-house medium density village being built at Ōrākei in Auckland is an innovative example of urban papakāinga development – designed according to Māori values to meet contemporary housing needs.

Following the return of its ancestral land, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei is seeking to house more of its people on the land and, at the same time, encourage modern sustainable living that aligns more closely with Mana Whenua traditions. Ultimately, Kāinga Tuatahi will be part of a much larger, tight-knit and hapū-based community, centred on the marae. It will be relatively densely populated, with a diverse range of good quality housing options and a focus on community and sustainability.

Over more than ten years, the hapū has committed considerable resources and energy to defining its housing aspirations and finding ways to achieve them. Ground-breaking models of collaboration and design have been fundamental to this process, including a joint management agreement with Auckland Council and specific provisions in the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan. The provisions include a special Māori Purposes Zone and Ōrākei Precinct plan overlay that allow for a mix of papakāinga housing types and densities, and community facilities.

Moreover, the Government has approved the Kāinga Tuatahi project to be developed as a Special Housing Area.

Boffa Miskell, with Bossley Architects, worked with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei to develop the Ōrākei Papakāinga Masterplan and Ōrākei Precinct Design Guidelines and has recently been working with Stevens Lawson Architects on the Kāinga Tuatahi project, providing urban and landscape design input.

Boffa Miskell landscape architect, Jonathan Broekhuysen, says the starting point was to work closely with hapū representatives to understand the values intrinsic to the papakāinga vision, which encompass concepts of community, identity, wellbeing and sustainability. From those values, a series of design principles followed that have guided the design process of the first built project from the masterplan.

“There is a lot to be learnt from Māori design principles with respect to housing in general and medium density housing in particular, where many traditional aspects of Māori housing are especially relevant. It has been very interesting to see how closely the hapū’s values align with best practice principles for medium density housing. For instance, a sense of privacy is important, yet so too is having places to come together as a community.”

“There is a lot to be learnt from Māori design principles in respect to housing in general and medium density housing in particular, where many traditional aspects of Māori housing are especially relevant”.

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has chosen medium density housing because they have limited land available for kāinga but also because it will help affordability and support Auckland Council’s ‘compact city’ concept.

Not only will the community be compact, it will also include low impact sustainable design features, such as solar panels, walking and cycling connections, and water sensitive design aspects.

“This is very much an iwi-led and owned project, with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei continuing its highly focused, hands-on approach during the building phase that has now commenced,” Jonathan says. “The masterplan and design guidelines have facilitated a comprehensive and considered approach to the future of their landholding, which we think will not only exemplify modern Māori design but also become a model for good medium density housing in Auckland.”

Jonathan Broekhuysen jonathan.broekhuysen@boffamiskell.co.nz

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Outdoors important in aged residential care FOCUS | HOUSING EDITION | BOFFA MISKELL | WINTER 2016 | 12

The outdoor environment at the Maureen Plowman Retirement Village has been designed to provide opportunities for residents to enjoy the outdoors.

Visual simulation by Cadabra

Moving into aged care can be a big step in a person’s life, often perceived as losing independence. Yet, there are many ways in which these specialist living environments offer residents an enhanced quality of life. Some of the ways this is being achieved is through innovative new design of the outdoor spaces of residential care complexes.

Green space and outlook

“We’ve been reading a range of research publications and attending workshops about the care of the elderly so that we understand the common physical and social effects of ageing,” says Boffa Miskell landscape architect Sarah Collins. “There is a growing body of knowledge and experience which is underpinning new approaches to elderly care, based very much on empowerment and activities that foster health and wellbeing.

It makes sense, therefore, to make sure there are easily accessible green spaces in every aged care facility, whether roof gardens, courtyards or lawns and trees. Continuing experience of seasonal change and the sensory stimulation of scents, wind on skin and the sound of bird song all help residents to connect with the world around them, often bringing to mind memories from the past.

