Apartment hotel proposal has FATAL Flaws : ODT offers Flimsy Poll

Updated post.
Tue, 7 Aug 2017 at 2:58 p.m.

We (Dunedin) are confronted by a poorly detailed, plonk-down apartment building proposal that we suspect is fronted by an agent for Asian developers –it would not be unusual for such a proposal to be offered on the strength of tainted money looking for safe haven in the South Pacific.

Our gullible country.
The gullible shiny pants Grow Dunedin partnership.
Our ever so gullible city council under the leadership of cull-cat Cull.

A massively over-height apartment building with a frilly hard-to-read podium base is proposed —a building that may never see a five star hotel as the anchor tenant (never believe unquantified/unqualified pitches from used car salesmen, if all they offer is a Price plucked from the air).

Not so long ago large tracts of New Zealand land were bought and sold for glass beads and muskets.

A lot can happen between resource consent being granted and a deathly, failing, improperly costed build.

Is Dunedin City Council about to find out.

Beware the gift horse.
It turned out Dunedin disliked the hocks of the last one (41 Wharf St), ridden by a little cardigan-wearer. The local suits were paid to make the waterfront tower seem generous, rousing and necessary. Ha-haaa.

At ALL times, the Dunedin City Council MUST stay acutely awake despite its needful dependence on independent commissioners and independent professional advisors – the latter advisors, along with some council staff, appear to have greatly missed the Fact that the minimal concept plans presented for 143-193 Moray Place DO NOT provide a workable building; or a building compliant with district plan objectives, policies, rules, and anticipated environmental results ….or prevailing traffic standards.

Oh dear. ‘So much’ [$$$] for the independent advice. Yes, expensive use of expert and staff time to massage the applicant dream – to no convincing or winning effect.

Further, Dunedin City Council MUST be prepared to APPEAL the outcome of the decision-making process should it wish to AVOID being left with another expensive DEBT VEHICLE in the form of one unfinished and or leaky building …..as the collapsed companies, and dusty heels of run-away developers and construction personnel disappear back to Asian shores, far away from Lake Tekapo ….. dangerously constructed, whole or in part, as a further burden on beleaguered Ratepayers of this fair city.

“What a stupid thing to assume!” you thunder.
“How? On what grounds?”, you chide.
“Dunedin NEEDS a five star hotel!”, imperiously.

You think it’s that simple ??
You’re about to be done over, Buds.

The inference being, oh great apartment hotel supporters, that all that glistens in green-tinted glass is gold, or might be a five star hotel. Yeah right.

It never was. The gold, I mean.
The five star hotel, I mean.
A hoover-up of NZ cash to offshore parties who remain anonymous throughout planning and consenting, and construction and building operation; all supported by the errant notion of immigrant labour and (imperfect) imported materials.

You might as well ask now, How MUCH will the Dunedin economy make ($$$) on this “slap in the face” to the community owned district plan (statutory), and the (strategic) spatial and the central city plans which are publicly consulted policy directions informing the city council’s annual and long term plans.

Not much.

****

During five days of evidence and submissions, one knowledgeable submitter, Mr Russell Lund – well up on construction management, hotel building costs, the visitor accommodation market and investment patterns, and the risk and liability to local authorities in consequence – carefully outlined the quandaries which for various councils around New Zealand have become money-losing Unalterable Fact.

In the original written submission for himself and Suzanne Lund (affected property owners), Mr Lund asserted:

The “assessment of effects” is hollow and of no substance. Under the Act, the assessment of effects is required to be just that, an assessment of effects on the affected properties and tenants. Incredibly, the assessment makes no attempt to examine the effects on all the affected parties.

This, of course, is echoed in independently written and voiced submissions by many opposing the application; and curiously, it is underlined in evidence given by Mr Don Anderson (planning consultant) and Mr David Compton-Moen (urban design, visual amenity consultant), for the applicant.

My own submission to hearing states:

We can’t take what is offered [from the applicant] on trust, because it is incomplete and imprecise; therefore the assessment of effects is difficult to pin down to anything concrete and remains unhelpfully superficial – this was “the work” the applicant was to table for us, we thought, to generously persuade us that moving beyond the ‘norms’ of height in this Dunedin location has measurable benefits against other sites or, through strong honest examination of design alternatives for this site.

I am open to being persuaded. It is expensive to do that persuading. However, it has to happen in other city centres in this country. For an expensive building, isn’t it worth doing the budgeting for preparation of your case – to get the result you want, which is consent to subdivide and build. These are open questions but they lie at the heart of A for architecture as the practical art and science of building economics and professional practice. Behind and in front of the commercial facades, that must have depth of delivery. […] And so I come to the white building model here [a 3D-printed solid plastic model of the proposed building, of hand-held size, put into evidence by Christchurch architect Thom Craig], and the drawings presented by the applicant. There appears to have been too much time spent on merely diagrammatic ‘entreaties’ to architectural form and texture without hacking into 3D investigation. There is not one clear drawing of the way the podium can work for the public or the ‘retailers’ or ‘exhibitors’ – or indeed the people staying at the hotel, servicing the building functions and or using vehicles on site. We get an idea ‘about it’, a not convincing one, there is too much guesswork to do. And so the commissioners’ questions have been rather intense.

****

Now, back to the points the Lunds are making. In their original submission on the application, Mr Lund says:

7. I have serious concerns about the expertise and amount of resource that has gone into assessing the feasibility of the project. In the last year, the Otago Daily Times advised the developer, Mr Tosswill of Horizon Hospitality, had indicated that the cost of the project, which was then 200 rooms and 52 apartments was $50-75M. The proposal now is for 210 rooms and 66 apartments, which is not substantially different. The car parking and front of house areas are similar to the original application. The application confirms the hotel has a gross floor area of 20,835 m2.
In my opinion this hotel will be not built for anything less than around $100M, and this casts serious doubts over the viability of the scheme.
Evidence of this is found for the building costs of the much simpler 200 room 4 star Novotel Hotel being built at Christchurch airport after a competitive tender process (and utilising an Asian fabricated structural steel structure). It is well known in the building industry that the tender costs received for that very regular and efficient 7 level hotel were $4,500-5,000 per m2. The Novotel is a filing cabinet design, that is, it is a completely regular rectangular structure which provides the most efficient floorplates and the best wall to floor ratio, ie the least amount of exterior wall enclosing the maximum possible amount of interior space. The Novotel has no balconies.
The applicant’s proposal is far less efficient, and therefore more costly per m2, as it is effectively three blocks grouped around a central core, but the blocks themselves are not rectangular, but have recesses, and there is a significant amount of extra cost with most rooms having screened “smokers” balconies, which entails effectively, 2 exterior systems, one for the rooms, and another enclosing the balconies.

8. The application confirms there are 16,136 m2 of above ground (habitable or hospitality space) and 4,687 m2 of below ground, back of house / car park space. At a cost of $2,200-2,500 per m2 for the below ground floors, and $5,500 per m2 for the above ground space, the proposal has a construction cost of over $100m, excluding land, furnishings, design marketing, et al. The total budget excluding GST will be around $130M. A feasibility study will typically have to include a development margin of at least 20 %, preferably 25 %, if any sort of lender is involved. This means the end value of the project will need to be at or over $160M. If the best case scenario is adopted and Mr Tosswill is able to convince Chinese or other overseas investors to pay the current market value in Queenstown for premium, new managed hotel rooms and apartments of $10,000 per m2 – for a hotel with an unproven demand in Dunedin, it is still not enough.
Selling all the apartments and hotel rooms will yield about $90M, which is a long, long way from the $160M end value needed. The parking and lower public floor spaces on a yield basis will have a value of around $10M, that might get the project to $100M. Mr Tosswill in earlier reports stated that the value was around $90M, so while there is broad agreement on the likely end value, the estimate of the cost is not close to reality. Mr Tosswill may be planning to bring in a Chinese construction company who will park a retired cruise ship at the waterfront for the duration of the project and have their workers stay there, but they will be subject to the same minimum wage laws, working conditions and health and safety requirements that local companies face, which will dramatically reduce any cost benefit from using overseas labour. (The idea of having a cruise ship accommodating Chinese workers is not fanciful – the Chinese government offered to repair the damaged sections of SH1 after last year’s Kaikoura earthquake using that same method, and did not require any New Zealand labour resources, but the Government decided that this was politically unacceptable). One hopes it would be also unacceptable to have a Council endorsed project built using essentially, forced labour.

9. There is sufficient doubt around the financial viability of the project that the applicant should provide some evidence that the entire scheme is not in fact fanciful, but makes economic sense, and provide details about the proposed ownership model, which is highly relevant to Council, in light of their liability which is discussed below.

10. Mr Tosswill may think he is able to make savings from current building costs by utilising Chinese products, but many Local Authorities around New Zealand are very wary of various untested products as there have been many failures for which Local Authorities ultimately end up bearing the cost of.
This raises another issue which is the massive liability that the building control division of the Dunedin City Council will be exposed to, in relation to its building consent approval and compliance monitoring. The experience of the QLDC in recent years is extremely relevant : A large number of hotel and apartments have been built in Queenstown and the individual hotel rooms and apartments are sold off individually. A body corporate is then responsible for repairs and maintenance. The developer has no long term or permanent stake in the completed structure, and therefore no incentive to specify materials and pay for quality standards with the long term in mind. As Warren Buffet has said, “show me the incentive and I will show you the result”, and the result for QLDC has been an ongoing series of legal actions brought by Body Corporates against Council, alleging that Council was at fault in some form, and as they are the “last man standing”, the Council have inevitably had to pay substantial figures. [I have] experience of several of these, having repaired one major complex in Queenstown at a cost of several million dollars, and provided cost evidence in regard to two others, also in Queenstown in the last year. It should be remembered that QLDC has a 7 metre height limit, but despite this, on complexes less than a quarter of the size of the proposed hotels, the cost to repair has run to millions. QLDC has advised this year in the Otago Daily Times that it has now completely drained its reserve fund for remedial building work, and any further costs will need to come directly from ratepayers. It has spent $3.6M just on legal fees for remedial building liability cases, which will rise to close to $4M by the end of this year.

11. At the Hearing, in submission, some proposals will be presented to show how the design liability and weathertightness risk to Council and ratepayers can be mitigated in the unlikely event that the proposal is given consent and such consent is upheld in the Environment Court.

Proposal 1 : A bond be posted with Council to cover sufficient funds to get the building to completed weathertight envelope and have the podium and all external works completed in the event the project is halted.

Proposal 2 : The applicant provide a Owners Protective Professional Indemnity, and have DCC named as an insured party on the policy. This is to protect indemnify the DCC against any claims brought against them in relation the building consent process, compliance monitoring or any matter for which they are liable for.

****

The applicant tabled NEW evidence at the hearing, from Infometrics. At its website, Infometrics (NZ) says it “provides industry, regional, and general economic analysis and forecasts that assist organisations in making their planning, policy, and strategic decisions”.

In the Lunds’ submission to hearing under the subheading ‘Dunedin Hotel Economic Impacts – Ongoing GDP Effects’, Mr Lund says:

….Infometrics assume that the 64 apartments will all be in the hotel pool, but acknowledge this is unclear. This significantly increases the GDP contribution as it raises the income of the hotel by around 40%, assuming conservative tariff rates of $250 per night and $350 per night per apartment. Infometrics also assume that there will be no “crowding out” of the existing activity, ie ALL guests would otherwise have not come to Dunedin had this hotel not been there. This is an unrealistic assumption.
In my opinion this report is an example of tailoring assumptions to achieve the desired outcome.
At Section 2, the “impact” of the construction phase is estimated at $45.6M in total, but based on the “key assumption” that there is capacity in the construction sector to build the hotel without crowding out other investment”. This appears to mean that if other projects are delayed, there is in fact no benefit at all because $63M of other projects will simply be displaced by the alleged $63M cost of this project. History shows that in Dunedin, Clients such as the DCC, University and some private clients keep a close eye on the state of the market. Many Ministry of Education projects have strict cost guidelines, and will not proceed if they are over budget. There have been examples of work deferred in Dunedin when the market is busy, and the Post Office Hotel is one of them. The Owner Mr Geoff Thompson, deferred the construction of the hotel for several years when he first owned the property citing the overheated construction market, due to the construction of the $220M Milton Prison project in 2005-2007.
At the present time, there is a high level of commercial construction activity at present, witnessed by the fact that there are main contractors from outside Dunedin performing the 2 largest projects in Dunedin (The Dental School and the University Science 3 project). There is every likelihood some projects will be delayed due to the high level of activity.
The report assumes that 21.1M of the $63M, or a third of the cost, will flow into the local Dunedin economy. This would be on the basis that local companies and suppliers are employed, but this is far from clear, given the estimated cost of $63M. The only way the cost could be anywhere near this level is if virtually all of the materials were low cost imports, and quite likely a proportion of the labour cost component.
The only significant material that will be made locally is concrete, and it is only the basement levels that will be predominantly a concrete structure. If out of region companies were employed for work to do such trades as painting and carpentry, as they were at the Forsyth Barr stadium, then that figure will not be accurate.
Infometrics then ascribe $16.1M to the “second round of economic effects” but acknowledge there is some “leakage of spending outside the city”. If an outside main contractor, or even an overseas contractor completes the work, they will very likely bring with them their out of town networks of subcontractors and suppliers and there will be much less than the $16.1M as the second round of effects. Having completed many projects out of Dunedin, I have first hand knowledge of the negligible economic effect of construction on the region concerned. Generally, goods and services are sourced from habitual suppliers with whom there is an ongoing relationship, and only the small consumables are sourced from local suppliers.
Mr Tosswill should clarify what the intention is regarding the construction of the hotel, and if that is not forthcoming, then he should at least confirm what type and form of construction contract will be used as that perhaps more than anything will determine whether there is the possibility of a meaningful local business component.

