Plans for 499 new apartments on ex-Unitec land at Carrington have been approved. Here is an artist's impression of how they may look. Photo / application document
Plans for 499 new apartments on ex-Unitec land at Carrington have been approved. Here is an artist's impression of how they may look. Photo / application document
Fast-track consent has been granted for 499 apartments to be built in five blocks up to 10 levels high on ex-Te Pūkenga Unitec land at Carrington in Ōwairaka Mt Albert.
The Environmental Protection Authority released the decision made last month by an expert consenting panel whichgranted consent for Te Whenua Haa Ora GP to develop the scheme on 2.1ha of land.
Construction of the five buildings is planned on the site at 119B Carrington Rd.
Expert consulting panel chairman Kitt Littlejohn and independent commissioners Peter Fa’afui and Ian Munro granted the application in their September 2 decision.
The scheme for Te Whenua Haa Ora is on land to be transferred to Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua to provide redress, the decision said referring to a Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
Building heights are to be from four storeys to 10 storeys.
For building five, this amounts to roughly double the applicable height standard in the terraced housing and apartment building zone under the Auckland Unitary Plan, the decision said.
It also explained why the land was being transferred: “It is clear that through this commercial redress, Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua has the opportunity to right some of the historic wrongs they have suffered at the hands of the Crown. To that extent, the application represents a positive next step towards reconciliation.”
Plans are for 499 apartments on this ex-Unitec land at Carrington. The site at 119b Carrington Rd is to have five buildings, up to 10 levels high. Photo / consent application
The project is part of the Unitec residential development which won consent via the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020.
Fourteen expert consultants made investigations and did analysis and made recommendations which informed the assessment of environmental effects for the plans.
A four-level parking building with 331 car parks occupies most of the fifth building.
The site’s neighbours are Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Whai Rawa to the south, the Crown via Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand with the Mason Clinic to the north, Treaty settlement land to the east and Auckland Council owning adjoining reserve land to the west.
The 499-unit scheme is in addition to a 3000-plus apartment scheme by other Māori entities.
Plans for 499 new apartments on ex-Unitec land at Carrington have been approved. Here is an artist's impression of how they may look. Photo / application document
The application area forms part of what is a broader Crown-owned landholding across areas of the former Unitec campus.
The wider landholding comprises some 39.7ha, with component parts purchased in recent years as part of the Government’s facilitation of housing development.
Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is administering the land on behalf of the Crown and will transfer ownership to the rōpū.
“Development of the site as proposed follows on from and takes advantage of consents obtained and works completed across the Wairaka Precinct by Waiohua-Tāmaki and Marutūāhu Rōpū, and the Crown via the ministry,” consent said.
Plans for the new apartment building Toi on the site.
But locals have raised concerns about such big schemes.
Last year, the Herald reported the Albert-Eden Local Board calling for any approval of individual buildings to be put on hold.
Board chairwoman Margi Watson said last year that would allow locals to know exactly where the new suburb’s future school, shops and green spaces will be, so the strain the planned new apartment blocks would place on nearby public services could be better understood.
In 2022, the Herald reported on Maungārongo planned for the ex-Unitec land: a multi-billion-dollar “village within a city, an urban kāinga” of 40 new apartment buildings with more than 3000 units.
Paul Majurey, Marutūāhu chairman, announced that scheme with Ockham Residential for the new suburb, Maungārongo beside Unitec and the old Carrington Hospital.
The Marutūāhu-Ockham Partnership has begun work in the 20-year scheme within the larger Te Auaunga Precinct, around the ex-Carrington Hospital and neighbouring university being developed by three rōpū: Marutūāhu, Waiohua-Tāmaki and Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei.
Highest heritage rating on these ex-Carrington Hospital buildings. Photo / Jason Dorday
Majurey said in 2022 the almost 11ha share of Marutūāhu land would bring new mixed-use buildings.
“It’s a staged development, a 10 to 15-year project which in time will have over 3000 homes across 40 buildings. It’s a village within a city, an urban kāinga.”
The red brick ex-Carrington Hospital buildings beside Unitec Te Pūkenga are planned to be strengthened and new uses will be created inside the buildings with the highest level of historic protection.
The ministry said the hospital is a Category 1 historic place and will be adapted for reuse.
“The pumphouse at the centre of the site will also be adapted for reuse. Other existing buildings on the site will be assessed on a case-by-case basis as master planning advances,” it said.
Apartment development specialist Ockham is advertising apartments for sale in its first building on the ex-Unitec land – Toi.
Ockham showed off progress on Toi, its first apartment building on ex-Unitec land at Carrington. Photo / Ockham Residential
“It will be an instant Tāmaki Makaurau landmark, a seven-storey sentinel of vibrant, verdant green, the colour of fresh harakeke. Subtle shifts of glaze – and a shimmering fine-grain pattern – will adorn its brick walls, a look inspired by the triangular tukutuku panels of Hotonui,” it said.
Two months ago, Ockham said foundations for Toi and its neighbouring building were about to be completed and it showed some walls up on the first block.
The under-slab drainage and services are very near completion, it said.
“The next couple of weeks will see the scaffolding go up and the plan for the next one to two months is to get both Toi and building 4′s structure up to the first level. Completion of Toi is anticipated for late 2025. This is the first building and the foundation stone of the new community we are building out there,” Ockham said.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
