Daniel Libeskind, on the scope of architecture

The history continues to cry out for justice……

We just remember something very real

[intersubjectivity] How do we display helicopters that kill

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TEDx Talks Published on Sep 19, 2012
Architecture is a Language: Daniel Libeskind at TEDxDUBLIN

TEDxDublin was hosted by Science Gallery at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on September 8th, 2012. http://www.TEDxDublin.com

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Daniel Libeskind believes that buildings are crafted with perceptible human energy, and that they address the greater cultural context in which they are built. Best known for designing iconic buildings like the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Libeskind also designed the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre and the masterplan for the new World Trade Center site in New York City. His commitment to expanding the scope of architecture reflects his profound interest and involvement in philosophy, art, literature and music.

Libeskind builds on very big ideas. He shares words that underlie his vision for architecture — raw, risky, emotional, radical — and that offer inspiration for any bold creative pursuit.

Denver Art Museum. Photo: homesthetics.net

A true renaissance man, Libeskind possesses a staggering array of creative interests — he has been a free-verse poet, an opera set designer, a virtuoso musician. When he finally settled on architecture, it was not long (in architect-years, anyway) before he had taken the skylines of the world by storm. His many buildings include the recently opened Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, in the deep footsteps of his acclaimed design for the Jewish Museum Berlin — his first major building project, and one of the most visited museums in Europe. He also created the spectacular extension to the Denver Art Museum (completed in 2006), and construction is under way on a massive retail complex on the strip in Las Vegas. Libeskind’s ambitious and highly controversial design for the rebuilt World Trade Center is perhaps his most well known project, and despite almost a decade of political wrangling and bureaucratic whittling, he insists that the final design will retain the spirit of his original renderings.
Source: http://www.ted.com/speakers/daniel_libeskind

“Architecture is not based on concrete and steel and the elements of the soil. It’s based on wonder.”

“Our lives are complex; our emotions are complex; our intellectual desires are complex. I believe that architecture … needs to mirror that complexity in every single space that we have, in every intimacy that we possess.”

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TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Unless otherwise noted all images are screenshots taken from the TEDx performance.

Charles Jencks —extreme emotion and neutrality

►► Jencks excerpts [click to enlarge or ctrl +]

Ed Sheeran Published on Oct 7, 2014
Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud [Official Video]
Here’s my official video for ‘Thinking Out Loud’, I learnt to dance! Taken from my album ‘x’, available to buy via iTunes here: http://smarturl.it/x-itunesdlx

TaylorSwiftVEVO Published on Nov 10, 2014
Taylor Swift – Blank Space
Watch Taylor’s new video for “Blank Space”. No animals, trees, automobiles or actors were harmed in the making of this video. Taylor’s new release 1989 is Available Now on iTunes http://www.smarturl.it/TS1989

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Coop Himmelb(l)au, Dalian Conference Center, China, 2008-12.
A continuously changing surface that rises and falls and bulges in the middle to include a theatre and opera house. Organised like block chords of music that open up and close, it is reminiscent of both Wagnerian chromaticism and the tonal melding of Philip Glass and John Adams.

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█ http://www.coop-himmelblau.at/architecture/projects/dalian-international-conference-center

Images: Coop Himmelb(l)au —Wolf D. Prix and Partner ZT GmbH

█ More at Google Images

█ Download: Charles Jencks – Architecture Becomes Music | The Architectural Review 6 May 2013 via academia.edu [research]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Yawn. Hyper-inflated price #scrapmetal

Photo: Simon Wong/ 3 News

Repeat after me —I AM NOT TERRY STRINGER

### 3news.co.nz Saturday 24 Jan 2015 6:00 a.m.
Muldoon sculpture could be a steel
By Simon Wong – Online Reporter
It could just be the perfect thing for any political buff with a penchant for Sir Robert Muldoon. A 500kg galvanised steel likeness of the polarising former Prime Minister has been put up for sale on Trade Me with a starting price of $20,000. The 1.5m high bust, which is 1.2m in diameter, is being sold by Dunedin’s Zealsteel manager Lawrie Forbes who commissioned the piece in 1999. Sir Robert entered Parliament in 1960 and was Prime Minister from 1975 until 1984.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Kimbell Art Museum Expansion (Piano Pavilion)

Kimbell Art Museum [indiaartndesign.com]

The Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
Museum of international art with collections ranging from antiquities to 20th century contemporary art — 3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107, United States

The Renzo Piano Pavilion at Kimbell’s was in production for six years — Piano accepted the commission in 2007, groundbreaking occurred in 2010, and the Grand Opening took place on November 27, 2013.

“Close enough for a conversation, not too close and not too far away,” remarked architect Renzo Piano, when describing the distance from the Kimbell’s new Renzo Piano Pavilion to the Louis Kahn Building. Piano’s structure, made of glass, concrete, and wood and surrounded by elms and red oaks, stands as an expression of simplicity and lightness some 65 yards to the west of Kahn’s vaulted, luminous museum landmark of 1972.

Louis Kahn Building [texasmonthly.com]

Renzo Piano Kendall Heaton Associates section [archdaily.com]

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ArtandSeek Published on Sep 12, 2013
An Early Look At the Kimbell’s Piano Pavilion
Eric Lee, Director of the Kimbell Art Museum explains some of the design features of the new Piano Pavilion, and the excitement surrounding the building’s opening.

KimbellArt Published on Nov 26, 2013
Kahn : Piano – The Piano Pavilion at the Kimbell Art Museum

DESIGN
Piano’s low-slung, colonnaded pavilion with overhanging eaves graciously acknowledges Kahn’s museum building by way of its kindred height, emphasis on natural light, and use of concrete as a primary material. The positioning of the pavilion on the site focuses attention on the west facade of the Kahn Building, which Kahn considered to be the main entrance.
The pavilion is made up of two sections connected by a glass passageway. The front, or easternmost, section conveys an impression of weightlessness: a glass roof system seems to float high above wooden beams and concrete posts. Sleek, square concrete columns flank the central, recessed glass entrance and wrap around three sides of the building. The tripartite facade articulates the interior, with a spacious entrance lobby and large galleries to the north and south.
Tucked under a green roof, the Piano Pavilion’s western section contains a gallery for light-sensitive works of art, three education studios, a large library with reading areas, and an auditorium with superior acoustics for music. The latter, located below ground level, is a design centrepiece: its raked seating faces the stage and the dramatic backdrop of a light well animated by shifting patterns of natural light.
Read more at https://www.kimbellart.org/architecture/piano-pavilion

Renzo Piano Pavilion [hyperallergic.com and maxresdefault at youtube.com]

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These time-lapse construction videos are worth the effort — in most cases buildings under construction satisfy the aesthetic complexities of the brain and the body as witness, better than any finished object.

visualimmersion Published on Aug 8, 2012
Kimbell Art Museum Expansion (Piano Pavilion) Animation

KimbellArt Published on Nov 13, 2013
A Glimpse into the Renzo Piano Pavilion at the Kimbell Art Museum

KimbellArt Published on Oct 7, 2014
Completed time-lapse photography of the Renzo Piano Pavilion
Kimbell Art Museum July 2011–September 2013. EarthCam.
The green spaces and sustainable features of the new building construction site are emerging, including the placement of a sophisticated, layered roof-structure, the installation of geothermal wells, and the planting of trees and grass.

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KimbellArt Published on Sep 10, 2013
Renzo Piano’s Walls for the Kimbell Art Museum

KimbellArt Published on Oct 19, 2013
Renzo Piano’s Beams for the Kimbell Art Museum HD

KimbellArt Published on Oct 25, 2013
Renzo Piano’s Columns for the Kimbell Art Museum HD

KimbellArt Published on Oct 25, 2013
Renzo Piano’s Glass Roof for the Kimbell Art Museum HD

KimbellArt Published on Oct 25, 2013
Renzo Piano’s Landscape Roof for the Kimbell Art Museum HD

KimbellArt Published on Oct 25, 2013
Landscape at the Renzo Piano Pavilion HD

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Chris Trotter on National’s “developers’ charter” #RMA reforms

The Never-Ending Suburban Dream: Dr Nick Smith’s purported determination to make housing more affordable by “reforming” the Resource Management Act has been widely derided as little more than a National Party recommitment to the urban development model of the 1950s and 60s. In short, to quote Peter Dunne, “a developers’ charter”.

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### bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz
Friday, 23 January 2015 at 08:53
New Zealand Doesn’t Need A “Developers’ Charter”
By Chris Trotter
THE LAWYERS and the environmental lobbyists are already gnawing at Dr Nick Smith’s proposed changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA). Forewarned by the National-led Government’s first, abortive, foray into environmental law reform back in 2013, a forearmed Opposition has this week re-joined the battle with renewed energy.
The United Future leader, Peter Dunne, has warned against turning the RMA into a “Developers’ Charter” – a potent political riff upon which his parliamentary colleagues have been only-too-happy to extemporise.
Has the Prime Minister, rubbing shoulders with 1 percent of 1 percent of the 1 Percent at Davos, given equal heed to the venerable Member for Ohariu? Given that few politicians’ appreciation of middle-class New Zealanders’ tics and tells is stronger than Mr Dunne’s, if John Key isn’t paying attention to him, then he should – and soon.
Not that, in the brutal numbers game that determines whether a piece of legislation succeeds or fails, Mr Key needs the endorsement of Mr Dunne. The parliamentary arithmetic of environmental law reform requires no complicated figuring. The Act Party’s grace-and-favour MP for Epsom, David Seymour, has already signalled (well in advance of any actual shouts of “Division called for!”) that he will be supplying Dr Smith with the single vote necessary (in addition to National’s 60 votes) to ensure the passage of the Government’s environmental reforms.
Which is, when you think about it, extraordinary. With sixty MPs, National’s current parliamentary caucus is, by historical standards, a large one. It is also slavishly obedient.
[…] It has been a very long time indeed since a National Party politician “crossed the floor” in any kind of procedurally meaningful context. For many years now absolute caucus discipline has not only been assumed – it has prevailed.
Such robotic compliance is not good for the health of National’s caucus; the wider National Party organisation; nor, ultimately, for that of parliamentary democracy itself. Voters need to believe that there are at least some MPs whose definitive allegiance is to values and principles more enduring than the arguments of their Party Whip. On matters crucial to both the social and the natural environments, the practice of representative democracy should rise above the crude calculations of purely partisan arithmetic. It should be about reason and science; about being persuaded by the evidence and securing the greatest good for the greatest number.
Replacing New Zealand’s much admired RMA with a “Developers’ Charter” would be about none of those things.
Read more

█ This essay was originally published in The Waikato Times, The Taranaki Daily News, The Timaru Herald, The Otago Daily Times and The Greymouth Star of Friday, 23 January 2015.

