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Design Process

Figure 4

Addison housing development masterplan (2006).

Figure 5

House fronting Bruce Pulman Park.

Figure 6

House fronting Bruce Pulman Park.

 

A number of key steps have lead to the creation of the guiding masterplan for the Addison development.

Takanini Structure Plan

The Southern Sector Agreement (an agreement between the Auckland Regional Council, Manukau City Council, and Papakura and Franklin District Councils as to the form and timing of urban growth) provides for an additional 35,000 persons for Papakura. Twenty thousand of these people are expected to locate within the greenfields settlement of Takanini. The Papakura District Council identified an opportunity for a new urban area (Takanini) with a positive local identity, high levels of amenity, pedestrian safety and convenience.

To best facilitate the growth and development within the Takanini area, a structure plan was developed. In 2000, the Papakura District Council initiated a charrette planning process for Takanini. This was designed to identify the constraints and opportunities of the land. The process established an overall framework for the planned growth and development of the Takanini area. The Takanini Structure Plan was approved in draft form by Papakura District Council in May 2000 and adopted in November 2000. The Structure Plan anticipates a high level of residential growth (an additional 20,000 people) and job creation (an additional 3000 jobs) for Takanini over a 50-year timescale.

The Addison development is set within the context of the Takanini Structure Plan (see figure 3). The Structure Plan area has been broken into three sub-areas for staged implementation. The first stage is referred to as the Glenora Structure Plan (Areas 1a and 1b). Area 1a is a mixed-use (retail/residential) and medium- to high density residential living area along the southern rail corridor at Glenora and was subject to another Plan Change that was notified in March 2007. The Addison site forms part of development Area 1b. Development Area 1b also includes adjacent land to the north and west of Addison.

From the point of view of the Papakura District Council, the Addison development will help support the planned centre of Takanini (Area 1a). Similarly, the growth of the commercial centre of Takanini will provide local services to the enlarged residential community.

Residential 8 Zone

In 2000, the Papakura District Council engaged Harrison Grierson Consultants to prepare Plan Change 3 to facilitate growth within Area 1b (including the Addison development site). The Plan Change was based on growth strategy principles, and applied a new Residential 8 zone to Area 1b. The objectives of the Residential 8 zone are specifically to achieve medium density residential development within close proximity to public transport routes, Bruce Pulman Park and the proposed mixed-use node in the Takanini Structure Plan area. The Plan Change was adopted in 2003.

Within the zone medium density housing development (defined as a residential development comprising four or more household units on a site with a minimum area of 1400m2 and at a density of greater than one household unit per 350m2 net site area) is a restricted discretionary activity.

The Residential 8 zone includes detailed design assessment criteria for subdivision and medium density residential development. The assessment criteria are set out under the five design matters to which the Papakura District Council’s discretion is restricted:

  • public interface and external appearance

  • dwelling design, position and orientation

  • private outdoor spaces

  • visual and acoustic privacy

  • parking and access.

The criteria have guided the development of the Addison masterplan and provided the Papakura District Council with a tool for assessing each resource consent application, as the development progresses through its stages over a ten-year timescale. However, the criteria do not provide adequate assessment of rear terrace housing, and this was of particular concern to the Papakura District Council.

The Masterplan

A non-statutory masterplan for the Addison housing development was initially prepared in 2000 by Harrison Grierson Consultants for Hawkins Property. This plan has been refined several times and is still evolving.

The concept masterplan was developed according to the following urban design principles:

  • transit-oriented development (TOD)
  • highly connected network of roads
  • pedestrian-oriented development – good connectivity and permeability
  • quality public open spaces
  • streetscape amenity
  • landscape themes – street tree planting that reinforces road hierarchy, and reserve planting that provides character for the neighbourhoods
  • solar orientation
  • innovative, low impact solutions for treatment of stormwater.

