STUPIDLY EXPENSIVE crossings, legal status? —Not universally recognised road markings

The urban design team(?!) lost it before they ever got it.

At Facebook, Alan Wilson says: “My concern is the cost. $140,000 for two crossings. Too many other things need money spent on upgrading”

Tony McAuliffe says: “….The Zebra crossing works, in part, ’cause they’re universally recognised for what they are. But 3-D pedestrian crossings? While they look fantastic, how will they perform functionally? If they don’t – and (hypothetically) a pedestrian gets clobbered because a driver fails to perceive them for what they’re meant to be – who’s prepared to answer the awkward questions?”

Too right. Bullshit City: Walk this way: 3-D crossings set to dazzle (ODT)
“Crossing the road in Dunedin’s tertiary precinct will be much more fun from this week, with the installation of two 3-D pedestrian crossings in Clyde St.”

Nothing grey pavement paint can’t remove on a dark night.

The frigging murals like a hippy rash about town are bad enough. A couple of internationally-authored ones are ‘art’, but the rest count as amateur copyist dross (mostly by technically challenged locals) wrecking our unique urban vistas.

****

Thanks to irresponsible building owners and ‘know-it-all-bend-the-rules’ city officials (friends of the irresponsible owners), this mural was applied to raw red brick in the side alley at 98 Bond St —contrary to the Dunedin City District Plan for listed precincts. This industrial building, a rare remnant, dates to the 1860s.
SHAME ON ALL INVOLVED.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Images: caglecartoons.com – Zebra Crossing by Marian Kamensky | flickr.com – mural at 98 Bond St by Guy Mauve

Vogel Street Party 2016 #randoms

On Saturday, the Vogel Street Party hit the streets of the Warehouse Precinct. Now in its third year, the party continues the celebration of Dunedin’s successes by highlighting CONNECTIONS — celebrating the links that bring our Dunedin communities together with the rest of the world, as well as each other. Our gigatown status means we can showcase the creative arts, fashion, music, drama, interactive activities, innovation and development across the city.

Sat, 8 Oct 2016
ODT: Thousands flock to Vogel St Party
A crowd of more than 15,000 took in the sights of Dunedin’s heritage gem during the Vogel St Party today. Vogel St Party Charitable Trust chairman Brendan Christie said the party was “great”.

—

Post and still images by Elizabeth Kerr

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

Vogel Street Party 2016 #Dunedin

Innov8HQ Vogel Street Party 2016

October 8 2016 will see the Vogel Street Party hit the streets of the Warehouse Precinct once again. Now in its third year and growing each occasion, this year will continue the celebration of Dunedin’s successes.

The theme for this year is CONNECTIONS, celebrating the links that bring our Dunedin communities together with the rest of the world, as well as each other. It will continue to highlight Dunedin’s expanding gigatown status, showcase the creative art, fashion, music, drama, interactive activities, innovation, development and growth across the city. This once again aims to nurture a sense of pride, identity and belonging in our amazing city. Expect to see the unknown and known, the hidden and shown, the weird and the wonderful take to the streets.

Open Buildings
Performances
Installations
Fun Things To Do
Music Lineup

█ Events Programme at http://www.vogelstparty.nz/

█ Programme Download

Facebook: vogelstreetparty
https://www.facebook.com/events/1758070184481040/

Presented by Dunedin City Council in association with Vogel Street Party Charitable Trust (VSP) and Party Partners

—

P A R T Y ● 2 0 1 4

Dunedin NZ Published on Nov 9, 2014
Vogel Street Party | Insiders Dunedin
On Saturday 18 October, Dunedin celebrated the creative energy that has being channelled into the Vogel Street neighbourhood. Once a thriving hub of Dunedin’s commercial and industrial growth, new life is being breathed into these streets and buildings to awaken some of the grandeur of their former glory. It’s all part of the Warehouse Precinct Revitalisation Plan.

P A R T Y ● 2 0 1 5

Vogel Street Party Dunedin Published on May 6, 2016
Vogel Street Party 2015 Literature & Light – a snapshot of highlights
A snapshot from just a few of the many events at the Vogel Street Party 2015, Dunedin, New Zealand on 10 October.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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

Has DCC Delta stupidly bought into another Pegasus . . . . #notquite

Updated post
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 at 12:51 a.m.

Why has our Dunedin City Council decided to have anything to do with Infinity via council owned company Delta ? Which Infinity ? Infinity Investment Group Holdings Ltd ? Infinity Yaldhurst Ltd ? And who is Infinity Finance and Mortgage Ltd, of a bedroom at 12A Fovant St, Russley ? Is ‘Infinity’ a front for Gordon Stewart’s Noble Investments Ltd ? We delve…. meanwhile, here’s Infinity’s slow-troubled-road Pegasus.

—

Pegasus was a dream town, invented by a former infomercial salesman who believed wholeheartedly in his vision. Ten years on, it looks remarkably different. –The Press

Bob Robertson with scale model of Pegasus [Martin Hunter/Fairfax NZ]

Robertson, chief executive for Infinity Investment Group [teara.govt.nz]

Pegasus golf and sports club spans nearly 80ha [Stuff.co.nz]

Pegasus Town – not the vision…. [pegasustown.co.nz]

300 Chinese model makers crafted the 1:100 scale model [nzgeo.com]

### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00, June 4 2016
Life in Pegasus, the dream town yet to fly
By Charlie Mitchell – The Press
It’s rare to meet the inventor of a town. Even more so to shake his hand. It’s an odd sensation many experienced on a single day in 2006, when a former infomercial salesman clutched a microphone, took to the stage, and sold $122 million worth of property before the sun went down. Bob Robertson had developed property before, but nothing like this. He was dreaming of a town called Pegasus, a master-planned community in a swampy, coastal corner of North Canterbury. It would be the first master-planned town in New Zealand. It would appear fully-formed, as if dropped from the sky.

Planned entertainment and retail precinct [Infinity]

Artist’s impression of the planned town centre [Stuff.co.nz]

There was something Utopian about the idea. At the time, Robertson said: “For Pegasus, I’m acutely keen to create what I would like to consider would be as close as possible to an ideal town.” He claimed to be the ultimate test-subject; he planned to create the town he’d want to live in, one built for “the traditional Kiwi family”.

Ten years later, Pegasus has come to life. It’s not quite what anyone envisaged; certainly not what Robertson dreamed. Pegasus, ultimately, was built somewhere between the vision promised in Robertson’s model and a messy reality, blighted by earthquakes and a global financial crisis. The promised developments struggled to keep up with the schedule. What did arrive was promising – the golf course and the lake are almost unanimously praised. But more basic facilities, such as a supermarket, or even mail delivery, were conspicuously missing.

Pegasus housing [Stuff.co.nz] with render [teara.govt.nz]

By 2012, it was clear Pegasus would never become what was promised. Shortly afterwards, the developer defaulted on a $142 million payment and went into receivership. It was sold to Todd Property, owned by New Zealand’s wealthiest family. Pegasus no longer belonged to Robertson. The town’s new developers, Todd Property, are keenly aware of the promises made by its former owner. Since January 2013, about 30 people a month have steadily arrived to live in Pegasus. About 2500 people live in Pegasus, well short of the 7000 predicted by Robertson. When describing Todd’s vision for the town, the first word used is “realistic”. Another is “achievable.” A sharp turnaround from the rhetoric used by Robertson, who sold dreams, not property.
Read more

Other stories via Stuff:
22.8.16 Opinion: Pegasus – a ‘vibrant village’ where people know nature…
10.12.15 Posthumous award for Pegasus developer, Gough also honoured
● 11.6.15 Former Pegasus owner leaves $100 million debt
25.4.13 Todd family paid $66m for Pegasus – report
6.12.12 Todd family takes Pegasus Town reins
17.8.12 Pegasus town developer in receivership

█ Welcome to Pegasus Town | www.pegasus-town.co.nz

—

Via LGOIMA response to Elizabeth Kerr:
Screenshot of Pegasus Town detail from Attachment B to the DCHL Report to Council (1 Aug 2016) — see Noble/Yaldhurst Village Update.
Highlighted by whatifdunedin, the last line is interesting.