”The research and our own observation shows that being outside gives older people, and in particular those in residential care, a great deal of pleasure, a sense of freedom and a resource for exercise, activity, conversation and reflection at a time when their health is compromised.

That is why the design of the outdoor spaces in aged care environments is so crucial.1”

Visiting a green open space is known to benefit all people but for people in residential care it is particularly important because their mobility is often impeded. The benefits include better concentration, improved mood and improved perception of their own health.

It’s also important to ensure that there will be views from the indoors out to a natural landscape or places of activity.

Outlook of this sort is therapeutic for residents and staff alike.

Ideally, this can be optimised through a master plan for the whole site but within an existing site layout outdoor spaces or window positions might be reconfigured to optimise views out.

1.

Pollock, A. & Marshall, M. (Eds) (2012). Designing outdoor spaces for people with dementia (p. 26). UK, Hammond Press. UK.

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Places for exercise and activity According to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in the UK, exercise has multiple benefits for older people.

“The maintenance of physical activity in later life is central to improving physical health. Regular exercise has beneficial effects on general health, mobility and independence, and is associated with a reduced risk of depression and with related benefits for mental wellbeing, such as reduced anxiety and enhanced mood and self-esteem.”

So, providing one or more routes around a site provides residents with opportunities for physical activity – even those in wheelchairs, who will benefit from the fresh air alone.

Residents will regain a sense of independence and selfesteem by being able to step out confidently in safe, welldesigned environments.

For the recently consented redevelopment of the Maureen Plowman Retirement Village in Brown’s Bay, Auckland, the design team, including Boffa Miskell, has worked to enhance residents’ sense of independence and quality of life. Residents on the ground floor will have direct access to the gardens, while those on the upper levels can enjoy fresh sea breezes

“The research has shown that being in outdoor environments is even more beneficial if residents are occupied and doing something of value.”

from their individual balconies or balconets. A central courtyard will offer residents easy access to a number of outdoor spaces and a central axis will lead directly to a pedestrian crossing that will connect to a public reserve on the beach frontage.

Within the site, looping paths of different lengths will provide residents with a variety of routes to different destinations, with seating along the way.

The safe, well-designed garden environment and walking circuit will also benefit those residents at the village whose physical limitations may have prevented them from getting outdoors in their own homes – restoring a sense of freedom while also providing the benefits of physical activity.

Empowerment and community For many years, outdoor spaces at aged-care facilities have been designed with safety and visual amenity in mind but with an underlying assumption that residents will be largely passive users. Boffa Miskell has been working with residential care clients to turn that around.

The Garden of Knowledge, Elizabeth Knox Home and Hospital. Raised gardens designed for easy access have given rise to multiple benefits for residents, including activity, better eating, boosted appetite and social interaction.

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“The research has shown that being in outdoor environments is even more beneficial if residents are occupied and doing something of value,” Sarah explains. “For instance, picking berries or blooms outdoors can be a pleasurable experience in itself and then the fruits of that labour can be enjoyed indoors in a delicious dessert or vase of flowers. In some aged care facilities these sorts of activities were just not available, yet they empower residents to rediscover their skills, contribute something tangible and often find a sense of community in sharing these activities.”

The design process needs to be highly collaborative between designers, aged-care specialists and staff, and, where possible, the residents themselves.

The ‘Garden of Knowledge’ project at the Elizabeth Knox Home and Hospital in Epsom illustrates these values.

Implemented by Boffa Miskell landscape architect Heather Wilkins and her team through the ‘Auckland Future Leaders’ project, it involved residents, young people and Knox volunteers working together, passing on gardening knowledge,

producing food and participating in an outdoor physical activity: all contributing to enhanced mood and self-esteem.

The intention is to bring school-age volunteers and elders together to work and team up on a regular basis, forming an ongoing local community connection.

Outdoor eating and socialising is another very kiwi activity that many residents will be familiar with so designing places for snacks, picnics or barbeques is another way to help residents feel at home and have a chat over a meal. The smell of food cooking in the open air can trigger appetite and memories of times past.

