Grand plans for Hotchin's opulent Waiheke hideaway gather dust

The architect's drawings for the Hotchin haven on Waiheke Island provide for a house with nine bedrooms. Photo / Chris Skelton

The 12m swimming pool, enclosed in a sheltered courtyard, has full-length glass windows facing north towards the sparkling bay.

The luxury guest wing, with separate children's bedrooms, is big enough for a family of five. The nanny has her own area.

These are some of the details in plans for Mark and Amanda Hotchin's nine-bedroom holiday hideaway in Boatshed Bay, near Palm Beach on Waiheke Island.

It may never be built, but designs by award-winning Auckland architect Andrew Patterson envision a low, sprawling beachfront mansion.

The Hotchins' rural property lies at the bottom of a sheltered valley, a wetland at its head and a golden sand beach at the other end. The beach is flanked by rocks at both ends, making public access difficult.

The Matapana Rd properties have a 2008 combined valuation of $10.4 million and incur rates of $19,402, according to Auckland City Council's file.

Unlike many parts of the area around Palm Beach which have suburban-style housing relatively close together, this area - only about 10 minutes' drive from the wharf at Matiatia - is secluded, bushy, green and appears isolated.

The Hanover boss, being criticised for building a $30 million Orakei mansion, still has a live resource consent for his Boatshed Bay development.

Marvyn Crone, a Hanover investor with her husband Rowland, said the Waiheke Island development was yet another insult to people who had lost millions of dollars.

"I don't know how he's got the gall to show his face in New Zealand," Mrs Crone said yesterday.

Those who were once interested in building the project this week dismissed the idea Mr Hotchin might re-ignite plans. "He's definitely not going to build it. He had the idea before the downturn but it's never going to happen," one contractor said.

Mr Patterson refused to discuss the project, the design or his brief.

Although work has stopped on Mr Hotchin's Paritai Drive mansion, plans lodged with the city council show he can still build his cedar weatherboard house on the island.

Those who have been working on the Paritai Drive project said the financier came up with the original size and design of the mansion as his city pad and then took his ideas to architect Lawrence Sumich. But Mr Hotchin's plans were for a standard-sized house scaled up, sources said.

"It was like he got the copier machine and just pushed plus-four," one contractor said.

"You can't just go and do that. It works out to look ridiculous and that's what's happened."

Mr Hotchin told Hanover investors last year that he could not stop part-way through building at Paritai Drive. But contractors were not at work this week, raising questions about what will happen next.