Iwi react to Remuera retirement village plans for 3.2ha ex-Caughey Preston site

Plans lodged show how the huge new Remuera village could look once completed. Image / Application to Environmental Protection Authority

An iwi has raised concerns about new buildings blocking maunga viewshafts at a planned retirement village on a 3.2ha site in one of Auckland’s wealthiest suburbs.

Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua said it objected to heights in plans for the large Remuera site where a company and a trust have applied to develop 11 buildings of two to four levels each.

“We do not support development (building height) that adversely impacts upon views (viewshaft) to our tūpuna maunga, particularly Maungakiekie, Maungawhau, Te Kōpuke [Mt St John] and Ōhinerau [Mt Hobson]. The viewshaft going from Kepa Rd to Maungakiekie must remain protected,” the iwi cultural impact assessment said.

Some of the blocks will have semi-basements or complete basement levels but all up, 183 apartments or units and 60 hospital beds are planned for the ex-Caughey Preston site at 17 Upland Rd on the site with other addresses.

HND Upland and St Andrews Village Trust Inc have applied to get plans approved via Te Mana Rauhi Taiao / the Environmental Protection Authority under the fast-track Covid-19 recovery law.

The iwi asked to name a road, pocket park or some amenity within the development so its traditional relationship to the site would be acknowledged. Consideration of a carved pou and other design opportunities were cited.

But the iwi acknowledged the proposed buildings were carefully designed and laid out and that the site was not recorded as having archaeological deposits.

Plans were prepared by resource management consultants Bentley & Co and are on the authority’s site.

Documents assessing landscape, architectural, economic, rule compliance, hazardous substances, external consultation, transport, geotechnical, noise and vibration, iwi consultation, acoustic, contamination, waste management, road/berm/tree, arboricultural, engineering and visual effects have been written and presented.

Plans for Upland Rd retirement village: apartments (left) with an amenities block (right). Photo / Application to the Environmental Protection Authority

The iwi also cited building designs in its submission.

“When it comes to urban design, mana whenua are often frustrated that our culture is rarely reflected in the urban built environment, particularly across Auckland, which Ngāti Te Ata identify as a unique cultural landscape featuring significant historical pa on volcanic cones.”

The iwi said indigenous local character was vital in good urban design, in contrast to the increasingly homogenised urban environments arising from globalisation.

The iwi has a traditional relationship and a long-standing history with Remuera via its Waiohua lineage, it said.

The Remuera Residents Association has also objected to building heights and lack of parking in already crowded streets. Andrew Langbein told the authority on behalf of the association that residents generally agreed with the site being developed into a retirement village.

Plans show heights and layout of the proposed buildings. Photo / Architectural drawings submitted

But plans exceeded average height limits by 5.5 metres, shading and cutting views from neighbours’ places.

Car parking was significantly less than required, meaning workers would use already congested streets. No parking for visitors would mean they would cut seeing family and friends in the village, Langbein wrote.

The application showed the scope of the site with access off Ventnor Rd, with some residents of that street also raising concern about how construction and operation, noise and trucks would affect them.

Scope of the site at 17 Upland Rd: the ex-Caughey Preston land has been bought by a company owned by Chinese migrants that has teamed up with a local trust involved in the retirement village sector.

Bentley said HND and the trust had consulted with many parties.

“The applicants have undertaken extensive consultation with key stakeholders, including Auckland Council and Watercare, relevant iwi authorities and with representatives of a collective of local residents,” Bentley said.

“The applicants have made adjustments to the design of the project in response to the consultation undertaken and have proposed conditions of consent to address some of the matters raised, where it was considered appropriate to do so.”

The site is bound by Remuera Rd to the south, Upland Rd to the west, Ventnor Rd to the north and Lucerne Rd to the east, with access off Upland Rd and Ventnor Rd.

Bentley’s application said HND is a subsidiary of Z & F International Trading, an investment company which invests in land and property development projects and which owns several high-profile landholdings.

HND bought the Remuera site in 2021.

St Andrew’s owns and operates the St Andrew’s Village in Glendowie, has significant experience planning and developing retirement villages, aged care and hospital-level care facilities, and with the day-to-day operation and management of such facilities.

The trust was initially engaged by HND to advise and assist with concept planning, feasibility studies and relevant design work for the resource consent process for the project.

The village operator is yet to be determined, Bentley said.

No EPA consent has been gained.

The application has been lodged and comments have been invited but the scheme is yet to go before a panel to consider the application.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.