On ‘Construction Cost’, Mr Lund refers the commissioners to the Lunds’ original submission, continuing with:

Further facts about construction
Examples of risk from imported products
FCC (Fletcher) budgeted to use Chinese sourced bathrooms in the Novotel Christchurch projects. Did not work. Has cost FCC $2M extra (unbudgeted) to get prefab bathrooms built locally in Canterbury. The cost is $26,000 per bathroom.
Chinese steel : there are 2 major CBD projects underway in Christchurch that are steel structures using Chinese fabricated steel. On one project the steel is 12 weeks late and on the other it is 16 weeks late. The Chinese suppliers had committed to make the steel, then out-sourced it to another firm without advising the contractor, and the delays have resulted. On one of these projects there is now legal action between the Engineer and contractor because of the nature of the steel does not conform to the specification.
There is a further major dispute litigation on another major project now completed due to extreme delays with the steelwork and external cladding. The project was around 10 months late, and the Owner lost the anchor tenant (The Government) due to the delay. That project was tendered on the basis of using a large degree of imported materials from China in association with a large state run Chinese construction company, but the project was so disastrous (financially and in terms of market perception), involving a loss of 8-15M on a $50M project, it has caused the company to withdraw from large scale commercial construction and focus on project management.
External Cladding : There are only a very small number of NZ firms with the capability to design and build the curtain walling, and they have a huge backlog and extremely onerous business terms that will not be acceptable to any funder or main contractor, so the Owner will probably need to contract with them direct, and take on this risk.

These important matters aside, the legal submissions brought to hearing by Ms Lauren Semple (for Millenium & Copthorne Hotels) and Mr John Hardie (for Misbeary Holdings Ltd) blew the application out of the water; so did the transport evidence to hearing by Mr Andy Carr (for Millenium & Copthorne Hotels) to which Commissioner Mr Stephen Daysh responded by asking if the problems (such as summit points, swept paths, access to basement parking, onsite coach travel, and truck travel as well as loading access) pointed out by Mr Carr in his assessment of the proposed building’s perimeter road were “fatal flaws”? Yes, was the direct reply. Refer article: Traffic problems at hotel (ODT 3.8.17)

The hearing is adjourned until 17 August.

All ODT can do is offer a flimsy and inconsequential readers’ poll.
Not Based On Reality. Go ODT! LOL

—

█ All application documents, reports, evidence and submissions for 143-193 Moray Place – Non-complying activity – LUC-2017-48 & Sub-2017-26 at this link.

Related Posts and Comments:
● 11.7.17 “Fat” gawky Hotel and Apartment building : Questionable design even with 4 floors lopped off
● 14.5.17 RNZ reports July hearings for proposed hotel apartment building [comments by Mr Tosswill]
● 4.5.17 Submissions close 10 May : Proposed 17-storey, est. 62.5 metres-high Moray Place hotel/apartment building
● 7.4.17 Proposed hotel *height and design* —the very least of it #sellingoursouls
● 5.6.17 Application lodged for FIASCO Hotel by Tosswill #DunedinWrecks
● 18.12.16 DCC set to take away CBD car parks without Economic Impact research
● 15.10.16 Battle of the hotels : DCC meat in the sandwich (unedifying)
● 5.10.16 Dunedin bauble #votecatcher
● 4.10.16 The Demon Duck freak show of partial ‘Civic’ information! Before voting closes! #Dunedin
11.1.16 Un hôtel. Dunedin.
19.8.15 Hotels ? Business ? [DCC lost +++152 fleet vehicles] —Cull in charge of building chicken coops, why ?
1.4.14 HOTEL Town Hall… Another investment group, Daaave’s pals from the communist state?
25.3.14 Hotel We LIKE: Distinction Dunedin Hotel at former CPO

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

█ The following images are taken from Appendix 6 – Consultant Urban Designer’s Report – Appendix plans (PDF, 1.5 MB).

They comprise
● 2 cross sections – originally provided as applicant evidence by Thom Craig Architects Ltd, and
● 7 photomontages of anticipated views – originally provided as applicant evidence by Paterson Pitts Group (surveying, planning, engineering)

– to which new height levels have been added in the evidence provided by independent Urban Design consultant Garth Falconer for Dunedin City Council.

[click to enlarge]

“Fat” gawky Hotel and Apartment building : Questionable design even with 4 floors lopped off

What environmental considerations, Mr Page?

More than minor.

[Everyone will remember the learned Mr Page from the Betterways hotel and apartment building application for 41 Wharf St at the waterfront, not so long ago.]

Mr Bryce (independent planner): …a “key concern” for submitters…the building would block sun from reaching the Regent Theatre and surrounds from 3pm at winter solstice. “At this time of year, the proposal will effectively remove all remaining access to sunlight received over [the] southern end of the western side of the Octagon.” (ODT)

Mr Page (the developer’s ‘Brief’): The “potential shading effect” was acknowledged, but Mr Page was confident the hotel’s benefits “will far outweigh” those concerns. (ODT)

Mr Page, again : The hotel’s “tall, slender built form” minimised the impact on those living closest to the hotel project site… (ODT)

Good heavens.

Source: Application documents

—

At Facebook:

### ODT Online Tue, 11 July 2017
Hotel developer still confident
By Chris Morris
Dunedin’s latest five-star hotel bid will “not be viable” if the developer is forced to reduce the building’s height, it has been claimed. But the man behind the project, Tekapo businessman Anthony Tosswill, remains confident the hearings panel set to decide the project’s fate can yet be swayed by the hotel’s benefits. The comments came from Phil Page, the lawyer acting for Mr Tosswill, days after the public release of an independent planner’s report running the ruler over the hotel proposal.
The report by Nigel Bryce concluded consent be declined unless Mr Tosswill agreed to a “substantial reduction” in the building’s height, by four storeys, to bring it down from 60m to 45.5m.
Read more

****

Resource Consent Application LUC 2017-48 and SUB 2017-26, 143 – 193 Moray Place, Dunedin (Proposed Hotel)

The hearing will be held on Mon 31 Jul, Tue 1 Aug, Wed 2 Aug, Thu 3 Aug and Fri 4 Aug 2017 in the Edinburgh Room, Municipal Chambers (off the Octagon). The hearing will commence at 9.30 am each day.

█ Consultant Planner’s Section 42a Report (PDF, 4.3 MB)

[excerpt]

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATION
[5] For the reasons set out in paragraphs 72 to 334 below, I consider that the Proposal in its current form, will not promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources in accordance with Part 2 of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA or the Act).
[6] The Development promotes a contemporary design, which is considered acceptable within this setting and articulates sufficient design interest and modulation through the facades and its pinwheel like form expressed in the tower component of the building. The building’s design incorporates a base building or podium, which allows the structure to have an active street frontage to Moray Place and Filleul Street, which is considered a positive design response.
[7] The Development will be ‘juxtaposed’ against a backdrop of the heritage buildings located to the east of Moray Place, including the Town Hall and St Paul’s Cathedral when viewed from the west and St Paul’s Cathedral and the Municipal Chambers when viewed from the south (including from the Octagon).
[8] The building’s overall height is considered to generate an over-dominance on properties to the north and west of the Site, and will have more than minor adverse effects on the amenity values of residential properties to the west of the Site. This is largely due to the significant change in scale introduced by the Development and the lower scale built environment that currently exists to the west and north of the development site, comprising predominantly two to three storeys in height.
[9] The Development will adversely impact upon the townscape values of the TH02 Octagon townscape precinct under the Operative Dunedin City District Plan (Operative Plan), including loss of sunlight penetration into the Octagon during the Winter Solstice and will adversely impact upon the setting and pre-eminence of existing heritage buildings such as the St Paul’s Cathedral and the Municipal Chambers building when viewed from the Octagon.
[10] The Development is considered to result in more than minor visual amenity and shading effects on Kingsgate Hotel to the south of the Site. The Kingsgate Hotel will experience prolonged and more sustained loss of light over a wider part of the property and associated buildings over the critical morning period during the Equinox and Winter Solstice periods (or collectively over ¾ of the year). This conclusion has been reached having regard to the potential for the Site to be developed up to a maximum height of 11 metres with a building erected against all boundaries (the ‘controlled activity building outline’).
[11] For the scale of the building to be mitigated to an acceptable level, and to maintain and enhance the amenity values of the City Centre and wider environs, Council’s urban design consultant, Mr [Garth] Falconer recommends reducing the proposed building height by four levels to bring the total height down to nine storeys (Level 13, +157,500 (datum level) on Drawing Section AA). This reduction would provide for a maximum height of 45.6 metres from existing ground level, or a maximum height breach of 34.4 metres (including the lift shaft). This mitigation response would not remove any of the 210 visitor accommodation rooms (hotel rooms), and would maintain supporting facilities including licensed premises, retail, conference, meeting facilities and on-site amenities, parking, and servicing areas. I note, for completeness, that the Applicant is not currently proposing to reduce the height of the Development.
[12] In its current form, it is my recommendation that the proposal should be declined.

More about Garth Falconer, DCC’s consulting urban designer:
LinkedIn profile: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/garth-falconer-a0699bb3
Owner and Director, Reset Urban Design Ltd: http://reseturban.co.nz/

Take a glimpse of the ‘urban form’ at Takapuna, North Shore Auckland (his home turf), to know Mr Falconer is likely missing any handle on building height for a heritage city like Dunedin.

****

Agenda and all documents including Submissions at:

http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/council-online/notified-resource-consents/notified-applications-pending/luc-2017-48-and-sub-2017-26

****

At Facebook [see comments]:

### ODT Online Sat, 8 Jul 2017
Reject hotel bid: planner
By Chris Morris
A planner has recommended rejecting Dunedin’s latest five-star hotel bid, unless the developer agrees to a “substantial reduction” in the building’s height. The recommendation to decline consent came in a report by independent consultant Nigel Bryce, made public yesterday, ahead of the public hearing beginning on July 31. In his report to the panel of independent commissioners, Mr Bryce said the hotel development would “visually dominate” its surroundings, including the town hall, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Municipal Chambers. It would be the tallest building in the central city and would cast a shadow over the Octagon, as well as the nearby Kingsgate Hotel, during winter. Together with other impacts, the development was considered to be “non-complying” under the city’s district plan rules. It would only be acceptable if the building was reduced by four storeys, lowering its overall height from 60m to 45.6m, which was still well above the existing 11m height limit for the site, his report said.
Read more

[initial coverage]
7.7.17 ODT: Decline hotel consent: report

### ODT Online Wed, 28 Jun 2017
Two from North Island on hotel hearings panel
By Chris Morris
The panel to decide the fate of Dunedin’s latest five-star hotel bid features one familiar face and two from the North Island. Tekapo businessman Anthony Tosswill’s bid to build a 17-storey hotel and apartment tower in Dunedin would be considered over five days, beginning on July 31, it was confirmed yesterday. […] The panel of three would be headed by chairman Andrew Noone, now an Otago regional councillor, acting in his role as an independent commissioner. […] Alongside him will be fellow independent commissioners Stephen Daysh, of Napier, and Gavin Lister, of Auckland.
Read more

—

Related Posts and Comments:
● 14.5.17 RNZ reports July hearings for proposed hotel apartment building [comments by Mr Tosswill]
● 4.5.17 Submissions close 10 May : Proposed 17-storey, est. 62.5 metres-high Moray Place hotel/apartment building
● 7.4.17 Proposed hotel *height and design* —the very least of it #sellingoursouls
● 5.6.17 Application lodged for FIASCO Hotel by Tosswill #DunedinWrecks
● 18.12.16 DCC set to take away CBD car parks without Economic Impact research
● 15.10.16 Battle of the hotels : DCC meat in the sandwich (unedifying)
● 5.10.16 Dunedin bauble #votecatcher
● 4.10.16 The Demon Duck freak show of partial ‘Civic’ information! Before voting closes! #Dunedin
11.1.16 Un hôtel. Dunedin.
19.8.15 Hotels ? Business ? [DCC lost +++152 fleet vehicles] —Cull in charge of building chicken coops, why ?
1.4.14 HOTEL Town Hall… Another investment group, Daaave’s pals from the communist state?
25.3.14 Hotel We LIKE: Distinction Dunedin Hotel at former CPO

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Source: Application documents

Democracy, a little strange looking here and there

ODT 12.5.17 (page 16)

Not sure the above is the “nature of democracy”.
Ownership more often than not has rights to what Democracy might be, for better or worse. Democracy is the dull moving target around traction of tolerance and accommodation, alternately characterised by recklessness, drilling, handholding, gutless audacity and full oppositional war. And finally, perhaps, it is Comedy of Errors (the big CE) – to do with pique, vanity, providence, chess-like cunning, ill temper and quarrelsome kicks, artful dodging, strange bed fellows, lousy cracks at definition, ruthless assaults and incursions, “Territory”, chiming disgust, stiff ultimatums, the surrender to power, corruption or fraud…..and all notions, wagons, bonfires that encircle ‘the final word’ and last stands, angry trumpet votes to Brexit, chaste lookalikes, injury, ill health….. Jesus weeps.