“Designing for these sorts of health, wellbeing and community outcomes is a subtle but very significant change in emphasis and it requires a lot of background research, collaborative work and innovative thinking,” Sarah reflects. “It’s exciting and very satisfying to see how it benefits the quality of life for people at a vulnerable stage of their lives.”

Sarah Collins sarah.collins@boffamiskell.co.nz

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The Terrace Views masterplan: treelined streets and open spaces, integrated with the stormwater management system, provide high amenity communal, walking and cycling opportunities.

Affordable housing in Papamoa

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File Ref: T15020A_Parton_Rd_Developed_Design_Set_20160120_Rev0_MHu.indd

500mm Full Black Oxide Concrete Dish Channel

File Ref: T15020A_Parton_Rd_Developed_Design_Set_20160120_Rev0_MHu.indd

3m Half Black Oxide Concrete Laneway

Magnolia grandiflora ‘Little Gem’ PB 150 amongst planting bed

Laneways with amenity planting and grasscovered permeable paving (right), designed to slow traffic and encourage multiple use of the street space.

500mm Entry Strip Bush Hammered Blacksand Firth Holland Set

3m Half Black Oxide Concrete Exposed Aggregate Driveway

3m ack Oxide Concrete Aggregate Driveway

6m Concrete Firth EcoPave Grass Paver Laneway Parking

ng

2m

3m 8m Road Corridor

ROPOSED TERRACE VIEWS SUBDIVISION - PARTON ROAD , TAURANGA

Residential Laneway - Type 2

RL2

| Date: 02 February 2016 | Revision: 0 |

0.50m 2.5m

DEVELOPED DESIGN

Figure 15

www.boffamiskell.co.nz

the specific instructions of our Client. It is solely for our Client’s use in accordance with the agreed scope of work.

Any use or reliance by a third party is at that party’s own risk. Where information has been supplied by the Client or obtained from other external sources, it has been assumed that it is accurate. No liability or responsibility is accepted by Boffa Miskell Limited for any errors or omissions to the extent that they arise from inaccurate information provided by the Client or any external source.

Legend

Plan prepared for Zariba Holdings Limited by Boffa Miskell Limited Project Manager: morne.hugo@boffamiskell.co.nz | Drawn: MHu /BCl/BSa | Checked: MHu This plan has been prepared by Boffa Miskell Limited on

FOR INFORMATION ONLY

PROPOSED TERRACE VIEWS SUBDIVISION - PARTON ROAD , TAURANGA

Residential Laneway - Type 2 | Date: 02 February 2016 | Revision: 0 |

DEVELOPED DESIGN

Figure 15

Plan prepared for Zariba Holdings Limited by Boffa Miskell Limited

Is it possible to build a good quality new residential environment and still have affordable housing?

‘Yes,’ according to Morné Hugo, Boffa Miskell landscape architect, who has been assisting Zariba Holdings Limited with the master plan, urban design and landscape design of Terrace Views, a 350-lot residential development in Papamoa.

Morné says it’s particularly important to design for high levels of amenity and opportunities for healthy living and community interaction when other factors, such as urban edge locations or increased dwelling density, are used to help keep costs down.

The Terrace Views site was zoned for industrial use but was approved as a Special Housing Area under the Tauranga City Council’s housing accord with the Government to improve housing supply and affordability. Development of the 18.4-hectare site will now comply with residential zone provisions and will include a range of lot sizes as well as three small pockets of medium-density housing.

Achieving the required yield of dwellings has been challenging due to the unusual shape of the land, the need to attenuate noise from the adjacent Tauranga Eastern Link motorway and the need to manage stormwater flow on the low-lying site.

These site constraints have been turned into a positive opportunity. Drainage swales and rain gardens will form

Project Manager: morne.hugo@boffamiskell.co.nz | Drawn: MHu /BCl/BSa | Checked: MHu

green elements within the street system, taking stormwater to wetland ponds adjacent to the motorway. The ponds, together with noise-reducing planted bunds along the motorway edge, will be part of a series of attractive interconnected green links and parks.