[click to enlarge]

—

Related Posts and Comments:
26.9.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #14 : The Election and The End Game…
● 22.9.16 DCC : Delta deal 1 Aug 2016 Council meeting (non-public) #LGOIMA
18.9.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #13 : Councillors! How low can you Zhao ?
26.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —EpicFraud #12 : The Buyer Confirmed
24.8.16 Delta peripheral #EpicFail : Stonewood Homes —Boult…
8.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #11 : The Buyer
1.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —The End Game according to CD
31.7.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #10 : The Beginning of the End : Grady Cameron and his Steam Shovel

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *infinity*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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

Uglies: Black-tie at 715 George

715 George St, corner Regent Rd, Dunedin

█ Clan Construction Commercial Ltd
http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/4013678

—

### ODT Online Thu, 10 Dec 2015
Student apartments going up
Construction has begun on six new student apartments at the corner of George St and Regent Rd, Dunedin. The 962sq m triangular-shaped site is owned by Straits International Ltd, and was the site of a service station for about 80 years. The Dunedin City Council has given resource consent for the company to construct four residential units in a two-storey building (block 1) and two residential units in a three-storey building (block 2), thereby creating 22 habitable rooms. Construction is expected to be completed next year.
ODT Link

—

Comments at ODT Online:

Student apartments
Submitted by Barnaby on Thu, 10/12/2015 – 6:35pm.

No! This was not a service station site for 80 years. There was a beautiful two-storey substantial brick heritage house on this site until about the 1970s. This is just another step in the incremental loss of North End heritage. This shows very poor planning from DCC, making this part of town, and the main street in this case, an ever expanding precinct of badly designed cheaply built high density housing. These will add to the stock of other similar structures forming “North Dunedin’s slums of the future”. Ratepayers’ will probably end up funding the future purchase of such cheap accomodation to mitigate associated social problems and the appalling visual amenity. Very poor city planning indeed.

Habitable room disasters
Submitted by ej kerr on Fri, 11/12/2015 – 12:43pm.

Prominent George St corner sites are being trashed by the banal. More habitable rooms – No emphasis on good contemporary design, no flair.
This one’s built right to the footpath on the main street, with little modulation and no hint of garden or vertical planting possible, except something to the corner part-screened by the witless bus shelter shoved on its concrete pad.
Given the rich inheritance, where has Dunedin street architecture gone? Where are the design professions? Why so much visual erosion? Where is the NZ Institute of Architects? Why no City Architect Office and independent Urban Design Panel to uphold design values for Dunedin residents and ratepayers?
Ugh! DCC planning fail. DCC urban design fail. DCC district plan fail. When will DCC grow up – to promote sympathetic edgy contemporary architecture and design for major city axials, at the very least. A step up from turning Dunedin into bog city with tawdry gateway approaches.

Related Posts and Comments:
[distasteful]
6.1.14 George Street: Two new uglies (thanks DCC, no City Architect…)

[sensitive]
9.1.14 Facadism: 3%, 10%, 50%, 75%, 99.9% (how much is enough) | University of Otago warps Castle Street

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: misted lettered tweaked by whatifdunedin

John Wickliffe House, 265 Princes Street LUC-2014-203 | Decision

Received by mail this morning, the Decision for the resource consent application (LUC-2014-203) to paint John Wickliffe House in The Exchange.

Phil Page (legal counsel) represented the applicant, Nick Baker of Baker Garden Architects, consulting architect and agent for the Plaza Property Trust.

Declined.

Decision
The final consideration of the application, which took into account all information presented at the Hearing, was held during the public-excluded portion of the Hearing. The Committee reached the following decision after considering the application under the statutory framework of the Resource Management Act 1991. In addition, a site visit was undertaken during the public-excluded portion of the Hearing. The Committee inspected the site and some other buildings referred to during the hearing and this added physical reality to the Committee’s considerations.

That, pursuant to Sections 34A and 104C and after having regard to Part II matters and Section 104 of the Resource Management Act 1991, The Dunedin City Council declines consent to the restricted discretionary activity to paint John Wickliffe House on the site at 265 Princes Street, Dunedin, being that land legally described as Section 6 Block XLIV Town of Dunedin held in Computer Freehold Register OT 18A/1024.

Right of Appeal — In accordance with Section 120 of the Resource Management Act 1991, the applicant and/or any submitter may appeal to the Environment Court against the whole or any part of this decision within 15 working days of the notice of this decision being received.

█ Download: John Wickliffe House LUC-2014-203 Decision 12 11 14

█ Acknowledgements

Related Post and Comments:
17.7.14 John Wickliffe House – application to paint exterior

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: Baker Garden Architects – proposed paint scheme; deltapsych.co.nz – John Wickliffe House, existing surfaces

DCC: What happened to $20 million cash on hand? #LGOIMA

1. Council had $22 million cash on hand.
2. Council spent $20 million (cash) on “capital projects”.
3. Council won’t account for the $20 million.
4. Council seeks open cheque to make discovery.

█ Report – FIN – 08/09/2014 (PDF, 2.3 MB)
Interim Financial Result – 12 Months to 30 June 2014

—

On 8 September 2014, the Council’s interim financial result for 12 months to 30 June 2014 was tabled at a meeting of the Finance Committee. A week later, ODT (15.9.14) reported Mayor Cull as saying there was a “significant improvement” to the Council’s core debt position.

In the same item, “Council group chief financial officer Grant McKenzie said the turnaround was partly due to a significant change in the amount of cash held by the council. The forecast had included about $22 million in “cash on hand”, but, since Mr McKenzie’s arrival, the decision had been made to slash the amount to about $2 million, he said. The cash was instead used to pay for capital projects, avoiding the expected need to borrow for the work, which reduced the council’s need to borrow by $20 million, he said.” ODT Link

What if? flagged the ‘cash-no-longer-on-hand’ illumination with a post:
● 15.9.14 Cull’s council spent the cash

Capital projects?
How was the money spent, and who by?
Then, we completely lost sight of it.
As the following correspondence shows, Council spent $20 million of ratepayer funds but refuses to declare where the cash went. Mr McKenzie plays the convenient game of obfuscation —like so many before him, and alongside him now at DCC.

█ Apparently, I’m to be personally charged for demanding relevant paperwork to track down the Public Money.

Accountability? Transparency? What the HELL is that?
NOT something DCC values, that’s a dead cert.

[begins]

From: Elizabeth Kerr
Sent: Tuesday, 23 September 2014 11:13 p.m.
To: Sandy Graham [DCC Group Manager Corporate Services]
Subject: LGOIMA request

Dear Sandy

Re: Cull warns debt still hurdle for council (ODT 15.9.14)http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/315949/cull-warns-debt-still-hurdle-council

Within the news item it says:

“The forecast had included about $22 million in “cash on hand”, but, since Mr McKenzie’s arrival, the decision had been made to slash the amount to about $2 million, he said.

“The cash was instead used to pay for capital projects, avoiding the expected need to borrow for the work, which reduced the council’s need to borrow by $20 million, he said.”

I would like the DCC to precisely itemise the way(s) in which the city council has spent this $20 million of “cash on hand”, to include the capital projects by name or other reference; the name(s) of the relevant council department(s) and or committee(s) that incurred this expenditure; the dates of expenditure; the spending delegations attributable to which, by name, formal signatories on account; and any other information in legible form that would assist the city council to meet my request in a forthright, full and transparent manner.

I look forward to reply.

Thanks, kind regards

Elizabeth Kerr

__________________________

From: Sandy Graham [DCC]
Sent: ‎Wednesday‎, ‎24‎ ‎September‎ ‎2014 ‎9‎:‎01‎ ‎a.m.
To: Elizabeth Kerr
Cc: Grace Ockwell [DCC]

Thanks Elizabeth

I have forwarded to staff to consider and a response will be provided as soon as possible but in any event within twenty working days. It may be that I need to come back to you with questions of clarification or refinement depending on how this information is stored/held but I will be in touch as required.

Warm regards
Sandy

__________________________

From: Elizabeth Kerr
Sent: Friday, 31 October 2014 1:42 p.m.
To: Sandy Graham [DCC]
Cc: Grace Ockwell [DCC]
Subject: Re: LGOIMA request [DCC expenditure of $20M cash on hand]

Dear Sandy

The official information request I made on 23 September 2014 (see emails [above]) is yet to have a response, we are now well outside the twenty working day limit.

Please provide update on how soon the information will be released.

