DESIGN APPROACH

The master plan of this development is proposed to develop the site in two stages, and the proposal includes a comprehensive resource consent application, i.e., a land use consent for housing and a subdivision consent to create individual lots around the proposed housing. The first stage of the development includes 38 new residential dwellings associated with 38 freehold lots and a separate super lot. The second stage includes three three-storey apartment blocks containing 78 affordable apartment units within the superset of the first stage. The total dwelling number in the development is 116.

The master plan design is based on best practices of urban design and established architectural principles and is also influenced by design guidelines suggested by the Auckland Design Manual. The design process explored several alternative options for the layout of the site. The final design provides:

• A direct relationship to Henderson Valley Road.
• Appropriate edge conditions, particularly with the commercial/industrial block on the western edge.
• The best approach for where and how the various typologies are laid out.
• The open space design principle.

The master plan of the development includes a linear pocket park in the middle of the site. The park's size will not allow it to be vested to Council as a recreation reserve. However, the proposed recreational amenities, hard and soft landscape features within this open space, and its linear shape will be favourable to make it usable for community recreation purposes and accessible from all surrounding dwellings and directly from the newly proposed public road. Even though this linear open space will belong to the apartment super lot, the overall development proposal considers it a communal space managed by the overall residents' association of the whole site in conjunction with the apartment body corporate. The open space will be open to the public. It will have a distinct and identifiable public-private interface by appropriate hard and soft landscaping and low-permeable fencing along the apartment blocks to avoid privatisation of this space by the adjacent ground-level apartment units.

The Qbix tasks include specific house designs for medium density lots and the concept landscape proposal. We have also prepared the necessary resource consent applications (land use, subdivision and earthworks) and have undertaken the overall management of various resource management tasks and coordinating other specialist consultants' tasks.