Morné has designed a hierarchy of street types that will distinguish the main connector streets from the tree-lined side streets and laneways and encourage multiple use of street space, with priority for walking and cycling. Design features such as permeable paving and narrower lane widths will signal low speed areas designed for community and play uses as well as access.

Every house design will require approval by a council design committee to ensure that the housing will be of good quality while still affordable. To guide this process, Morné compiled architectural design guidelines that include the scale, style, materials and quality of structures; suitable tree and hedge species; and layouts of houses and street frontages that will ensure street surveillance for safety and crime prevention.

Resource consent applications are being lodged in stages to help fast-track the development; Stage 1 has been lodged.

Meanwhile, pre-sales are attracting considerable interest.

Morné Hugo morne.hugo@boffamiskell.co.nz

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Optimising collaboration helps get houses built

Medium density housing in Christchurch recently developed by Housing New Zealand and its development partners.

The necessity to rebuild earthquake-damaged social housing in Christchurch has highlighted the need for Housing New Zealand and the Christchurch City Council to collaborate. Boffa Miskell urban designer, Tim Church, has been brought in to help.

Tim was seconded by Housing New Zealand in May 2015 to work as an independent part-time advisor based at the council. His role? – to observe interactions between the two organisations, build relationships and recommend improvements that would streamline the high quality and timely delivery of Housing New Zealand’s redevelopment programme.

Housing New Zealand owns more than 6,000 social housing properties in Canterbury, of which 95% were damaged in the 2010/2011 earthquakes. Approximately $360 million has been committed to the repairs and rebuilding, staged over a three-year period that will see over 700 new homes completed, many in medium density, mixed-tenure developments that will increase existing housing capacity.

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Tim says he’s been a bit of a ‘jack of all trades’, with involvement in neighbourhood regeneration, infrastructure constraints and consenting processes.

“There were already some collaborative relationships in place,” Tim says, “but due to the sheer scale of work consequent on the earthquakes, recurring issues needed to be clearly articulated and more formal processes established to deal with them. Housing New Zealand is the largest brownfield developer in Christchurch and it has really opened my eyes to the number of people who touch these projects and the complexity of managing a wide range of rebuilds in infill situations.”

A constraint in some places, for instance, is that the council’s wastewater and stormwater networks need repair and increased capacity before Housing New Zealand can proceed with its medium density rebuilding. The two organisations have worked out a way to co-ordinate the required work or reprioritise redevelopment areas in order to keep up the momentum.

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File Ref: C14014c_002_A3L_ZoningCumulative.mxd

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No liability or responsibility is accepted by Boffa Miskell Limited for any errors or omissions to the extent that they arise from inaccurate information provided by the Client or any external source.

Boffa Miskell mapped constraints to help prioritise and plan the www.boffamiskell.co.nz future Housing New Zealand rebuilding programme.

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Tim’s recommendations have focused on streamlining the interactions between key parties to save on time, costs and resources. Four types of collaboration have been introduced - targeting expertise where it is most needed, prioritising decision-making, strengthening key working relationships and regularly monitoring outcomes. There is an overall steering group; special working groups that focus on specifics such as neighbourhood master plans and infrastructure; and a consenting case managers’ group, which now meets regularly to better track the progress of developments through the consenting pathway – from pre-application meetings to code compliance.

“Having Tim working in our council office through his Housing New Zealand secondment has been a really great collaborative model,” says Peter Sparrow, Director Building Control and City Rebuild at the Christchurch City Council. “Tim can talk to any staff member in any group and has helped me break silos down within council so that the best outcomes can be achieved.”

An important outcome of Tim’s work has been recognising the need for three-way collaboration between the City Council, Housing New Zealand and the design-and-build consortia (or ‘development partners’), who are contracted to build the housing.

