Artist impression of what the new Copper Crest Retirement Village could look like. Photo / Supplied
Artist impression of what the new Copper Crest Retirement Village could look like. Photo / Supplied
Plans to build new childcare centres and update ageing retirement villages in Tauranga helped drive a record $204 million in consents issued for the first two months of 2019.
Priority One's latest data showed the total value of January and February building consents issued in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty was $204m - the highest total for the first two months of a year.
Compared to the same time last year, Tauranga City Council issued a 17 per cent higher value of building consents totalling $140m in value, while the Western Bay was a massive 52 per cent ahead issuing $63m worth of consents.
In Tauranga, $1.7m was issued for a new childcare centre at Flack St and $1.1m for a childcare centre at Golden Sands.
A consent valued at $7.9m was issued for foundations for a new aged care and apartment complex at Copper Crest Retirement Village.
The key contributor to a record-setting $17m in commercial consents issued in the Western Bay was a single consent valued at $15m to demolish and rebuild a new 60-bed aged care facility at Hamurana Rd, Ōmōkoroa.
Max Robins, chief executive of CHT Healthcare Trust which owns Acacia Park in Ōmōkoroa. Photo / File
Max Robins, chief executive of CHT Healthcare Trust which owns Acacia Park in Ōmōkoroa, said the development included a rebuild of the current 40-bed facility.
"The existing one is old and not suited for aged care into the future," he said.
The development will include a modern two-storey, 60-bed facility with sea views. Each suite would include its own lounge, dining area and kitchenette.
"We want to design small communities within a larger facility to make it far less institutionalised than the previous design," he said.
The project was expected to take two years and would be built in three stages.
Robins said Tauranga had a growing population of older people and there was "clearly a need for good quality aged care on the peninsula".
An artist's impression of what the new Acacia Park could look like. Photo / Supplied
Tristan Saunders, general manager of marketing and sales at Arvida Group, which owns Copper Crest, said the development would include 44 care suites in a "living well centre" and 11 dementia suites.
Saunders said the "living well apartments" will include 29 one and two-bedroom apartments when completed.
The total cost of the development was $35m and would employ more than 100 people during peak construction, Saunders said.
The development would add to the retirement village's existing 150 two and three-bedroom villas and was hoped to be fully completed by the end of 2020.
Saunders said the additional care suites and apartments helped couples plan for the future in that if one person was unwell they could still stay together in the one village.
"Tauranga is widely known as an extremely desirable retirement destination," he said.
"The demographics all support further quality developments of both retirement and care offerings."
Priority One projects manager Annie Hill said the construction sector remained strong particularly for commercial developments, which reflected ongoing confidence of investors.
There had been a significant number of new childcare centres open across Tauranga in the last few years, Hill said.
"I think this is a reflection of our strong levels of population growth, particularly in the Pāpāmoa area, as well as the changing demographic of our city," she said.
Hill said the Western Bay had also seen considerable growth in commercial consents in the last five years, with $72m alone invested in the kiwifruit sector.
The Western Bay was also becoming an increasingly popular place to live, she said.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stan Gregec said Tauranga development was spreading across all sectors and areas.
"It is pretty much a continuation of the existing trend."
A new childcare centre was also being planned at Pāpāmoa's Livingstone Dr.
Applicant John Ingham said a child care centre had been granted consent, however, the build was between 18 months and two years away.
"We are waiting for residential sections in the area to be a bit more developed," he said.
: FEBRUARY BUILDING CONSENTS - BY THE NUMBERS: Tauranga: Total value: $58.1m Total number: 182 Single/dwelling consents: 69 worth $25.8m Commercial consents: 37 worth $27.1m Government/community consents: 2 worth $430,000
Western Bay: Total value: $41m Total number: 102 Single/dwelling consents: 44 worth $20.2m Commercial consents: 8 worth $16.8m Government/community consents: 1 worth $50,000
LARGE COMMERCIAL CONSENTS: FEBRUARY - $1.5m for new tank foundations at Ballance Agri Nutrients - $2.4m for an industrial building at Tauriko Business Estate - $5m for an industrial building at Te Maunga - $1m to extend and enclose a canopy at Eastpack - $4m two multi-unit developments at Ōmōkoroa JANUARY - $10.5m consent for stage 1 of the Mainfreight logistics hub at Maungatawa - $27m for stage 2 of the Melrose Retirement Village development