The masterplanning of the Addison development has been based on defined neighbourhoods, each with its own neighbourhood-scale reserve (1500m2). A concept of ‘neighbourhood commons’ was also developed. These are small neighbourhood parks or open spaces of 500m2 to 800m2, fronted by a small cluster of houses.

The concept masterplan was instrumental in testing the anticipated yield at an average of 20 households per hectare over the entire site (compared with around 10 to 12 households per hectare in the surrounding, established residential neighbourhoods) and for ensuring the development would meet the basic urban design principles, such as good connectivity and solar orientation.

The Papakura District Council was not involved in the development of the masterplan, so it varies from the Takanini Structure Plan. For example, the masterplan has omitted an east–west arterial connection under the railway line, favouring, instead, a network of inter-connected, local roads. The most notable departure, however, is that there is no mixed-use nodal area in the masterplan.

The Addison project was the first, comprehensive medium density residential development of this magnitude within the Papakura district. The Papakura District Council has been generally supportive of an intensive housing development within this location, because it meets its objectives of growth focused along a transit corridor within an inter-connected open space network. Addison does, however, present challenges, because the Papakura District Council must assess and approve all the different approaches to density, the shape and size of reserves, narrower road widths and road reserves, and the new approaches to stormwater management that are present in the development.

The staging of the development evolved in response to market demands in house sizes and as supporting infrastructure has become available. The first stage of the Addison project was deliberately developed adjacent to Bruce Pulman Park to create value from the outset. A road was also located around the perimeter of the park (see figures 5-6) to create a link, or interaction/engagement, between the park and private dwellings and to provide surveillance and security. The project staging has been challenging for both the Papakura District Council and McConnell Property, because infrastructure issues were not resolved before the development began.

The masterplan indicates a highly connected network of local streets and larger distributor roads. Porchester Road forms a central spine, from which the local roads connect, linking the development to the existing road network to the north and south. McConnell Property found they needed to negotiate road standards at an early stage with the Papakura District Council to create an appropriate urban environment that still allowed substantial usable open space. The design team wanted to create roads with a more pedestrian and community focus rather than for vehicle passage.

Wes Edwards Consulting was engaged to produce a report entitled Local Roads for Liveable Neighbourhoods that examined street function and form, and set out appropriate engineering standards. The local streets in the development are generally much narrower than the accepted standard of the Papakura District Council, but provide appropriate engineering solutions.

The Addison dwellings are all two-storeys high, and set on compact sites that range from 120m2 to 400m2. This layout departs from other conventional subdivisions in the area, which consist of single-storey, detached dwellings on sites that range from 500m2 to 1000m2. The range of housing typologies includes:

  • terraces that front onto pocket parks, with access lanes at the rear (see figures 7-9)
  • large terraced homes that front onto the street
  • large detached family homes, with double garages and gardens (see figures 10-12)
  • detached compact dwellings on small sections.

In all instances, the compact terrace dwellings front onto open space to create amenity within this higher density environment. This layout requires the homes to have access through rear lanes.

The houses are designed and built to a high standard because the Addison development employs strict guidelines for the use of quality materials, construction and finishes. Furthermore, covenants are in place on the land to help maintain the residential environment in its current state. These include covenants to:

  • prevent homeowners from materially changing the external appearance, including the colour, of their houses
  • prevent the construction of fences in, or around, front yards
  • prevent hedge planting in front yards
  • control the height and appearance of frontage planting.

McConnell Property has established an incorporated residents’ society, to ensure ongoing maintenance of access lots, reserve lots and commons; to enforce the covenants; and to protect and maintain standards. All new and future homeowners are required to be members of the society, and existing homeowners within the development have the opportunity of becoming a member. This initiative is a response to the lack of community titles that bind similar free-hold developments in Australia. The residents’ society can levy members for costs associated with the expenses of the society. Currently, the annual membership fee ranges from $375–$475 per annum for the first three years.

Figure 7

Terraces fronting onto parks.

Figure 8

Terraces fronting onto parks.

Figure 9

Terraces fronting onto parks.

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