—

### ODT Online Wed, 12 Apr 2017
Hospital rebuild: back off but don’t back down
By Hilary Calvert
OPINION If we asked Otago people what they most want from health services it would likely be health service delivery in the province at least as good as the rest of New Zealand. For example, whatever qualifies for an operation here should be the same that qualifies those up north. The Dunedin School of Medicine is vital to us as well. […] What if harassing of the Government in an imagined party political fashion just makes the Government determined to not give us what we want, since we will likely vote two local Labour people into Parliament this year? If we concentrate on telling the Government what we most want, and stop trying to tell it how it should deliver the services, we have a much better chance of getting the best result.
Read more

—

Comment to What if? Dunedin:

Diane Yeldon
April 14, 2017 at 11:10 pm
“Harassing of the Government in an imagined party political fashion.” Well said by Hilary Calvert. Spot on!
Here’s the meeting video for 21 Feb. Starting from 1.58.24 into the video, you can watch the discussion on the resolution which authorised the [Dunedin Hospital SOS] campaign. This was the Notice of Motion put forward by Cr Benson-Pope and seconded by Cr Hawkins.
There was no information in the agenda about how much the ‘asking for support’ would cost or how the ‘asking for support’ would be carried out. Nor did any councillors ask questions about this. Their attention was focused solely on discussing the rights and wrongs of the hospital siting (with only a couple of councillors saying they didn’t think it was any of their business.)
I can’t help wondering if many of the councillors did not understood that this ‘asking for support’ would result in unleashing a full-blown advertising campaign with leaflet drop, website and newspaper ads costing so far $12,000! I wonder if the motion had been taken in two parts with the second part only about the campaign and its full extent and costs disclosed the majority would have still voted in favour.

Dunedin City Council Published on Feb 26, 2017
Dunedin City Council – Public Forum + Council Meeting – 21 February 2017
Minutes, agendas and reports related to this meeting can be found at https://goo.gl/Eis3sK

—

[decisionmaker.co.nz] formatted by whatifdunedin

—

Related Posts and Comments:
● 8.4.17 Questions over Council’s Dunedin Hospital SOS campaign
● 6.4.17 ODT editor comments strongly #tick —Dunedin Hospital rebuild
● 27.3.17 Site Notice #DunedinHospital
● 26.2.17 Dunedin Hospital Redevelopment
● 6.2.17 Let the Ombudsman recommend for democracy at SDHB
● 24.1.17 SDHB/Govt : Physio Pool GRIEF
● 9.1.17 Audit NZ admonishes commissioner Grant and SDHB #Health
● 18.12.16 DCC set to take away CBD car parks without Economic Impact research
20.11.16 Delta at Dunedin Hospital #worseluck
7.11.16 SDHB #FAILS with Healthcare Communication and Governance

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: batmanrobin by Mike Luckovich 2016 @njc.com [via truthdig.com] tweaked by whatifdunedin

Prison revives for visitor experience

### ODT Online Sat, 29 Apr 2017
Tourism intended for prison
By David Loughrey
Dunedin’s old prison has four new trustees, a new tenant with the tourism market in mind, and is ready to move to a new stage in its evolution. The 121-year-old Victorian-style courtyard facility designed by John Campbell has been returned to its original form. Work to replace decorative architectural elements removed from the front of the building was completed recently. Now the Dunedin Prison Charitable Trust is turning its attention to future uses for the former jail that is one of the city’s more unusual historic buildings. The prison was decommissioned in 2007, and the trust bought the property in 2012. Trust chairman Owen Graham said the physical restoration work was 95% complete — ridge tiles and two 2-metre finials still had to be finished — but it was time to start a new stage of evolution for the building. The new trustees had been appointed for their range of skills and backgrounds, and would help the trust make decisions about what happened next. Those decisions could range from another part-upgrade or “go for a multimillion-dollar effort”. […] Mr Graham said part of the trust’s strategy was to start occupying parts of the prison to sustain its activities and “bring the prison back to life with different activities”. It had been working with a business that wanted to use the prison’s kitchen, which had been identified as “serviceable”.
Read more

The former prison has a Heritage New Zealand category one classification; future development involves discussion with Dunedin City Council and Heritage New Zealand.

█ Dunedin Prison | http://www.dunedinprisontrust.co.nz/

[excerpt from the trust’s website]

Timeline
Showing the many phases of use of the prison:
1896-1915 – new prison opened with cells for 52 men and 20 women
1915-1959 – Police move in to administration block and look after prisoners as well as their own duties
1959-1974 – 34 female prisoners are accommodated, segregated from men
1975-1994 – reopened catering for 59 male inmates
1994-2000 – Police move out to their new premises and prison reverts to original purpose as a men only facility
2007 – prison decommissioned and Corrections operation moved to Milburn
2011 – Dunedin Prison Charitable Trust formed to secure the prison for the nation
2012 – Dunedin Prison Charitable Trust raises $50,000 to allow it to purchase the property from Ngai Tahu Property Ltd
2014 – Conservation Plan completed
2015 – Fund-raising begins to allow us to restore the facades and repair part of the slate roof, estimated at $500,000.

Related Posts and Comments:
17.9.15 Dunedin Prison: Community Trust grant for restoration
16.9.15 DPAG exhibition talk, Sun 20 Sep —Jonathan Howard on Dunedin 1865
7.9.15 Public petition to save Courthouse for courts use
30.8.15 DPAG exhibition | Dunedin 1865: A City Rises…
23.8.15 1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 ‘The Open City’ … 29 Aug
23.8.15 1865 Dunedin —Heritage Festival 2015 Shoreline Trail launch
11.7.15 Dunedin Law Courts “an incredible historic building” –Minister
14.5.15 Russell Lund on Ministry closure of Dunedin Law Courts
14.5.15 Justice at Dunedin
2.5.15 Ministry serves INJUSTICE for Dunedin Courthouse #HistoricHeritage
28.2.13 Tour the old prison in March (2013)
20.9.12 Dunedin Prison
6.6.12 Dunedin Prison purchased by trust
18.10.11 Dunedin Prison Charitable Trust
5.10.11 Training, jobs, city regeneration

█ For more, enter the term *heritage* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Images: whatifdunedin sketchbook – Dunedin Prison (former)

rough sheds, sydney london

Tinshed by Raffaello Rosselli
Amy Frearson | 21 June 2013 ● Dezeen
Australian architect Raffaello Rosselli has repurposed a corroding tin shed in Sydney to create a small office and studio apartment. Rather than replace the crumbling structure, Raffaello Rosselli chose to retain the rusty corrugated cladding of the two-storey building so that from the outside it looks mostly unchanged. The project embraces that it will continue to change with time through rust, decay and repair.

“The humble tin shed is an iconic Australian structure,” he explains. “As the only remaining shed in the area it is a unique reminder of the suburb’s industrial past.”

The architect began by taking the building apart and replacing its old skeleton with a modern timber frame. He then reattached the cladding over three facades, allowing room for three new windows. The frames of the windows are made from sheets of Corten steel that display the same orange tones as the retained facade.

“The materials have been left raw and honest, in the spirit of its industrial economy,” adds Rosselli. In contrast with the exterior, the inside of the building has a clean finish with white walls and plywood floors in both the ground-floor living space and the first-floor office.
Read more + Images

*Photography by Mark Syke, apart from where otherwise indicated.

****

Collage House, London

Dezeen Published on Feb 13, 2017
Movie explores Jonathan Tuckey’s home in a 19th-century workshop 14 years on
Filmmaker Tapio Snellman has documented the ageing process of architect Jonathan Tuckey’s home, 14 years after he overhauled a 19th-century London workshop to create it. The architect, who is the founder of London-based firm Jonathan Tuckey Design, renovated and extended the steel fabricator’s workshop in 2002 to create a unique home for his family and their dog. He left the bare brick walls tarnished with black marks and chose “simple and everyday” materials to rejuvenate the character of the building, but also because they would weather well. Snellman, who shot Collage House in 2016, captures the ageing of these materials – including nicks and scratches on a series metal fixture and doors by splitting the screen into four – a trick he repeats throughout his film. “The split-screen sequences talk about the occupants and about the way architecture is integrated seamlessly with family life and personal expression,” Snellman told Dezeen. “The four simultaneous views create one strong spatial impression without any single image dominating the effect,” he told Dezeen. Both moving and fixed larch plywood panels clad the exterior, while beach plywood sheeting used as a floor lining inside the house, along with a concrete covering. Douglas fir stud work was planed and left exposed to partition spaces. This enables zones of activity to be defined, while also maintaining openness throughout.

Movie explores Jonathan Tuckey’s home in a former London steel workshop
Eleanor Gibson | 13 February 2017 ● Dezeen
This photography taken by James Brittain when the project completed in the early 2000s shows how Tuckey overhauled the industrial building by partially demolishing walls to create a central courtyard. “Plywood has weathered beautifully on both the interior and exterior and the scuff marks of 15 years use now tell the personal story of the family,” Tuckey told Dezeen. “The concrete floors have patinated and subsequently become more beautiful,” he continued. “The exposed brick was already there but continued to age gracefully as it was used to hang pictures and the kids used it to draw on it.” A space that forms a central part of Snellman’s film is the open-plan kitchen-cum-dining room, which occupies the former workshop. Here, he captures diagonal patterns of light that floods in through the long skylight between the original wooden bowstring beams restored by Tuckey. Snellman contrasts colour footage with black and white in the film, as well as tracking members of the family through the house. “The very controlled track shots try to eliminate the viewers awareness of the presence of the camera, as if the space would be seen at its most intimate, when no-one is present,” the filmmaker told Dezeen.

Ground floor plan [click to enlarge]

First floor plan

When renovating the building, Tuckey’s aim was to maintain as many of the building’s existing features as possible, while also creating plenty of playful spaces that catered to his then-young children. He divided the long and narrow building, which widens at the southern end, into three parts. He also demolished one of the existing buildings to create a courtyard and a small pond. The entrance hall and living area occupy the northern end with a mezzanine above, while the kitchen-cum-dining room occupies the central space. A walkway links these spaces to the two-storey structure added to the southern side, which houses the bedrooms and a bathroom. Since the original renovation, Tuckey has reconfigured the arrangement of the bedrooms, as his now teenage daughters needed more space. The children’s bedrooms have moved upstairs from the downstairs, while the single room used by the parents was divided into two interconnected rooms. A pair of hatches in the bedrooms open to the rooftop terrance, which was also only recently completed by the designer.
Read more

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

RNZ: Government crashes plans for a more pedestrian/cycle-friendly Christchurch

At Twitter:

Govt threatens to pull funding for Chch downtown plan https://t.co/H2NIzs9rHz

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) April 15, 2017

Christchurch City Council proposes turning Victoria St into a cul-de-sac………

### radionz.co.nz Sun, 16 Apr 2017 1:37 p.m.
RNZ News: Politics / Canterbury
Govt threatens to pull funding for Chch downtown plan
The government is threatening to cancel its funding for a plan to make central Christchurch more pedestrian and cycle friendly if changes are not made. The Minister supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Gerry Brownlee, said the government was paying 60 percent of the funding for the Accessible City plan, but last week he was granted authorisation by Cabinet to suspend its funding. Mr Brownlee said the plan, which has been partially implemented, risked creating a dysfunctional central city. “Its absurd. I’m hearing all the time from people who are going to have lunch or coffee in the central city and simply can’t park their car. Or end up parking such a long way away from it that they decide they may as well just drive to one of the suburban malls.”
Read more

****

Video link received Sun, 9 Apr 2017 at 9:53 p.m.

From the folks who brought you the self-driving car!

Google Nederland Published on Mar 31, 2016
Introducing the self-driving bicycle in the Netherlands
This spring, Google is introducing the self-driving bicycle in Amsterdam, the world’s premier cycling city. The Dutch cycle more than any other nation in the world, almost 900 kilometres per year per person, amounting to over 15 billion km annually. The self-driving bicycle enables safe navigation through the city for Amsterdam residents, and furthers Google’s ambition to improve urban mobility with technology. Google Netherlands takes enormous pride in the fact that a Dutch team worked on this innovation that will have great impact in their home country.

