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The Addison Development

Addison is an innovative, intensive residential development located just north of the Papakura town centre, Takanini, and to the east of Great South Road and the Southern motorway (see figure 1). The development site is bounded by the main trunk railway to the west, Airfield Road to the north and Walters Road to the south. Porchester Road bisects the development, connecting it with the proposed new transit-oriented centre of Takanini and the existing Papakura town centre to the south.

The development process was initiated in 1999 when Hawkins Property Ltd (partly owned by McConnell Ltd at the time) saw an opportunity to aggregate greenfields land on the edges of the metropolitan urban limit of the Auckland region for residential development (see figure 2). This was a direct response to the Auckland Regional Growth Strategy that identified Takanini as a future growth centre because of its proximity to current and proposed public transport (road and rail) connections.

Hawkins Property and, subsequently, McConnell Property made a decision to construct an intensive residential development that incorporated a range of housing typologies and communal open spaces.

Hawkins selected a design team comprising Harrison Grierson Consultants (as urban designers / master planners), Cook Sargisson & Pirie Architects (as architects for the dwellings), and Isthmus Group (as landscape architects). This team developed the original masterplan concept. Harrison Grierson Consultants were later engaged by the Papakura District Council to prepare the Plan Change for the Takanini Structure Plan area.

When McConnell Property took over the development in late 2002 they changed the design team, opting to use a designer they were familiar with. Thus, Bob Earl from the Australia-based Oculus took over. Alan Shanahan from Shanahan Architects was engaged to provide housing architecture and to refine and execute the masterplan. Isthmus was retained for the design of the streetscape and open spaces.

The concept for the development is to create a community with a residential neighbourhood core.

The key design elements of the masterplan include:

  • a community gathering place that includes a children’s playground, restaurant, café, six-unit retail space and childcare centre
  • a matrix of parks to link the development with the existing Takanini railway station (and a proposed station at Glenora, now unlikely to happen) and the community to Takanini’s commercial core
  • an overall landscape concept that integrates Bruce Pulman Park, some 63 hectares of large, centralised open space, sport and recreation facilities, into the development through a tiered level of reserves and parks
  • two-storeyed houses, on compact sites, to create extra living and outdoor space
  • dwellings that front onto the street or communal open space
  • ‘Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design’ (CPTED) principles, to ensure a safe living environment. As a rule, houses that front onto commons and neighbourhood parks encourage good, passive surveillance of these open spaces.

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