Many thanks, and kind regards

Elizabeth

__________________________

From: Sandy Graham [DCC]
Sent: ‎Friday‎, ‎31‎ ‎October‎ ‎2014 ‎2‎:‎03‎ ‎p.m.
To: Elizabeth Kerr
Cc: Grace Ockwell [DCC]

Sorry Elizabeth.

My fault. I had been supplied with a response and had not forwarded it.

The Group Chief Financial Officer advises:

“This request cannot be completed for what they are requesting as I do not know what capital and operating activity we would assign to the $20 million. In addition the work involved in getting the invoices etc would be significant. What has happened is that we have used our cash on hand to fund council activity (operating and capital) instead of borrowing to do this.”

If you would like me to pursue the possibility of tracking down invoices, I would need to consider charging for this work because there would be significant collation and research required, and even then, we may not be able to fully answer your question. Let me know if you would like me to investigate this further.

The GCFO has indicated he is happy to meet and talk through the issues but is unable to provide any further information at this stage.

Again, apologies for my tardiness.

Sandy

__________________________

From: Elizabeth Kerr [mailto:ejkerr@ihug.co.nz]
Sent: Friday, 31 October 2014 2:05 p.m.
To: Sandy Graham [DCC]
Cc: Grace Ockwell [DCC]; Grant McKenzie [DCC GCFO]
Subject: Re: LGOIMA request [DCC expenditure of $20M cash on hand]

Dear Sandy

Thanks for getting back to me promptly today. I acknowledge receipt.

I’m considering your response fully and as a consequence looking into all my options.

Kind regards, Elizabeth

[ends]

—

Serendipitously, the same day (31.10.14), I heard from Cr Lee Vandervis —unbeknownst to me, a couple of days earlier he had voiced a similar query about the [MISSING PRESUMED DROWNED] $20 million “cash on hand”, and more, following his study of the Council’s Annual Report 2013-14.

█ Report – Council – 30/10/14 (PDF, 2.5 MB)
Approval and Adoption of Annual Report

[begins]

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 22:38:15 +1300
To: Sue Bidrose [DCC], Sandy Graham [DCC]
Conversation: Annual Report
Subject: Annual Report

Hi Sue,

The beginning of the Annual Report seems very reassuring with your highlighting our billion dollars worth of saleable assets, and our debt levels in pretty good shape and improving.

Looking further into the body of the report there is a lot of tabulation of various kinds of assets, but I seem not to be able to find the same depth of discussion on debt or the historical debt graph that I fought for years to finally get included. [A Consolidated term liabilities figure of $622,843,000 does appear on p199. I had been led to expect a historical graph of DCC debt and of total consolidated debt]
Is it possible to also have a graph of all inclusive historical staff costs included? There was one a while ago but it seems to have been dropped again.

At the end of the document I find a number of graphs that feature a fetching orange colour bar that seems to indicate that our “thriving and diverse economy” under Affordability has exceeded our LTP quantified limit on rates income in 2013 and 2014, exceeded the quantified limit on rates increase this year, slipped below the balanced budget benchmark, and also slipped below the essential services benchmark for this year.
It is no surprise to me that Citipark has not achieved targets, but I am surprised that your opening comments are so upbeat when the closing benchmarks are not met and the quantified limits seem to be exceeded.
These benchmark and limit graphs may have been misinterpreted by me because despite reading them several times I remain unsure of their real import.
Is it possible for someone to explain to me how the ‘pretty good shape and improving’ overview is supported, especially in light of the $20 million cut [from $22 million] in cash on hand and various sales that we have apparently recently instituted, combined with further expected constraints on DCHL subvention payments?

Looking forward,
Lee
__________________________

—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 15:34:29 +1300
To: Debbie Porteous [ODT], Nicholas GS Smith [ODT]
Conversation: Annual Report
Subject: FW: Annual Report

Hi Debbie,
The Tuesday 28th email [above], which still remains unanswered, may help explain some of what deeply concerns me regarding yet another DCC Annual Report presented as up-beat.

Kind regards,
Cr. Vandervis
—— End of Forwarded Message
—— End of Forwarded Message

[ends]

If there was a plot to hide the way $20 million slid from sight, it thickens.
Not done yet, because I’m not a turkey dinner.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

John Wickliffe House – application to paint exterior

Updated post 25.12.14

LUC-2014-203 Repair and exterior painting 265 Princes Street
Closes: 18/07/2014

Notification of Application for a Resource Consent – Under Section 93(2) of the Resource Management Act 1991.

The Dunedin City Council has received the following application:
Resource consent is sought for a restricted discretionary activity, being the repair and exterior painting of the John Wickliffe House at 265 Princes Street within the North Princes Street/Moray Place/Exchange Townscape Precinct (TH03). The paint will cover the existing precast concrete, the soffit and vertical concrete fins and the steel window frames.

An assessment of effects is provided with the application.

█ LUC-2014-203 DCC Planner’s Report (PDF, 4.78 MB)

[click to enlarge]

—

Related Post and Comments:
13.11.14 John Wickliffe House, 265 Princes Street LUC-2014-203 | Decision

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: Baker Garden Architects (via DCC) – extracts from Application; primecommercial.co.nz – John Wickliffe House

George Street: Two new uglies (thanks DCC, no City Architect…)

(just DCC resource management planners with no design training, and use of the odd ‘consulting architect’ who lamely fails to press that architectural details be made “right”, lest they upset “the boys”—be they lousy small-time architects (as opposed to REAL DESIGN ARCHITECTS), architectural designers, draftsmen, builders, property developers or investors). Our kindom, for a City Architect —to compile and enforce design guidelines, and through district plan mechanisms, to require the use of registered architects by developers working in important townscape precincts like George Street, and to shove an unforgiving multidisciplinary Urban Design Panel at the buggers.

No. 1 —Apartments, 581 George Street
We’re all familiar with Farry’s Motel, now Farry’s Motel Apartments at 575 George Street. The complex used to look out on a green area, and vehicle parking with mature trees and shrubbery at 581.

DCC Webmap 575-581 George Street

Malcolm Farry recently sold the properties at 575 and 581 to Ethel Limited, a family company led by Frank Cazemier who has worked for Cutlers as a “University Investment Sales Specialist”. A cursory check of directorships at the NZ Companies Office website shows Cazemier is “one of the boys”. Pity he knows next to nothing about contextual commercial residential design, architectural bulk and location, facade modulation, sun angles, or landscape architecture —such that can’t be solved by ready trees.

Farry’s Motel Apartments now looks out on a poorly designed featureless boundary fence, and the sobering double block of apartments ‘next door’ at 581. The block furthest from the street (walls of light blue), when seen from driveways to either side, reveals a ‘long elevation’ running parallel to George Street that resembles a jerry-built, badly-windowed reclad of a tired country hall (the low, horizontally-orientated fenestration allows for another floor of rooms above, in the roofspace).

The marketing statement for Farry’s Motel Apartments at 575 still says:
“Set alongside a large grassed area that provides a playground and picnic spots, we are one of the most centrally located Dunedin motels, offering an absolutely superb main street position.”

This is no longer the case.
The very likely expensive exercise in ‘infill design’ (intensification/ densification…) issued from the drawing board of Bill Henderson, Architect of (fuck-a-daisy)WANAKA —someone who appears to work at the ‘cheap-looking’ end of the market, or at least has diminished design flare, poor knowledge of scale detail and proportion, and lack of expertise in three-dimensional architectural composition. As a result, and while meeting planning criteria for the zone, the motels/apartments at 575 and 581 now look about fit for student stays only, or at a pinch, the G&T parents of capping graduands. No fear, the new apartments will be mouth-wateringly expensive to rent. The student ghetto continues, behind the tacky dress-up to George Street.

Incidently, Farry’s operates a charge back system with the former Farry-owned Cargill’s Hotel, now Quality Hotel Cargills at 686 George Street.

****

No. 2 —Apartments, 2 St David Street, cnr George Street
There used to be a nice old single-storey bungalow with fine curving bay windows and a palm tree on this site, next to Quality Hotel Cargills. Only the palm tree remains. The bungalow became victim to an excavator. It isn’t clear if the windows and internal period joinery (if still present) were dismantled for re-use.