Tim is now in the second term of his secondment, which has recently been extended. He will continue to support the remaining rebuild programme and the momentum achieved with neighbourhood regeneration programmes.

Tim Church tim.church@boffamiskell.co.nz

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Mixed tenure housing in central Christchurch recently developed by Housing New Zealand.�

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Ruakura ready for residential development

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3. Eastern Industrial and Logistics Area 4. Existing Rural Residential

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The first residential neighbourhood to be developed in the Ruakura growth area marks another step in the staged implementation of the master plan by Boffa Miskell.

Consent was granted late last year for 150 medium density house lots to be developed into a neighbourhood called Greenhill Park – the first of 1,800 mixed density dwellings planned within Ruakura, on Hamilton’s eastern urban edge.

Boffa Miskell has assisted landowner and developer Chedworth Properties Limited for a number of years with the strategic planning, statutory planning, master planning and ecology services that led to the Hamilton District Plan being amended, via a 2014 Board of Inquiry decision, to provide for Ruakura’s urbanisation. As well as residential neighbourhoods, Ruakura will include transport logistics and industrial areas, an expanded education and innovation precinct, a retail centre and 50 hectares of open space. Boffa Miskell continues to provide design, planning and ecological services in the staged mixed use development.

Our planners and designers developed a comprehensive set of design and assessment standards that were included in the overall Ruakura Plan Change provisions and these have been applied in the design of Greenhill Park. A holistic

and collaborative design approach was undertaken, weaving together best practice urban design, ecological restoration and stormwater management whilst still providing an affordable and financially viable subdivision for Hamilton east.

For instance, the street network is designed with a clear hierarchy to aid orientation and an emphasis on creating liveable low-traffic streets. The streets also transport stormwater through open planted swales that improve water quality, provide ecological benefits and create aesthetically pleasing streets that residents can take pride in. Multifunctional public open spaces provide for residents’ outdoor enjoyment and outlook whilst also serving to direct, treat and retain stormwater; benefitting water quality.

The varied lot sizes (between 300m2 and 600m2) with varied prices will enable a range of home owners to buy properties, encouraging a diverse community to develop at Greenhill Park. John Webb of Chedworth Properties Limited foresees the development leading the way for the future of Hamilton’s residential market with the emphasis on high quality design and a move towards medium-density housing.

“It’s different from what Hamilton has had and it’s in demand.”

Jonathan Broekhuysen jonathan.broekhuysen@boffamiskell.co.nz

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Kensington Park

The trend towards housing diversity Providing choice for home owners is becoming increasingly important as lifestyles change and demand grows for alternatives to the traditional suburban house and garden.

Boffa Miskell has been involved in a number of wellestablished and successful housing projects where diversification of housing types, sizes and densities have been a feature.

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Kensington Park A high-quality residential neighbourhood of mixed housing types and densities in Orewa.

Kensington Park was developed on the site of a former camp ground, where existing open space and mature trees – notably giant puriri – provided key amenity values that have been preserved. The mix of terrace, duplex, stand-alone and apartment building typologies, featuring a distinctive architectural vernacular, high levels of pedestrian connectivity and shared community facilities, have all proved desirable to residents buying into the new community.

At its inception in the mid-2000s, the project was strongly influenced by ‘new urban’ models of residential development.

The client at that time, and a number of our design leaders, undertook a range of learning opportunities in master planning and community design that included study tours to Australia and America, Urban Land Institute conferences, and master classes that broadened our perspective on master-planned communities and their adaptation to New Zealand.

Boffa Miskell’s role: master planning with original project developer Patrick Fontein and his in-house architectural design team; planning and design assessments leading to the original resource consents and district plan changes; and transitional assessment work for further stages under the site’s new owners.

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Broadway Park

Broadway Park A residential mixed-density enclave on the northern slopes of Remuera in Auckland.

The combination of stand-alone houses, attached medium density housing and high-rise apartment buildings has now matured well and sits comfortably within Newmarket’s established residential fringe.