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17.1.15 Ian Athfield dies #architecture
31.12.14 New building laws —happy new year!
9.11.14 Dunedin: Housing upgrade and “rearrangement”
24.10.14 DCC 2GP (district plan): Residential parking + Medium density housing
16.5.14 Dunedin housing
19.3.14 State Housing matters
2.3.14 Dunedin’s social housing need —they built a bastard stadium
12.2.14 DCC: Growth v development contributions
12.6.13 Dunedin housing: building up or Brown-like sprawl #intensification…
30.7.12 National Govt puts champagne and stadium before shelter housing
14.4.12 How perverse is the New Zealand housing market?
8.12.11 interest.co heats NZ housing debate – listen up
13.3.11 Foster on Christchurch rebuild – typical architect… #eqnz
26.12.10 New Zealand housing, a sorry tale

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: (top) Hannah Peters/Getty Images AsiaPac – John Key PM and Nick Smith at Hobsonville housing development (August 2014); radiolive.co.nz – Chris Trotter tweaked by whatifdunedin

RNZ Sunday Morning —The Decline of Reason #mediapoliticsculture

Updated post Sunday, 25 Jan 2015 at 3:16 p.m.

Radio New Zealand National – Sunday Morning with Wallace Chapman
11:40 Helen Razer – The Decline of Reason

Helen Razer and Bernard Keane were going mad over the deteriorating quality of public debate and the dwindling of common sense in media, politics and culture.
So they wrote a book about it: A Short History of Stupid – The decline of reason and why public debate makes us want to scream.
Helen joins Wallace to talk about why so much has gotten so dumb.

Audio | Download: Ogg MP3 (13′ 47″) Link

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BOOK REVIEWS

A Short History of Stupid – The decline of reason and why public debate makes us want to scream
By Bernard Keane & Helen Razer
Published by Allen & Unwin
ISBN 9781760110543

I
Reviewer: Gordon Findlay
Posted on December 15, 2014

It would be great to make this compulsory reading for every journalist, blogger and aspiring politician, but I can’t imagine them persevering with it. It would ruin their life’s work.

I think that the deterioration of public debate, and the absence of common sense and moderation in both media and politics, are pretty much givens now. But why? And where did this come from? These are the questions that this apparently light-hearted, yet fundamentally serious, book seeks to answer.
For these authors, stupid comes in many forms, and damages us in many ways. And yes, ‘stupid’ is a noun for these 329 pages. Many different types of stupid are identified, and an attempt is made to find their origins. Far too many ‘species’ of stupidly are identified to list them all here. But the rise of individualism over social responsibility, vaccination denialism, excessive partisanship in politics, the conflict between sentimentalism and reason, postmodernism, fallacious opinion polling and reality TV might be a representative sample. For me the most important forms of stupidity identified were three: the inability to understand numbers, the preference for emotion over facts, and the ignorance of historical contexts.
A real attempt is made to pin down the development of stupidity in its many forms. This takes us into an elementary, and often light-hearted, discussion of the development of some core ideas in western thought. The authors also make a determined effort to be seen to be in touch with popular culture, invoking as many memes from popular culture as can be squeezed in, from Dallas to the Bond movies. The authors are Australian commentators, and quite a lot of the stupidity is taken from Australian sources.
[…] A broad-gauge rant, which is based on gently concealed erudition. But a rant nonetheless. And that becomes the book’s weakness. The writing is always turned up to eleven. In places the F-bomb becomes a carpet bomb. This continuous bombast makes reading more than a little tiring. But it’s a great source of one-liners.
Cont./ Booksellers NZ blog

II
Reviewer: Frank O’Shea
Posted on December 12, 2014

The problem with a book like this is that it encourages the reader to become more alert to Stupid.

This book sets out to show how much of public discourse is guided, not by reason, but by Stupidity. It is the work of two writers for the online magazine Crikey, and even those not sympathetic towards that journal’s independent take on the news, will find much in the book to stimulate and delight.
[…] There are phrases that pull you up with glee: “… the cheap meth of personal development seminars”, “the Oprahfication of wisdom”, “the well of homeopathic opinion”, “a prostatariat of old white male journalists”, “holistic healing … rip-off bollocks with a whale-call soundtrack”. And you feel like cheering aloud when you read psychiatry described as an “iffy branch of medicine … a pseudo-science … an impotent practice”.
The level of Stupidity in public debate in Australia is probably no higher than in other Western countries. It is unlikely that politicians, for whom the luminous vest photo op is more important than any discussion of complex issues, will be changed by what they read here. But then again, their success is based on the well-founded belief that the rest of us are Stupid.
Cont./ Sydney Morning Herald

III
Reviewer: Martin Hirst
Posted [2014], undated

The writers have very different tones and registers in their prose; but the bigger issue is that the book doesn’t seem to really know whom its enemy is.

I am a big fan of both Crikey political editor Bernard Keane and freelance writer Helen Razer. They are intellectually sharp, write with good humour and come across as eminently rational in their thinking. […] Keane and Razer are friends and obviously share a dislike for stupidity in all its forms (and they are many); but they are not cut from the same cloth. Keane comes across as a socially-concerned individualist, verging on the libertarian, while Razer is more than willing to own up to her own proto-Marxist and critical feminist intellectual development. Razer is also a bit of a potty mouth, so if you are offended by the occasional use of c—t, f—k and s—t in your reading material, perhaps you should only read the chapters by the more (ahem) refined Mr Keane.
But I’m not fazed by Ms Razer’s crudities because I love her razor wit and sharp insights. Her chapter on reason and unreason is one of the best in the book and one paragraph in particular sums up her (and my) take on the psychological pressures of modern working life: “When we fail at life as it is so broadly and meticulously prescribed, we call it mental illness. We have failed life. We are not permitted to think it is the conventions of life that have failed us.” (p. 164)
[…] both authors, but particularly Bernard Keane, have a blind spot to the ultimate form of Stupid: the problem of the system itself. Razer calls it “liberal democracy” and Keane calls it “liberal capitalism” and they ultimately concede it is all we’ve got. However, this is an ahistorical approach that denies the evidence of the past that it is the economic system that breeds inequality and that ultimately needs a certain level of ideological Stupid among the general population in order to prevent mass (and organised) public opposition that would be capable of overthrowing it. Previously Stupid systems of political economy such as slavery and feudal aristocracy have been defeated and replaced, so why not stupid Capitalism? If Stupid is in the way, then it is serving some purpose of the ruling class. After all, as Marx once wrote in his critique of Hegel: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” Insert “Stupid” into that sentence instead of “Religion” and read it again—it makes perfect sense!
Cont./ Academia.edu

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

ORFU chairman quits —no thanks to DCC for all its help *sniff

Of course —with Professional Rugby the sense of entitlement goes a terrible long way. The Dunedin City Council, cracked and broken, has been unfairly or dishonestly “short-changed” by Otago Rugby and big brother NZRU. So too is the community of South Auckland (history: Jokers Bars, Gambling money spent out of area on Otago Rugby and Racing). What a delightful experiential and lucrative background exists to the Otago Union.

Straight up and rational, in the course of a chairman’s work, it’s simply the case that there’s been no mandate to name the rugby sponges who misused millions of dollars of public funds; although Jeremy Curragh, former ORFU change manager, suffered a moment when he was forced to blurt that a lesser amount of charitable funds had been misused by the union in yet another of its darkest hours. [enter *curragh* in the search box at right]

Nor has prosecution of ‘the deserving’ been progressed (fact), but then NZRU and DIA are fully committed to ‘looking forward’ rather than back at their contentious and damning files that might be, suddenly(!), lost or misplaced, or smoothly sealed and suppressed. That’s the political climate, nefariously yet continuously supported by a line-up of senior government ministers along with NZ Police, IPCA, SFO, the Auditor-general, and yes, the Ombudsmen.

Doug Harvie will be glad he is now (personally) out of the spotlight.
Like it never happened. Not on his watch. Like it would not in future.
A clipped accounting English.

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### ODT Online Wed, 21 Jan 2015
Rugby: Harvie stepping down after getting tough job done
By Steve Hepburn
Doug Harvie will step down from the Otago Rugby Football Union’s board with the sport in a much better position than when he arrived. Harvie, a Dunedin chartered accountant, became chairman of the newly structured board in May, 2012. He was shoulder-tapped to stand and felt he could not say no.
Harvie (57), a former loose forward for the University and Dunedin clubs, said the new board did not want to look back on why it found itself in such a tough position. It was focused on getting the business of rugby back into a good shape in Otago.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image tweaked by whatifdunedin

Dunedin City Council to set rates WAY ABOVE….

Updated post Thu, 22 Jan 2015 at 1:10 p.m.

### ODT Online Wed, 21 Jan 2015
Editorial: Dunedin’s rating dilemmas
OPINION The council’s pre-draft long-term plan – which is yet to be refined or considered by the public – forecasts a rates rise of 3.7% for 2015-16, followed by 5.5% and then 4.2% in subsequent years. This is at a time when the inflation rate could well be about 1% and wage increases and benefit hikes about the same level. This also follows many years of rates rises above the increase in the cost of living.
Read more

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Comment at ODT Online:

Council debt
Submitted by Barnaby on Wed, 21/01/2015 – 8:37pm.

Mayor Dave Cull says, Dunedin “is on a bit of a roll”. So was the Titanic! This comment shows how genuinely out of touch he is with Dunedin businesses and ratepayers alike, who are struggling to fund one lunatic project after another, let alone make a living. He confuses misappropriation of ratepayers’ funds with “investing in the city”. To highjack rates for more silly things is neither fair nor moral. The DCC is now so far from core council services it is ludicrous. Now more than ever, Dunedin desperately needs a leader with business experience and skills.

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Related Posts and Comments:
15.1.15 Did the pool trust reply, Dr Hamlin?
14.1.15 DCC Draft Long Term Plan: more inanity from Cull’s crew pending

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Warehouse conversions | Apartment interiors #materials #light #colour

Warehouse Converted to Modern Loft
This 8,600 square-foot loft was completed and renovated by developers and designers of urban lofts Benito Escat and Alberto Rovira; the designers teamed up with interior design studio Minim for this ambitious project. What was once stables (built in 1930), a bomb shelter and then a print shop is now a modern loft located in Barcelona, Spain. The original brick walls are exposed, and the high concrete ceilings make the space truly magnificent. Glass lights set in the floor reveal the bearing structure and provide light to the level below.

More photos at http://www.iintrepidinc.com/lifeinstyle/2011/9/29/a-rustic-modern-loft-warehouse-conversion-barcelona.html

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Russian architect Denis Krasikovis created this eclectic apartment in Murmansk, Russia.

