Former Sleepyhead Site to become housing
Well after the proposed Sleepyhead site at Manukau went defunct the 9.1 hectares of land is to be flipped into 900 homes instead.
From the Office of the Mayor Len Brown and the Minister of Housing Dr Nick Smith:
Good progress continuing under Housing Accord
“These new brownfield areas will bring the total number of SHAs established in Auckland to 97, with a potential yield of 47,000 new homes. The sites offer a mixture of dwelling types across a number of different areas in Auckland, and they mark further progress under the partnership between the Government and the council to improve housing supply and affordability in our largest city,” Dr Smith and Mr Brown say.
The 11 new SHAs announced today are:
- Bute Road, Browns Bay: 0.17 hectares, 49 homes
- Sunnybrae Road, Hillcrest: 2.48 hectares, 100 homes
- College Hill, Ponsonby: 0.24 hectares, 48 homes
- Kingdon Street, Newmarket: 0.12 hectares, 58 homes
- Corner Cornwall Park Avenue and Great South Road, Greenlane: 0.28 hectares, 64 homes
- Layard Street, Avondale: 0.61 hectares, 124 homes
- Kirkbride Road, Māngere: 1.70 hectares, 53 homes
- Pacific Events Centre Drive, Manukau: 9.21 hectares, 900 homes
- James Road, Manurewa: 0.21 hectares, 39 homes
- Great South Road, Manurewa: 0.22 hectares, 24 homes
- Takanini Road, Takanini: 1.36 hectares, 130-175 homes
The Minister and the Mayor also released today the latest Housing Accord monitoring report, which shows the number of building consents in Auckland at a 10-year high.
“This report shows the house build rate in Auckland, at 8300 per year, is the fastest in a decade. The rate has grown at over 20 per cent per year since 2012 – the longest and strongest period of growth ever,” Dr Smith says.
The Auckland Housing Accord, agreed on 1 October 2013, set a target of 39,000 new sections created and dwelling consented over three years – with 9000 in Year One, 13,000 in Year Two and 17,000 in Year Three.
“We are running just ahead of target one year and nine months in, with 19,921 new sections created and dwellings consented, as compared to the 18,750 expected at this point. We will require ongoing increases in pace, in both section and dwelling consents, to meet future targets,” Dr Smith says.
The monitoring reports are produced jointly by Auckland Council and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). Today’s report covers the nine months from October 2014 to June 2015. The Accord provides for the creation of Special Housing Areas by the council with the approval of Government. Qualifying Developments (QD) in the areas are able to be streamlined and fast-tracked.
“This latest report confirms that good momentum is underway. Even with the wet winter weather upon us, the council’s Housing Project Office is seeing a marked acceleration of development works within Auckland’s established SHAs. Activity so far has been centred on earthworks, infrastructure construction and subdivision, but we are starting to see house building ramp up as the development pipeline kicks in,” Mr Brown says.
“We are also currently assessing a number of plan variations (with combined QD housing developments) in a variety of locations which will add substantially to the development programme commencing across the region this summer. It is exciting to see development proceeding quickly so that real inroads can be made into Auckland’s housing shortage,” Mr Brown says.
Further information on the Auckland Housing Accord is available on the Auckland Council website.
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This is the location of the Manukau Special Housing area and where it is in relation to its local surroundings:
As you can see it is at the southern extents of the Manukau (suburb) area immediately south of the Manukau City Centre itself. The proposed SHA sits flanked by existing housing and the Vodafone Events Centre, and the Wero project currently under construction.
Looking at the Manukau SHA in relation to the southern end
As you can see it is near the Manukau residential suburb which contains a primary school (that will need to be updated). Given this SHA is the largest of the tranche announced yesterday with 900 homes on 9.1ha I hope Manurewa High School has capacity or the Government builds a new high school.
In relation to distance to transport and jobs
It is not particularly far to transport or jobs from this SHA. Manukau City Centre (a (Super) Metropolitan Centre) and the Wiri heavy industrial complex are both less than two kilometres away. The Manukau Rail Station and proposed bus interchange are around 1.7km away although the 471 (soon to be 33) bus that trundles along the Great South is right outside your front door quite literally. Cycling provisions are basic but include two wide shared paths and cycle lanes north and south also along the Great South Road as far as Manukau and Papakura. And if you need to access the motorways well you can pick either State Highways One or Twenty just up the road.
What does concern me is lack of good parks in the area and hopefully something Council will deal with in the consenting and design processes.
Overall this Special Housing Area looks pretty solid providing the homes (most likely terraced housing and apartments) are sound proofed.
Talking Southern Auckland 