Density rules will shape new suburbs
Towering townhouses on small sections will be a feature of new suburbs as housing rule changes dramatically reshape cities.
The Government’s new housing rules take effect from August, allowing developers to build three homes of up to three storeys on most sites without the need for a resource consent.
It’s estimated the new rules could enable between 3400 and 12,200 additional dwellings to be built in Hamilton alone over the next eight years as the Government pushes fast-growing cites to embrace housing intensification.
Yet it’s not just established city suburbs that will be impacted, with new neighbourhoods tipped to feature three-storey townhouses and more compact builds.
Some say the Kiwi dream is evolving, with new ways to achieve it, and a developer warns we should be careful where we choose density to avoid a ‘‘concrete jungle’’.
In Hamilton, new developments such as Peacocke and Rotokauri ‘‘won’t be like suburbs we’ve seen in the past, with your big garden and lemon tree, and your single-storey house with a very large garage,’’ Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate said. ‘‘But we won’t reach our home affordability targets without smaller, denser builds within the overall mix. We need entry price houses.’’
AUT construction professor John Tookey said density changes would be about a redefinition of the Kiwi dream: from the standalone quarter-acre section to ‘‘a whole different set of aspirations’’.
‘‘Primarily what we’re trying to achieve is the same living outcomes . . . but doing it in different ways, so with communal spaces for recreation and similar communal facilities in terms of local community play areas ... and thereafter, shared resources in terms of infrastructure.’’
Southgate said it was crucial council staff and developers worked together for the best outcomes: ‘‘While there are some developers who just want to build houses, make a buck and walk off, I think there are a lot of developers in this town who want to create a better city and that gives me hope.’’
A lot of strategic planning has been done for areas such as Peacocke, identifying where playgrounds, cycleways and green spaces will go. Developers would be encouraged to build ‘‘fit-for-purpose housing’’ around those, Southgate said.
In Hamilton, city councillor Ryan Hamilton, who chairs the council’s district plan committee, said the nature of housing in greenfield developments would be market-led to some extent, but the council was working on ‘‘levers to pull’’ around urban design.
Hamilton City Council is expected to reveal its response to the Government’s new housing rules this month, outlining what the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) will look like in a Hamilton context.
It’s understood the council’s response will strongly reference Te Ture Whaimana/the Vision and Strategy for the Waikato River, which requires the restoration and protection of the Waikato River.
Council city planning manager Mark Davey said: ‘‘[Te Ture Whaimana] sets a really high bar and directs us to improve the river. So any new policy we’re introducing must demonstrate betterment for the river.’’
He sees that as avoiding carte blanche intensification, instead doing it in a way that avoids negative effects on the river and gives ‘‘incremental betterment’’.
‘‘But the direction of travel is that you’ll be able to get more housing yield out of your greenfield areas, subject to infrastructure and subject to stormwater and things like that.’’
MADE founder and chief executive Charles Ma is spearheading the development of Edin, a 2000-home project on Hamilton’s north-west fringe. About 50% of the 137-hectare development will be kept as community parks and nature reserves.
Ma said Edin would feature more housing intensification over the coming decades as it regenerated. Housing density made sense when land values increased, but it shouldn’t happen in a ‘‘broad brush way’’.
‘‘There will be some areas where it will be a blessing to have density because it will help the economics of the place. Other places that just don’t have a sense of place and a natural environment to balance it, can very easily turn into a concrete jungle.
‘‘We have to be wise where we choose density.’’