****

Link received from Hilary Calvert
Thu, 6 Apr 2017 at 7:53 p.m.

Message: Cycle lane cyclist truck turning left. Very dangerous.

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 07:03, Apr 7 2017
Former Hamilton teacher killed in collision with truck at Hamilton roundabout
By Phillipa Yalden – Waikato Times
Mike Leach taught Fairfield College students for 34 years. Some of the things he was involved in at Fairfield were outdoor education and building drama sets. He was a geography and social sciences teacher, and also a Dean. On Wednesday, as he cycled through the rain down Te Rapa Straight, the father of two’s life was cut short in a collision. The 67-year-old was killed when his bike and a B-train truck and trailer collided at the Te Rapa Road and Sunshine Avenue intersection at lunchtime on Wednesday. […] Quite a few people witnessed the crash on Wednesday, Waikato road police Senior Sergeant Gill Meadows said. “There are a number of people who were quite traumatised by the incident and we have referred them to Victim Support. There is quite a bit of work to be done on that particular incident.” Initial inquiries showed that the Halls refrigeration B-train truck was heading north along Te Rapa Straight when it went to turn left at the roundabout into Sunshine Avenue. “He was in the lane to turn left, and the cyclist was going straight ahead, and was on the left side of the truck. But we are still doing inquiries in regards to that.” There is a cyclist lane that runs along the straight, feeding into the roundabout. The crash occurred metres from shops and cafes at 11.30am. 
Read more 

Hamilton roundabout crash site [Christel Yardley/Fairfax NZ via stuff.co.nz]

—

Related Posts and Comments:
22.2.17 SH1 Cycleways : the real story
26.1.17 SH1 Cycleway : Carnage for Dunedin road users and city parking
21.1.17 Mayor ignores serious plight of DCC’s FAILED Otago power network in favour of urban cycleways and CBD
5.8.16 Informed : Flurry of cycleway chills at Dunedin
21.7.16 Not a bicycle accident, not a burst water main —sugar!
21.7.16 Cycleway planning at #DUD

█ For more, enter the term *cycle* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Questions over Council’s Dunedin Hospital SOS campaign

Received from Diane Yeldon
Fri, 7 April 2017 at 4:06 p.m.

OPINION

What’s wrong with the DCC Dunedin Hospital SOS Campaign?

If you clear away all the smoke from the party-political bluster, bickering and name–calling arising over this campaign, has the Dunedin City Council really done anything out of order? Or were some councillors, in fact, a majority, just trying to do their best for the people of Dunedin?

Unfortunately, the road to hell can be paved with good intentions. A council communication cannot be a political advertisement.

The Electoral Act more or less defines a political advertisement as anything which persuades or encourages voters to vote in a particular way. But our democratic rights to participate in government decision-making are not limited to voting once every three years. Citizens also have the right to petition Government, make submissions to select committees and other public authorities and deliberative bodies, and lobby MPs and Government Ministers.

If local councillors had been presented with a motion which proposed the following : that the Council encourages and persuades voters to choose candidate A, they would have rightly been horrified and would have rejected it.

In comparison, a single, short and final paragraph in a council motion which proposes that the Council should ask for public support for ONLY its own preferred position on a central government decision, and that people make such views known to central government, looks harmless and is quite likely to pass unnoticed – and, in fact, did. But it is just as political. It encourages people to use their democratic rights in a particular way.

The council staff should have alerted councillors that this was the case and that such political activism was beyond the proper scope of any local body. The difference in wording may be subtle but the democratic principles involved are significant and far-reaching.

Monday, 3 April 2017

[ends]

—

Dunedin City Council’s Dunedin Hospital SOS petition states:
“I demand that central government redevelops Dunedin Hospital in the centre of the city. The government must also make a clear commitment to retain a top flight teaching hospital for Dunedin and the wider Otago/Southland region.
Save Our Site. Save Our Services.”

Petition at the DCC-managed SOS website [framed screenshot]

At the bottom of the webpage, DCC says:
“Dunedin Hospital SOS
The Dunedin City Council (“DCC”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) operates, hosts, or manages a number of websites, including DunedinHospitalSOS.nz. This site was created and funded following a Council resolution (21 February 2017) to communicate to Government its complete opposition to a rebuild of Dunedin Hospital outside the central city. It is not a permanent website.”

—

How the petition got off the ground by Council vote (21 February 2017) on the Notice of Motion:

[screenshots – click to enlarge]

DCC Council 21.2.17 Agenda – 15 Notice of Motion Dunedin Hospital Rebuild

DCC Council 21.2.17 Minutes – 15 Notice of Motion Dunedin Hospital Rebuild

****

The DCC Dunedin Hospital SOS flyer and Facebook campaign cost Ratepayers $7,102 (excl GST). Ratepayers also find themselves footing the bill for a DCC-led SOS media campaign:

ODT Online 8.4.17 [screenshot]

—

Related Posts and Comments:
● 6.4.17 ODT editor comments strongly #tick —Dunedin Hospital rebuild
● 27.3.17 Site Notice #DunedinHospital
● 26.2.17 Dunedin Hospital Redevelopment
● 6.2.17 Let the Ombudsman recommend for democracy at SDHB
● 24.1.17 SDHB/Govt : Physio Pool GRIEF
● 9.1.17 Audit NZ admonishes commissioner Grant and SDHB #Health
● 18.12.16 DCC set to take away CBD car parks without Economic Impact research
20.11.16 Delta at Dunedin Hospital #worseluck
7.11.16 SDHB #FAILS with Healthcare Communication and Governance

█ For more, enter the terms *hospital*, *sdhb* and *swann* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

ODT editor comments strongly #tick —Dunedin Hospital rebuild

Junior councillors should think carefully about how they appear in writing and how they might appear in publicity shots on Frederick St, as a band of politicos.

BRAVO to the ODT Editor:

—

Wisely, this editorial had already put dogsbodies in their place:

### ODT Online Thu, 30 Mar 2017
Editorial: Hospital central to city’s needs
OPINION What a shame the Dunedin City Council is divided over its campaign to keep the city’s hospital in the central city. This is an issue which should unite Dunedin. The squabbling is distressing. The council has initiated an effort to keep the rebuilt hospital right in town, with three councillors, Lee Vandervis, Mike Lord and Doug Hall, voting against. Dunedin-based National-list MP Michael Woodhouse waded in late last week, implying the campaign was a front for the Labour Party […] There are two fundamental issues. First, on the siting of the hospital, and second on whether the council should campaign on that. As as been pointed out strongly on this newspaper’s opinion page by two distinguished Dunedin residents, Sir David Skegg (a former University of Otago vice-chancellor) and Emeritus Prof David Jones (a former university medical division head), close links between the medical school and the hospital are vital.
Read more

—

DCC’s ‘Dunedin Hospital SOS’ flyer and Facebook campaign cost Ratepayers $7,102 (excl GST).

[click to enlarge]

DCC says 55,000 campaign flyers were printed, with 50,000 supposedly delivered to households (however, thickish piles of flyers have been found by cleaners about town —gathering dust in corporate office tearooms and reception areas)….

—

ODT 25.3.17 (page 1) – tweaked by whatifdunedin

### ODT Online Sat, 25 Mar 2017
Woodhouse blasts DCC
By Eileen Goodwin
National list MP Michael Woodhouse has lashed out at the Dunedin City Council over its hospital rebuild campaign, implying it is a front for the Labour Party. And Mr Woodhouse said the council’s stance was “confusing” — on the one hand it wants a central city rebuild, but it granted the Accident Compensation Corporation the right to consider buying the Frederick St car park. ACC has a 12-month timeframe to look at development options for the site. […] Mr Woodhouse is also ACC Minister, and he made it clear he was speaking as a local MP.
Read more

—

Related Posts and Comments:
● 27.3.17 Site Notice #DunedinHospital
● 26.2.17 Dunedin Hospital Redevelopment
● 6.2.17 Let the Ombudsman recommend for democracy at SDHB
● 24.1.17 SDHB/Govt : Physio Pool GRIEF
● 9.1.17 Audit NZ admonishes commissioner Grant and SDHB #Health
● 18.12.16 DCC set to take away CBD car parks without Economic Impact research
20.11.16 Delta at Dunedin Hospital #worseluck
7.11.16 SDHB #FAILS with Healthcare Communication and Governance
3.9.16 SDHB ‘food’ : Our eyes glaze over . . . .
23.8.16 Win! to DCC candidate Paul Pope #DunedinHospital
22.6.16 SDHB Commissioners speed-bleed health system
1.5.16 Hospital food according to Gurglars
23.12.15 SDHB underfunded, no bandage
3.11.15 SDHB will ‘takeaway’ more than freshly cooked meals and a head chef
30.10.15 Dunedin Hospital #despair
● 17.6.15 Southern District Health Board sacked !!!
9.6.15 Southern District Health Board
16.4.15 Talk of replacing Southern District Health Board with commissioner
21.8.14 Dirty pool? #SDHB #University
6.8.14 Otago Therapeutic Pool at Dunedin Hospital
1.5.14 Dunedin Hospital buildings SORRY STATE
14.1.14 DCC: Hospital area parking changes #cyclelanes
5.12.13 Swann case: ODHB/SDHB and friends
3.8.12 Extraordinary editorials

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Site Notice #DunedinHospital

This afternoon David Benson-Pope requested an unreserved apology from the website owner following publication of an image and various comments at a now deleted post concerning the Save Our Hospital campaign that was highlighted in a newspaper story published on 25 March 2017.

The website owner unreservedly apologises to Mr Benson-Pope for the publication of this material and any resulting discomfort or distress it may have caused.

An apology will be emailed to Mr Benson-Pope shortly, copy Sandy Graham, DCC.

Elizabeth Kerr
Site Owner

—

Reference:

### ODT Online Sat, 25 Mar 2017
Woodhouse blasts DCC
By Eileen Goodwin
National list MP Michael Woodhouse has lashed out at the Dunedin City Council over its hospital rebuild campaign, implying it is a front for the Labour Party. And Mr Woodhouse said the council’s stance was “confusing” — on the one hand it wants a central city rebuild, but it granted the Accident Compensation Corporation the right to consider buying the Frederick St car park. ACC has a 12-month timeframe to look at development options for the site. […] Mr Woodhouse is also ACC Minister, and he made it clear he was speaking as a local MP.
Read more

[ends]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Downer EDI buys Hawkins businesses

At Facebook:

—

Downer EDI – Media Release
Downer acquires Hawkins businesses in New Zealand

08/03/2017
Downer EDI Limited (Downer) announced today that it had signed an agreement to acquire the construction, infrastructure and project management businesses of Hawkins, a New Zealand company, from the McConnell Family.
The Chief Executive of Downer, Grant Fenn, said Hawkins was an excellent strategic fit for Downer’s New Zealand business.
“Downer has a long and proud history in New Zealand that can be traced back more than a century,” Mr Fenn said. “Today we are a leading provider of services to our customers in a range of markets including transport, telecommunications and water.
“Hawkins is a New Zealand industry leader in construction and infrastructure and this acquisition will complement our existing Engineering, Construction and Maintenance capabilities while also providing a platform for growth. It is estimated that over NZ$50 billion will be invested in non-residential construction in New Zealand over the next five years.”
Mr Fenn said Hawkins would continue to operate under its current brand.
“Hawkins was founded in New Zealand 70 years ago and its highly skilled management team has built a strong reputation for delivering quality projects for its customers in both the public and private sectors,” he said.
Hawkins has a number of high profile projects across its portfolio including the SH16 Lincoln to Westgate upgrade, the construction of Auckland’s Park Hyatt Hotel, the Pier B Extension at Auckland Airport, Wellington Airport’s Rongotai Control Tower, Wellington City Council’s Arlington Housing Project, the Christchurch Town Hall, and the Avon River Precinct (Christchurch).
Mr Fenn said the acquisition would be funded through existing debt facilities and be earnings accretive in its first year.
The transaction is due to be completed on 31 March.