More photos at http://www.homeadore.com/2014/12/09/murmansk-apartment-denis-krasikov/

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In 2014, Vertebrae Architecture designed this tiny 330 square feet apartment in Venice, California. Full height hidden storage delineates space and provides visual and acoustic privacy. The minimal material palette minimizes distraction and maximizes the spatial quality of the apartment.

More images at http://www.homeadore.com/2014/12/08/micro-apartment-vertebrae-architecture/

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Rad Design fully demolished and redesigned the interior of this loft in Toronto, Canada. Custom shelving and displays show off the client’s antique camera collection and books on photography. The client had requested use of reclaimed wood materials and simple, metal elements. A small black platform makes the low bed float slightly above the floor. The bright new kitchen and bathroom add modern touches.

More images at http://www.homeadore.com/2014/11/04/photo-loft-rad-design/

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Warehouse in San Francisco Converted into Contemporary Loft
This project located in the historic Oriental Warehouse Loft Building in San Francisco’s South Beach neighbourhood, is a complete reconfiguration and renovation of an existing loft apartment. In order to maximize the spatial experience of the loft, traditional notions of domestic privacy were abandoned in favour of open and transparent relationships. Here is more on the renovation process from the architects: “Opaque guardrails at the sleeping mezzanine were replaced with frameless glass guardrails in order to provide a direct visual connection to the living room below. A large over-sized sheet of transparent glass further eliminates privacy in the master bathroom by allowing views into and out of the bathroom to the rest of the loft beyond. In contrast to the existing heavy-timber and rusticated brick structural shell which are left exposed, sleek new interior finishes were replaced throughout including wall and floor finishes, kitchen and bathroom mill work and a new steel cantilever stair that connects the living areas on the ground floor with the sleeping areas on the mezzanine.”

Edmonds + Lee Architects: http://www.edmondslee.com/owl.html

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Jestico & Whiles, Andel’s Hotel Łódź, Poland, warehouse conversion (completed 2009)
Located in central Łódź, the hotel features a top-floor spa centre and modern interior design. Its spacious and bright rooms come with air conditioning and a flat-screen TV. The hotel houses a luxury spa, the skySPAce, featuring a glass-covered swimming pool with beautiful city views, as well as various saunas, a massage parlour and a fitness centre. The hotel is a beautiful building with a post-industrial character. You can see an old and historical place (loads of old factory elements) and on the other hand the building is really modern. The Andel’s Hotel Łódź is housed in the cultural and commercial complex of Manufaktura, just 1.5 km from the famous Piotrkowska Street. The hotel was recently awarded the best in Poland in a European ranking.

More photos and their sources via Google Images

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Lant Street warehouse conversion, Southwark, London
Dow Jones Architects
An ongoing process of urban regeneration has seen the transformation of nineteenth century light industrial buildings into residential quarters for the liberal middle classes. In Lant Street, a five-level former brick warehouse is a case in point; over the past few years it has been gradually transformed into residential property with an art gallery below street level. Dow Jones Architects was asked to convert the top two floors and the roof, with spectacular views of the city, into a separate apartment. The brief was unequivocal; the client asked for ‘London in my living room’.
Giving views of the City skyline, only previously available from the rooftop, required the placement of the living room on the uppermost floor, with the sleeping and bathroom area on lowest level and the kitchen and dining in the middle. Preserving the stairways in their original locations allowed a relatively unpartitioned organisation of the individual floors, with just two oversized, automatically operated fire doors unobtrusively concealed in wall linings. Dow Jones’ internal material palette combines the original brick surfaces and rough timber structure with new smooth oak linings with flush camouflaged doors. The in-situ concrete boxes that mark the wet areas – bathroom, shower room, kitchen – read as discrete objects placed atop the existing surfaces.

Read more at http://www.architecturetoday.co.uk/?p=6122

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Historically Preserved Mansion Gets Eclectic Makeover
A true mansion, originally from 1922, with preserved architecture and full of details that reveal a rare magnificence, is the headquarters of the 22nd Edition of Casa Cor Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With very high ceilings and large windows, the beautiful and famous building has been designed in an eclectic style with over 5,400 square metres of constructed area, divided into 52 environments, with about 80 professionals who have demonstrated that it is possible to renew with style, but without deleting the marks of time. The building was once a Boarding School of Nursing Anna Nery (1926- 1973) and the College Student House (1973-1995). Here, past, present and future coexist im harmony.

Interactive room. Reuse was the watchword for Tiana Meggiolaro and Bia Lynch who set up the room with brick walls left exposed. “Based on the concept of upcycling and demos new function was given to the pallets, wooden structures used in freight transport that became bookshelf and countertop,” says Tiana.

Jewellery. The space of interior designers Mariana Dean, Jason Sartori and Luciana Arnaud pays homage to the fashion designer Coco Chanel and makes reference to her jewellery.

More at http://www.onekindesign.com/tag/preservation/page/5/

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25.12.14 2Modern Blog | Modern Decor + Architecture + Interiors
19.10.14 Dunedin: Randoms from inside warehouse precinct 18.10.14
22.6.14 Vogel Street Heritage Precinct (TH13)
17.4.11 Ricardo Bofill’s cement factory
28.12.10 Urban Outfitters Corporate Campus / Meyer, Scheter & Rockcastle

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Housing affordability in this country is “just hopeless” –Hugh Pavletich

September 2014. Another 17 Special Housing Areas were revealed in Auckland, under the plan to accelerate new home building – only two of them outside the suburbs. Housing Minister Nick Smith and Auckland Mayor Len Brown announcing the special housing. Link Photo: Radio New Zealand

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### NZ Herald Online 9:15 AM Monday Jan 19, 2015
Property: Mad truths on home prices in Auckland
Auckland housing affordability has worsened and it remains one of the 10 least affordable big cities in the world. Auckland’s surging housing market is now only slightly cheaper than London but pricier than Los Angeles, Toronto, New York, Perth, Brisbane and Boston.

█ The latest Demographia survey (1.74 MB), released today, compares prices with incomes in 378 cities, including 86 with more than one million people.

Auckland is one of the most unaffordable places due to its high house prices and low incomes. […] Now, the median house price has climbed to $613,000 and income to $75,100, giving a multiple of 8.2 and maintaining Auckland’s top 10 spot for unaffordable major cities.
Property Council chief Connal Townsend blamed Auckland Council’s planning regulations. “We’ve got houses more expensive than LA. How is this possible? A dump in Pt Chevalier demands a million dollars, which gets you a mansion in Beverly Hills. We’ve reached the point of madness.”
Survey authors Hugh Pavletich of Christchurch and Wendell Cox of the United States criticised the Government and Auckland Council for failing to ease affordability by vastly increasing housing supply via the Housing Accord and its 80 Special Housing Areas, but said the situation was bad in other areas too.

█ Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith said housing affordability problems went back 25 years but the Government was planning additional reforms this year, particularly around the Resource Management Act.

Analysis: So … what can be done?
Auckland is extraordinarily expensive relative to incomes and rents but the solutions need to be broader than what Demographia argues on land supply, writes Shamubeel Eaqub, principal economist at the NZIER.
Read more

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Auckland Housing Accord (2014)
Under the terms of the accord approved between the Government and the Auckland Council, a total of 39,000 new homes/sections are targeted for approval over the next three years. Not all of those 39,000 have to be found specifically through the accord, as the figure includes all developments that might be approved in Auckland during that period. Link

Graphic via interest.co.nz [click to enlarge]

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 09:18, January 19 2015
Auckland in world top ten for housing unaffordability: report
By Laura Walters
The co-author of a survey which found Auckland house prices exceeded those in Los Angeles says housing affordability in this country is “just hopeless”. The 11th annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey classified Auckland as the ninth least affordable major city in the world. Auckland is the 14th least affordable city out of all 378 cities surveyed, and has been rated as “severely unaffordable” in 11 surveys done – less affordable than Los Angeles and the Gold Coast. “It’s just not on, is it? The social injustice of the whole thing’s just dreadful. It’s screwing up people’s lives big time,” said Christchurch-based Hugh Pavletich. When the cost of housing exceeded three times people’s incomes it showed there was a “massive problem” with infrastructure financing and land supply, he said.

NZ HOUSING AFFORDABILITY DROPS
While Auckland’s house prices were extremely high, Tauranga-Western Bay of Plenty, Christchurch and Wellington were also seen in the survey as “severely unaffordable”. Palmerston North-Manawatu and Hamilton-Waikato were “seriously unaffordable”. There were no moderately affordable or affordable markets in New Zealand, according to the survey. “Housing affordability has declined materially in New Zealand’s three largest markets over the last decade.”

Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens said the high prices of New Zealand houses had a lot to do with the tax regime being favourable to home ownership and property investment compared with other forms of saving or investment.
Read more

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Todd Property Group with Fletcher Residential – Stonefields is a 110 hectare development at Mt Wellington, located, only 8km from the Auckland Central Business District and next to the established eastern suburbs of Ellerslie, Meadowbank and St Johns. Photo: panoramio.com

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Ian Athfield dies #architecture

Updated post Thu, 23 Jan 2014 at 5:28 p.m.
Public Memorial Service (1 February) details below.

—

█ Sir Ian Charles Athfield KNZM (15 July 1940 – 16 January 2015) was a New Zealand architect. He was born in Christchurch and graduated from the University of Auckland in 1963 with a Diploma of Architecture. That same year he joined Structon Group Architects, and he became a partner in 1965. In 1968 he was a principal partner in setting up Athfield Architects with Ian Dickson and Graeme John Boucher (Manson). Link to profile

Sir Ian had recently been made a knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to architecture. Photo: NZ Herald

Athfield made a knight (2014) | Wellingtonian Interview Q&A (2009)
Review of Athfield’s biography (2012)

Website: Athfield Architects | Google Images: Ian Athfield

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 17:51, January 16 2015
The Dominion Post
Renowned architect Sir Ian Athfield dies, aged 74
By Simon Bradwell and Tom Hunt
Renowned Wellington-based architect Sir Ian Athfield has died. He was 74.
Athfield Architects associate Rachel Griffiths said Sir Ian died in Wellington Hospital early this morning surrounded by family. His death was the result of “unexpected complications” during a procedure to treat his colon cancer.
“Ath had been dealing with cancer for some time with his usual stoicism and inappropriate humour,” Griffiths said. “There is … no-one else like Ath and we are devastated by his passing.” The Athfield family had asked for time to deal with their grief, she said. No date had been set for the funeral or memorial service at this stage.

