Unpicking the method behind Council’s SCA assessments
This is a guest post by Anna Michels. Anna is an Urban Designer at HUE in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Auckland Council has released its proposed changes to the Auckland Unitary Plan in response to Central Government directions under the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) and incorporating the Medium Density Residential Standard (MDRS) within the Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters Bill that was passed at the end of 2021.…
87 Comments Unitary Plan 2.0 Pre-consultation
Auckland Council have launched their pre-consultation consultation for the changes to the Auckland Unitary Plan in response to the governments housing rules under the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) from 2020 and the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) from 2021.…
Building Local
In their ongoing efforts to tackle the housing crisis in New Zealand and reshape urban development, the government put forward a bipartisan RMA amendment at the end of last year, which most notably introduced the so-called Townhouse Nation standards to allow 3 homes of 3 stories on almost any suburban site.…
Making the Unitec Development Fit for the Future
Back in March 2018, the government announced it was buying 29 hectares of land from Unitec for a huge housing development, with potentially as many as 2,500-4,000 new homes. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website clarifies that the Crown holds 26.5 hectares and is in negotiations to acquire a further 9.3 hectares.…
2022 – The Year Ahead
Welcome to 2022. After wrapping up 2021 before Christmas, here’s a look at some of the things we can expect to see in 2022.
Overall it appears that COVID will continue to loom large over the year and will be a major factor, potentially directly but certainly on things such as travel patterns.…
2021 – A Year in Review
With the year quickly drawing to a close it’s time for a quick wrap up the most important things that happened and WOW, what a year it’s been.
Thank you to everyone who has visited the blog and supported us in making Auckland greater.…
Bring on the Density
Yesterday Parliament passed the bi-partisan bill to allow more housing to be built in our biggest cities with only the ACT party opposing it.
Legislation to cut red tape for more new housing has passed in Parliament with cross-party support that provides an enduring solution to fixing New Zealand’s housing crisis.…
Debunking Leafy Suburban Myths
This is a guest post by Francis McRae. It was originally published on his Substack.
The recently announced bipartisan housing enabling bill will free up planning rules to allow three storey development across almost all of the existing residential areas of New Zealand’s five biggest cities. …
An anti-housing Trojan horse
Header image: affordable housing in London by architect Peter Barber
This is a guest post from Hayden Donnell
On Friday night’s episode of The Project, planner Graeme McIndoe conjured up what was intended as a frightening vision of a housing-filled future.…
Futile Councillors Fight An Affordable Future
Like both housing and heritage advocates, Auckland Council is rushing to put out a response to the recently announced Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) which are currently going through select committee. Last week, they had their monthly public planning committee meeting, much of which revolved around their submission.…
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