[ends] Downer EDI Link

****

Hawkins – Media Release
Hawkins Ownership to Change

8th March 2017

Hawkins is pleased to announce that Downer is acquiring Hawkins’ construction, infrastructure and project management businesses from the McConnell Family. This offers a new era of opportunity for both organisations. Hawkins Construction will retain its brand and continue as an ongoing business. Hawkins Infrastructure, which complements Downer, will be integrated into its existing Infrastructure business. Together we look forward to continuing our proud New Zealand heritage of building better communities, with passionate people and great projects. Link

[Hawkins full announcement]

DOW / Announcements
Downer acquires Hawkins business in New Zealand
8:39am, 8 Mar 2017 | ASSET

8 March 2017
DOWNER ACQUIRES HAWKINS BUSINESSES IN NEW ZEALAND
Downer EDI Limited (Downer) announced today that it had signed an agreement to acquire the construction, infrastructure and project management businesses of Hawkins, a New Zealand company, from the McConnell Family.
The Chief Executive of Downer, Grant Fenn, said Hawkins was an excellent strategic fit for Downer’s New Zealand business.
“Downer has a long and proud history in New Zealand that can be traced back more than a century,” Mr Fenn said. “Today we are a leading provider of services to our customers in a range of markets including transport, telecommunications and water.
“Hawkins is a New Zealand industry leader in construction and infrastructure and this acquisition will complement our existing Engineering, Construction and Maintenance capabilities while also providing a platform for growth. It is estimated that over NZ$50 billion will be invested in non-residential construction in New Zealand over the next five years.”
Mr Fenn said Hawkins would continue to operate under its current brand.
“Hawkins was founded in New Zealand 70 years ago and its highly skilled management team has built a strong reputation for delivering quality projects for its customers in both the public and private sectors,” he said.
Hawkins has a number of high profile projects across its portfolio including the SH16 Lincoln to Westgate upgrade, the construction of Auckland’s Park Hyatt Hotel, the Pier B Extension at Auckland Airport, Wellington Airport’s Rongotai Control Tower, Wellington City Council’s Arlington Housing Project, the Christchurch Town Hall, and the Avon River Precinct (Christchurch).
Mr Fenn said the acquisition would be funded through existing debt facilities and be earnings accretive in its first year.
The transaction is due to be completed on 31 March.

For further information please contact:
Michael Sharp, Group Head of Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations +61 439 470 145

About Downer
Downer EDI Limited (Downer) is a leading provider of services to customers in markets including: Transport Services; Rail; Mining; Utilities Services; Technology and Communications Services; and Engineering, Construction & Maintenance. We build strong relationships of trust with our customers, truly understanding and predicting their needs and bringing them world leading insights and solutions. Downer employs about 19,000 people across more than 200 sites and projects, mostly in Australia and New Zealand, but also in the Asia-Pacific region, South America and Southern Africa. For more on Downer, visit: http://www.downergroup.com.

About Hawkins
Hawkins was established in Hamilton in 1946 by Fred Hawkins and has steadily grown over seven decades to become a leader in New Zealand’s infrastructure and project delivery. Hawkins employs about 700 people and specialises in the design and construction delivery of buildings and infrastructure that create stronger communities across New Zealand and also the Asia Pacific. For more information on Hawkins, visit http://www.hawkins.co.nz

Attachments
Downer acquires Hawkins business in New Zealand (PDF)

[ends] Hawkins Link

ODT feature : Streets of gold #Dunedin

In case you missed the ODT four-part series on Dunedin’s residential heritage in late December….. here it is, via Dave Cannan’s The Wash (Facebook).

****

█ The four parts, abridged for quick reference and linked here below, had an excellent (research) information follow-up by Kim Dungey.

Some very approximate dates have been added care of Quality Value (QV), these are based on (limited) property records held by councils; as well as year dates for historical architects, where known.

Streets of Gold, a Summer Times series celebrating Dunedin’s rich architectural heritage. In collaboration with Heritage New Zealand researchers Heather Bauchop and Susan Irvine, with additional research by David Murray, archivist, Hocken Collections; and Alison Breese, archivist, Dunedin City Council.

### ODT Online Tue, 27 Dec 2016
Streets of gold: High St
High Street has an association with the medical profession dating back to the 1880s, when the Mornington cable car started running and some impressive new houses were built along its route.

CAVENDISH CHAMBERS, 211 High St.
The company behind the venture, Medical Buildings Ltd, was incorporated on March 1, 1926, and the shareholders all took professional rooms in the new property. The building was completed in 1927. Architect: Eric Miller (1896-1948).

236 HIGH ST
This prominent residence (QV: c.1900?) with a turret and projecting windows was designed in 1888 for Scottish-born Dr Frank Ogston. Ogston gained his medical degree in Aberdeen and emigrated to Dunedin in 1886 to take up a position as a lecturer in medical jurisprudence and hygiene at the University of Otago. Architect: Henry Hardy (1830-1908), and builder-developer.

238 HIGH ST
An Arts and Crafts-style design, the house (QV: c.1909?) is finished in roughcast with brick exposed on the ground floor sills. It was built for Dr D.E. Williams and his family as a private residence and doctor’s surgery and was home to the Williams family until the 1960s. Architect: Basil Hooper (1876-1960).

296 HIGH ST
Built in 1904, the Chalet Hospital (a private facility) was described as being “finished in coloured and tuck-pointed brickwork … the whole of the relief and ornament is carried out in bold cornices over the windows”. Architect: John Louis Salmond (1868-1950).

Read more + Photos

****

### ODT Online Tue, 27 Dec 2016
Streets of gold: York Pl
York Place features two large homes once owned by members of the Speight family.

LARBERT VILLA – 371 York Pl
It is unclear exactly when the villa was built. Coppersmith Alexander Burt, of A and T Burt, married Janet Crawford in 1866 (they had a family of six sons and three daughters) and the couple were living in York Pl by July 1868 when Janet gave birth to a son at the house.

FORMER SPEIGHT RESIDENCE – 362 York Pl
Built for Jessie and Charles Speight after their marriage in 1898, the residence appears in the Dunedin City Council rates records in the 1899-1900 year. Architect: J.L. Salmond.

HAEATA – 273 York Pl
The residence of Charles and Jessie Speight from the time it was built in 1915, it remained in the Speight family until 1960. Bearing a strong resemblance to the Theomin family’s Olveston (built 1907, designed by Sir Ernest George). Architect: John Brown (1875-1923), a neighbour.

MRS TURNBULL’S GROCERY STORE – 324 York Pl
Known more than a century ago as Mrs Turnbull’s Grocery Store, this unusual wedge-shaped building began life as a home, stables and shop built for John and Janet Turnbull in 1875. In January 1875 tenders were invited for a two-storey dwelling and shop to be constructed of wood. Architect and Surveyor: E.J. Sanders [aka Saunders].

Read more + Photos

****

### ODT Online Wed, 28 Dec 2016
Streets of gold: Highgate
Highgate has a fascinating and storied collection of prominent dwellings.

RENFREW HOUSE – 111 Highgate
Thought to have originated as a single-storey bluestone house with a central front door and double hung windows on each side. A second storey was later added. The exterior walls were built of double stone – more than 70cm thick – and the interior walls of double brick. With its wrought iron lacework, it has been described as one of the “finest examples of classic Victorian architecture in Dunedin”. Home of businessman Andrew McFarlane (1842-1904) and his wife Jane Wilson (1847-1920). By the 1890s, the family referred to their home as “Renfrew House”. Architect: credited to Nathaniel Wales (1832-1903), a neighbour.
 
KAWARAU – 204 Highgate
Designed in 1900 for dredging tycoon Alexander McGeorge, this grand residence reflects the fortunes made in Otago’s gold dredging boom of the late 1890s and early 20th century. Trained at Dunedin firm Cossens and Black, McGeorge (1868-1953) held a variety of significant engineering posts. The two-storeyed house is built of brick, has a slate roof, ornate decorative detailing, and features Tudor influences in the half timbering and veranda details. Architect: J.L. Salmond.

FORMER HUXTABLE RESIDENCE – 233 Highgate
This 1907 brick and tile residence designed for Anna and Alexander Huxtable, is a beautifully detailed example of an Edwardian villa, one with historic and architectural significance. Anna Huxtable was granted the land in 1907; a survey on May 15, 1907, indicates the foundations for the new dwelling were already in place at that date. (QV: c.1910?). Alexander Murray Huxtable described himself as both a commercial agent and patent medicine manufacturer. Architect: Edward Walden (1870-1944).

MELROSE – 384 Highgate
Likely designed for lawyer Arthur Nation (1852-1927) around 1876. In October that year, tenders were called for the construction of a “brick cottage” in the suburb of Melrose (a private subdivision in what is now known as Roslyn). However, Nation appears to have built more than a cottage: when his property was offered for sale in 1879 it was described as “a substantially-built and well-finished brick house”, its original features including hand-painted ceilings, timber joinery and stained glass. Architect: credited to John McGregor (1838-1911), and harbour engineer.

Read more + Photos

****

### ODT Online Thu, 29 Dec 2016
Streets of gold: Royal Tce
Royal Terrace has a fascinating and storied collection of prominent dwellings.

DAISY BANK – 12 Royal Tce
Associated with the prominent Hudson family. An Italianate, two-storeyed symmetrical house with a large basement, “Daisy Bank” was built of concrete and wood, circa 1897. Architect: J.A. Burnside (1856-1920).

LINDEN – 22 Royal Tce
Built in the 1870s, a two-storied, two-bay Victorian residence of more than 15 rooms, with an exterior comprising plastered triple brick with quoins, foundations of Leith Valley andesite and a slate roof. Associated with the prominent Isaacs and Hudson families. Architect: Mason and Wales (likely Nathaniel Wales).

CLAVERTON – 30 Royal Tce
Associated with prominent local politician and businessman Richard H. Leary and one of New Zealand’s most prominent artistic families, the Hodgkins. Claverton was most likely built in 1877 by local politician and businessman Richard H. Leary (1840-95). Architect: likely Maxwell Bury (1825-1912).

ALYTH – 34 Royal Tce
Built in the 1870s by prominent businessman, community leader and one-time Dunedin mayor Keith Ramsay (1844-1906). Named Alyth after Ramsay’s birth place, the house was completed, at the latest, by March 1875. Architect: Robert Arthur Lawson (1833-1902).

Read more + Photos

****

It doesn’t have to be a mansion located on the high streets….

Crabapple Cottage, Otago Peninsula [thecuriouskiwi.co.nz]

Lastly, a THOROUGHLY USEFUL guide for those unfamiliar with historic heritage archives, technical sources and search methods.

### ODT Online Fri, 30 Dec 2016
What is your house hiding?
By Kim Dungey
Enjoyed this week’s Streets of Gold series, in which we have profiled various Dunedin houses of historic significance? Fancy playing detective and tracing the history of your home? … In recent years, Heritage New Zealand has run “how to research your home” workshops in Dunedin, Invercargill, Oamaru and Central Otago. The popular seminars have drawn together the sources it uses every day to tell the story of historic places. Archivists say some people want to restore their homes to their original states, are curious about former owners or simply want to know the age of their houses for insurance purposes. Others require archaeological assessments of pre-1901 properties or have reported seeing ghosts in their homes and wanted to work out who they might be. Interested homeowners have a wealth of resources at their fingertips….
Read more

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Getaways —Dezeen 2016

A brief selection of short and long stay architectural showpieces.

OPA finds backer for cliffside residence sunken into Lebanese mountain
Jessica Mairs | 5 May 2016 ● Dezeen
Open Platform for Architecture (OPA) is moving forward with plans to build a subterranean residence that will slice into a mountain near Beirut and feature a glass swimming pool for a roof. OPA originally released plans for Casa Brutale in July 2015, with no site, client or budget to build it. But the viral success of the renderings has now brought forward a backer with a plot of land on Faqra mountain near Beirut and a budget of $2.5 million (£1.7 million).

The project is expected to break ground this summer and its owner will be Alex Demirdjian, the chief executive of Lebanese real estate agent Demco Properties. The buried dwelling will be bracketed by three board-marked concrete slabs, while a fourth glazed wall will allow views of the valley to take centre stage. A glass-bottomed pool will allow light to shine into the earth-encased living spaces.
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/05/05/casa-brutale-opa-sunken-cliffside-residence-lebanese-mountain-swimming-pool/

Renderings: Terpsichori Latsi (LOOM Design)

****

Tiny camping pods by Andrea Zittel serve as a creative refuge in the California desert
Jenna McKnight | 19 August 2016 ● Dezeen
Artists and writers wanting to play out a “desert fantasy” can rent a tiny sleeping pod at a remote campsite in southern California, which looks like a scene from a sci-fi film. Called the Wagon Station Encampment, the experimental project was conceived by US artist Andrea Zittel, who is known for her explorations into self-sufficient and sustainable living systems. The site consists of 10 sleeping pods, called wagon stations, as well as a communal outdoor kitchen, open-air showers and composting toilets. “It’s sort of a cross between a retreat and a residency and a normal campground,” said Zittel. The encampment – described as having a sci-fi aesthetic – is located on a 35-acre (14-hectare) site near Joshua Tree National Park, which is dotted with unusual rock formations rising up from a vast expanse of desert.

