Hamilton: river city on a roll

Hamilton's future is looking bright. “You can't stop growth,” Mayor Julie Hardaker says. Along with recorded increases in the economy, retail sales and building consents is a marked incline in the population, which is growing by 3000-4000 per year, or a street a week.
“When we look at population projections over the next 30 years, Hamilton will increase by the size of Rotorua,” Hardaker says. “That’s significant. And more recently the Auckland influence has been more of a factor than expected.”

Hardaker attributes growth over the last 10-15 years to natural births, people returning to live, increased strength in the manufacturing sector and robust industries, plus the presence of government departments, university, and large centralised health services. Waikato Hospital employs over 6000 staff. She says other drawcards of the family-focused city are its great schools, good recreational facilities and easy commuting. “We are a diversified city, with good business and support services.”

50-50 brown and green
Building consents in the last two-three years have increased and infrastructure is developing. Rototuna in the north has two new primary schools, with a junior school due to open at the beginning of 2016 and a senior high school the following year. Subdivisions have sprouted in Rototuna and Rotokauri, south in the Peacockes Rd area, west in Dinsdale, and east in Ruakura, which encompasses retail, residential and high-medium density living options.

While Hamilton City Council is confident of having 10 year's worth of land available, it is constantly checking its assessment, monitoring population projections and talking to developers.