A statement released this morning by the New Zealand Institute of Architects announced his death. “It is with great sadness that we inform Members that Sir Ian Athfield, one of New Zealand’s finest architects, has passed away in Wellington,” it said. “Our deepest condolences go out to Ath’s family, friends and colleagues. There are few details to share at this stage, but we will notify members of any funeral or memorial service arrangements as soon as they arise.”

Athfield, who was knighted in the most recent New Year Honours for his work in architecture, won more than 60 awards for his work. In a professional career spanning half a century, his stamp was imprinted across Wellington, and with Roger Walker, he was probably New Zealand’s leading exponent of modernist architecture. His most well-known works included the City Library and its nikau palm columns, built as part of the Civic Square redevelopment in the 1980s, and his own sprawling Khandallah house. He also designed Jade Stadium in Christchurch, which was damaged in the February 2011 earthquake.
Walker said he was “still in shock” on getting the news of Athfield’s death.
Read more

● 3 News: Kiwi architect Sir Ian Athfield dies [+ newsclip]
● New Zealand Herald: His designs offended and inspired: Architect Sir Ian Athfield dies [+ tweets with photos]
● ONE News: ‘Heavy hearts’ as renowned architect Sir Ian Athfield mourned
● Yahoo.com: ‘Rebellious’ architect Ian Athfield dies
● Wellington.scoop: Death of architect Ian Athfield
● NBR: Sir Ian Athfield, one of NZ’s most influential architects, has died

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ODT 20.1.15 (page 21)

—

Death Notice – The Dominion Post [online]

█ Public Figure: Ian Athfield https://www.facebook.com/Ian-Athfield

Sir Ian Athfield – Public Memorial Service
The New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) have organised a public memorial service to celebrate the life and work of Sir Ian Athfield, to be held at 3pm, Sunday 1 February, in Civic Square, Wellington.
Details of the service are yet to be finalised, but it is envisaged that it will include eulogies from people who knew Ath well. The service will very much be a memorial to Ath the Architect, and many Members will wish to attend. https://www.nzia.co.nz/

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archivesnz Published on May 5, 2013

Architect Athfield (1979)
New Zealand National Film Unit presents Architect Athfield (1979)
‘Architect Athfield’ examines the frustrations and achievements of one of New Zealand’s most lively and innovative architects. In 1975 Ian Athfield won an international competition directed towards providing housing for 140,000 squatters from the Tondo area in Manila. Ironically, Athfield had jumped to international prominence before any wide-ranging acceptance in his own country. This film examines Athfield’s practical philosophy of architecture, and culminates in his trip to the Philippines, where he hopes to make his prize-winning design a reality.

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wclchannel Uploaded on Nov 30, 2011
Ian Athfield – Central Library architect

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[YouTube] Julia Gatley’s interview with Sir Miles Warren and Ian Athfield on the 23rd of June 2012 at City Gallery Wellington.
Ian Athfield Interview 23 June 2012 Part 1 of 4 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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Phil O’Brien Published on Apr 14, 2013
Ian Athfield at the 2009 Gold Awards

—

Related Posts and Comments:
24.4.13 Ian Athfield at Dunedin | Open Lecture Friday 26 April
3.3.13 RNZ Sunday Morning | Ideas: Re-imagining the Urban House
9.11.12 New Zealand Urban Design Awards
25.6.12 New Zealand Architects: Pete Bossley, and Ian and Clare Athfield
7.12.11 Ian Athfield on post-earthquake Christchurch #eqnz
19.9.11 NZIA members on Christchurch City Plan
13.7.08 Some thoughts

—

Samples from What if? Comments

### rnz.co.nz Sunday 11 August 2013
Arts on Sunday
1:43 New Arts Icon Ian Athfield
Ian Athfield on his new honour and he talks about this weekend’s forum on how architects and designers can help out following natural disasters.
Audio Ogg MP3 (6′59″)

****

### ODT Online Sat, 27 Apr 2013
‘Look at heritage differently,’ Athfield says
By John Gibb
Leading New Zealand architect Ian Athfield yesterday praised Dunedin’s wealth of heritage buildings but urged a rethink of aspects of the city’s one-way-street system. Mr Athfield, of Wellington, was in the city yesterday to give the annual New Zealand Historic Places Trust R.A. Lawson Lecture, as part of the Dunedin Heritage Festival. Addressing about 200 people at the University of Otago’s St David lecture theatre, he said “we have to look at heritage differently”. One-way street systems, in Dunedin and elsewhere, could sometimes separate important heritage buildings from their communities, and could make it difficult for people to approach such buildings on foot because of traffic volumes. Mr Athfield […] urged people to take a more flexible and holistic approach to heritage, treasuring the wider context of historic buildings, including their landscape settings, rather than seeing them only in isolation.
Read more

****

Photo: City Gallery Wellington

Aalto Books profiles Portrait of a House by Simon Devitt
Published by Balasoglou Books May 2013
Only 1,000 copies printed with 100 special edition copies that include one of five photographic prints. At 140 pages, a true collector’s item for those interested in New Zealand history, architecture, design and photography.
Portrait of a House is a photo book by photographer Simon Devitt in collaboration with graphic designer Arch MacDonnell (Inhouse Design). This is Devitt’s first foray in the photo book genre. His book explores the Athfield House – the ‘village on the hill’ – an architectural experiment that Ian Athfield started in 1965 on the Khandallah hillside in Wellington, and which he is still altering and extending today.
The house is renowned in bohemian and academic circles for its many colourful dinner parties and occasions, and is infamous with neighbours past and present for the antics of its free-range livestock and frequent run-ins with Council. Roosters have been shot, construction shut down and architectural pilgrimages made.
This is an extraordinary story told through Devitt’s sensitive eye, blended with historic photographs, paintings and drawings from the Athfield archive. Clare Athfield’s contribution of her own recipes (dating from the 1960s until now) complements a selection of personal letters by family, friends, colleagues and clients which are insightful and often very funny – memories that make Simon’s photographs all the more potent in their beauty and silence.
The idea for the book came from Devitt’s admiration of Robin Morrison’s work and in particular Morrison’s 1978 photo book Images of a House about a William Gummer-designed house built in 1916. “A house is a pretty refined subject to make a book about,” explains Devitt. “It is not market driven, it is content driven and born out of passion. Life has happened there like in no other house, and the ‘living’ leaves its evidence, time has played out on its surface. There is a lot to be said about sitting still and how that looks. The Athfield house is a wonderful example of this. An accessible counterpoint to a largely asset based living that pervades New Zealand.”

****

### radionz.co.nz 3 March 2013
Radio New Zealand National
Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw
Listen on 101 FM or online at radionz.co.nz

10:06 Ideas: Re-imagining the Urban House
Arguments for intensifying the density of housing tend to fall into two categories: Affordability and putting a halt to urban sprawl.
Ideas talks to two architects who advocate higher density housing not just for those reasons but because they believe, if done right, it will result in more liveable houses and communities.

Robert Dalziel, the co-author of A House in the City: Home Truths in Urban Architecture, has travelled the world looking at traditional models of high density housing and come to some interesting conclusions; and Ian Athfield, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated architects, talks about the lessons he’s learnt from building his own house which now combines living quarters for 25 people with office space for another 40.
Audio Ogg Vorbis MP3 (49′59″)

“Get rid of those traffic engineers, which is another bloody thing, y’know, they’re singularly minded, quite stupid, y’know, they don’t think of anything else other than how long it takes to move a car from one space to another – that can’t happen in our cities in future.”

“The word “urban design” is now an abused profession – just like planning was in the sixties, y’know, and I said in the sixties if we knew as much about planning as we thought we knew about apartheid, we’d be demonstrating against planning, before we demonstrated against apartheid, because it is really really important. We had zoning at the time, absolutely ridiculous…”

Athfield House, Wellington. Photo: Grant Sheehan

****

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 07:46 23/03/2011
Architect Athfield not softening
Source: The Press
Architect Ian Athfield is refusing to back down from his ultimatum about Christchurch’s development. Today he defended his comments, saying it was “absolutely the best time ever” to have the debate about how the city would look in the future. He was backed by former Christchurch Mayor Garry Moore who said the city now had a “clean slate” that presented opportunities like never before. NZPA
Read more + Comments

****

### radionz.co.nz Monday, 07 March 2011 at 8:22
Morning Report with Geoff Robinson & Simon Mercep
Architectural ambassador joins rebuild debate
The rebuilding of Christchurch is clearly an emotive issue. Wellington architect Ian Athfield and Christchurch planning and resource management consultant Dean Crystal join us to discuss the rebuild debate.
Audio Ogg Vorbis MP3 (6′22″)

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC explains Harbourside subdivision in reply to Vandervis

Received from Sandy Graham, DCC Group Manager Corporate Services
Friday, 16 January 2015 5:06 p.m.

—

From: Sue Bidrose
Sent: Wednesday, 14 January 2015 3:59 p.m.
To: Lee Vandervis
Cc: Council 2013-2016 (Elected Members); Sandy Graham
Subject: FW: Non-notified ORC subdivision?

Hi Lee

Here is the Planner’s discussion about the Chalmers subdivision in the paper today. They have given generic information about how such decisions are made (to be notified or non-notified) and then how those principles stacked up in this specific case. They have then also addressed each of your specific attributes for this particular subdivision (size, political interest, transparency etc.) and how much impact that each of these can/can’t have on their decision-making around making the application notified/non-notified. I know you know much of this background Lee, but as you cc’d all Councillors, I wanted a generic response for Councillors who are not Hearings Panel members, so forgive my ‘teaching Granny to suck eggs’ approach.

Attached is also a couple of sketches that the planner (Lianne) made for herself showing the subdivision at the start of the process, and then at the end, just for your information for those of you who are interested in knowing exactly which lots were affected.

Regards
Sue

Dr Sue Bidrose
Chief Executive Officer
Dunedin City Council

[click to enlarge or view PDF immediately below]

█ Download: Chalmers subdivision diagrams (PDF, 1.0 MB)

——————————

From: Jeremy Grey [DCC]
Sent: Wednesday, 14 January 2015 3:36 p.m.
To: Sue Bidrose [DCC]
Subject: FW: Non-notified ORC subdivision?

Hi Sue,

Please see below an email that Lianne has prepared in response to your query. I will also be sending some diagrams.

Please let me know if you need anything further.

Regards,
Jeremy

——————————

From: Lianne Darby [DCC]
Sent: Wednesday, 14 January 2015 2:03 p.m.
To: Jeremy Grey [DCC]
Subject: RE: Non-notified ORC subdivision?

