Owner of $34m Herne Bay cliff home: Pre-emptive pōhutukawa felling beat cyclone threat

The owner of one of New Zealand’s most expensive homes took fast action to fell pōhutukawa near the cliff edge just before deadly Cyclone Gabrielle struck.

Ben Cook said some native trees on the boundary of his Herne Bay place facing west were in danger of falling and he feared they could take some of his land with them if they did topple.

So he took action, seeking fast-track consent for felling, which Auckland Council granted.

Unlike many other Auckland cliff-dwellers who suffered collapses when trees toppled from unstable sodden soil, Cook said his home and site were undamaged, and never red or even yellow-stickered after last month’s cyclone.

His home and property with water on three sides is valued for rating purposes at $34 million.

Cook also owns Australasian commercial/retail property investor Cook Property which has Bunnings and Countdown stores, the Ponsonby Post Office and many other sites.

His is one of New Zealand’s most prominent homes, containing a helicopter hangar and helicopter landing rights.

It was once the site of a graffiti-bombed building shell, vacant for many years until a six-bedroom 800sq m Fearon Hay home with a two-bedroom apartment was built.

In 2015, Cook paid endoscopic surgeon John Dunn and wife Rose $24m for the place they had built with Fearon Hay’s design, setting a record that year in buying the big grey glass minimalist three-level place on a 4032sq m site. The Dunns had bought the site for $8.1m in 2007.

Cook described this week how after the late January floods, he saw trees go down around him.

He feared some big trees at his place might fall too.

Some big pōhutukawa to the west (top side of this image) on the boundary were felled pre-cyclone. Photo / Supplied

That could mean part of the cliff facing west might go and take some of his section.

So the owner of a big private jet made a pre-emptive strike.

“After the flood on 27 January, we saw from neighbouring sites, that large pōhutukawa under extreme rainfall - like the flood of 27 January - can fall and pull land away with them.

Ben Cook decided to take action instead of seeing trees take the cliff down. Photo / Supplied

“We applied to the council to remove some trees on the western boundary under emergency works and received approval. We completed this task a couple of days before the cyclone, which came two weeks later,” he said.

“It took us a few weeks to remove the trees which lay below the western part of the cliff at Home Bay. I think because of the image of trees sitting below the cliff, some bystanders have mistakenly thought the trees fell from a landslip event,” Cook said.

Some pōhutukawa to the far right, facing west, were felled under fast-track consent. Photo / supplied

The cyclone hit New Zealand from February 12 to 16 and a national state of emergency was declared on February 14.

In 2011, the council granted consent for a helicopter landing pad at the property, giving permission for 10 flights per week.

Simon and Paula Herbert cited that consent in applying last year for more helicopter landing rights at their waterfront home on Herne Bay’s exclusive Cremorne St - just a bay to the west of Cook’s place.

Like Cook’s, the Herberts’ 2810sq m site is at the end of a cul-de-sac and clifftop above the Waitematā.

Both sites are unusual being so large and flat, with numerous mature trees and so close to the CBD.

Stanley Point homeowner Jacquie Mockridge heard a dull thud when the cliff collapsed beneath her two homes, around 20m above the sea.

Two places are valued at $9.4 million by Auckland Council are near Cyril Bassett Lookout. The land was clawed by rain on January 27, becoming so sodden that when it went, mature pōhutukawa also went crashing onto rocks below.

The cliff beneath a damaged Beach Haven house on Brigantine Drive. Photo / Chris Keall

Across at Beach Haven, Ben Wilson’s house on Brigantine Dr had foundations exposed and what appeared to be a spa pool hanging partway down the cliff above the sea in a glaring example of cliffs collapsing.

Water tanks and piles fell down the cliff towards the beach in late January at the $2.2 million property.

Wilson’s waterfront home on Brigantine Dr above Charcoal Bay was the subject of publicity last year after slips during winter.

Then, Auckland Council said the slips - which had taken part of the property with them - were a natural occurrence and were not the owner’s fault.

The council values the property at $2.2m, being a $1.1m section and $1.1m house.

Hanging on the edge: Landslides threatened homes on Colwill Road in Massey after Anniversary Weekend floods. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Across at Massey, cliff-collapse victims told how terror gripped their family when the earth began to fall and “it was like a big animal running in the hedge”.

Douglas Miller and daughter Mavis said about 10 friends and family members were gathered in the upstairs lounge of their multimillion-dollar clifftop home in January, preparing to celebrate an upcoming family wedding.

Then, disaster hit.

“My daughter said ‘Dad, you have to come and see this’. They described it as like a big animal running in the hedge - the trees moving. It was terrifying,” Douglas Miller said.

It was in fact the ground collapsing and taking the trees with it.

Chris Darby, an Auckland councillor, has questioned what effects tree removal and vegetation trimming have had on cliff stability.