The site is now owned by Newmarket Investments Limited and has been recently developed for apartments. The company directors are Clive Hewitson and wife Wendy May Hewitson. Clive Hewitson’s profile at LinkedIn says: “Director – Otago & Southland, New Zealand | Real Estate”. Hewitson is another of the “boys”, as records at the NZ Companies Office show. Some link up in the past with companies of which Frank Cazemier (mentioned above) has also been a director.

The apartment complex is faced, not too convincingly, in ‘red brick’ – at first glance, no-one can tell if it’s real brick facing or veneer! Questionable are the lack of reveals, and the scale and position of openings (doors and windows) in the street elevations; with tweaking to proportions and placements this could have solved. The glazing bars are wrong. Small frosted bathroom and toilet windows to the street (on the public face of your building) are a No-no. The shallowness of the gables to the street elevations, also grates in perspective. The grey wooden pickets added to the base of the original garden fence are odd. The whole is unnecessarily dreary. Taxi drivers hate it. The pencil cypresses may provide a foil, once mature (the building really needs one hell of a lot of ivy). Have to admit, designing anything between Quality Hotel Cargills and Econo Lodge Alcala is a free-for-all, BUT why not try…

No registered architect. It shows. The developer used RJ Oliver Architectural Design, Mosgiel – spot the spelling mistake!

Why didn’t Quality Hotel Cargills buy 2 St David Street to take control of the prominent corner to George Street? We note Dunedin architect Hamish Wixon is a director/shareholder of 678 George Street Limited and Cargills Hotel Limited. Perhaps we can look forward to developments at the tired Cargills…

****

Strategic Site: 715 George Street, cnr Regent Road
Can we possibly imagine what will get built on the site of the former BP 2go Regent service station? Another horror story? Another ‘architectual’ (sic) bodice-ripper? 715 is owned by Northfield Property and Investment Company Limited. The sole director is Bryan Howard Usher of Dunedin.

DCC Webmap – 715 George Street (context)

—

Post and building images by Elizabeth Kerr

Cities: Organic renewal

St Joseph, Missouri

### Citiwire.net Fri, July 5, 2013
Organic Renewal: St Joe’s Story
By Roberta Brandes Gratz
In the mid- and late 1960s, while many cities and towns were still tearing their hearts out for the false promises of urban renewal, all sorts of people, young and old, saw the beauty, value and promise of gracious living in historic buildings in the places left behind by suburban development. From San Francisco to Louisville to Providence to Brooklyn to St Louis and beyond, urban pioneers stripped, cleaned and restored the irreplaceable artifacts of bygone eras of quality and taste.
Those pioneers were the vanguard of the regeneration of neighbourhoods and cities that, today, many people do not remember were considered a blighted lost cause. Washington’s Georgetown. Park Slope in Brooklyn. King William in San Antonio. The Garden District in New Orleans. The Victorian Districts of San Francisco and Savannah. Who remembers that those neighbourhoods were once considered “blighted,” over, finished?

Surely, this is the most compelling storyline of the second half of the last century. The rebirth of today’s thriving cities started with the rediscovery of yesterday’s discards. That, as they say, is history. But history has a funny way of repeating itself. Today, one finds examples of that organic renewal process re-emerging.

Many cities have lost more than what remains of the authentic architecture on which to build a new momentum. Miraculously, one that survives with an amazing rich legacy to work with is St Joseph, Mo.
Set on a bend in the Missouri River and almost equidistant from Kansas City and Omaha, St Joseph was a railroad, lumber and banking centre and, most importantly, the last full provisioning point for the Westward Expansion in the mid-nineteenth century. It’s the birthplace of the Pony Express, the site of Jesse James’ demise, home of Stetson Hat, Saltine crackers and Aunt Jemima.
St Joseph is still home to a diverse assortment of agriculture-related industry. The past and present combine to offer new opportunities, and a small but growing group of adventurous entrepreneurs appear to be present to lead the way, like the urban pioneers of 50 years ago.
Read more

● Roberta Brandes Gratz is an urban critic and author of The Battle For Gotham: New York In the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, 2010, Nation Books.

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Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Grants Scheme for Central City Heritage Buildings

This item was published on 05 Jul 2013.

The DCC now has $90,000 available in grants for heritage building re-use projects in Princes Street and areas adjoining the Warehouse Precinct. Like the Warehouse Precinct scheme, this new grant scheme is focused on a specific geographic area to facilitate and expand the regeneration occurring there already. There has been good success with targeted incentive schemes in the Warehouse Precinct. Expanding into the areas around it recognises that the precinct is not an island, but is integrated with the areas around in and with the central city as a whole.

There is already some great work stirring regeneration in the area and it is important we are also poised to assist and encourage others to participate in this regeneration of the area south of the Octagon.

Applications can be made for support for a range of activities, from earthquake strengthening and facade restoration to assistance for businesses and creative industries in the area. The scheme allows building owners to build on the growing positive private sector re-use and investment in the area, such as the Chief Post Office, former BNZ and Standard Building restoration projects already or soon to be underway.

The scheme is supported by Resene Paints which is offering discounts on paint and free colour advice. Resene Otago Trade Representative Henry Van Turnhout says, “We are proud to be offering our support to another DCC area-based project, as we have for King Edward St and the Warehouse Precinct. We are also offering free assistance with colour selection as we recognise how greatly appropriate colour choice can influence the way a building – and an area – looks.”

Taking an area-based approach to regeneration and incentives encourages businesses and building owners to work together and to recognise the benefits for the entire area of re-using or improving their building.

Applications are open immediately, on a first come first served basis. Application forms will be sent to building owners, residents and businesses owners in the next week and are at www.dunedin.govt.nz/heritage

Last year’s Warehouse Precinct grants scheme supported 11 re-use projects in the area. Information about these is available at here.

Contact Glen Hazelton, DCC Policy Planner on 477 4000.

DCC Link
ODT: DCC boost for Princes St regeneration

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Dunedin. In future years, the council plans to use this approach in other parts of the central city and beyond.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: (from top) commons.wikimedia.org Tim Kiser – St Joseph, Missouri (2006): Buchanan County Courthouse, Downtown cnr Francis St and North 4th St, Downtown viewed from the east near cnr 10th and Charles. Dunedin: South Princes St (2007 watercolour by Elizabeth Gorden-Werner), former Gresham Hotel at Queens Gardens, Speight’s (Lion Breweries) on Rattray St; commons.wikimedia.org Benchill – Dunedin Central Fire Station, Castle St.

‘Low-rises are great for the community and the residents’

### theglobeandmail.com Tuesday, 10 July 2012, 1:07 PM EDT
Last updated Tues, 10 July 2012, 1:15 PM EDT
Real Estate
High time for more low-rises
By Nadani Ditmars
The traditional “Vancouverist” model of a tower and podium may well be headed for a civic sea change. In the midst of controversy over proposed new towers – like the Rize Alliance development in Mount Pleasant that continues to draw significant community opposition despite being approved by council – several new “low-rise” projects are quietly making their mark on the urban landscape.

Call it the “slow-rise” revolution if you will, but the model that is gaining ground is one that evokes an earlier era and a more human scale, with uniquely contemporary design. Centred around Vancouver’s historic neighbourhoods, projects like Gastown’s Paris Annex, Chinatown’s Flats on Georgia and Mount Pleasant’s Collection 45 offer modernist architectural values that respect the surrounding built-and-social environments in a way that the city’s growing number of cookie-cutter towers do not.

Developer Robert Fung, whose six-storey Paris Annex building will be completed this summer, and has already sold out, contends that “our region needs density – it’s crucially important. But that doesn’t mean that it has to be exclusively through high-rises.” He notes that Paris, one of the densest cities in the world, achieved that density largely through the six-storey walk-up typology.

While he believes that high-rises can be designed with sensitivity to their environment, low-rises offer certain advantages, says Mr. Fung, “They increase light in an area,” he notes. “They offer a strong sense of identity and individuality, but at the same time make it easier for neighbours to get to know each other.”

Because of the low-rise’s need to be “strongly contextual to where they are,” he says, “that can often mean a higher level of design, and greater attention to detail,” noting that “our historic neighbourhoods tend to offer greater opportunities for this, as the buildings have to have a greater sense of engagement with their environment.”