First conceived in the 1990s by developers Darby Partners, the brownfield redevelopment of former railway land presented planning and design challenges due to its location near railway and commercial activities. The development includes early examples of ‘skinny’, slow-speed streets with high amenity and shared space.

Boffa Miskell’s role: master planning; obtaining resource consent including specific consents for ongoing development stages; and design and supervision of the landscape development. The project received a Silver Award in the residential design category of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects awards in 2000.

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Napier Hill

Napier Hill An innovative redevelopment of a former hospital site in a regional centre.

Todd Property Group gained consent in 2014 to convert to residential use the former Napier Hospital site on the landmark Napier Hill. The development includes 11 standalone residential sites, 21 townhouses including attached duplex houses, and two high rise towers of 18 apartments that replicate the extent of the former main hospital wards.

Adaptive re-use will also see the Arohaina former maternity ward converted to 26 apartments.

It has been important to reflect the site’s history and prominence in the master planning and landscape design of the development, which falls within the Napier Hill Character Zone of the district plan.

Boffa Miskell’s role: master planning with local architects, PMA and John Blair; landscape planning inputs to resource consents; and landscape architectural services, including detailed site planning and design.

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Beaumont Quarter

Beaumont Quarter A high-density brownfield housing enclave with architectural diversity and a strong landscape setting.

The 2.4 hectare former gasworks site on Auckland’s city fringe was developed between 2001 and 2006 by Melview Developments. Studio Pacific Architecture developed the master plan in which they, and other architects, designed 33 different housing types within the 238-unit development, to achieve design diversity.

The landscape, which strongly shows a New Zealand / Auckland vernacular, has successfully defined the private, semi-private and public spaces with subtle, carefully designed and implemented landscape devices.

Boffa Miskell’s role: design team collaboration, landscape architectural design and supervision services.

Rachel de Lambert rachel.delambert@boffamiskell.co.nz

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Your housing team A well informed master plan or development design can create and connect neighbourhoods, improve and enhance environments, preserve any ecological values and increase the community activity in an area. Many brownfield and greenfield property developments incorporate a significant public or private open space component which, done well, can improve the economic return on the investment made. We can help you meet your functional requirements and economic goals while delivering spaces in which people will want to live, work and play.

Our approach is to work collaboratively with our clients to fully understand each project, explore its possibilities and provide creative solutions based on sound knowledge and experience. The projects are often complex and require solutions that integrate environment, economic and social considerations within a statutory framework. To meet these challenges we bring together a team of planners, designers and ecologists with:

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an integrated understanding of environments and communities

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the ability to think creatively

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leadership and collaboration skills

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wide-ranging expertise in natural sciences, planning, design and cultural advisory

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the ability to act as strategic advisors on large, multidisciplinary projects

How we can help iwi

Neighbourhood / local community

other stakeholders

council

Client

Plan Change / re zoning

consents

council relationships

ecology

Infrastructure / financial

Engagement

Planning Masterplan

landscape

water sensitive design

Architecture

Engineering

Surveys

Design Boffa Miskell

Collaborators

Sarah Collins, Auckland

Rachel de Lambert, Auckland

Tim Church, Christchurch

Steve Dunn, Wellington

Morné Hugo, Tauranga

Jonathan Broekhuysen, Auckland

Lisa Mein, Auckland

Dave Moule, Auckland

Te Pio Kawe, Auckland

Marc Baily, Wellington

Greg Vossler, Wellington

Stephanie Styles, Christchurch

Visit: http://www.boffamiskell.co.nz/our-consultants.php

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About us Boffa Miskell is a leading New Zealand environmental planning and design consultancy with offices in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown and Shanghai. We work with a wide range of local and international private and public sector clients in the areas of planning, urban design, landscape architecture, landscape planning, ecology, cultural heritage, graphics and mapping. Over the past four decades we have built a reputation for professionalism, innovation and excellence. During this time we have been associated with a significant number of projects that have led changes in shaping New Zealand’s environment.