Housing intensification can be done well but only if care is taken to maintain character, developers say

Friday, 31 July 2020

Developers say the character of suburbs like Mt Victoria can still be maintained while adding multi-storey apartment buildings.

Wellington’s suburbs can still maintain their character while squeezing in tens of thousands of extra people but only with strict quality controls, developers say.

The city council is proposing to loosen protections on many pre-1930s buildings in the inner suburbs as it looks to accommodate an extra 74,000 people across the city over the next 30 years.

The proposed spatial plan would remove demolition controls for pre-1930s buildings outside designated “character sub-areas”, with no resource consent needed to demolish or significantly alter properties.

Housing developments could be up to six storeys high in those suburbs as an extra 5400 homes are created for 14,000 more people by 2050.

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Mt Victoria resident Julianna Radaich, with her dog Tuppence, does not want thousands more residents coming to suburbs like hers.

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Housing developments up to eight-storeys high would be allowed in Johnsonville's town centre under the city council’s proposed spatial plan.

Resource consent would be required for additional properties on a site, and developments would need to be sympathetic to the landscape.

Meanwhile, buildings up to six storeys would be permitted in outer suburbs, and up to eight storeys in parts of Johnsonville and Kilbirnie.

In the central city, which would be expanded to take in parts of Thorndon and Newtown, building heights would need to be a minimum of six storeys, with a maximum height of 10 storeys in Te Aro and on some central city boundaries.

The area with the most pre-1930s houses is Mt Victoria, with 883 of the 1031 homes in its “character area” built before that decade.

Wellington property developer Richard Burrell said construction in areas like Mt Victoria did not need to ruin their character, but only if developments were carefully considered.

Eight-storey developments would also be permitted in the Kilbirnie town centre.

“If it’s well-handled, it can look outstanding. It’s just how you control the cut-price developer who doesn’t care and uses the cheapest builders, the cheapest materials, the cheapest architects.”

Certain areas, like Johnsonville, Tawa, Kilbirnine, and Adelaide Rd in Newtown would be ideal for intensification, but other areas would be more difficult, Burrell said.

“I’m fascinated about how these councillors will sell it to those inner-city residents.”

But fellow developer Mark Dunajtschik said developers would be unlikely to build cheaply and quickly.

“People will be careful to build for the demand of the market.If you build cheap and unattractive, you won’t sell it.”

Developers would “absolutely” jump at the opportunity to build on areas opened up by the loosening of heritage protections, he said.

“We need to have a more balanced population that is more efficient for all the infrastructure, and certainly for transport.

“We are spread too far apart at the moment for public transport and it’s too inefficient.”

Parsonson Architects director Gerald Parsonson agreed developers would be keen to capitalise on the new opportunities, but would need to be careful to maintain and enhance existing landscapes.

“Fundamentally, this is a really good idea. We’re facing massive challenges with sustainability into the future and the way that our cities are built – on the American model of suburbia - is really inefficient and really carbon heavy.

“Dense development can be really ugly if it’s done badly, but it can be fantastic if it’s done well. The key is putting good people in there and making good decisions.”

Parsonson Architects designed the Zavos Corner low-rise apartment complex in Mt Victoria a few years ago, on a site where a large character house used to stand.

The development won an award at the 2016 Wellington Architecture Awards.

But not all residents are in favour of the Mt Victoria developments.

Roxburgh St resident Julianna Radaich said the suburb already had too many people, and squeezing even more in would be “chaotic”.

“They say this is progress – taking away all the characteristics of the suburbs – but there’s something fantastic about Mt Victoria and once you have high-rise buildings, it’s just going to be like in Britain.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to have anything higher than two or three storeys at the most, and even then I don’t want it.”

The extra residents would put too much pressure on already-struggling infrastructure, and they should be housed in outer suburbs and new developments, Radaich said.

The outer suburbs are set to welcome an extra 42,500 people over the next 30 years, with six-storey developments allowed in Tawa, Karori, Newlands, Khandallah, Brooklyn, Island Bay, Miramar, Ngaio, Crofton Downs and Linden.

Other outer suburbs will have a five-storey limit.

Inner suburbs include Mt Victoria, Berhampore, Newtown, Mt Cook, Aro Valley, and Thorndon.

City council place planning manager John McSweeney said most housing developments would be done by the private sector.

Progress would be monitored over time to see what other changes might be required in the council’s District Plan to achieve the housing goals.