He notes that some towers in the area, like the Woodwards one, tend to be “inward looking” with a lack of “street-front engagement.” Low-rises by nature have a greater engagement with the street and tend to go against the grain of the “commodity ubiquity towers” that proliferate around, say, the False Creek South area.
The Paris Annex is a conjoined fraternal twin of sorts to the next-door heritage conversion (and former HQ of Paris boot-makers) Paris Block. Both buildings, designed by architect Gair Williamson, share service core infrastructure.

“You have to walk through the old 1907 building to enter the new one,” notes Mr. Williamson. “Every day, residents are literally moving through history.”

The elegant 35-foot building of glass and steel will contain 2,500 square feet of retail on the ground floor and mezzanine, with 17 market residential units on the upper floors.

The constraints of these “character sites,” as Mr. Williamson calls them, “make them unique. When you work on a 25-foot site, you have to respond with integrity and be hyper-aware of the surrounding environment.”
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Proposed hotel, 41 Wharf Street – indicative landscape effects

The following images (scans of scans…) were supplied by Madeleine Lamont in submission on application LUC-2012-212. The text of Madeleine’s submission has been lightly edited for posting. Her submission as lodged (No. 422) can be viewed here: Submissions 401 to 509 (PDF, 6.9 MB).

1. View from Mornington Park, off Eglinton Rd between Stafford and High Sts

2. (zoom) View from Mornington Park, off Eglinton Rd

3. View from Bellevue St, Belleknowes, just below Highgate

4. View from Adam St, near Russell St, City Rise

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Submission to Dunedin City Council
Re: Public Notice of application for Resource Consent Section 95A Resource Management Act 1991
Resource Consent Application No: LUC-2012-212
Name of Applicant: Betterways Advisory Limited
Location of Site: 41 Wharf Street, Dunedin, being the land legally described as
Lot 3 Deposited Plan 25158, held in Computer Freehold
Register OT17A/1107.

I submit in the strongest terms, that resource consent for the building of the proposed hotel structure on the above site, NOT BE GRANTED because of the structure’s significant, detrimental effects on the city landscape.

If the applicant had had the courtesy to supply comprehensive spatial design drawings of this structure in the context of the whole city, it would be obvious to all how inappropriate in SCALE this structure is. At 96m in elevation, the structure overbears the entire city and harbour basin, obstructing the entire city centre’s experience of the harbour, the peninsula and Dunedin’s nestling hills, offering an absurd conflict with the human scale and nature of both the historic and current character of city structures and city activities.

Of greatest concern are the western and eastern elevations of the structure. I submit Photo 1 taken from the lookout in Mornington Park, a view celebrated by Dunedin artists numerous times over the years, by visitors to the city and of course, by the hundreds of Dunedin households. The approximate silhouette of the proposed structure is drawn in to show the obstructive nature and ‘selfish’ size and position of the hotel. The scale of the building is completely inappropriate. Photo 2 is from the same position, zoomed in and marked with the Wharf St railway lighting tower measured at 35m used to indicate the dominance of the proposed 96.3m hotel structure. The eastern elevation from the peninsula suburbs too, will experience the overscale of the building against the city and hill suburbs.

Photo 3 taken, on zoom from Bellevue Street, Belleknowes, again includes the structure’s silhouette scaled off the marked rail light tower. If the cladding of the proposed tower is mainly glass, with it being so high above the city, the western sun will create issues of sun strike on roads leading down from the suburbs, and obviously, serious effects and obstruction to the views enjoyed by thousands of households.

Photo 4 is from lower down the Belleknowes spur, from Adam Street, with an estimated, but conservative profile (photo lacks a known structure to measure off) drawn. Again the aesthetic values and scale of the harbour basin are entirely offended by an ill considered structure.

What concerns me most about this application for resource consent to build an inappropriate structure (by position and scale), is the inadequacy of the supplied application documents to present the structure in the context of the city. Widely published images are fantasy, such as an elevated, high angle view from well above the harbour, attempting to diminish the perceived size of the structure. The only humans to view the structure from this angle, position and elevation may be those wealthy enough to, by helicopter. These images are notable for their lack of contextual structures that make, in fact, the character of Dunedin. Buildings of 2, 3 or more storeys set the scale appropriate for development and are absent from the application documents precisely to obscure the real affect this structure will have on the city’s landscape and its aesthetic values. Design consultancy information only focuses on the very immediate surroundings and contains no spatial plan for this giant structure in the context of the city. I have attempted to show how 120 degrees of the city centre and its hill suburbs will have their harbour and peninsula views and joy of place seriously obstructed. The peninsula suburbs will view a structure absurdly contradicting the city structures and rounded hill suburbs. All incoming transport links, as a special feature of this city, enjoy delightful revelation of the ‘great little city’, its harbour and the waters of the Pacific. These heartening views enjoyed by all, citizen and visitor, will be irretrievable spoiled and dominated by a tower designed (and possibly built) for a city the scale of Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.

Lastly, the attempt at this sort of inappropriate development is an affront to the careful planning [of] the city’s forefathers to create an egalitarian community enjoying the delightful natural environment Dunedin offers. The proposed structure stands at 96m. This is only a matter of metres below the elevation of much of the Green Belt. Jubilee Park is at a 100m elevation. The Green Belt designed and implemented so long ago and maintained for the benefit of all, is carefully placed so that wherever a person stands in the city centre they can look up the hills to the skyline and see only green, the suburbs beyond obscured by the angle of view. This creates a very special intimate city, a human scaled city, for the benefit and edification of those living or visiting here. This, in conjunction with historical character (now lost in Christchurch), a rich, intelligent, creative and industrious community is what makes Dunedin a destination, a special, memorable place that with sympathetic development will continue to attract visitors and citizens who will not find the likes, elsewhere in the world. Structures like the proposed hotel are notable for being the same the world over. In being built it will change the very character of the place visitors will be seeking to experience.

I submit in the strongest terms that the Dunedin City Council turn down this application for resource consent and I suggest that the non compliance of this application to the requirements of the Resource Management Act to protect the amenity, aesthetic and cultural values and wellbeing of the people of Dunedin will bring this matter to the Environment Court.

Yours sincerely

Madeleine Lamont
B. Landscape Architecture (Hons), Lincoln University

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Compare these indicative images to those prepared by Truescape of Christchurch for the Applicant:

LUC-2012-212 12. Viewpoint booklet (PDF, 3.4MB)
This document is a scanned copy of the application for resource consent

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Related Posts:
20.11.12 City planner’s report recommends against consent for hotel
10.11.12 Dunedin Hotel, 41 Wharf Street (LUC 2012-212)
8.9.12 Waterfront Hotel #Dunedin (Applicant names?)
7.9.12 Waterfront hotel: DCC to notify resource consent application
16.5.12 Dunedin Hotel

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The Applicant, Betterways Advisory Limited, gets one and a half days for presentation to the hearing committee (Cr Colin Weatherall, Cr Andrew Noone, Cr Kate Wilson, and independent commissioner John Lumsden). Submitters have been allowed ten minutes each. Written communication from City Planning makes no time allowance for submitters wishing to use experts.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

City planner’s report recommends against consent for hotel

UPDATED 21.11.12

See comments at this thread:

Ro https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/dunedin-hotel-41-wharf-street-luc-2012-212/#comment-29089

Elizabeth https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/dunedin-hotel-41-wharf-street-luc-2012-212/#comment-29090

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“What Heydary found came as a shock, especially to some buyers who readily admit they were so blinded by the flash and cash of Donald Trump that they didn’t do proper due diligence: Buyers weren’t purchasing so much a condo as a share in a high-end hotel that, so far at least, is losing money.”

Trump Tower developer suing 7 disgruntled investors to close deals they now regret

Anonymous provided this edifying read. It ‘trumps’ what happened with the first tower built at Orewa, and the Spencer on Byron at Takapuna (referred to elsewhere at What if?, or google) – as far as 41 Wharf Street, Dunedin is concerned the tower-scam model is the same. So here we are, naive and wide open to the wiles of our own ‘good old boys’ and their unsavoury quest for a share of dirty-quick money from fickle overseas ‘connections’, and your life savings too.

