Roof on first stage of 30 Madden, left. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Roof on first stage of 30 Madden, left. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The roof is going on the tallest apartment block in Auckland's waterfront Wynyard Quarter - the 12-level apartment project 30 Madden.
Mark McGuinness, chief executive of Willis Bond which won the right to develop all apartments in the quarter, said stage one of the block being built by his brothers'business L.T. McGuinness was now 50 per cent complete.
The new units are rising in the America's Cup zone near the waterfront.
"This is a big milestone," he said of the building between Beaumont S, Daldy St, Tiramarama Way and Madden St. The 12-level stage one is 90 units, six-level stage two is 59 units and a car parking building with 160 spaces straddles the two blocks.
The roof of the blocks is Ultratherm Xtreme by Rooflogic: a layered system of structural plywood and structural concrete, a vapour barrier, insulation board and a Fibretite membrane.
Only three apartments are unsold in the 90-unit stage one "and those went from around the $600,000s to several million", McGuinness said.
Plans for a unit in 30 Madden. Photo / supplied
"That car parking building is sleeved by townhouses and on the roof of the carpark is a split level garden across two levels," he said of the third block Willis Bond has built in the area, after 132 Halsey and Wynyard Central.
Shops and marine service space have been developed at ground level.
Stage two of the project is projected to take 18 months to build.
Some people dislike the new block. Cherri Holland, an inner-city resident with an apartment in Auckland Heritage on Hobson St, has complained to the council and mayor Phil Goff about 30 Madden.
"My views are affected because I look north and west," she said, complaining the 12-level building interfered with her vista.
"Why have these developers been given consent to break the height limit and it's a Wellington developer ruining our skyline. It's disgusting. The city is beginning to look like Hong Kong and we've got one of the best looking cities in the world," Holland said.
"I'm horrified. I'm not against development but I'm blaming the council planner for allowing this to go ahead. There should be clear lines of slight to beautiful bridges and water. I look west. The horizon used to be a green strip and uninterrupted. Suddenly this building pops up and a third is now covered with it."
Mark McGuinness and Megan Paine of Willis Bond with model of 30 Madden. Photo / Jason Oxenham
But McGuinness said 30 Madden followed the usual consenting process and there was nothing unusual about its creation.
"All our Wynyard Quarter developments go through a rigorous review process with Panuku Development's technical advisory group. This is in addition to Auckland Council's resource consent which is required prior to construction," he said.
The award-winning Studio Pacific Architecture had designed 30 Madden which had gone through the same rigorous design and consenting process used on Willis Bond's Wynyard Central, he said.
Wynyard Central had won the Ian Athfield Award for housing at the NZ Institute of Architects national awards, he said.