The metal-and-wood shelters are meant to evoke the classic family station wagons often found in suburbia, along with the covered, horse-drawn wagons that were common in old Wild West. While the pods do not have wheels, they can be easily collapsed, moved and reassembled. Guests enter their pod by unlocking and lifting up the front panel, which can be propped up and left open. The panel has a transparent strip that enables occupants to view the surrounding landscape and sky while lying on their bed. Inside, the enclosure contains a mattress, clothing hooks and a small door for ventilation. Artists can bring their own decor, such as rugs and paintings, to personalise the pod. The campsite is part of a larger property known as A-Z West, which was established in 2000. It contains Zittel’s primary residence, a studio and shop facility and a collection of shipping containers converted into apartments. Other camp shelters include the recently unveiled Autonomous Tent, which is a sculptural enclosure with a wooden porch, and portable micro cabins designed by Harvard students for stressed-out city dwellers.
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/08/19/wagon-station-encampment-andrea-zittel-tiny-camping-pods-creative-refuge-california-desert/

Photography: Lance Brewer

****

Eight concrete boxes form a “moveable” vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard
James Brillon | 20 August 2016 ● Dezeen
A cluster of eight interconnected concrete volumes make up this Martha’s Vineyard residence, which is designed to be moved in the event of site erosion. The single-family East House was created by Canadian architect Peter Rose in the town of Chilmark. Serious concerns about the site’s ability to support the 4,000 square foot (372 sq m) residence led the architects to devise a system that allegedly allows the house to be moved if necessary.

The home’s living spaces were designed as eight individual cast-in-place concrete boxes. They are connected via interstitial corridors, which were built using lightweight timber construction. According to the architects, this makes them structurally independent from one another, which in turn allows them to be moved more easily. “The solution was to cast the floors in concrete, making each box a single structural unit that can be individually lifted and moved to a location far from the bluff in case of erosion.”
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/08/20/eight-concrete-boxes-form-a-moveable-vacation-home-on-marthas-vineyard/

Photography: Chuck Choi

****

Luxury campsite in Antarctica offers tiny domed pods for sleeping and dining
Jenna McKnight | 31 August 2016 ● Dezeen
This remote “glamping” site in Antarctica features a series of igloo-like enclosures fitted with upscale decor like fur-covered chairs and bamboo headboards. White Desert – billed as the “only luxury camp in the interior of Antarctica” – consists of heated, spherical pods made of fibreglass. Six are designated for sleeping, with each designed to accommodate two guests. Additional pods house a kitchen, a dining room, a lounge and a library. The domed shelters rest atop wooden platforms and are secured to the ground with metal cables.
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/08/31/white-desert-luxury-campsite-antarctica-tiny-domed-pods-extreme-glamping/

Photography courtesy of White Desert

****

BIG stacks shipping containers to create floating student housing in Copenhagen harbour
Jessica Mairs | 22 September 2016 ● Dezeen
Shipping containers are stacked on a floating platform to create these buoyant student halls of residence designed by Bjarke Ingels’ firm (BIG) for Copenhagen harbour. The project named Urban Rigger aims to provide low-cost housing for students in the centre of the Copenhagen, docked in the harbour.

BIG’s scheme comprises nine shipping containers stacked and arranged on a floating base, to create 15 studio residences over two levels. The blocks are angled with their ends overlapping to frame a shared garden in the centre of the mobile platform – also intended to protect the housing from the threat of rising sea levels. The flat roofs of the three containers forming the upper floor each have a different function. One provides a terrace, another hosts solar panels and the final roof is covered in grass. Urban Rigger is the latest addition to a string of proposals considering shipping containers as a model for affordable housing. Copenhagen’s harbour area is currently undergoing significant redevelopment.
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/09/22/big-bjarke-ingels-shipping-containers-floating-student-housing-urban-rigger-copenhagen/

Photography: Laurent de Carniere

****

Baca Architects moors modular floating home on Chichester Canal
Eleanor Gibson | 23 October 2016 ● Dezeen
Baca Architects – the studio behind the UK’s first amphibious house – has completed a boxy floating home on Chichester Canal in southern England. The London-based architects developed the floating house as a prototype with British company Floating Homes. The replicable design named Chichester won an ideas competition seeking solutions to London’s housing crisis earlier this year.

Baca Architects referenced the design of canal boats when drawing up plans for the house, but increased the scale and included plenty of windows to create a more spacious and luxurious home on the water. The architects played with the traditional rectangular shape of house boats to create a split-level design. A white staircase leads from the lounge up to a terrace carved into the flat roof of the house and surrounded by glazed balustrades. Simple finishes like white-painted walls and pale floorboards keep the space light and open.
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/23/chichester-model-canal-baca-architects-wooden-floating-home-uk/

Photography courtesy of Floating Homes Ltd

****

Precarious Alpine cabin by OFIS offers shelter to Slovenian climbers
Jessica Mairs | 10 November 2016 ● Dezeen
This tiny aluminium-clad cabin by Slovenian studio OFIS Arhitekti cantilevers over the edge of a mountain on the Slovenian-Italian border. OFIS Arhitekti worked with local structural engineers CBD to develop the Kanin Winter Cabin, which is designed to resist extreme weather conditions on its exposed site on Mount Kanin. “This particular site was chosen because of its 360-degree views over Slovenia and Italy, and spectacular views to Triglav, Soca Valley and Adriatic sea,” said the studio.

This tiny 9.7-square-metre cabin has a narrow floor plan containing three shelf-like floors, and has dimensions of just 2.4 by 4.9 metres. It is made from a combination of cross-laminated timber, glass and aluminium panels. “The interior design dictates modesty, subordinate to the function, providing accommodation for up to nine mountaineers.”
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/11/10/cantilever-alpine-shelter-kanin-winter-cabin-ofis-architects-climbers-slovenia/

Photography: Janez Martincic

****

Flat-packed cabin concept allows tiny houses to be assembled like IKEA furniture
James Brillon | 20 November 2016 ● Dezeen
A Vancouver-based startup’s conceptual design for flat-packed recreational cabins would allow users to build for themselves, making the wilderness more readily accessible. The Backcountry Hut Company is an offshoot of interdisciplinary design firm Leckie Studio. Its goal is to facilitate the process of building cabins for a variety of uses. The huts are provided in pieces that can be efficiently packed flat and assembled on site. Rather than being built by professional craftspeople, the cabins can be put together by a small group working together. The simple geometrical cabins encompass two floors. The ground level contains public areas that vary according to individual preferences. Sleeping quarters are located above, and are accessed using a ladder. The metal-clad huts are part of a larger trend towards building small, modular dwellings.
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/11/20/backcountry-hut-company-leckie-studio-flat-packed-cabin-concept-assembled-like-ikea-furniture/

Images courtesy of Backcountry Hut Company

****

Antarctic research centre to be towed inland to escape dangerous ice crack
Amy Frearson | 13 December 2016 ● Dezeen
The world’s first mobile research centre on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica is going to be moved to a new location for the first time, due to fears it could be trapped on an iceberg.

Photo: British Antarctic Survey

Photo: Hugh Broughton Architects

Designed by Hugh Broughton Architects for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the Halley VI Antarctic Research Station has only been operational since 2013, but now needs to be towed 23 kilometres to a new location. This is because a chasm that had previously been dormant for approximately 35 years started to grow just after the station was installed, putting it at risk of separating from the ice shelf. The £25.8 million research station is built to withstand extreme winter weather. Made up of seven interlinking blue modules, the structure is raised on hydraulically elevated feet to stay above the many metres of expected snowfall.
These ski-like feet also make it possible to tow each of the modules over a prepared ice track. But the team did not expect to have to move the building less than five years after the facility opened.
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/12/13/halley-vi-antarctic-research-station-towed-inland-escape-dangerous-crack-brunt-ice-shelf/

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

WHO says ‘heritage rules are too restrictive’ —What’s their agenda in the Heritage City

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS

St Joseph’s and the Dominican Priory, Smith St [cardcow.com]

‘A new roof for Dunedin’s Dominican Priory, considered one of New Zealand’s most important and at-risk historic buildings, is a big step closer following a $100,000 grant. [The] Dunedin Heritage Fund had committed the money from its 2016-17 budget. The 139-year old priory was built to house the city’s Dominican nuns and provide teaching space for girls. Despite its vast scale and elaborate construction – its floating concrete staircase and double-glazed music room were cutting edge designs in their day – the building received little maintenance over its working life.’ –Gerald Scanlan, Catholic Diocese of Dunedin (ODT)

19.2.16 ODT: Boost for restoration of priory (+ video)
12.5.16 ODT: DCC commits $100,000 to priory restoration
27.6.16 ODT: Priory future gets clean slate

*The Dunedin Heritage Fund is administered by representatives of Dunedin City Council and Heritage New Zealand.

****

MORE GOOD NEWS

Dunedin Prison “big-picture project” [dunedinprisontrust.co.nz]

‘The Dunedin Prison Trust has raised about $500,000 to start the first stage of its development programme to return the [old prison] building to its original appearance. […] Last year, the trust lodged a planning application with the Dunedin City Council detailing about $250,000 of restorative work which would return the prison’s exterior to its original 1896 condition. The application included work on the building’s roof and walls, as well as seismic strengthening, work expected to cost another $250,000.’ (ODT)

24.8.16 ODT: Restoration begins on historic prison
2.9.16 ODT: Captive audience for prison project
17.9.16 ODT: Old prison roof being restored

****

GOOD NEWS CONTINUES

Dunedin Courthouse [panoramio.com]

‘Refurbishing and strengthening Dunedin’s historic courthouse is expected to cost more than $18 million, according to a building consent approved by the Dunedin City Council. The consent includes detailed designs that council building services manager Neil McLeod says involve some of the most extensive earthquake-strengthening ever undertaken in the city. The plans also show the extent to which the Ministry of Justice plans on returning the building to its former glory.’ (ODT)

10.9.16 ODT: $18m to be spent on court upgrade
29.9.16 ODT: Courthouse restoration set to begin
30.9.16 ODT: Dunedin firm wins courthouse contract

****

BAD NEWS

‘The Physio Pool is one of the largest warm water swimming pools in New Zealand and Dunedin’s only therapeutic swimming pool. The temperature is always kept around 35 degrees. We feature wheelchair accessibility, hoist and private changing rooms. The benefits of warm water exercise are tremendous and have an extremely positive impact on the quality of life for all ages. We are open to the public and offer a non-threatening environment for swimming, aqua jogging, individual exercise programmes, or warm water relaxation.’ —physiopool.org.nz

### ODT Online Sat, 1 Oct 2016
Pool heritage status opposed
By Vaughan Elder
The Southern District Health Board is fighting a proposal to classify  Dunedin’s already endangered physio pool site as a heritage building, saying it may have to be demolished as part of a hospital redevelopment. This comes as the Property Council and the University of Otago are set to argue at next week’s  Second Generation Dunedin City District Plan (2GP) hearings that proposed rules aimed at protecting the city’s heritage buildings are too restrictive.
Read more

█ Heritage New Zealand | Otago Therapeutic Pool List No. 7581
Historical information and Heritage significance at http://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details?id=7581

****

FURTHER BAD NEWS AND PILLOCKS

Criticism of the [second generation district] plan comes after praise in recent times for the council for its proactive approach towards saving the city’s heritage buildings.

### ODT Online Sun, 2 Oct 2016
Heritage rules deemed too restrictive
By Vaughan Elder
The Dunedin City Council’s proposed new heritage rules are too restrictive and property owners should have more freedom to demolish uneconomic heritage buildings, the Property Council says. This comes as Second Generation Dunedin City District Plan (2GP) commissioners are set to hear arguments next week about a new set of rules aimed at protecting the city’s heritage buildings. The University of Otago is also among submitters to have expressed concern about rules,  planner and policy adviser Murray Brass saying they had the potential to  reduce protection by making it more difficult to maintain and use heritage buildings.
A summary on the 2GP website said the changes included addressing the threat of “demolition by neglect” by making it easier to put old buildings to new uses and requiring resource consent for most changes to identified heritage buildings and “character-contributing” buildings within defined heritage precincts.
The new rules have prompted a strong response.
Read more

****

FOR HISTORIC HERITAGE

Second Generation District Plan (2GP) – Heritage
Read all Heritage topic documents including reports, evidence and submissions to date at: https://2gp.dunedin.govt.nz/2gp/hearings-schedule/heritage.html

Documents
● Notice of Hearing
● Agenda
● Speaking Schedule – updated 29 September

Council Evidence
● Section 42A report
● Section 42A report addendum

DCC expert evidence
● Statement of evidence of Glen Hazelton [Policy planner – heritage]

█ Download: s42a Heritage Report with appendices (PDF, 5 MB)

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Carisbrook turnstile building, Neville St | HNZ Category 1 historic place
[filmcameraworkshop.com]

Misero-mercenary at U of O

Just in, Rhodes says:

Naylor Love stiffed by U of O.
$100M Dental School to be awarded to Leighs Construction.

But…
Naylor Love’s consolation prize is the new $18M Otago Polytechnic Hall of Residence, where they were significantly more expensive than other local rival Amalgamated Builders, but scored much higher on non-price attributes, which gave them top ranking.

Amalgamated Builders, clearly not flavour of the month at either Polytech or University —it’s understood the same thing occurred at the recent Commerce Building Upgrade.

—

Related Post and Comments:
1.7.16 No one wants to work for U of O
31.5.13 University of Otago development plans

For more enter the term *university*, *campus master plan*, *property services*, *leith flood protection* or *landscaping* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

No one wants to work for U of O

On campus, nothing much.
Demolition continues at the old dental school.