Hi Jeremy

In response to Sue’s questions:

1. All subdivisions require resource consent. This is not a suggestion that there is a fault with subdivision, but is simply a matter whereby Council maintains control i.e. makes sure there is access, servicing, the land is geotechnically stable, etc.

The District Plan sets out the criteria for subdivision within the different zones, and where a subdivision meets the criteria, it is usually processed non-notified. In the case of the Port 2 and Industrial 1 zones, subdivisions are expected to comply with Rules 18.5.3 (access), 18.5.4 & 18.5.4 (requirements for esplanade strips or reserves), 18.5.6 (service connections), 18.5.9 ( a rule which has since been deleted and no long applies), 18.5.10 (lots in unserviced areas) and 18.5.12 (structure plans). Some/most of these rules will not be relevant to specific proposals. It should be noted that there is no minimum area or frontage requirements for lots in these zones. A subdivision meeting all these rules is a restricted discretionary proposal. It is worth noting the final paragraph of Rule 18.5.1 which states:

“… any application for subdivision consent involving a discretionary activity (restricted), the written approval of affected persons need not be obtained.”

… that is, a land owner may subdivide in accordance with the expectations of the District Plan for the zoning without needing to consider others as affected parties.

Subdivisions which do not meet the above rules (unrestricted discretionary and non-notified activities) are often processed non-notified as well if the proposal involves no change in land use, the non-compliance can be mitigated, or there are no consequences for neighbours, the general public or the District Plan integrity. For example, in the residential zones, new lots require frontage. Many lots do not have any frontage at all and the subdivision is a non-complying subdivision as a result. However, these lots will have rights of way providing them with legal and physical access, so the lack of frontage is not considered of any consequence. We do not notify these applications.

As a general rule, subdivisions are notified when there is a breach of density i.e. the new lots are undersized and will result in development at a greater density than the zoning would anticipate. This has the potential to change the wider amenity of an area or overload Council’s services, among other matters. However, if the land is already developed, then the subdivision of the land into lots smaller than anticipated is not usually considered a matter of concern as there will be no actual change occurring except on paper. For example, a lot with two houses could be subdivided into two undersized lots, each containing a house, without the subdivision being notified.

Large subdivisions are not notified simply because they are large. If the subdivision is in accordance with the District Plan expectations, i.e. meets the relevant rules, it will not be notified. For example, the large Mosgiel residential subdivisions currently underway have not been notified except for Heathfield which involved a lot of undersized lots.

Planning does not take into account political or commercial interests when processing resource consents.

2. The subdivision of Chalmers Properties was non-notified for several reasons.
a) It meets the necessary requirements for subdivision in the Port 2 and Industrial 1 zone. Any deficiencies there may be in servicing (e.g. the need for individual water connections) will be addressed as part of the consent conditions, as is typical.
b) There is no new development proposed. The subdivision is not for the purpose of creating vacant sites for new development. This does not mean that the new lots cannot be redeveloped, but this is not the purpose of the subdivision; nor is redevelopment dependent on the subdivision. The existing sites can be redeveloped at any time should the property owner desire.
c) The subdivision is not so much a large subdivision as a number of small subdivisions all being put on the same plan. We are starting with 15 existing titles and finishing with 34.
d) The new lots have, by my understanding, been selected mainly to coincide with existing leases. Council does not have access to lease information and does not know who the leaseholders are (barring door-knocking). Council does not normally consider lessees or property renters as affected parties as the tenancies are private agreements. The subdivision of the freehold parcels should not have implications for the terms of any leases or leasehold titles.
e) Many of the existing titles are comprised of multiple sections. The original subdivision created many small parcels, and these have been grouped into freehold titles to give the 15 subject sites. Section 226 of the RMA allows a property owner to separate these parcels onto separate freehold titles if certain conditions are met. This is not a subdivision, and Council does not have discretion to say ‘no’ if the conditions are satisfied. Many of the new lots follow existing parcel boundaries and could arguably have been dealt with using s226. Given the number of titles being dealt with and the fact that some buildings might actually, when checked by survey, be over boundaries, the applicant decided to deal with them all by a formal subdivision at once; a one step process whereby any breaches of buildings over existing parcel boundaries will not cause the project to stall.

3. As noted above:
a) Size. The size of the subdivision is not a deciding factor in notification if the subdivision rules are met. In this case, the subdivision is not so much a large subdivision as a number of small subdivisions dealt with together. There is no change in land use anticipated as a direct result of this subdivision as there are already established land uses for the new sites.
b) Political implications: Council does not take into account political implications when processing resource consents. Consents are assessed on their merits and not according to who the applicant is or where it is situated. The zone is the relevant factor, not the neighbourhood or the history of the area.
c) Planning implications: There are no planning implications associated with this subdivision. The subdivision meets the necessary rules as set out by Rule 18.5.1(iv) for the Port and Industrial zones. There is no minimum site size set for the zones, so there are no undersized lots. All lots are serviced and have access. They are already developed with lawfully established activities. Any existing encroachments of buildings over boundaries will be resolved by this subdivision. The subdivision is a restricted discretionary activity.
d) Public interest: It is difficult to see how public interest is relevant in this case. The subdivision does not challenge the integrity of the District Plan in any way, and this is the public planning document being applied. The terms of all existing leases should not be affected (and this is a matter between the property owner and tenants anyway, not Council). There is no change to the sites occurring as a direct result of the subdivision. While the new lots may be sold and/or redeveloped, the land is in private ownership and can already be sold and/or redeveloped. Council does not decide whether or not a property owner can sell their land. Redevelopment proposals will be assessed by Council if and when they arise.
e) Commercial interest: Council does not take into account commercial interests when processing resource consents. The RMA sections 74(3) and 95D(d) instructs a consent authority to disregard trade completion or the effects of trade competition.
f) Transparency: The applicant is a private land owner who is entitled by the District Plan to undertake certain activities on their land. While subdivision is not a permitted activity, Council does not decline subdivision applications where the proposal is in accordance with the relevant subdivision requirements and the land is stable (i.e. section 106 of the RMA is not triggered). This is not Council land, nor Council’s project. The resource consent application and decision are public documents available for anyone to view, and in this regard, there is transparency about the proposal. It was decided for the above reasons that the proposal did not need to be notified.

The consent decision makes evident that there are a large number of addresses involved. In a nutshell, the property owner has a large number of addresses which do not fully align with leases, which do not fully align with freehold titles, which do not fully align with buildings on-site. The subdivision seeks to tidy up, or rationalise, the landholdings for ease of the property owner’s administration, as noted in today’s Otago Daily Times paper.

Regards

Lianne

——————————

From: Jeremy Grey [DCC]
Sent: Wednesday, 14 January 2015 8:43 a.m.
To: Lianne Darby [DCC]
Subject: FW: Non-notified ORC subdivision?

FYI…

—

From: Sue Bidrose [DCC]
Sent: Wednesday, 14 January 2015 8:11 a.m.
To: Jeremy Grey [DCC]
Cc: Sandy Graham [DCC]
Subject: FW: Non-notified ORC subdivision?

Hi Jeremy
Please read the Councillor email below about why the subdivision in today’s paper was done on a non-notified basis. I need details on this – is it possible (please read the details below) to do this today?

I need the details about:
1. Generically: how a planner decides notified vs non-notified – the things you are legally allowed to take into consideration generically, not specifically this case – what are the RULES and steps for making that decision
2. Specifically: how those rules were applied and steps taken in this specific case

Given my response to the Councillors is quite likely be shared reasonably widely, it might be useful in answering that first dotpoint for you to imagine you are writing a sort of ‘guide to the notification decision-making process’.

Thirdly, it would be also useful if you could tell me specifically on how each of the following issues is allowed to have weight in that decision of notification:
Size (of subdivision/change)
Political implications
Planning implications
Public interest
Commercial interest
Transparency.

Jeremy, if you could cc Sandy in your response please, as we will disseminate the answer and all relevant emails the way we do with LGOIMAs – and I suspect we could well get LGOIMAs about this also.

Thanks
Sue

Dr Sue Bidrose
Chief Executive Officer
Dunedin City Council

—

From: [name redacted on forwarding to council staff]
Sent: Wednesday, 14 January 2015 7:53 a.m.
To: Sue Bidrose [DCC]; Sandy Graham [DCC]
Cc: (all councillors)
Subject: Non-notified ORC subdivision?

Dear Sue,
Why has the massive subdivision of 15 ORC properties into 34 lots [today’s ODT p4] been processed on a non-notified basis, given the size, political and planning implications, and public and commercial interest in this range of properties?
Notification is surely a necessary prerequisite for such a large range of subdivisions to be carried out in a transparent manner is it not?
Kind regards,
[name redacted]

[ends]

—

Related Posts and Comments:
9.1.15 DCC: Non-notified decision for harbourside subdivision
27.12.14 Port Otago Ltd + Chalmers Properties
17.11.14 Bradken keen to sell Tewsley Street premises
12.6.14 Dunedin’s industrial land
18.3.14 Dunedin Harbourside: English Heritage on portside development

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Did the pool trust reply, Dr Hamlin?

Comment received at the post New Mosgiel Pool trust declared —(ready to r**t), published on 11 October 2014.

Rob Hamlin’s letter below is addressed to the Taieri Community Facilities Trust, contactable via the Pooling Together website.

—

Rob Hamlin
Submitted on 2014/11/26 at 1:28 pm

As a resident of Mosgiel, I have just sent this e-mail to the Trust. Let’s see if they are prepared to engage with me as a member of the community!

COMPTON REPORT

I note the claim made in the ODT today that: “Compton Fundraising Group consultants interviewed 30 groups across the Taieri and calculated the communities were willing to contribute $7.5 million for a new facility.”

Now as a professional market researcher and market feasibility research educator I am fascinated by this remarkable calculation. By the simple expedient of dividing the $7.5 million by the number of rateable residences in the catchment I discover that my expected contribution would be between one and two thousand dollars. I am assuming residents will be the primary source of money as the area is not exactly flush with the large businesses that might otherwise stump up this money.

As you are asking the community to make a major decision here, I would expect this Compton report to be available in its entirety with its calculations explicit. This is all the more relevant as the Carisbrook Stadium Trust made a less ambitious donation claim within this same community, but on a less ambitious per capita basis for the Stadium. They eventually ended up delivering pretty much nothing, with the donation shortfall eventually being made up fully by the ratepayer.

If a similar shortfall occurs this time round, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the ratepayers may be asked to stump up again to cover it, and it’s not unfair to predict that this might be funded by a specific targeted rate on the pool’s catchment. In which case the projected $1-2,000 voluntary donation becomes a non-discretionary tax. Were the shortfall to be c. 100% (as in the CST exercise) it would cause considerable hardship within some parts of the Mosgiel community, especially if it was augmented by a large shortfall in your predictions of operational revenue. I would reiterate that both these outcomes have now occurred with regard to the FB Stadium. As many of the poorer residents of Mosgiel are also very elderly, often live alone and are unlikely to be regular users of the pool, this would be a particularly unfair outcome.

