Choice crucial to solving Auckland housing woes

Auckland Council has been urged not to buckle to community pressure and institute restrictive requirements under the Unitary Plan, by a speaker at the Property Council’s Residential Development Summit today.

Thursday, October 8th 2015, 7:51PM

by Miriam Bell

In a presentation on apartment evolution, Plus Architecture director Jaimin Atkins said that overly restrictive apartment building regulations, on such things as size, could stymie clever design and consumer choice.

This, in turn, could put the brakes on the de-stigmatisation of apartments as a desirable housing option – which is a necessary part of the drive towards intensification.

People are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits that come with apartments, Atkins said.

These include affordability, lower maintenance time and costs, better security, reduced commuting time and greater access to amenities and entertainment options.

“However, the availability of choice in the apartment market is paramount,” he said.

“The issue of size comes back to design. A big space can be designed badly, while the reverse can be true. So clever design is key.”

Atkins pointed out that not everybody values or wants the same things.

“So not everybody will value an apartment with a north facing balcony if it comes with an increased price tag.”

Offering a range of options – which might include demographically targeted developments like in Melbourne – was an effective way to encourage interest in apartments as a housing choice.

Atkins, and other speakers at the Summit, firmly advocated on the need for apartments as one of the solutions to Auckland’s supply and affordability issues.

But another speaker, GJ Gardener operations manager Dan Oliver, was not convinced that widespread community buy-in is out there.

He said that Auckland is a “fragmented, complicated beast”.

“It is a city made up of interconnected satellite towns, all with different market drivers. There is no one size fits all.”

Auckland also has particularly diverse demographics and it is important to cater to the varied consumer demand around the city, Oliver said.

“Whether or not consumer perceptions of intensification are changing, the Unitary Plan means new challenges for the construction sector as we shift away from more traditional demographic housing models.”

In his view, good working partnerships and innovative design solutions are key to resolving the current issues.

The Summit explored housing unaffordability in Auckland by looking at key issues like shortage of land supply, increasing demand and onerous central and local government regulations.

To kick-off the day, Property Council chief executive Connal Townsend launched his organisation’s new Residential Development Council.

Townsend said the launch came as the residential sector tried to navigate convoluted central and local government legislation and regulations which undermine efforts to deliver houses.

The new Council will act as an advisory body to policymakers and as a conduit between developers and investors.

It will focus on five key areas:

• Better urban planning with fewer delays, more certainty and consistent consenting practices.
• Less bureaucracy, which includes targeting poorly designed rules and regulations that discourage development.
• Infrastructure - future-proofing investment in national infrastructure via aligned and integrated central and local government strategies.
• Rigorous data - setting up a comprehensive knowledge base decision makers can use to draw reliable information from during the policy making process.
• Urban design which produces high-quality and sustainable communities that are also well integrated with adjoining planning rules.

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