Resource Consent 11 Surrey Crescent Residential development proposal

Grey Lynn Cohaus 1 7 March 2018

Grey Lynn Cohaus 2 7 March 2018

1. Introduction

2. Site and Context analysis

3. Design Concept

4. The proposal - building and landscape

5. Visual simulations

Contents

Grey Lynn Cohaus Introduction 3 7 March 2018

Cohaus member households & children

David Benge (39) & Kate Elliot (35) DeeDee (8), Hunter (5)Josh Yeats (38) & Julia Hanna (34)Prue Fea (44)Marianne Riley (47) Will (6)Louise Menzies (36) & Jonathan Bywater (47) Ezra (2)Thom Gill (45) & Helle Westergaard (46) Lukas (12), Emil (10), Zander (7)David Welch (44) & Georgianne Griffiths (43) Atom (4), Aotahi (0)Barbara Grace (74)Kristen Wineera (44)Tomasz (31) & Maja Gibowicz (33)Moyra Elliot (70) & Haruhiko Sameshima (59)John Radford (51)Jym Clark (33) & Biddy Livesey (31)

What is Cohaus?

Cohaus is an urban cooperative housing project founded on cohousing principles. Cohousing is an innovative model of housing originating in Scandinavia that encourages community interaction and sharing of resources. At its most basic, it involves a group of people working together to build a collection of dwellings that they will live in themselves. The cohousing development model differs from traditional development models by placing an emphasis on the needs of the group who will live there and fostering interaction within the group. This is done by assembling the group who will ultimately live in the development before the design process starts. The group then works together to define the location, size and type of spaces it needs and the opportunities and constraints for development.

Where practical, resources are shared. In our model, we will have shared gardens, laundryfacilities, cars and car parking, bike parking, storage, guest room, garden house and commonroom. These will be managed by the members of cohaus. These shared facilities will allow relatively small individual units to offer far greater amenity to the occupants than they would be offered in a traditional development.

The cohousing model is well-established in many northern European countries and the US where they are often explicitly supported by local and central government.

Why Cohaus?

As recognized in the Auckland Plan and Housing Action Plan, traditional models of ownership and development have been challenged by the recent housing crisis. Established neighbourhoods such as Grey Lynn that offer high-quality urban spaces close to the central city are now simply too expensive for people who have rented there for years to buy into. We observe that new developments in these areas first serve the developers’ need for profits and target individual “customers” with high-end housing rather than serving the community, neighbours and neighbourhoods.

Cohaus, by contrast, is a response to a need of a community. The cohousing model increases housing supply and offers housing choice to meet diverse preferences, as well as meeting our community’s need for social interaction, a sense of belonging, and the chance to continue living in their neighborhood. By removing the profit margin and by pooling resources, cohaus produces more affordable and better quality housing than traditional development models.

Who are we?

We currently have 13 households in the Cohaus group. Members range from families of five to single people. Adults within the group are aged from their early thirties to mid-seventies and children from newborns to teenagers. There are a range of occupations represented in the group including academics, journalists, actors, art therapists, accountants, architects (one of whom is the president of the NZIA) and social workers. Some people within the group have known each other for many years and others have met through Cohaus in the last year. All share a basic commitment to high-quality urban living with a sense of community and a light touch on the environment.

How is Cohaus organised?

The cohaus members have formed an incorporated society to formally define the cohaus group. Members of the society will ultimately become owner-occupiers of the completed units. Some new members will be invited so the number of members matches the number of units to be built. A separate legal body, called Cohaus Ltd, is being established to own and develop the cohaus site before it is ultimately sold to the members. It has no aim other than to enable the construction of the cohaus and will generate no profit for itself or any of the members. Cohaus Ltd is temporary and will

be dissolved once the cohaus has been constructed. We are still investigating whether this body should be a company, a trust or a more complex legal structure. The Society essentially owns Cohaus Ltd and is its sole client. The completed units will be sold freehold to members with common property and resources held by the body corporate.

The Cohaus site

We have purchased a unique 2,406m2 site at 11 Surrey Crescent, Grey Lynn to develop as a cohousing project. The site currently has an existing residential building that has been extensively enlarged and modified and is used as a commercial residential care facility. Its neighbours on two sides are villas and bungalows, but on other sides are five-storey apartment buildings. The site is zoned for single house with a character overlay.

The original building will be moved on site and restored before being sold on its own legal title. Our plans for the remainder of the site provide 19 units in two or three-storey buildings around a shared north-facing courtyard. The units have one to four bedrooms and are between 35 and 230 m2. The design takes advantage of the north-facing site while presenting a friendly interface with the surrounding streets. The site is particularly well-suited to this type of development for a number of reasons:

1. Location near an established centre and close to the CBD2. Proximity to frequent public transport and major cycleways3. Being within 10 mins walk of many schools, shops and parks 4. Current mid-intensity use as a residential care facility5. Location on the edge of a residential character zone allows a sympathetic residential development

that complements the existing character buildings while buffering them from negative effects of the adjacent arterial road

6. The size of the site can accommodate close to 20 units which makes it financially viable and is a recognised “sweet spot” for cohousing developments to function as successful communities

7. Restoration of existing heritage elements to a more prominent position on a character street8. An integrated development allows efficient use of the awkward geometry of the site with minor

negative effects on neighbours9. The surrounding area on Surrey Crescent is evolving into a more intensively built neighbourhood.

1. Introduction

Grey Lynn Cohaus 4 7 March 2018

2. Site and Context analysis

Grey Lynn Cohaus History of site development - 19th C 5 7 March 2018

Site

1886 lots1886 Grey Lynn Estate subdivision

1886 Original site 1890’s original villa

Grey Lynn Cohaus History of site development - 20th C 6 7 March 2018

1930’s aerial photographs

Site(white outline)

Site(white outline)

1920’s subdivision

1950-s - 2010’s additions and ancillary buildings

Bungalow

Grey Lynn Cohaus Character edge 7 7 March 2018

Edge of character overlay

Isolated character island

Site