As a Taieri resident who may (will) end up carrying the fiscal can for this, I would therefore be grateful if you would furnish me with a full copy of the Compton Fundraising Group report, with summaries of all meetings and descriptions of all thirty of the ‘groups’ who formed the basis of it, plus its calculations that predicts a willing donation of $7.5 million from within the catchment, and a willing $1-2000 donation from me personally.

As this is not a commercial facility proposal, and the research was presumably paid for by your ratepayer (me) funded DCC grant I do not consider ‘commercial sensitivity’ to be a valid reason for withholding it. I would also expect to see it tabled in full at your Coronation Hall meeting in December.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Hamlin

[ends]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

New Zealand: Salmond on abuse of democratic freedoms

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 10:57 13/01/2015 — Dominion Post
Erosion of democratic rights
By Dame Anne Salmond
OPINION In the wake of the shooting of cartoonists and journalists in Paris, political leaders in New Zealand have expressed shock and horror, and their support for those who uphold freedom of expression in other countries.
What about freedom of speech and thought at home, however?
Over the past decade or so, politicians seeking to uphold their own power have abused democratic freedoms in New Zealand. Journalists including Jon Stephenson (for reporting on New Zealand’s involvement in Afghanistan), Andrea Vance (over a suspected leak of a report about the GCSB spy agency), and Nicky Hager (for exposing scurrilous relationships between senior politicians and muck-raking bloggers) have been intimidated and attacked.
While our leaders do not shoot people, they work with others to try to ruin the lives and careers of those who disagree with them. The means may be different, but the intent is the same. One way or another, their critics (however valid their points of view might be) must be silenced.

It is not just outspoken individuals who are at risk. Institutions that are the bulwarks of our democracy have been undermined. Since the 1980s, the civil service, which is supposed to offer informed, impartial advice to politicians, has been brought under ministerial control, and instead of serving civil society now largely serves its political masters.

The freedom of the press has been compromised, for instance in the wake of the teapot tape scandal, when newspaper offices were raided in an effort to prevent the publication of those recordings, or when improper pressure is brought to bear on journalists and media outlets for partisan political purposes.
While H L Mencken defined good journalism as “afflicting the comfortable, and comforting the afflicted”, much journalism in New Zealand now does the opposite. Read more

█ Dame Anne Salmond is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Auckland. She was the 2013 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.

—

Anthony Robins at The Standard says:
“Salmond goes on to cover attacks on “The independence of the judiciary and the rule of law”, “Independent statutory bodies”, “Freedom of thought and inquiry in universities and Crown Research Institutes” and “Radical extensions of the powers of the SIS and the GCSB” […] It’s an excellent article, and a depressing summary of the state of NZ.” Link

—

Related Posts and Comments:
13.1.15 Southern complainants: IPCA won’t ensure upfront investigation…
16.12.14 Chief Ombudsman | OIA review
24.10.14 John Key’s Godzone and the OIA
20.9.14 Election Night
19.9.14 Chief Ombudsman Beverley Wakem to launch post-election inquiry
17.9.14 John Key PM —real or fake? and one email
15.9.14 The Moment of Truth
2.9.14 John Key PM, plus and minus
7.12.13 Corruption in NZ Sport: Where has John Key PM been hiding ???
30.7.13 GCSB: National Party websites hacked
● 13.7.13 New Zealand: Salmond on democracy
21.3.13 Public service causing “paralysis of democracy” with OIA requests
26.7.12 ‘The Public’s Right to Know’ – OIA Review

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC Draft Long Term Plan: more inanity from Cull’s crew pending

DANGER | WARNING SIGNS | DESPAIR
CORRUPTION PET PROJECTS MORE DEBT HIGHER RATES SAME AGAIN

yay

### dunedintv.co.nz January 14, 2015 – 5:41pm
DCC prepares to launch into draft long term plan
The Dunedin City Council is preparing to launch into its draft 2015/2016 long term plan. Councillors will begin formal discussion of the document next week.

The long term plan outlines the council’s financial strategy for the next ten years. It takes into consideration major changes and development, in respect of infrastructure, assets, services and economic development.

The plan also highlights how the council intends to fund work, with information about budgets, financial sources and changes to rates. A final version will be prepared after public consultation, which will begin in mid-March.
Ch39 Link [no video available]

f***

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Earthquake felt at central Dunedin 12:40 a.m.

Last updated 14.1.15 at 4:33 p.m.

█ Quake 70 km west of Te Anau, intensity moderate, M5.5, depth 78 km http://geonet.org.nz/quakes/2015p033746 Wed Jan 14 2015 12:40:01 AM (NZDT)

Screenshot: QUAKE STATUS — Reviewed [click to enlarge]

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Updated Post 14.1.15 at 1:30 a.m.
Awaiting official report on magnitude, depth and location

Tweet:
NZ Earthquake Bot @nz_quake
QUAKE: Mag 4.9, Wed, Jan 14 2015, 12:40:00 am, 70 km west of Te Anau. Depth: 84 km tinyurl.com/mqxrhmk #eqnz
12:42 AM – 14 Jan 2015

Tweet:
GeoNet @geonet
Quake 70 km west of Te Anau, intensity moderate, approx. M5.3, depth 81 km http://geonet.org.nz/quakes/2015p033746 Wed Jan 14 2015 12:40 AM (NZDT)
12:43 AM – 14 Jan 2015

█ Felt at Pitt Street (Moderate) – reported at http://geonet.org.nz/quakes/felt

█ Useful Links: http://www.geonet.org.nz/quakes | http://quakemap.co.nz/

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Screenshots [click to enlarge]:

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Related Posts and Comments:
● 16.10.14 Earthquake at Dunedin
14.10.14 ORC: New strategic plan fosters Otago prosperity
17.9.14 DCC releases earthquake-prone buildings register
24.2.14 Earthquake-prone Buildings Amendment Bill
18.8.13 South Dunedin and other low lying areas
● 21.7.13 Earthquake —Stuff tells you what to do #EQNZ
30.7.12 ORC on hazard risks and land use controls
27.6.11 You keep asking: does Dunedin get earthquakes?
28.3.11 Dunedin earthquake proneness 2
9.3.11 Dunedin earthquake proneness
27.11.10 LIM “site hazards”
4.9.10 Earthquake

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Government’s council tax freeze

At least 30 Tory-led local authorities are planning to reject demands to freeze tax rates this year, a Telegraph survey finds.

### telegraph.co.uk 8:30AM GMT 11 Jan 2015
Council tax to rise in Tory shires despite freeze ordered by ministers
By Edward Malnick – The Telegraph
Dozens of councils are preparing to defy the Government’s council tax freeze, including many in Conservative heartlands. A survey by The Telegraph found that at least 30 Tory-led local authorities are planning to reject demands to freeze tax rates this year. They are among 60 across England who say they intend to increase bills from April — including almost half of the country’s 27 county councils.

The Government has said councils should help taxpayers with the cost of living and ministers will be particularly concerned in the run-up to the general election in May.

Eric Pickles, the Local Government Secretary, said residents should “demand an explanation” if councils refused the freeze. He accused some of being “democracy dodgers” for planning to push up rates by 1.99 per cent, shy of the 2 per cent threshold at which they would have to hold a referendum.
More than 80 councils said that their proposals would not be published until a later date, raising the prospect of more householders facing rises.
The Telegraph surveyed all 353 of England’s councils about their 2015-16 council tax bills, most of which will be finalised by March. Of the 262 that responded, only four said that they were preparing to reduce their levies, while 116 were planning to go along with the request to freeze rates.
Read more

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█ Soundings at Whale Oil Beef Hooked:
Cameron Slater 13/1/15 “This would be a fantastic policy to have here, as it would stop the councils doing exceptionally stupid things because there is no way in hell voters would vote for a rates rise of greater than 2%. There are a few things needed for local government reform in New Zealand. The first is the power of recall and recall elections. The USA has them, Canada has them, and the UK is getting them. This would allow citizens to remove ratbag mayors and councillors instead of waiting 3 years.” More

Postscript: Cameron Slater 13/1/15 Lusty, loopy, lascivious and now SLIMY Len

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Dunedin City Council, glory days. What can possibly happen to Cull.

█ You might want to sponsor the dropkick…. anything to fix the Citifleet profile eh, Daaave —[McKerracher goes mad with PR opps]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Traffic lights: Anzac Avenue/Frederick Street intersection

Four questions put to DCC Transportation Planning today:

● What work is needed to activate the traffic lights at Anzac/Frederick?
● Why it is requiring remediation?
● How much it will cost?
● Why weren’t the lights just switched on as planned in early December immediately after the site [Hall Brothers yard – Anzide Properties Ltd] was cleared?

The argument goes like this: there was a break made in a fibre optic cable during site clearance at Hall Bros yard. Chorus billed the property owner for the breakage. The property owner didn’t know the cable existed or that it had been attached to one of their buildings on site.

Meanwhile, DCC says the cable issue isn’t connected to the traffic lights not working.

So back to those questions:

DCC says new medians and yellow-dot pads are being added at crossings, and ‘green boxes’ for cyclists are being re-scoped — for improved traffic management, and cycle and pedestrian safety; the 5-way intersection is being turned to a *4-way* intersection (with the access way formerly used by Hall Bros being removed) — simplifying the intersection and lights control of it.

DCC says all work to cost circa $100,000.

Timelines as such around the holiday break meant the traffic lights weren’t turned on earlier [in December, immediately following site clearance by Hall Bros].

DCC says Tony Avery will likely handle media statements on completion of the project.
(why is Mr Avery still at DCC, he’s retained until the new GM arrives in February)

The real story?

Hall Bros had to clear their site by a certain date in December 2014. They did.
Chorus turned up the next day saying the property owner had broken the cable.
Chorus had no easement. The cable should not have been there.

The irony of the lights not working because they were connected illegally to a building on the land that had to be cleared because the lights were illegally installed, is THE ANSWER.

Remember, DCC says the cable issue isn’t connected to the traffic lights not working.

Ye Gods of Irony, please do not explode.

DCC Webmap – Anzac Avenue/Frederick Street [click to enlarge]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr —with thanks to correspondents for their wording, collaged

*Image: Tony Avery – tweaked by whatifdunedin

Southern complainants: IPCA won’t ensure upfront investigation #politics

The Police have joined both the Charities Commission and the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) in picking off low hanging fruit to justify their existence. There’s no mongrel in the public service any more and all they want is the easy life. It’s why the Police love traffic enforcement, particularly speed and drink driving – so instant, so easy and oh so profitable. –Anonymous

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Southern police officers were investigated for a range of complaints, including failure to investigate, attitude/language, and inadequate service.

