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CENTRAL AUCKLAND DEVELOPMENT
AR & Associates Ltd (ARAL) was responsible for the preparation and lodgement of an integrated suite of resource consent applications to enable a 39 residential unit development and subsequent subdivision in Hillsborough, Auckland.
The proposal was for an integrated housing development which entailed39 townhouse residential units within an existing disused church site in a fully urbanised area. The 39 units were to be constructed across eight blocks, two private roads (in the form of jointly owned access lots) and a communal outdoor living space. Consent was obtained for the development to occur in a staged manner, including initial ͚super blocks͛ followed by subsequent development and freehold subdivision for each residential unit.
The subject site was a particularly challenging site with constraints such as a large diameter public stormwater pipe, a stream traversing along the western boundary, within a floodplain and overland flow path, and potential ground contamination issues as a result of previous horticultural land uses.
ARAL were engaged as the lead consultant for the project which included overall project management, planning, civil engineering and stream rehabilitation inputs for the project, in addition to interfacing and coordination with other consultants and third parties for the work as required. Third party inputs included Urban Design, Architecture, Landscape Design, Traffic, Surveying, Geotechnical and Contamination assessments.
Planning
The ARAL planning team provided early and ongoing advice throughout the design process which enabled an integrated design outcome that considered and addressed the range of physical constraints. The planning team also managed consultation with the Local Board and Iwi. Ultimately, the resource consent was granted on a non-notified basis with relatively minor requests for further information throughout the process.
Civil
Given the constraints of the site and scale of the development, the civil engineering input was critical to obtaining resource consent. The infrastructure report covered servicing/drainage, diversion of overland flow paths and management of flood hazards within the site. This role also involved interfacing with the architects and traffic specialist, to successfully complete engineering designs.
Environmental
The site included a degraded stream along the western side. Upon reviewing the quality of the stream, and after initial advice from ARAL and Council, the decision was made to rehabilitate the stream, by naturalising it and making it a feature of the development. ARAL provided a stream rehabilitation report and drawings to support the resource consent application which included interface with the landscape designer and civil engineering to ensure an appropriate design that would enhance this open channel, creating positive environmental and amenity outcomes.
