Important Milestone Reached For Urban Design

The City Development Committee has confirmed the importance of quality urban design by recommending to the full council that it make plan change 2 to the central area district plan, which introduces urban design and residential amenity controls to the city centre, operative.

Officers have been working with a number of parties who had appeals against the plan change. These have now been resolved.

Councillor Aaron Bhatnagar, chairperson of the City Development Committee says, “This is an important milestone, demonstrating our commitment towards quality design in the CBD, a space where many Auckland city residents live and work.”

“We have been working on this bi-partisan project during the last three council terms. The initial idea was created at the end of the first term of Mayor John Banks in 2004 and advanced under the previous council. We thank those who have helped steer this important plan change through, and welcome its introduction.

“We introduced this plan change to address concerns about the quality of apartment buildings in the central area. Minimum apartment sizes and outlook requirements are now specified, ensuring that ‘shoebox' apartments are no longer built for residential living in the city centre,” Mr Bhatnagar says.

With this change to the central area district plan, new building development applications will be assessed against a comprehensive suite of design criteria, including any impact on heritage buildings from an urban design perspective.

ENDS

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