Love the life more medium

Ockham's Station R low-rise apartment development in Mt Eden is frequently cited as a fine example of good planning. PHOTO / SUPPLIED

Medium-density housing is a phrase almost guaranteed to get Aucklanders choking on their latte foam. For some, intensification of our quarter-acre paradise is the great bogey in Auckland Council's proposed Unitary Plan, which is nearing the end of a five-year process.

Medium-density housing translates into low-rise apartments, terraces (townhouses) and semi-detached housing. In effect, anything between high rises and urban sprawl. It's the missing middle of residential development and is grossly under-represented, says Auckland Council. We have very little of it compared to other countries.

Previous iterations of medium-density housing have been fairly successful. They include the humble brick-and-tile sausage block, which older people and childless couples flocked to in the 1960s and 1970s. Not everyone, it appeared wanted to live on a quarter-acre section. Sausage blocks are popular with buyers who appreciate their solid construction, says Harcourts franchisee Martin Cooper.

For example, a three-bedroom renovated townhouse in Te Atatu South is on the market for $739,000. Medium-density housing dwellers love them. Amy Johnson bought in a 1960s concrete block of five in an otherwise expensive neighbourhood. Each flat has a mixture of private and shared outdoor space.

"I grew up in a typical house but spent 10 years living in Europe in small apartments, so kind of got used to it. I do feel like I'm in a safe cocoon surrounded by lovely neighbours," she said.

The neighbours even got together to buy a trampoline for the children in the block. On the other hand, she can't have a dog and needs to be considerate when it comes to noise.

Auckland's new Unitary Plan, which determines what can be built and where is without much doubt going to allow for more medium-density housing when it's finalised later this year.

Yet the idea that three, four or even six homes could be built on an erstwhile quarter-acre section elicits the collective words "not in my back yard" from many Aucklanders.

Search online for "medium-density housing" and you'll find newspaper articles that include words such as "suspicious" "revealed" "infill" and "degrade". Even within the council's own ranks there is negativity.

Earlier this year Auckland councillor Sir John Walker voiced what he claimed many Aucklanders think: "Why ruin the city with three-storey apartments? They might not be very high but I wouldn't want to live next door to one."

New developments, such as Alexandra Park and Hobsonville, can build medium-density housing without upsetting the neighbours. Although many Kiwis still want their quarter-acre paradise and aren't being forced to move, others are snapping up medium-density housing as it's built or before.

At Alexandra Park baby boomers and empty-nesters are showing the most interest. However 41 per cent of buyers in stage two are under 45 years old, says Alexandra Park's CEO Dominique Dowding.

There are, of course, downsides. Aucklanders fear the character of their suburbs will change, are worried their sewers and infrastructure won't cope, their houses will be shaded out, and ghettos will be built in their streets.

There has been so much bad density housing built in Auckland that citizens can feel a bit wary about whether design and construction will be up to acceptable standards.

For those reasons, getting Aucklanders to accept we need more medium-density housing has been an uphill battle for Auckland Council.

Aucklanders, says deputy mayor Penny Hulse, see the bad intensification examples of the 1980s and 1990s where huge developments were erected along Hobson St and Nelson St that failed to take into account good urban design.

"For the people who haven't looked at buildings like Ockham's, that is all they have got in their minds."

Ockham Residential has built low-rise apartment buildings in Grey Lynn, Mt Eden and elsewhere that are often cited as examples of good planning.

Hulse points out that overseas experience shows increased density adds to the vibrancy of a city. The problem, she says, is many Aucklanders can't surrender the idea that we are all going to continue living the quarter-acre paradise.

The irony she says is that when we go on holiday, typically we don't stay out in suburbia. We stay in the areas with cafes, people, and denser populations, which make those cities vibrant. What's more, she says, Copenhagen, for example is compact, yet people want to live there.

Another plus for going denser rather than out is the average cost of providing water services, transport and parks, to new medium-density houses per unit is $33,890 compared to the $41,633 for their low-density counterparts, says Auckland council planner Tara Hurley.

Change won't happen overnight. Instead, the Unitary Plan will turn on the tap for higher-density developments.

Hulse won't be drawn on exactly how the Unitary Plan will prevent bad design, but says the city has learnt a lot in the past 20 years.