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### ODT Online Wed, 21 Nov 2012
DCC report opposes city hotel
By Chris Morris
Plans for a 28-storey waterfront hotel towering over Dunedin have been dealt a blow by a Dunedin City Council report that criticises the design and recommends resource consent be declined. The report by council planner Lianne Darby, made public yesterday, identified the hotel’s height and dominant appearance as among areas of concern. A host of technical worries also raised doubts, ranging from traffic problems and shading to a lack of information about wind gusts magnified by the tower’s height. Ms Darby’s report left the door ajar by including a list of detailed conditions to impose if consent were granted, despite her recommendation.
Read more

Source: ODT Files

Note to graphic: Under the Resource Management Act (RMA) the commissioners to hear the application cannot consider the economic viability of the proposed hotel project – the matters with a red cross, at right, fall within the scope of the Act. The applicant is required to show the adverse effects of the proposed development are no more than minor.

Read Post Application Information at DCC website

‘New information’ about the hypothetical footbridge cannot be considered at hearing since it was NOT included in the notified application.

### ODT Online Tue, 20 Nov 2012
Hotel developer unveils link bridge proposal
By Chris Morris
The man promoting Dunedin’s proposed 28-storey hotel has unveiled plans for a “world class” pedestrian and cyclist bridge that could provide a missing link to the city’s waterfront. However, the idea is only the “starting point for a discussion”, with key details – including how much the sweeping structure would cost and who would pay for it – yet to be confirmed, Betterways Advisory Ltd director Steve Rodgers said.
Read more

Source: Ignite Architects Ltd (via ODT)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin Hotel, 41 Wharf Street (LUC 2012-212)

All submitters received a letter dated 2 November 2012 from Dunedin City Council informing them of the dates on which the Hearings Committee will consider the Betterways Advisory Ltd’s resource consent application for 41 Wharf Street, Dunedin.

The council hearings committee is Cr Colin Weatherall (chairman), Cr Andrew Noone and Cr Kate Wilson. Submissions will be heard in the Edinburgh Room, Municipal Chambers.

Hearing dates:
Monday 3 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm
Tuesday 4 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm
Wednesday 5 December 2012 – 10am to 7.30pm
Thursday 6 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm

And if required:
Monday 17 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm
Tuesday 18 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm
Wednesday 19 December 2012 – 9am to 5pm

It is anticipated the applicant will present for the first day and part of the second day. Submitters are likely to commence their presentations from 2pm on Tuesday 4 December.

Altogether, there were 508 public submissions. Not all submitters wish to be heard. That’s right, the applicant has about a day and a half to present substantively; submitters get 10 minutes each. Such is the democratic process.

The intention must be that if the Council grants consent – red carpet – then we take it to the Environment Court on appeal.

There has been no cost benefit analysis for the proposed hotel. Given the shortcomings of the site, neither the Applicant or the Dunedin City Council have declared the potential costs, including infrastructure services costs, of this project to ratepayers. There’s quite a lot the Council isn’t saying publicly; and quite a lot it’s saying, politically, behind closed doors to the applicant, we hear.

The Application: (DCC webpages)
● Current notified applications
● LUC-2012-212 (Betterways Advisory Limited) – all documents

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Published on May 13, 2012 by DunedinNZofficial

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Dunedin lawyer Steve Rodgers said he remained convinced the hotel would be a “game-changer” for Dunedin and was “98.2%” confident it would win approval at next month’s resource consent hearing.

### ODT Online Sat, 10 Nov 2012
Hotel project spokesman confident of go-ahead
By Chris Morris
The man acting as the public face for a proposed 28-storey waterfront hotel in Dunedin says the project remains “full steam ahead” despite a public outcry. However, Dunedin lawyer Steve Rodgers – the director of Betterways Advisory Ltd, the company fronting the development – would not rule out changes to the hotel’s design, but hoped a fight through the Environment Court could be avoided.
Read more

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Related Posts:
8.9.12 Waterfront Hotel #Dunedin (Applicant names?)
7.9.12 Waterfront hotel: DCC to notify resource consent application
16.5.12 Dunedin Hotel

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

New Zealand Urban Design Awards

“The importance of upfront investment in the public domain, whether by a public authority or private developer.”

### idealog.co.nz Fri, 9 Nov 2011 @ 9:24am
Auckland tops at brand new Urban Design Awards
By Design Daily team
Wynyard Quarter’s Jellicoe Precinct and the Auckland City Centre Masterplan have taken the top awards in the first-ever New Zealand Urban Design Awards, a new biennial programme that acknowledges the importance of high quality urban environments.

Jellicoe Precinct, Wynyard Quarter – Winner, Built Projects category

Wellington waterfront – Highly Commended, Built Projects category

[Images via Idealog]

Jury convenor, former New South Wales government architect Peter Mould, said they looked for projects “which established or reinforced urban initiatives and executed them with demonstrable design excellence”. “Urban design is concerned not so much with individual buildings, but with the building of a city. It’s about place making, and it’s also about the public realm.”

Mould said that if a trend emerged from the first Urban Design Awards, “it was the importance of upfront investment in the public domain, whether by a public authority or private developer. Such investment sets the agenda for excellence in the future”.

Waterfront Auckland’s Jellicoe Precinct, stage one of the development of Wynyard Quarter, was an exemplary case of agenda-setting urban design for which consultants Architectus and Taylor Cullity Leathlean and Wraight + Associates deserved congratulation as winner of the Built Projects category.

The New Zealand Urban Design Awards are supported by the New Zealand Institute of Architects, the Urban Design Forum, the New Zealand Planning Institute, the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects and the Property Council of New Zealand.

Joining Mould on the jury were planning consultant David Mead, landscape architect Sally Peake, deputy head of the University of Auckland’s School of Architecture and Planning, Lee Beattie, and property developer Patrick Fontein.
Read more + Images

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DUNEDIN: We’re short(!) but here is some UK nous…

Dunedin City has New Zealand’s largest historic heritage resource.

The following is taken from three pages of the English Heritage HELM Historic Environment Local Management website:

1. Tall Buildings
2. Regeneration
3. Building in Context

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TALL BUILDINGS

Guidance on tall buildings update
The English Heritage and Design Council CABE 2007 joint Guidance on tall buildings is a material consideration in the determination of planning applications for tall buildings.

Guidance on tall buildings
Guidance on Tall Buildings sets out how English Heritage and Design Council CABE evaluate and consider proposals for tall buildings. It also offers advice on good practice in relation to tall buildings in the planning process. Both organisations recommend that local planning authorities use it to inform policy making and to evaluate planning applications for tall buildings where the appropriate policies are not yet in place and the Government has endorsed this guidance.

This revised version was endorsed by Government on 26 July 2007. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr. Iain Wright) said:
“In conjunction with my colleague the Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, I would like to bring to the attention of the House the guidance note on tall buildings prepared jointly by English Heritage and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), which is published today. This updates and supersedes previous guidance published in 2003 and reflects changes to the planning system since that time.

The Government’s aim is to ensure local planning authorities are getting the right developments in the right places, which we consider to be a fundamental part of creating places where people will want to live and work, now and in the future. Recent reforms to the planning system have helped to reinforce this message, making clear that all new development should be of good quality and designed in full appreciation of its surroundings and context. Tall buildings, in the right places and appropriately designed, can make positive contributions to our cities.

The Government therefore welcome this updated guidance, which will assist local planning authorities when evaluating planning applications for tall buildings, including, importantly, the need for effective engagement with local communities. It also places a greater emphasis on the contribution that design can make to improving the character and quality of an area. It offers good practice guidance to a range of stakeholders in relation to tall buildings in the planning process, provides practical advice on achieving well-designed solutions in the right places, and is capable of being material to the determination of planning applications. Copies of the documents are being placed in the Libraries of both Houses.”

The Guidance and the National Planning Policy Framework
The approach set out in the Guidance is consistent with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). At the heart of the NPPF is the presumption in favour of “sustainable development”. Pursuing sustainable development involves seeking improvements to the quality of the built and historic environment (paragraph 9) as well as economic, social and environmental progress generally. Paragraph 17 identifies 12 core principles that should underpin both plan making and decision taking, including securing high quality design and a good standard of amenity for all existing and future occupants of land and buildings, taking account of the different roles and character of different areas; conserving heritage assets in a manner appropriate to their significance.

The Government attaches great importance to the design of the built environment. Permission should be refused for development of poor design that fails to take the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area and the way it functions (paragraphs 56 and 64). Planning decisions should ensure amongst other things that developments respond to local character and history (paragraph 58). Planning decisions should also address connections between people and places and the integration of new development into the historic environment (paragraph 61).