Received from Carol Roberts
Tue, 28 Jun 2016 at 11:12 p.m.

Artist’s impression [Image supplied]

Dental School
Project manager Aurecon’s project director resigned 2-3 weeks ago. This will be the 4th or 5th PM for this job. Aurecon won the job because of this person’s credentials…. shades of the prior Opus Dental school debacle.

Research Building
The PM for RCP New Zealand, resigned about 2 months into the project 2 weeks ago…. Construction of the ‘Animal Research Support Facility’ for the south campus was scheduled to start in August and be completed in February 2018.

Science Building
Leighs onsite QS/PM has left, the Leighs project director, who is supposed to be onsite 3-4 days a week, goes weeks without a visit, and Leighs general manager, Graeme Earl, has left…. Leighs are looking for a replacement.
Leighs AWOL…and behind programme at Science.

A further development
Local Quantity Surveying firms elbowed out of the way
(not implying the university!) Local Institutions are paying substantial premiums (including 6 figures) to out of town firms.

[ends]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Delta: Update on Yaldhurst subdivision debt recovery

Election Year : The following item is offered in the public interest. -Eds

—

Received.

From: Gary Johnson
Sent: Friday, 19 February 2016 5:18 p.m.
To: Elizabeth Kerr
Subject: 160219 Media Statement_Delta half year results – update on Yaldhurst subdivision debt recovery

Elizabeth

We see there has been interest on the What if? Dunedin… on the current position on Delta’s recovery of an outstanding debt related to the Yaldhurst subdivision, Christchurch.

I hope the attached information provides a useful update, ahead of Delta’s half year report for the six months to 31 December 2015, due for release next week.

Kind regards, Gary

Gary Johnson
Marketing and Communications Manager
[Delta Utility Services Ltd]

—

ATTACHMENT [click to enlarge]

—

Related Posts and Comments:
15.2.16 Delta / DCHL not broadcasting position on subdivision mortgagee tender
30.1.16 DCC Rates: LOCAL CONTEXT not Stats —Delta and Hippopotamuses
29.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision ● Some forensics
21.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision
21.1.16 DCC LTAP 2016/17 budget discussion #ultrahelpfulhints
10.1.16 Infrastructure ‘open to facile misinterpretation’…. or local ignore
15.12.15 Noble property subdivision aka Yaldhurst Village | Mortgagee Tender
21.9.15 DCC: Not shite (?) hitting the fan but DVL
20.7.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA #LGOIMA
1.4.15 Christchurch subdivisions: Heat gone?
24.3.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA
23.3.15 Noble property subdivision: “Denials suggest that we have not learned.”
17.3.15 DCC —Delta, Jacks Point Luggate II…. Noble property subdivision

● 20.3.14 Delta: Report from Office of the Auditor-General

█ For more, enter the term *delta* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Delta / DCHL not broadcasting position on subdivision mortgagee tender

Election Year : The following opinion is offered in the public interest. -Eds

—

Received from Cr Lee Vandervis
Sunday, 14 February 2016 at 10:43 p.m.

█ Message: An individual interested in the Noble [Yaldhurst Village] subdivision but who wishes to remain anonymous has sent me the attached photograph and the following comment. I believe that it is in the public interest for this comment to be published, as it is largely confirmed by information I have been receiving from interested parties in Christchurch over the last two years.
It seems remarkable to me that the current Yaldhurst subdivision mortgagee sale process has not been widely reported or commented on, especially as DCC’s Delta is so heavily invested in what was always a risky subdivision, a very similar scenario to the Delta Jacks Point/Luggate subdivision that lost $7-9 million.

—

Delta heavily invested in failed Yaldhurst land subdivision, Christchurch

“Taken 13 February.
These are the only residents likely on this piece of land in the near future.

There are pylon radiata right through the land.
According to someone who lives in the subdivision next door, the Noble owner agreed with the next door owner that there could be a road which goes through both subdivisions, which would allow more sections to be developed on the next door land. Apparently he reneged on the deal so as he could put more sections on the Noble land. In the event he has since died, and both NZTA and the Christchurch City Council have not been allowing the subdivision to be signed off because the roads developed on the land are not sufficient for either reading in general or for roads which a Council will take over when the subdivision is complete.

So the number of sections Noble wanted to squeeze out of the land determined the roads which are not right for the land.

It is being advertised as a block of land, without taking into account the infrastructure put in I guess by Delta, because it looks like you would need to start from scratch.

Someone shifts the cows around the land to keep the grass down.

I could not even find a gullible cow who would tell me they thought the land was worth the $10 to $15 million we are pretending Delta could get out of any possible sale, even if they were the first call on the proceeds rather than being in line after a mortgagee or 2 as well as any others with priority claims.”

[ends]

—

New Zealand Companies register: Delta Utility Services Limited (453486)

█ Directors: David John Frow (appointed 25 Oct 2012), Trevor John Kempton (01 Nov 2013), Stuart James McLauchlan (01 Jun 2007), Ian Murray Parton (25 Oct 2012)

More: Historic data for directors

Related Posts and Comments:
30.1.16 DCC Rates: LOCAL CONTEXT not Stats —Delta and Hippopotamuses
29.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision ● Some forensics
21.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision
21.1.16 DCC LTAP 2016/17 budget discussion #ultrahelpfulhints
10.1.16 Infrastructure ‘open to facile misinterpretation’…. or local ignore
15.12.15 Noble property subdivision aka Yaldhurst Village | Mortgagee Tender
21.9.15 DCC: Not shite (?) hitting the fan but DVL
20.7.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA #LGOIMA
1.4.15 Christchurch subdivisions: Heat gone?
24.3.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA
23.3.15 Noble property subdivision: “Denials suggest that we have not learned.”
17.3.15 DCC —Delta, Jacks Point Luggate II…. Noble property subdivision

█ For more, enter the term *delta* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision ● Some forensics

Election Year : The following opinion is offered in the public interest. -Eds

Noble subdivision in Yaldhurst 2013. Iain McGregor/Fairfax

—

Received from Canterbury Driver [CD]
Fri, 29 Jan 2016 at 1:01 a.m.

Subject: Delta and how to hide $10M

This correspondent was curious to know the extent of Delta’s exposure on their failed attempt at the Christchurch subdivision market. DCHL chairman Graham Crombie becomes more bashful than a teenage boy at his first disco when discussing the potential numbers in the media. Mr Crombie coyly advises that “millions” are owed and he is confident “millions” will eventually, in the fullness of time be received, albeit a few less million than is owed. Link

Of course, as John Maynard Keynes famously said, “in the long run we are all dead”, and this is also clearly the view of the financier (named by The Press last year as Southpac Property Investments) who has watched years roll by with no interest or repayments, and has called in the mortgage.

However much Mr Crombie wishes to hide in the corner, desperate to be ignored, clutching tight to his chest those precious numbers, he has been upstaged. His CEO Grady Cameron, has tantalised us with a peep of a disclosure in his opening statement in the 2015 Delta Annual Report on the DCC website. Mr Cameron confirms without being specific that Delta have “an outstanding debt” on a Christchurch subdivision and that the “fair value” of the secured debt is independently valued at $13.2M. He notes helpfully that this value was up from $12.8M last year. We can all relax now….

Thus we know that $13.2M is included as an asset somewhere in the Delta accounts. Delta says it has $59.705M of assets in its summary on page 15. But does it really ? Page 25 shows the breakdown of assets with $25.244M of the $59.705M being “trade receivables”. (The rest of the assets are basically plant, equipment and property.) At page 46, in “Note 23” safely buried far from public scrutiny, lies the smoking gun of Delta’s financial assets of $25.244M. There it is, a provision for “Less estimated doubtful debts” of $9.761M, that reduces the figure to $25.244M. This is a highly original description for bad debts, but desperate times call for desperate euphemisms.

So let’s be clear here – more than half of Delta’s financial assets ($13.2M) – amount to a bad debt in a failed subdivision, that is

a) now under mortgagee sale

b) has a third (or fourth) tier finance company as first mortgagee (because the banks would not lend on it)

c) that was built incorrectly, with the incorrect sized roads

d) faces ongoing legal action

e) cannot have titles released

f) has noisy 33KV powerlines running through it

g) has been completed since 2013 with no money received.

Continuing on, the news for the Owners (us) becomes more dire. The $9.761M “doubtful debts” included a carry over amount of $4.837M from 2014, which in turn included a $1.932M provision in 2013. The Yaldhurst (aka Noble) subdivision turned bad in 2012-2013, so it is very likely that the vast majority of the entire $9.761M is a bad debt provision for this heinously bad decision.

What it means is that Mr Crombie cannot possibly be “confident” of having a large proportion of the debt repaid. A large proportion has already been written off, it seems. This is not a “timing issue” as he claims. Delta has already written off up to almost $10M. That would put the total Delta exposure in excess of $20M.

Mr Crombie needs to identify how this proposal came to be put to the Delta board and which board members and executive staff supported it. Releasing board minutes on this item would be helpful for interested ratepayers to understand the history. Mr Crombie should also provide a comprehensive, clear and truthful report to Dunedin City Council with the full facts of Delta’s position and how the council-owned company got into this mess. This may be awkward for Mr Crombie as the people concerned will be well known to him but that is the price and the consequence of the position he chose to accept.

Under a worst case scenario, if Delta recovers very little of the $13.2M they say they will get, their solvency is threatened. Up to 80% of the Delta shareholders equity of $15.804M will disappear, with just $2-3M left. That would mean the shareholders equity to debt ratio would be out of this world. Delta has $26.852M of debt (to DCC). To build back up to the current equity position, which at $15.804M is not high, would mean years of retaining earnings within the company with no dividends to Council. Delta’s position would be so weak that the Council would either have to inject funds or DCC treasury would foreclose on its own company….

Delta in 2015 paid DCC a dividend of $2.5M. Without this in future years there will be significant rate rises each year.

That is bad enough but the bigger issue is how, after similar multimillion-dollar Delta debacles at Luggate and Jacks Point, was this allowed to happen. Dunedin ratepayers owe thanks to Cr Lee Vandervis. His has been one often lonely voice attempting to get to the truth of this matter. We must trust that he and any other like-minded councillors will be able to enforce some accountability onto Delta.

[ends]

—

Related Posts and Comments:
21.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision
15.12.15 Noble property subdivision aka Yaldhurst Village | Mortgagee Tender
21.9.15 DCC: Not shite (?) hitting the fan but DVL
20.7.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA #LGOIMA
1.4.15 Christchurch subdivisions: Heat gone?
24.3.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA
23.3.15 Noble property subdivision: “Denials suggest that we have not learned.”
17.3.15 DCC —Delta, Jacks Point Luggate II…. Noble property subdivision

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 at 6:35 p.m.

Last year Delta told Council and Dunedin ratepayers to return to their seats and not to worry about a bit of financial turbulence on the Yaldhurst subdivision, pictured.

Photos: CD 20.1.16

Delta are owed several million (possibly more) and the story was that all is well, even though they have been not paid for about 18-24 months because they have security over the land.

Sadly for Delta and its owners (us) a security means Jack Squat if the FIRST mortgage or prior ranking securities have not been paid.

And of course the first mortgage holder can simply choose to force the sale, and IGNORE lower ranking securities, until all their loan, penalty interest, selling costs, legal fees are covered.

The question of interest is – what is an unusable subdivision going to fetch, Jack Squat perhaps ?

Other Urgent questions for Delta:

1. How much is still owed ?

2. Have they been paid anything on this project in the last year ?

3. What do they know about the forced sale process ?

4. What is the total amount of debt secured against the property that ranks ahead of them ?

5. What is the range of the estimated mortgagee sale price – just a range is fine thanks !

6. Is the company owing Delta solvent, and does it have any other assets that can be pursued ?

7. Which group of directors at Delta authorised this multimillion-dollar project ?

8. Did Delta themselves know or check that the subdivision was not designed to the CCC requirements before they started ?

9. Will anyone be held accountable for this spectacularly inept decision to be involved and any loss resulting ?

[ends]

—

whatifdunedin screenshot: ODT Online

New Zealand Companies register: Delta Utility Services Limited (453486)

█ Directors: David John Frow (appointed 25 Oct 2012), Trevor John Kempton (01 Nov 2013), Stuart James McLauchlan (01 Jun 2007), Ian Murray Parton (25 Oct 2012)

More: Historic data for directors

—

Related Posts and Comments:
15.12.15 Noble property subdivision aka Yaldhurst Village | Mortgagee Tender
21.9.15 DCC: Not shite (?) hitting the fan but DVL
20.7.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA #LGOIMA
1.4.15 Christchurch subdivisions: Heat gone?
24.3.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA
23.3.15 Noble property subdivision: “Denials suggest that we have not learned.”
17.3.15 DCC —Delta, Jacks Point Luggate II…. Noble property subdivision

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Dezeen: W57 —West 57th Residential Building by BIG

Durst Fetner Residential commissioned Copenhagen based BIG in the spring of 2010 to introduce a new residential typology to Manhattan.

sltube7 Uploaded on Feb 10, 2011
Jacob Slevin Bjarke Ingels Is BIG in New York City with W57
(by Designer Pages)

GlessnerGroup Uploaded on Feb 15, 2011
W57 – West 57th Residential Building [no audio]
W57 is a hybrid between the European perimeter block and a traditional Manhattan high-rise, West 57th has a unique shape which combines the advantages of both: the compactness and efficiency of a courtyard building providing density, a sense of intimacy and security, with the airiness and the expansive views of a skyscraper.
©Glessner Group, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

Construction is due for completion in 2016.

