Revised Britomart hotel plan derided

The proposed hotel at Britomart would be significantly higher than the allowable building height for the site.

New plans for a hotel at the Britomart heritage precinct have received similar feedback to the much-maligned design contest a short distance along the Auckland waterfront at Queens Wharf.

Public submissions to Cooper and Company's latest plans for the Seafearers Building site on Quay St strongly oppose the developer's desire to change the rules and objectives for a low-rise, heritage-based precinct.

The Historic Places Trust, Auckland Regional Council and heritage campaigner Allan Matson are among the 64 submitters opposed to the developer's plans for a stepped building made up of two heights to echo the pattern of different heights along Quay St.

The maximum heights would be 61.4m and 35.4m. The allowable building height for the site is 24m.

Historic Places Trust northern general manager Sherry Reynolds said the private plan change would create a development envelope that was unsympathetic in scale, height and bulk with the existing character of the precinct.

The particular area of Quay St, she said, retained many of its historic warehouses and an ambience associated with port-related activities.

Architect Andrew Patterson echoed Auckland City Mayor John Banks' view this month to "taihoa, step back and have a cup of tea" at nearby Queens Wharf by calling for a rigorous artistic analysis of the Seafearers' site.

"One that considers the dominance of its very valuable and very old heritage content," Mr Patterson said.

Several residents of the nearby Scene One, Two and Three apartment blocks were also upset about losing westerly views and afternoon sun after buying into the area on the understanding that Britomart would stay a low-rise precinct.

The stepped plans for the Seafearers' site are the second attempt by Cooper and Company to breach the allowable height limit.

In June last year, the company announced plans to build a luxury 175-room hotel of up to 101m for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

After a public outcry at the height, bulk and how the building related to the precinct, the company went back to the drawing board.

When chief executive Matthew Cockram unveiled the revised plans in August, he said a panel of architects - Pip Cheshire, Clinton Bird and Jeremy Salmond - had looked at all the issues and created a much superior building envelope. The plans were peer- reviewed by Sydney architect Richard Johnson and run past Auckland City Council's urban design panel.

He said the recession counted against a luxury hotel proceeding, but the company would love to build a boutique hotel on the site in the future. Residential use was another option.

The Auckland City Council must decide whether to support or oppose the plan change before it is heard by independent planning commissioners next February or March.

The council's urban design champion, Ludo Campbell-Reid, called the previous plan "alien" in scale to the heritage needs of the precinct.

Speaking from Shanghai in China where he is on a sister city visit, Mr Banks yesterday declined to comment on the proposal.

Mr Banks has previously said Auckland had a patchy reputation when it came to protecting architectural heritage.

"We have often equated progress with knocking things over and replacing them with so-called modern, sometimes inappropriate and too often crass developments.

"This has to stop."

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"The proposed plan change would [be] unsympathetic with the existing character of the precinct"
- Sherry Reynolds, Historic Places Trust

"Access to the water should be opened up, not blocked off"
- Philip Culpan, Scene Two resident

"There are plenty of other sites in the CBD where a hotel 60m high would not be out of place, but the waterfront is not one of them"
- Brian Carpenter, Parnell