### ODT Online 9:20 AM Sunday Jan 11, 2015
Dozens of police faced disciplinary procedures
By Hamish McNeilly
Complaints about bad language and bullying are just some of the reasons for disciplinary actions against some Southern district police officers. Figures released to the Otago Daily Times show dozens of southern officers have been involved in disciplinary action over the past five years, with 12 officers resigning.
Read more

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IPCA: “It’s our job to keep watch over Police” !!!!

Independent Police Conduct Authority of New Zealand
Sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Independent Police Complaints Authority. The Independent Police Conduct Authority is an independent body that considers complaints against New Zealand Police and oversees their conduct. http://ipca.govt.nz/

IPCA Role and powers
The Authority has the following functions and powers under the Independent Police Conduct Authority Act 1988.
Functions: Under section 12 of the Independent Police Conduct Authority Act 1988, the Authority’s functions are to:
● receive complaints (i) alleging misconduct or neglect of duty by any member of Police or (ii) concerning any Police practice, policy or procedure affecting a complainant; or
● investigate incidents in which a member of Police (acting in the execution of his or her duty) causes or appears to have caused death or serious bodily harm.
Action on complaints: Under the Act, when the Authority receives a complaint, it may carry out its own investigation, or refer the matter to the Police for investigation under the Authority’s oversight. If a complaint is referred to the Police for investigation, the Authority will take steps to ensure that it is properly resolved. This may include directing or actively overseeing the Police investigation, or reviewing or auditing the Police investigation once it is completed. The Authority may also decline to take action on a complaint – for example, if the complaint is very minor or outside the Authority’s jurisdiction. The Authority’s powers in relation to complaints are set out in section 17 and section 19 of the Act. Read more

IPCA Vision and values
The Authority’s mission is to promote public trust and confidence in New Zealand Police. […] The Authority’s values include independence, trustworthiness, accountability, vigilance, and integrity. The Authority exists to support public expectations – as expressed by Parliament – for the justice system to be trusted and effective.
Outcomes: The Authority is funded through Vote: Justice and contributes to the overall justice sector outcome ‘A safe and just society’ and to the following three justice sector goals: accessible justice services, effective constitutional arrangements, and trusted justice system. The work done by the Authority also contributes to Police outcomes of ‘Confident, safe and secure communities’ and ‘Organisational development’, and Police values of integrity and professionalism as outlined in the Police Statement of Intent 2008/09. Read more

IPCA Accountability
The Authority is an independent Crown entity, which means it is accountable to Parliament for its use of taxpayer funding. The Authority is independent in its day-to-day operations. It cannot be told how to handle an investigation, or what the outcome of any investigation should be. However, the Authority is taxpayer-funded and it must account to the responsible Minister and to Parliament for its use of those funds. Read more

IPCA Independence
The Independent Police Conduct Authority is fully independent – it is not part of the Police. ‘Independence’ means that the Authority makes its findings based on the facts and the law. It does not answer to the Police or anyone else over those findings. In this way, its independence is similar to that of a Court. There are three aspects to the Authority’s independence: Legislative independence, Operational independence, and The perception of independence. Read more

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) was established in November 2007, replacing the Police Complaints Authority.
The Police Complaints Authority had been established in 1989, following several years of debate about Police accountability, sparked in part by the role of Police during the 1981 Springbok Tour. Prior to 1989, complaints against the Police were investigated internally. Through most of its life, the Police Complaints Authority comprised a single person with a small number of support staff conducting reviews of Police investigations. Because of its reliance on Police investigations, the Authority was perceived as lacking independence. Recent changes, including the appointment of independent investigators, are addressing that perception.
Key milestones in the history of the Police Complaints Authority include:
● the October 2000 Review of the Police Complaints Authority by Sir Rodney Gallen, who recommended the appointment of independent investigators;
● the appointment in late 2003 of the first independent investigators;
● the March 2007 report of the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct, which recommended a number of changes to the Authority, including enhanced powers and improved communication with complainants;
● the Independent Police Conduct Authority Amendment Act 2007, which changed the Authority’s name and made changes to the Authority’s powers.
The period since the establishment of the Independent Police Conduct Authority in November 2007 has been one of transformation, as the Authority shifts its focus towards independent and transparent investigation of the most serious incidents and complaints. This period of change has included the appointment of additional investigators, and changes to the Authority’s legislation, structure and operations.
[IPCA History] Read more

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 10:00 10/01/2015
‘Zero tolerance’ policy should be scrapped
By Duncan Garner
OPINION Police like to roll out statistics when it suits them so here’s one that hurts – 17 people killed on the roads during the holiday period. That’s more than double the death toll compared with last year. And it’s despite the police’s misguided efforts to target speeding drivers with the hopelessly designed zero tolerance for speeding campaign. It’s a campaign that has utterly failed. It’s a stupid policy that needs to be scrapped. Hundreds of thousands of us will have broken the zero tolerance policy over the holidays. Good on you. I did. It was safer to do so.
Read more

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00, January 11 2015
Uber taxi battle sees police vs cabbies
By Shabnam Dastgheib and Marika Hill
Police are cracking down on Uber, the cheap and trendy new-kid-on-the-taxi rank, leaving paying customers on the pavement. After complaints from the old-school taxi firms, police have begun fining the Uber drivers whose lower fares have been hurting the big cab companies. The private car hire service has hit back, lodging a complaint of police harassment with the Independent Police Complaints (sic) Authority. Uber operates as a private hire service which means the fare has to be set at the time of booking, rather than using a meter. This means Uber does not have to abide by taxi regulations, thus saving on operating costs.
Read more

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Citifleet —Related Posts and Comments:
3.1.15 DCC: Street talk NEVER HAPPENED
25.12.14 Daaave stole Christmas from #DUD
● 24.12.14 Dunedin: Watching the detectives
23.12.14 Our Leaders: if commonalities
● 19.12.14 DCC: Limited Citifleet investigation about insurance
19.12.14 Vandervis: Deloitte and Police Citifleet investigations
19.12.14 DCC Citifleet by email . . . . woops! (another timeline proof)
18.12.14 DCC: Deloitte report released on Citifleet #whitewash
24.10.14 DCC Citifleet, more revelations….
21.10.14 DCC Citifleet, undetectable….

Otago Rugby —For more information, enter the terms *orfu*, *rugby*, *racing*, *pokies*, *auditor-general*, *audit nz*, *dia*, *oag*, *sfo*, *operation chestnut* and *whistleblower* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: 3news.co.nz – police generic

Christchurch rebuild, slants

Slow to roll….

nzplatts Published on May 7, 2014

Christchurch CBD Rebuild 2014
All music rights to Coldplay ‘Fix You’ – https://itunes.apple.com/nz/artist/coldplay/id471744

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Christchurch, rise….

DTPictures NZ Published on Jan 18, 2014

Christchurch – January 2014
The familiar sound of Christchurch’s trams are back in the CBD, it was a glorious day, and I wanted to test out my new GoPro! Cue time lapses, wide angles, and gratuitous slow motion shots…
Photography: Dan Heuston
Music: ‘Rise’ by Ultravox (Google Play • iTunes)

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00, January 10 2015
Tougher conditions expected
By Tim Fulton – The Press
CHRISTCHURCH—Commercial construction firms are waiting to see how busy they will be this year as big jobs come together. The city’s commercial construction will get tougher, as the “greater rebuild” starts to wind down, Anthony Leighs says. “I have a bit of a fear that some will just react a bit too slowly and that will be painful and financially costly,” Leighs, the managing director of Leighs Construction, says.
The key to doing well in the rebuild is growing strategically, he says. Some companies are already caught between “scale-up” mode and planning for the time when work falls away. “Anecdotally, I know there are construction organisations who are finding the going, pretty bloody tough. And from this point onwards it’s not going to get easier – it’s going to get harder.”
Large projects for Leighs in the next 24 months will include Burwood Hospital overhaul and the Westpac and ASB buildings.
Commercial builders are also developing Christchurch Public Hospital, the Convention Centre, the Justice Precinct and “supposedly the Metro Sports Centre”. It is adding to the national strain on labour and construction materials, Leighs says. “The demand on resourcing is already pretty acute and it’s going to become far more significant.”

Hawkins chief executive Jim Boult says subcontractors to Canterbury’s commercial rebuild may soon look to the residential sector to ease staff shortages.

Christchurch has “adequate work for all good commercial construction companies at the moment” but companies will have to be nimble, Boult says. Most commercial firms are waiting to see how busy they will be, if and when some large government and private sector jobs come together. “If they all come out one-after-another, no problem. But if they all come out at the same time, then that could cause some constraints,” Boult says.
Contractors will probably need more migrants and imported, pre-fabricated materials from overseas to get the work done. They will also need to be careful not to be too large once their workload falls away.
Read more

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58 comments….

### 3news.co.nz Wednesday 5 Nov 2014 11:27 a.m.
Rebuild companies breaching employment law – MBIE
Labour inspectors say they’re disappointed how many staff working on the Christchurch rebuild are not being treated fairly by their bosses. Sixteen labour hire and construction companies have been found to have breached employment laws following audits by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Labour Inspectorate. Inspectors audited 40 Canterbury companies in the last six months and of the 23 audits now complete, 16 have breached employment laws. Most of the breaches related to incomplete employment agreements, unlawful deductions from wages and insufficient records, Labour Inspectorate southern region manager Steve Watson says. NZN
Read more

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Back then (2012)….

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 19:46 30/07/2012
Rebuild plan for Christchurch unveiled
By Lois Cairns
As many as 840 properties will need to be purchased to turn the Government’s plans for rebuilding Christchurch’s city centre into reality. The 100-day blueprint released by the Christchurch Central Development Unit (CCDU) today outlines a bold plan to significantly shrink the size of the CBD by designating two strips of land – one in the east of the city and one in the south – as open spaces. These open spaces, along with the Avon River, which will be widened in stretches and developed into a riverside park, will serve to frame the new CBD, ensuring that all new development is concentrated within a tight geographic area.
Read more | Interpretive Location Map

AJ Funnell Published on Jul 7, 2014

Christchurch Flyover
Christchurch’s new look city… The video says up to 10,000 people could be working within 300 metres of the city centre. Animation Research Ltd (ARL).

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Yurts for Tunnel Beach *names [commercial activity proposed]

The following information exists in public domain. -Eds.

