Developers Design Guide

Introduction

These guidelines have been prepared to help developers and residents understand the yardsticks by which the Council measures residential subdivisions and comprehensive housing developments.

The Waitakere District Plan has brought in new ideas on how the urban area should be planned and built. Growing concerns about air and water pollution, the loss of bush, and disruption to rural landscapes has led to new ways of developing cities that are more in tune with keeping the environment healthy.

At the same time changing work patterns, household structures and lifestyles are resulting in demands for new ways of living. The “quarter acre paradise” is a lifestyle which many now choose not to follow, seeking instead smaller, easier to keep homes close to shops, transport and entertainment. 

The spread of the city into the countryside is limited by the new District Plan and by regional policies. Instead of growing out, there is now the potential to grow up in selected areas. Well designed medium density housing is encouraged around main town centres, in the vicinity of train stations and along main roads to help provide housing choice, create mixed use town centres, and to allow people to live closer to work, shops and public transport. 

This design guide is part of a package of initiatives that the Council has put in place to ensure that these new housing areas make a positive contribution to the urban area.  In suburban areas, the District Plan seeks to reduce the dominance of the car by making movement around a neighbourhood easier and safer for pedestrians through a more interconnected street system.

Public open space needs to be part of the neighbourhood, not tucked behind housing where it is unsafe, while there is stronger protection for natural features like streams and stands of native bush.

Principles

The new approach to development places an emphasis on the following characteristics:

• protecting and celebrating the natural features of the city,
• developing safe and attractive neighbourhoods, where houses have a high degree of security and privacy,
• encouraging a range of lot sizes and housing types, 
• building street networks that work for pedestrians, cyclists, public transport and cars,
• designing streets that are safe and attractive,
• providing a high degree of social opportunity for interaction within the street.

Developers’ Design Guide - Chapter index

This design guide is divided into three sections:

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	Section A - Subdivision design (Size 629K) Principles for conventional and medium density subdivision layout
	Section B - Design elements for medium density housing (Size 803K) Principles for medium density house and lot design
	Section C - House types (Size 1242K) Selected examples of medium density housing types

Other documents to consult

The Developers Design Guide is a non-statutory guide. It has been prepared to help designers and developers to understand the principles behind Waitakere City's new District Plan.  The Plan itself should be consulted for the rules and assessment criteria that will be applied to particular sites.  

For the subdivision of land, the Subdivision section should be read. If a medium density housing development is being considered then the Medium Density Housing Criteria, which are part of the Living Environment section, are relevant.

The Council also has a Code of Practice which sets out in detail the various standards for engineering works that developments have to comply with.  Contact us for a copy of the Code of Practice.

The Council also has Sustainable Home Guidelines, which explain ways of building and operating a house in more sustainable ways.

For related information see the District Plan Guidelines for Medium Density Housing and Subdivisions.