‘Housing around a surf pool’: All Blacks legend backs new 500-home development
Sunday, 7 June 2026
Sir John Kirwan is set to put his surfboard where his mouth is and move into one of the chalets being built around a unique, golf course-style surfing park in Dairy Flat, Auckland..
“I’ll sell my Mission Bay house and go up and live at the wave park,” the All Blacks great and mental health advocate says of the 54-hectare village-style complex.
Consent has been granted for stage one - 50 houses, a data centre and a solar farm. Stage two includes 480 more houses, with the development’s long-term plan featuring commercial property such as shops and cafes.
Kirwan is part of a conglomerate that includes Auckland businessman Mark Francis and former Warriors chief executive Trevor McKewen, with heavy backing by American surf park investment firm Aventuur, and more recent investment from actor Karl Urban and former Warrior and All Black Marc Ellis.
Olympian Billy Stairmand is almost certain to be a senior figure in the park’s surfing academy when it opens in two years, and Australian Glenn Hall, widely regarded as one of the greatest modern surf coaches, will oversee the academy.
Plans for an additional 480 homes are in the Fast Track process after the application was amended with an industrial element removed. Kirwan’s confident the houses will be approved with a decision expected by October.
“People think the Fast Track system is easy - you just apply, and you get it, but it’s not,” Kirwan says. “Fast Track is really thorough. They have pushed back on a couple of issues, and that’s good. We want to be a positive thing in the community, bringing more houses and a different lifestyle opportunity for New Zealanders.”
Kirwan likens the surf park concept, with its adjacent housing and light commercial offering, to golf courses like the Millbrook Golf Resort near Queenstown, and more recently, the Te Arai Links club north of Auckland.
“It’s a new concept for New Zealanders - housing around a surf pool - a bit like it was when they started building houses around golf courses, and now we have Te Arai.”
Kirwan is confident the concept will be a hit.
“There’s more surfboards than rugby balls in New Zealand,” the 1987 Rugby World Cup winner quipped.
Surfing NZ estimates about 330,000 Kiwis surf, with other studies suggesting a core base of 145,000 regular surfers. About 70,000 are thought to surf weekly, with Surfing NZ claiming 14 million waves are surfed each year.
The wave park hopes to attract some of that crowd with yearly memberships or one-hour sessions. The latter are expected to sell for about $100.
Work on the park began two years ago. So far, around $30m of the required $150m in funding has been secured.
“That was friends and family,” Kirwan says, “now we are looking for some institutional funding.”
The price tag for stage two will be well in excess of stage one, with some estimates putting the final figure north of $2 billion.
An economic impact assessment commissioned by the developers from Property Economics Ltd suggests the finished complex could generate an extra $1.85b in economic activity across Auckland.
Mayor Wayne Brown, who is a former President of Surfing New Zealand and remains an active surfer, has thrown his weight behind the project.
“I have supported this proposal because it also offers local employment and business opportunities, and its scale is such that Auckland can play a role in the recovery in the tourism industry,” Brown said earlier this year.
“And best of all it did not cost ratepayers a dime, so I for one am very grateful to the private sector for pulling together and creating such a space.
“I know this is a large-scale project with complex engineering needs, but I am confident the engineering, design, and environmental matters will have been addressed through the streamline consenting process.”
Kirwan is just as confident the wave pool will provide a massive boost to the sport of surfing.
“One of the goals is to create a world surfing champion,” he said.
Aventuur’s Director of Surfing, Adrian Buchan, says the pool’s consistent waves “flatten the learning curve” making it easier for surfers to hone their skills.
“The ocean will always be our home and nothing replaces the feeling of a pumping ground swell but a wave pool is the perfect training ground. Repeat waves give people the opportunity to practice and lowers the barrier to entry (for new surfers).”
As for Kirwan, he can’t wait to move house.
“I’m 62 in December and I’m not surfing enough. The wave park will never replace the ocean, but it’s safe, and there will be consistent waves to surf on. It’s like waiting for an elevator.”
The elevator is expected to arrive in time for the summer of 2028-29.