Local Planning Authorities should set out their strategic priorities for the area which should include strategic policies to deliver the conservation and enhancement of the natural and historic environment, including landscape (paragraph 156). Crucially, local plans should identify land where development would be inappropriate, for instance because of its environmental or historic significance. They need to contain a clear strategy for enhancing the natural, built and historic environment where they have been identified. – paragraph 157. This follows on from the requirement that local plans should set out the opportunities for development and clear policies on what will or will not be permitted and where (paragraph 154).

It is also important to note that local planning authorities should have up to date evidence about the historic environment in their area and use it to assess the significance of heritage assets and the contribution they make to their environment (paragraph 169).
Link

Download
Guidance on tall buildings 2007 (71 KB)

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REGENERATION

The historic environment is the context within which new development happens. Major inner city renewal, rural diversification, edge of village development, traffic calming measures: all have the potential to enhance or degrade the existing environment and to generate time- and resource-hungry conflict. An early understanding of the character and value of the historic environment prevents conflict and maximises the contribution historic assets can make to future economic growth and community well-being.

Conservation-led regeneration encourages private-sector investment both by retaining businesses in an area and by providing an incentive to relocate to it. Putting resources into a neighbourhood because of the value of what is already there, rather than labelling it as deprived, builds community and business confidence. So do works to improve the maintenance of the public realm of streetscape and public parks and gardens.

Understanding how places change, what makes them distinctive and the significance of their history is the key to regeneration. The historic environment is part of successful regeneration because it contributes to:

● Investment: Historic places attract companies to locate, people to live, businesses to invest and tourists to visit. Market values in historic areas are higher than elsewhere.

● Sense of place: People enjoy living in historic places. There is often greater community cohesion.

● Sustainability: Re-use of historic buildings minimises the exploitation of resources. There is evidence of lower maintenance costs for older houses.

● Quality of life: The historic environment contributes to quality of life and enriches people’s understanding of the diversity and changing nature of their community.

Planning for regeneration and renewal requires strong, effective partnerships at local and regional level. Local authorities play a central part in the management of the historic environment. The Local Authority Historic Environment Services pages give more information about the role of local authorities.

Conservation-led regeneration is successful because places matter to people. Neighbourhood renewal works because the quality of the places in which people live directly affects their quality of life. When communities are helped to develop their own sense of what matters for them, and why, the results can transform a neighbourhood and act as a catalyst for further private- and public-sector investment.
Link

Further reading
Regeneration and the Historic Environment
Heritage & Spin-off benefits
Heritage Works
Regeneration in Coastal Towns

Websites
English Heritage Regeneration Policy
The Heritage Dynamo: how the voluntary sector drives regeneration
Prince’s Trust Regeneration Through Heritage Handbook

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BUILDING IN CONTEXT

Building in Context was published jointly by English Heritage and CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) in 2001. It aims to stimulate a high standard of design when development takes place in historically sensitive contexts. It aims to do this by example, showing a series of case studies in which achievement is far above the ordinary. As a result, it is hoped that people will be encouraged to emulate the commitment and dedication shown by the clients, architects, planning officers and committee members involved in the projects illustrated and be able to learn from their experience.

The belief underlying the publication is that the right approach is to be found in examining the context for any proposed development in great detail and relating the new building to its surroundings through an informed character appraisal. This does not imply that any one architectural approach is, by its nature, more likely to succeed than any other. On the contrary, it means that as soon as the application of a simple formula is attempted a project is likely to fail, whether that formula consists of ‘fitting in’ or ‘contrasting the new with the old’.

A successful project will:

● Relate well to the geography and history of the place and the lie of the land
● Sit happily in the pattern of existing development and routes through and around it
● Respect important views
● Respect the scale of neighbouring buildings
● Use materials and building methods which are as high in quality as those used in existing buildings
● Create new views and juxtapositions which add to the variety and texture of the setting.

The right approach involves a whole process in addition to the work of design, from deciding what is needed, through appointing the architect, to early discussions with and eventual approval by the planning authority.

Collaboration, mutual respect and a shared commitment to the vision embodied in the project will be needed if the outcome is to be successful. The report came to a number of conclusions:

● All successful design solutions depend on allowing time for a thorough site analysis and careful character appraisal of the context
● The best buildings result from the creative dialogue between the architect, client, local planning authority and others; pre-application discussions are essential
● The local planning authority and other consultees can insist upon good architecture and help to achieve it
● Difficult sites should generate good architecture, and are not an excuse for not achieving it
● With skill and care, it is possible to accommodate large modern uses within the grain of historic settings
● High environmental standards can help generate good architecture
● Sensitivity to context and the use of traditional materials are not incompatible with contemporary architecture
● Good design does not stop at the front door, but extends into public areas beyond the building
● High-density housing does not necessarily involve building high or disrupting the urban grain and it can be commercially highly successful
● Successful architecture can be produced either by following precedents closely, by adapting them or by contrasting with them
● In a diverse context a contemporary building may be less visually intrusive than one making a failed attempt to follow historic precedents

The above are extracts from the document, which was written by Francis Golding. The case studies were chosen to cover a wide range of different uses, locations, architectural approaches and processes. Each case study looks at the project as a whole, the site, the problems, the solutions and the lessons learnt.

The full text of Building in Context and its case studies are available on-line from the PDF version of the document.
Link

Download
Building in context: New development in historic areas (2.94 MB)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

NZIA members on Christchurch City Plan

Architects contribute ‘Early verdicts on the Christchurch draft Central City Plan’ in the latest issue of New Zealand Institute of Architects Cross Section magazine.

Christchurch’s draft Central City Plan, which the [Christchurch City] Council has been pressed to produce with some despatch, has met with a mixed response from local architects. Let’s start with the positive reactions. “The draft Central City Plan is a very good achievement in a short period of time and encapsulates a broad range of ideas and concepts that have been articulated to date,” says Warren and Mahoney’s Peter Marshall. “As a discussion document it will provide the necessary catalyst for a detailed evaluation needed in order to finalise the re-build framework for Christchurch.”

Various positives are expressed in reaction to Volume 1, followed by ‘criticalities’ and ‘explosions’ lobbed at the constraints of Volume 2.

A common critical theme is that the draft Plan is, in the words of Ian Athfield, “extremely prescriptive”, and that the regulatory regime revealed in Volume 2 would be inimical to the city’s recovery. “There are issues… that are going to need a more careful examination to ensure the urban design attributes do not compromise commercial realities,” says Peter Marshall. Peter’s remarks are a judicious expression of opinions that seem to be widely held by Christchurch architects.

“The more I look into Volume 2 the more concerned I get,” says Jasper van der Lingen (Sheppard & Rout Architects, and chair of the NZIA’s Canterbury branch). “Some examples: Volume 1 says you can get extra height for good urban design and a green building. Volume 2 translates this into mandating that a building owner must employ a green building council professional – bureaucracy and cost – and good urban design translates into a pitched roof between 30 and 60 degrees. Volume 1 talks about safety through passive surveillance. Volume 2 translates this into ridiculous rules about how much glazing you must have. Volume 1 talks about good scale of retail. Volume 2 translates this into a maximum size of retail of 250 square metres – no Ballantynes or Farmers. Volume 2 has some terrible stuff about blank façades that looks a lot worse than the old residential 20 metre rule, and it determines where neighbourhood centres should go without consultation with the local community – in dumb places, in my opinion.”

“There will be capital flight if this goes through unaltered,” Jasper says. “Volume 1 was a pass and appears to be written by designers. Volume 2 is a big fail and appears to be written by planners. It’s a huge worry for the future of Christchurch. The NZIA has a lot of work to do to fight this.”

It’s only a DRAFT. Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin Heritage: Central government should be contributing

### ODT Online Mon, 21 Feb 2011
Dunedin faces hard choices over what buildings to protect
By Chris Morris
The partial collapse of a 135-year-old commercial building in central Dunedin may be just the wake-up call the city needs, New Zealand Historic Places Trust Otago-Southland area manager Owen Graham says.
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Image ©2011 Elizabeth Kerr

### ODT Online Mon, 21 Feb 2011
The Donald Reid warehouse: Two options
By Chris Morris
Housing for students or the perfect home for a local government institution? Streets of empty heritage buildings lining central Dunedin’s streets could become a second home for University of Otago students, New Zealand Historic Places Trust Otago-Southland area manager Owen Graham says.

