KEY POINTS:
Plans for a luxury hotel that could tower four times over the allowable height limit at the historic Britomart precinct and cast a shadow on a public square have passed the first hurdle.
Britomart development company Bluewater Group has been granted permission by the Auckland City Council to seek a private plan for a new five-star waterfront hotel at the Seafarers Centre site in Quay St.
The council, which had a legal obligation to accept the private plan change, will not decide whether to support or oppose the hotel until details emerge.
Bluewater chief executive Matthew Cockram said this week that because of economic conditions the company had changed plans for a low and wide 10-storey hotel to a tall, thin 21-storey structure.
The proposed hotel would be about the same height as the 19-level HSBC building further down Quay St at 1 Queen St but lower than the 26-level PricewaterhouseCoopers Tower, also in Quay St.
Under strict height controls designed to ensure the historic Britomart precinct was not dominated by new buildings, the council imposed a 24m height limit on the Seafarers site.
The protection of heritage buildings for their architectural value and social history was made integral for the Britomart development.
The private plan change would allow a building of up to 59m on the Quay St frontage, 85m on the Tyler St frontage as of right and the ability to seek resource consent to build up to 79m on Quay St and 105m on Tyler St.
When the council handed over Britomart to Bluewater in 2004 for a $350 million transformation, Bluewater principal Peter Cooper said the aim was to create a "low-rise heritage-based precinct" integrated with the existing Britomart transport centre.
In the proposed plan change, Bluewater said it dealt with only a small part of the precinct and was not an attempt to redefine the overall planning approach.
A shading analysis prepared by PTA Architects said the building would not cast extra shadow over Takutai Square during the lunchtime hours of noon to 2pm above that permitted by the district plan building height, but noted that there would be winter shade over the square at 10am.