█ Architect: Bjarke Ingels Group

—

### dezeen.com Tue, 8 Feb 2011 at 12:41 pm
West 57th by BIG
By Catherine Warmann
Durst Fetner Residential (DFR) today announced the design of West 57, a 600-unit 80/20 residential building on West 57th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues. The building is designed by renowned Danish Architect firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and is their inaugural North American project. The building’s program consists of over 600 residential units of different scales situated on a podium with a cultural and commercial program. The building will strive for LEED Gold Certification.

“It’s extraordinarily exciting to build a building whose architecture will attract visitors from around the globe,” said Hal Fetner, CEO of Durst Fetner Residential. “BIG’s design is innovative, evocative and unique and the building’s beauty is matched only by its efficient and functional design that preserves existing view corridors while maximizing the new building’s access to natural light and views of the Hudson River. West 57th will establish a new standard for architectural excellence and its creative design, sustainable-construction and operations, breathtaking views and distinctive amenities will make it New York’s most sought after residential address.”

“New York is rapidly becoming an increasingly green and livable city. The transformation of the Hudson River waterfront and the Highline into green parks, the ongoing effort to plant a million trees, the pedestrianisation of Broadway and the creation of more miles of bicycle lanes than the entire city of my native Copenhagen are all evidence of urban oases appearing all over the city. With West 57th we attempt to continue this transformation into the heart of the city fabric – into the centre of a city block,” Bjarke Ingels, Founder, BIG.

“The building is conceived as a cross breed between the Copenhagen courtyard and the New York skyscraper. The communal intimacy of the central urban oasis meets the efficiency, density and panoramic views of the tall tower in a new hybrid typology. The courtyard is to architecture what Central Park is to urbanism: a giant green garden surrounded by a dense wall of spaces for living.”
Read more + Images

[view full screen]

BIG from DRKHRSE (posted 4 months ago)
An aerial view of Bjarke Ingel’s newest building in NYC, at W57

█ Drone Photography: Darkhorse

### dezeen.com Wed, 16 Sept 2015 at 11:10 am
Drone video shows progress on New York “courtscraper” by BIG
By Jenna McKnight
Communications firm Darkhorse has used a camera mounted to a drone to capture footage of Via 57 West, the residential building by Bjarke Ingels Group that is now rising in New York. Construction is underway on the tetrahedron-shaped building, which is located on West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The design is pulled up at one corner, to create a 467-foot-tall (142-metre) structure. It topped out several months ago, with the addition of the final structural beam, and work is now continuing on the building’s facades. The unofficial movie by Darkhorse shows images of Via’s sloped exterior, which is punctuated with south-facing terraces that look toward the Hudson River.

Encompassing 861,00 square feet (80,000 square metres), the building will contain 709 residential units and a large central courtyard. The project also calls for retail space totalling 45,000 square feet (4,180 square metres).

“We call it a courtscraper,” Ingels told Dezeen in an interview last year. “It’s a combination of a skyscraper and a courtyard building. One side is the height of a handrail and the other side is the height of a high-rise.”

The project is being constructed in an area with a mix of building types. W57 is sandwiched between a power plant, a sanitation garage and a highway. The building’s amenities will include a pool, fitness centre, basketball court, golf simulator, library and screening room. Residents will also be able to reserve “living rooms” for entertaining that feature fireplaces, chef’s kitchens, dining rooms and large terraces.
Read more + Images

█ Other residential projects now underway in New York include 152 Elizabeth Street by Tadao Ando in the Nolita neighbourhood, 520 West 28th Street by Zaha Hadid near the High Line, and a luxury condo building by Alvaro Siza that is slated to rise near BIG’s Via 57 West.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

ELEMENTAL | UC Innovation Center

An open and eco-friendly university building.

Location: San Joa­quín Cam­pus | Uni­ver­si­dad Ca­tó­li­ca de Chi­le | San­tia­go, Chi­le
Client: Grupo Angelini | Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Category Winner: Architecture
Designs of the Year 2015, Design Museum, London

Architects: ELEMENTAL (Chile)

“Santiago’s climate requires to change the conventional approach to working space design. We substituted the contemporary typical glass skin, responsible for serious greenhouse effect in interiors, for a thermal mass on the perimeter that avoids undesired heat gains. On the other hand, innovation and knowledge creation requires increasing encounters among people, so openness is desired. We multiplied open air squares throughout the building’s entire height and proposed a permeable atrium core so that while circulating vertically, people could see what others are doing. This reversed placement of opaqueness and transparency is the way sustainability and human relationships informed the form.”

Construction Year: 2012-2014
Budget: USD 18 million

ELEMENTAL (Alejandro Aravena, Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan Cerda, Victor Oddó, Diego Torres) is a Do Tank founded in 2001, focusing on projects of public interest and social impact, including housing, public space, infrastructure and transportation. A hallmark of the firm is a participatory design process in which the architects work closely with the public and end users. ELEMENTAL has built work in Chile, the United States, Mexico, China and Switzerland. After the 2010 earthquake and tsunami that hit Chile, ELEMENTAL was called to work on the reconstruction of the city of Constitución, where we had to integrate all the previous experiences. The approach we developed proved to be useful for other cases where city design was used to solve social and political conflicts. At the moment, we keep on expanding into new fields of action.

█ Website: http://www.elementalchile.cl/

Photography: Cristobal Palma, Felipe Diaz Contardo (www.fotoarq.com), Nina Vidic, Nico Saieh

—

Social housing, Incremental housing, Half a good house instead of a small one…. Housing as investment

Kosovo Architecture Foundation Published on Oct 8, 2015
Prishtina Architecture Week 2015, Day 4, Alejandro Aravena
Principal of Alejandro Aravena Architects, established in 1994 and, since 2006, Executive Director of ELEMENTAL, a for profit company with social interest working in projects of infrastructure, transportation, public space and housing, partnering with Universidad Catolica de Chile and COPEC, Chilean Oil Company.

He has been member of the Pritzker Prize Jury since 2009. The laureates chosen during his presence in the Jury have been: Peter Zumthor (2009), SANAA Kazuyo Sejima (2010), Eduardo Souto de Moura (2011), Wang Shu (2012), Toyo Ito (2013) and Shigeru Ban (2014). He was named Honorary International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 2009; member of the Board of the Cities Program of the London School of Economics, London, since 2011; Regional Advisory Board Member of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies;

Board Member of the Holcim Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland, since 2013; Foundational Member of the Chilean Society of Public Policies; Leader of the Helsinki Design Lab for SITRA, the Finnish Innovation Fund for the Government of Finland to design a national strategy towards carbon neutrality; and Board Member of Espacio Público, an independant chilean research center created in 2012. He was one of the 100 personalities contributing to the G+20 Rio Global Summit in June 2012, and was one of the speakers of TED Global 2014 in Rio.

Aravena was recently named as the Director of the 15th Architecture Exhibition of the Venezia Biennale.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

ELEMENTAL | Participatory design, social modelling for housing

Dunedin mainstreet amenity upgrades #vibrancy #senseofplace

THE COUNCIL DOES ITS BIT | Facade revamp for George Street mall

Background (unrest)….

ODT 15.10.15 (page 14)

█ http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/368171/dcc-staff-member-quits-cv-queried

Then….

Civic Move 1 [building programme/ profile]

Civic Move 2 [street glam/ bringing people back ?!]

*Images: Douglas Field Dec 2015

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dezeen: Harbin Opera House, north east China | MAD

### dezeen.com 16 December 2015
MAD’s sinuous Harbin Opera House completes in north-east China
Beijing studio MAD has completed an opera house in the Chinese city of Harbin, featuring an undulating form that wraps two concert halls and a huge public plaza. The opera house is the first and largest building that MAD has designed as part of Harbin Cultural Island, a major new arts complex among the wetlands of the Songhua River. The 79,000-square-metre building features a three-petalled plan. One houses a grand theatre with space for up to 1,600 visitors, while the other is a more intimate performance space for an audience of 400. The building is designed to mirror the sinuous curves of the marsh landscape, with an exterior of smooth white aluminium panels and glass. These contrast with the rooftops, where a textured surface of ice-inspired glass pyramids allows light in from above. According to MAD, the building is designed “in response to the force and spirit of the northern city’s untamed wilderness and frigid climate”. “We envision Harbin Opera House as a cultural centre of the future – a tremendous performance venue, as well as a dramatic public space that embodies the integration of human, art and the city identity, while synergistically blending with the surrounding nature,” said studio founder Ma Yansong.

—

█ MAD Architects: http://www.i-mad.com/

MAD has designed several cultural buildings, including an artificial island of art caves, an icicle-shaped wood sculpture museum also in Harbin and Chicago’s proposed George Lucas Museum. Curved surfaces are a recurring theme through them all, picking up Ma’s ambition for a new style of architecture, referencing the landscapes of traditional Chinese paintings.

“We treat architecture as a landscape,” he told Dezeen in an interview last year.

The smooth surfaces of the opera house’s exterior continue inside.
Read more + Images

█ Photography by Adam Mørk and Hufton + Crow.

Related stories:
China Wood Sculpture Museum by MAD
MAD reveals concept design for George Lucas’ Chicago art museum
MAD Architects unveils slimmed-down design for Lucas Museum in Chicago

Related movie:
MAD wants to “invent a new typology” for high-rise architecture, says Ma Yansong
In this exclusive video interview filmed in Venice, Ma Yansong of Chinese architects MAD explains his concept for a “shan-shui city”, a high density urban development inspired by traditional Chinese paintings of mountain ranges.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC: Restriction of Vehicles from Parts of Jetty Street DECLARED

Received by direct copy from Lynne Robins
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 at 3:29 p.m.

—

From: Lynne Robins
Sent: Wednesday, 16 December 2015 3:29 p.m.
To: Karilyn Canton
Cc: craig.borley@odt.co.nz
Subject: Update – Proposed Restriction of Vehicles from Parts of Jetty Street

Further to my emails on the Proposed Restriction of Vehicles from parts of Jetty Street, please note the following update.

Council met on Monday 14 December 2015 and gave consideration to the recommendations from the Jetty Street Hearings Committee. Council approved the proposed recommendation and has declared parts of Jetty Street to be a pedestrian mall as per the attached declaration.

The declaration was been made under section 336 of the Local Government Act 1974. Under that section 336, any person may appeal to the Environment Court by 14 January 2016 or such later date as the Environment Court may allow. The Council would not oppose any request to the Environment Court by an applicant for the appeal period to be extended until up to 1 February 2016, but that would be a decision for the Environment Court rather than the Council.

A copy of the declaration will be published in the Council’s ODT noticeboard.

Thanks

Lynne Robins
Governance Support Officer
Dunedin City Council

█ Download: Jetty Street -declaration

—

█ TOPICAL But what has Large Retail got to say on DCC Planning decisions affecting Large Retail [zoning] ?! Watch this space.

Related Post and Comments:
4.6.15 Exchange makeover —or pumps and pipe renewals, um

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Noble property subdivision aka Yaldhurst Village | Mortgagee Tender

Updated post 21.1.16 at 4:35 p.m.

█ Tender now closes 4pm Friday 12 February 2016
http://www.realestate.co.nz/2702107

—

32.83 ha in 11 lots – http://www.realestate.co.nz/2702107
Listing # AH3988 Listed 28 Nov 2015
Tender closes Friday, 22 January 2016 at 4pm

Confirmation of site as that of Yaldhurst Village (Noble) at http://www.villagelife.co.nz/contact/

—

[click to enlarge]

█ Think DELTA. Delta Utility Services Ltd (453486)

█ Think long-in-the-tooth Delta Directors and their consultant(s).

█ Think Grady Cameron (overpaid chief executive).

█ Think Jacks Point and Luggate ($9 MILLION of Dunedin ratepayers’ money down the gurglar – represented as $6M in the Auditor-General’s report).

Same old crew. Same old formula?
Woopsie (Dunedin ratepayers $19 MILLION exposure at Yaldhurst Village – how’s that going – “climbing!”).

█ WHAT NOW ? ? ?

—

Related Posts and Comments:
20.7.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA #LGOIMA
24.3.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA
23.3.15 Noble property subdivision: “Denials suggest that we have not learned.”
17.3.15 DCC —Delta, Jacks Point Luggate II…. Noble property subdivision

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr