Apartment project upsets historic precinct's residents

A proposed 16-storey apartment tower in one of Auckland's historic inner-city neighbourhoods has got residents questioning the council's commitment to heritage.

Perron Developments is seeking resource consent for a building of 80 apartments and ground-level cafe at Eden Crescent, an area rich in early European and Maori history and close to the conservation precinct that includes the old High Court and historic apartment buildings in Parliament St.

But residents want the council to halt the development so it can be publicly notified and redesigned to take account of rules which state new buildings in heritage precincts must respect the form, scale and architecture of existing buildings.

Residents have formed the Official Bay Heritage Protection Society and hired the council's former senior counsel, David Kirkpatrick, to fight the Perron development, known as Verve. At least two High Court judges and other top legal minds, who live in the area, are understood to be members of the society.

Mr Kirkpatrick has written to the central area planning manager, Vijay Lala, to say the development runs foul of a proposed plan change stating new buildings must respect existing buildings in heritage precincts, which include Eden Crescent, Parliament St and Waterloo Quadrant.

Verve was also inconsistent with the Resource Management Act, which said the council must recognise and provide protection of heritage from inappropriate development, he said.

Mr Lala has not responded to Mr Kirkpatrick and could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Perron development manager Grant Burns said the company had adjusted the design of Verve to comply with the council's heritage plan change and presented the new plans to the council's urban design panel.

The panel said the design was appropriate to the context of the locality, he said.

"We would like to see it go through non-notified. From our perspective we have followed all the requirements and recommendations given to us by council and going through a notification period will put a lot of time on the project," Mr Burns said.

But society spokesman George Andrews maintained the development was an "elbow in the eye of heritage" that would dwarf and shadow an area that included some of the earliest exotic trees planted in Auckland and the freshwater Wai Ariki spring.

Residents of the historic Parliament St Buildings would also be confronted with 40m by 50m blank walls on the east and west sides stemming from maximum development on a tiny site.

Mr Andrews said the council was elected on a ticket of preserving heritage, they had introduced the proposed plan to protect heritage precincts and "here they are as if it is business as usual".

Christine Caughey, the chairwoman of the environment, heritage and urban form committee, said the precinct had considerable heritage value but she would not be drawn on whether she supported the society's calls to have the development publicly notified and redesigned.