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Andrea (36), who did not want her last name used, said she and husband Brendon (40) planned to use the yurts to offer a unique type of homestay accommodation. (ODT)

### ODT Online Fri, 9 Jan 2015
Couple to put up yurts
By Chris Morris
A Dunedin couple are planning to install three yurts – traditionally used by Mongolian and other nomads across Central Asia – on 2.8ha of gorse-covered land they own above Tunnel Beach. The yurts would be built sometime next year, the first to be used as a family space, but the couple hoped to turn their idea into a tourist attraction.
Read more

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DCC Non-notified Decision:

47 Tunnel Beach Road Green Island (LUC-2014-69)
This consent was an application to/for construct dwelling, barn, three yurts and undertake earthworks at 47 Tunnel Beach Road Green Island.
This was considered by the Council’s Senior Planner (Consents) on 1 April 2014.

http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/planning/browse-non-notified-decisions/non-notified-decisions/2014/luc-2014-484

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[click to enlarge]
DCC Webmap – 47 Tunnel Beach Road, Green Island, Dunedin

Dunedin City District Plan – Map 59

Rates information

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Recent comment at Facebook page Dunedin NZ:
Andrea Buhr Tunnel beach track, lovely in a sunny day!!!
Like · Reply · 1 · 30 September 2014 at 18:09

Andrea Buhr – Facebook page as at 9.1.15 [Andrea.B.Lemm]

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Brendon Lemm – Facebook page as at 9.1.15 [another car man]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC: Non-notified decision for Harbourside subdivision

Updated post 13.1.15 at 1:25 a.m. Map added.

Notice:

20 Cresswell Street Dunedin, 32 Cresswell Street Dunedin, 36 Cresswell Street Dunedin, 8 Bombay Street Dunedin, 10 Bombay Street Dunedin, 14 Tewsley Street Dunedin, 47 Willis Street Dunedin, 59 Willis Street Dunedin, 34 Mason Street Dunedin, 44 Cresswell Street Dunedin, 47 Cresswell Street Dunedin, 56 Willis Street Dunedin (SUB-2014-149)

This consent was an application to/for subdivision at 20 Cresswell Street Dunedin, 32 Cresswell Street Dunedin, 36 Cresswell Street Dunedin, 8 Bombay Street Dunedin, 10 Bombay Street Dunedin, 14 Tewsley Street Dunedin, 47 Willis Street Dunedin, 59 Willis Street Dunedin, 34 Mason Street Dunedin, 44 Cresswell Street Dunedin, 47 Cresswell Street Dunedin, 56 Willis Street Dunedin.

This was considered by the Council’s Senior Planner (Consents) on 25 November 2014.

█ http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/planning/browse-non-notified-decisions?result_146838_result_page=3

Information obtained from City Planning 12.1.15

Harbourside subdivision (SUB-2014-149)
Applicant: Chalmers Properties Ltd

“The proposed subdivision is to be undertaken in one stage, and will not create any vacant sites intended for development. Nor is any redevelopment of the new lots anticipated.” (from the Decision) ??? Are we sure….

█ SUB-2014-149 Decision (DOCX, 1.62 MB)

█ SUB-2014-149 Application 2014-10-30 (PDF, 9.33 MB)

Decision (final page) – Copy of Plan: Not to Scale. [click to enlarge]

DCC Webmap – Dunedin Harbourside [click to enlarge]

Dunedin City District Plan – Harbourside zones (detail) via Map 35 and Map 49

Heritage New Zealand – Dunedin Harbourside Historic Area # List No. 7767

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DCC Ratepayers:

● 20 Cresswell Street Dunedin – Anzide Properties Ltd
● 32 Cresswell Street Dunedin – Anzide Properties Ltd
● 36 Cresswell Street Dunedin – McCormick Carrying Properties Ltd
● 8 Bombay Street Dunedin – Ross D Matheson, Mary K O’Hara Matheson
● 10 Bombay Street Dunedin – Nicen Ltd
● 14 Tewsley Street Dunedin – Ewen W Heather, Leanne M Kent, Russell S Melville
● 47 Willis Street Dunedin – Steel and Tube Holdings Ltd, Pacific Oriental Holdings Ltd
● 59 Willis Street Dunedin – Christie Paper Ltd
● 34 Mason Street Dunedin – Otago Daily Times Ltd
● 44 Cresswell Street Dunedin* – Graeme M Crosbie, Gillian K Crosbie
● 47 Cresswell Street Dunedin – Hyde Park Industrial Developments Ltd
● 56 Willis Street Dunedin – Development Six Ltd

*Note: Conflicting DCC mapping information for 44 Cresswell Street, Dunedin. Property adjoins 14 Tewsley Street, does not include 14 Tewsley Street.

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Related Posts and Comments:
16.1.14 DCC explains Harbourside subdivision in reply to Vandervis
27.12.14 Port Otago Ltd + Chalmers Properties
17.11.14 Bradken keen to sell Tewsley Street premises
12.6.14 Dunedin’s industrial land
18.3.14 Dunedin Harbourside: English Heritage on portside development

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Industrial Heritage Save: Cowes Hammerhead crane

Cowes Hammerhead crane at J S White Shipyard, Thetis Road

The 80 ton giant cantilever crane built of cast iron with a square tower of three stages with its base embedded in concrete was completed in 1911 by British firm Babcock and Wilcox.

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via Twitter

Cowes Isle of Wight @cowesofficial Long over-due repairs to the iconic Cowes Hammerhead crane have been announced by the Isle of Wight Council. fb.me/1qTwdPn6v 24/12/14 12:38:54 a.m.

IOWCouncil Official @iwight Repair works to Cowes Hammerhead Crane to begin in March. Full details at iwight.com/news/Hammerhead-Crane-repair-works-to-begin pic.twitter.com/K57leaER1h 23/12/14 10:24:23 p.m.

TheVictorianSociety @thevicsoc Cowes Hammerhead crane named in Victorian Society’s Top Ten List of Most Endangered Buildings shar.es/1moLcS 9/10/14 4:12:22 a.m.

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### onthewight.com Tuesday, 23 Dec 2014 9:35am
Isle of Wight News
Council make active moves to save important Island heritage
By Sally Perry
Repair works to secure the long-term future of the Cowes Hammerhead Crane are to begin in the new year after funding was received from English Heritage. Well done to all involved in moving this forward. The Cowes Hammerhead Crane is on English Heritage’s ‘at risk’ register and the organisation has put forward £76,000 to cover the costs of repairs to the famous structure. The council has appointed a specialist firm to carry out the works, which are due to begin in March 2015. The works will mainly see the corroded sections of steel from the crane’s tower replaced, with all new steel receiving a coat of paint. […] Clare Charlesworth, heritage at risk principal advisor for English Heritage, said: “Our grant towards the repair of the Hammerhead Crane means this nationally important piece of industrial heritage is one step closer to coming off the at risk register.”
Read more

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Only remaining pre-WWI hammerhead crane
The giant cantilever crane was built within the first decade of these cranes’ development and is the only remaining pre-WWI hammerhead crane in England.

### onthewight.com Wednesday, 8 Oct 2014 8:07am
Isle of Wight News
Cowes Hammerhead crane named in Victorian Society’s Top Ten List of Most Endangered Buildings
By Joe O’Donnell
Last year the iconic giant cantilever crane in Cowes – used for the production of naval warships – was named Most at Risk by English Heritage, today it has been added to the Victorian Society’s Top Ten List of Most Endangered Buildings. […] Cowes’ industrial past is epitomised by shipbuilder J.S. White’s 80 ton hammerhead crane – installed to increase capacity for the production of naval warships. One of these, HMS Cavalier, is preserved at Chatham Dockyard as a memorial to the 143 British destroyers and over 11,000 men lost at sea during WWII. […] Earlier this year, Isle of Wight Council issued an urgent works notice to the crane’s owner after the crane was found to be structurally unsound. The owner is now disputing the urgent works notice but we urge the Council to continue to press to secure the future of this industrial landmark.
Read more

[click to enlarge]

█ English Heritage List entry – No. 1390949 (history and description)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: Cowes Hammerhead crane – (from top) cowes.co.uk | iwradio.co.uk | staticflickr.com [6938825525_abb3906851_z] | woottonbridgeiow.org.uk (mixed media to b/w by whatifdunedin) | cowes.shalfleet.net (1950)

DCC: Chairman denies true and correct Council record

This post, by clear and unequivocal video reference, captures the undemocratic conduct of Council; and the consequent failure of Council to honour and uphold the true and correct minute record of business proceedings.

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Dunedin City Council – Council Meeting – December 15 2014
Published on Dec 21, 2014

Minutes, agendas and reports related to this meeting can be found at http://goo.gl/3bDMak

██ See video segment 16:40 to 19:10

Note Mayor Dave Cull’s chairmanship of the Council meeting 15 December 2014 in regards to (Item 4.) Confirmation of Minutes for (4a) the ordinary Council meeting of 3 November 2014.

Cr Lee Vandervis rightly claims that the minutes for confirmation are not a correct record of the meeting on 3 November, given reference to a remark* wrongfully attributed to him by the Mayor; and which remark is claimed to have caused the Mayor’s ejection of Cr Vandervis from that meeting.

*[allegedly, about the intentions of Council and staff and the objectives of the cycling strategy]

Cr Vandervis states he did not make that remark. He says the minutes are false and the video of the meeting verifies this.

Mayor Cull replies “the minutes are not [false]” and tells Cr Vandervis: “OK you can vote against it” [confirmation of the minutes].

With that, the Council vote is taken. It should be strongly noted that all Councillors with the exception of Cr Vandervis voted to confirm the minutes with no amendment.

Cr Vandervis abstained from voting “on the basis the mayor asked me to withdraw a remark that I did not make”.

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Dunedin City Council – Council Meeting – November 3 2014
Published on Nov 9, 2014

Minutes, agendas and reports related to this meeting can be found at http://goo.gl/aJnL3J

██ See video segment 41:00 – 50:26
Cr Vandervis enters discussion on (Item 20.) State Highway 1 Cycleway Working Party at 43:00; and following is his ejection by Mayor Cull.

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Unconfirmed Minutes – Council – 15/12/2014 (PDF, 422.6 KB)

Minutes – Council – 03/11/2014 (PDF, 153.4 KB)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Murdoch: New Year’s Honours

Received by Tweet at 12:46 PM – 4 Jan 2015

Sharon Murdoch @domesticanimal My New Year Honours List in honour of the Casserole Makers & Feeders of Stray Animals. #cartoon @sundaystartimes

[click to enlarge]

Observably, Dunedin people failed to nominate their closest creepy-crawly political alliances and BFFs for honours this year. We’re learning!!

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr