Editorial: Mid rise hotel approval positive for Britomart

Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Good on the Auckland City planning commissioners who have approved a mid-rise hotel on Quay St in the Britomart precinct.

The independent officials rejected opposition from the Auckland Regional Council to the developer's plans for the site now occupied by one of the city's most objectionable mid-20th century buildings, the Schooner Tavern and Sailors' Home.

The council is huffing and puffing about appealing against the decision which would breach height restrictions in the zone, but it must be unlikely that its successor, the Auckland Council, will try to stymie such a progressive development.

The height limit itself seems inconsistent when the new East building at Britomart is about the level planned for the hotel, and the criss-crossed floors of the former Union building nearby are higher still.

Opponents of the hotel seem to be confusing heritage with height. The existing Sailors' Home building is a quayside abomination, much taller than its historic neighbours. Enforcing the height limit would benefit few, other than lawyers and insurers in their towers on Shortland St.

The campaigners to stop the new hotel cannot be focused on heritage or the aesthetics of the waterfront. Otherwise, where were they when a multi-level carpark, and before it a supermarket, were allowed a few doors down Quay St?