By ANNE GIBSON
Westfield's planned Newmarket mall has been damned by a secret report, which criticises the design, shading effects and size of the "shopping town."
The $450 million mall will be out of character with the area and current plans do not show enough detail, it says.
The report was prepared by consultancy Barry Rae Transurban for the Auckland City Council.
Opponents of the mall obtained the report - analysing Westfield's submission to the council - under the Official Information Act.
The report attacks documents lodged with the council for supplying "misleading" and "exaggerated" designs and data, and for proposing an "oppressive and badly proportioned" mall.
This peer or independent review tells the Westfield consultants to go back to the drawing board and provide more specifics about aspects such as shading, size and visual impact.
The council received 12 volumes of documents from Westfield's consultants in August and has commissioned independent consultants of its choice to analyse the proposed supermall. One of those consultants is Barry Rae Transurban, which presented a confidential preliminary urban design audit to the council last month.
Barry Rae criticises Westfield's plans, particularly the five-storey "bridge" over Nuffield St off Remuera Rd.
This part of the mall would be "oppressive, badly proportioned, have a tunnel effect and lack daylight and sunlight."
The structure would also be too long at 110m.
Barry Rae recommended "further assessment and definition" of this part of the mall, reducing the length of the building over Nuffield St and clear-glazing the structure.
The entire mall's visual impact would be "significantly adverse," blocking views of the Waitemata Harbour from the Newmarket Viaduct, the report says.
It would have "a large and continuous footprint, compared with traditional incremental and piecemeal development. The existing views from the Viaduct are significant, given the gateway location of the Viaduct and the magnitude of the viewing audience."
Barry Rae also criticises lack of detail on shading that the mall would cast over surrounding streets and buildings.
The shading report, prepared by two consultants - Boffa Miskell and Beca Planning - is "without text." Barry Rae says it is unclear whether the report shows "shading effects of the indicative development or that of maximum potential development."
Nor do the shading diagrams indicate how the sun would be blocked from Nuffield St.
The height of the mall also needs more consideration, Barry Rae says.
The continuous, uniform building height proposed by Westfield is "visually at odds with the existing character of Newmarket, especially when viewed from beyond and from above."
Pedestrian access is another sore point: "Nowhere in the concept plan is the requirement for some form of continuous public access throughout the area, linking up public access points at Broadway, Nuffield St, Remuera Rd and St Marks Rd.
"Such linkages are the singular public advantage of building over Nuffield Lane, Nuffield St and the railway."
Neither Westfield, Barry Rae, Auckland City Council nor Beca Planning would comment on the report.
Secret report damns mall
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