The largely empty warehouses in the area around Vogel St could be adapted for use as a future “population base” for students sick of North Dunedin’s sometimes squalid flats.

Calls for local government institutions in Dunedin to make use of heritage buildings have not been ignored by city leaders, and a building such as the former Donald Reid warehouse could be an option considered if the Otago Regional Council moves from its Stafford St headquarters.

Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin technology precinct

### ODT Online Wed, 13 Jan 2010
Technology precinct plan slowly taking shape
By Chris Morris
Plans for a technology precinct in the heart of Dunedin, linking the city’s burgeoning collection of hi-tech companies, are slowly taking shape – although bricks-and-mortar changes still appear some way off. Staff from the Dunedin City Council’s economic development unit (EDU) have since May last year been canvassing the city’s technology companies in an effort to find out how best to help them prosper.
Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Besides a stadium development for Dunedin! More harping.

Dunedin’s “heritage tourism” future…

What if? has a recent thread The Chronicals of Yarnia (formerly known as “What else! Future options for Dunedin include…”), a temporary hold-all for ideas that with exploration could benefit Dunedin’s liveability for future generations.

Yarnia is a deliberately “loose” thread. The name change resulted from the thread’s capture by writers revisiting stadium and council politics about which they feel deeply. This was NOT talking up Dunedin’s potential, however. Other writers responded in the intended spirit of the thread, for this (sigh) we warmly thank them.

When a topical item like the “prison one” below comes up by media or other avenue, we like to give the people involved front billing at What if?. Similarly, in future, we will highlight the suggestions, knowledge and expertise, for example, of people like David and Phil who regularly post at What if?. If you read the Yarnia posts, you’ll quickly understand why.

Envisioning complementary components of Dunedin’s future – our shared business future – will always be more valuable economically and culturally than becoming subservient to the burdens (real or fictional) of the stadium project, an ad hoc project for which a community consensus never happened. The stadium has arisen due to powerful political dealings, and leanings.

The stadium is a rather small and probably unsustainable component of what Dunedin means to residents and visitors, if the community would agree some projects that add to the cultural depth and understanding of our place.
(well OK maybe the stadium does some of this…)

As the historic phenomenon Dunedin truly is – the heritage component of the city has been uncoordinated as a planning strategy for generating “wealth”. It hasn’t been ideationally explored or positively exploited to express our contemporary selves. How did we miss that obvious track?!

Concrete strategy, coordination and excellence are sorely needed, from entrepreneurial people who passionately love Dunedin for its heritage potential, like nowhere else.

The last three words are heavily inscribed with meaning.

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Local resident and retired chartered accountant Stewart Harvey has been interested in the fate of the old Dunedin Prison for many years.

### ODT Online Thu, 3 Dec 2009
Opinion: Unlocking old jail’s potential
By Stewart Harvey
Stewart Harvey argues that the Dunedin Prison is too precious to be simply turned into another backpackers or restaurant. Instead, he suggests, it could become a heritage tourist attraction.
Read more

I absolutely support Stewart’s views about the way forward for the prison building’s future. Further, I would expand on these to comprehensively “read” the cultural and economic significance and business potential of not only the immediate heritage precinct, but also the CBD area as a whole.

This will be explored in future posts, and by transferral eventually to the new duned.in website blog Paul is templating now (it’s true, good things take longer).

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Back to the old prison.
Some prominent heritage persons in town have continually “missed the bus” in describing (unresearched) options for the historic building’s future use – including visitor Neil Cossons – by thinking that more intrusive adaptive reuse is the way to ensure its business viability.

I’m a great supporter of adaptive reuse, but NOT for Dunedin’s old prison. The building has more value to the regional economy if its internal fabric is retained largely as is – we need to maintain the original fabric and partitions, and adapt our human behaviour and activities within it to fit, to create the viable business footing.

The parties quietly calling for irreversible upheaval of its interior (they wouldn’t put it like this; it would be the cumulative effect), such as the Southern Heritage Trust, are approaching the building’s future use wrongly in terms of watering down its potential impacts. These “impacts” are the building’s selling points (deliberately not defined here).

Stewart Harvey is a man of foresight, visitation and research. His idea to link what could happen at the prison to what may at the Dunedin Courthouse – in explaining the region’s legal and criminal history, including the insuperable ties to the Faculty of Law at University of Otago – provides very rich pickings indeed.

A few years ago, as NZHPT Otago branch chair, I was consulting alongside NZHPT staff on the redevelopment of the Dunedin Courthouse. Aside from site meetings about building redevelopment matters, we met several times with Courts Manager Maria Bradshaw to discuss the setting up of a Friends of Dunedin Courthouse organisation, at her behest. The Friends role, in conjunction with Courts officials, would oversee the building’s future public visitor, fundraising and events potential, to assist projects providing on-site explanation, exhibition, enactment and interpretation of the history and persons associated with the Dunedin courts. Sadly, the Friends idea lost momentum following the Court Manager’s relocation to Auckland.

As Stewart implies, it’s time to organise an interested body of people with historical knowledge and business expertise, that can decide the future of the prison building.

And yes, I will push the notion further by saying we should “straightaway” be looking at the prison and the courthouse buildings combined as a sound heritage tourism destination within the immediate heritage precinct…discovering a purpose that fits comfortably alongside schedules imposed by the courts’ routine workday operations.

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Weekend ODT looks at The Exchange

Updated April 18, 2013 at 3:07 pm

Alert from Channel 9:
Barry Stewart says tomorrow’s ODT magazine section looks at The Exchange area and “what they’re doing there”.

Who is ‘they’ we ask. Like Scenic Circle and Dunedin Casino shouldn’t be building a god-awful one-level carpark to replace the former Bank of Australasia and the former Butterworth building in High Street…when good stewards like the Macknight’s have put in the grunt work and finance to do up their heritage Bing Harris building (with the abutting Clarion building) across the road, enhancing precinct values and attracting new business to the ‘style’ end of town.

Let’s see what ODT’s on about…

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### ODT Online Sat, 24 Oct 2009
Magazine: Solid centre
By Charmian Smith
Princes St and the Exchange area, where the Toitu stream once flowed into the harbour, was where local Maori beached their canoes on the tidal mud flat and also where the first European settlers landed – there is a plaque on the footpath at the corner of Water St and Princes St marking the spot. Nearby Jetty St is so named because it led to the jetty.
Read more + ‘Grand buildings dominate the Exchange’ (slide show)
Photos by Peter McIntosh

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### ODT Online Sat, 24 Oct 2009
Magazine: Change of plan
By Charmian Smith
Once the financial heart of the city, the Exchange has seen better times. But things are changing. Following the report by museum consultant Dr Rodney Wilson, made public this week, about Dunedin’s standing as “a special and unique heritage site”, Charmian Smith investigates the rejuvenation of Dunedin’s CBD.

[Excerpts]
● Structural engineer Stephen Macknight’s family has redeveloped the former New Zealand Insurance Company building, now Queens Gardens Court, the former New Zealand Express Company building, now Consultancy House, and most recently the Clarion/Bing Harris buildings between Princes St and High St. The other members of the family are busy in their respective professions, so buying, redeveloping and tenanting buildings is as much a passion as an investment – although they need to have a fair return, Mr Macknight says. “We are looking at doing something that is of real value and adds to the area and we get satisfaction from it as well.”
● William Cockerill, managing director of project management specialists Octa, has redeveloped the former National Bank building in Princes St. Octa’s innovative and sustainable renovation of the building has won several national and international awards, and now more than 70 people work in it, with major tenants including Motor Trade Finance in the splendid banking chamber, and Tourism Dunedin in the tower block. Upgrading buildings in an inner-city area is more sustainable than building on new sites, as all the amenities such as sewerage and roads, parks and other public spaces are already there, he says.
● Peter Harris, manager of the city council economic development unit, says there are many innovative but low-profile software businesses in Dunedin, many clustered around the Exchange, whose customers are mainly offshore.
● Dunedin City Council city development manager Anna Johnson says one of the challenges with the Exchange area is relatively low market rentals which discourage landlords from renovating. If the council invests in the former chief post office, the largest building in the area, it could be an incentive to raise the value of the smaller properties which would then make it economically viable to redevelop them.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr