Urban Edge Planning

19/11/2024

🎃 Last Thursday, we embraced the Halloween spirit a little late—but better late than never! With some of the team out on October 31st, we couldn’t miss the chance to celebrate one of our favourite days.
If you spoke to us over the phone or via email that day, you might not have realized you were talking to a pink flamingo or a pirate! 🦩🏴‍☠️
Our festivities included cupcake decorating (thanks to Cupcake Sweeties for the supplies!). Any guesses on who snagged the titles for Best Halloween Design and Most Professional? We also played games, shared a delicious lunch, and enjoyed some good chats as a team.
It was the perfect way to kick off the countdown to the silly season and enjoy some light-hearted fun 👻🦇🕷️

24/09/2024

We believe that the best strategies come from shared input and open conversations. Recently, we took a break for half a day to bring the team together and contribute to our business strategy and plan for the year ahead.

By involving our team staff in these discussions, we not only gain valuable insights that help shape our future direction, but it also helps ensure that there is team buy in and that the product that is UEP represents our entire team values and aspirations. It’s also a great opportunity to reflect on our mahi, share ideas, and strengthen our team.

A bonus to the day was enjoying sea views and warm hospitality at Compass Coffee – Seaview Marina ☕ ⛵

05/09/2024

We are a little late to the party as we have been a bit snowed with hearings, plan change evidence and Environment Court mediation, but we would like to unpick a recent announcement by Minister Bishop around natural hazards and the implications. The key points we would like to address are:

1 - natural hazards becoming a consideration for all land use consents; and
2 - natural hazard rules having immediate legal effect at the time of plan notification.

With the first point, it appears that land use consents will either be pulled into Section 106 of the Act or a new section will be developed that is similar in wording. This was first considered in the RMA changes following the Christchurch Earthquakes. On first glance, it closes a small hole in the RMA where subdivisions are required to consider natural hazards, but not land use consents. This existing situation created some perverse outcomes, where residential units may be built first to get around a natural hazard issue (especially if the District Plan did not consider the hazard), and then followed up with a subdivision. However, we suspect there will be more debate (and at some point case law), around restricted discretionary activities, where the matters of discretion do not consider natural hazard risks, and the interplay with the new RMA clause. This discussion will particularly play out where hazard maps are outside of the plan, have no regulatory framework, and they are used to inform land use decisions. This debate is likely to play out in a number of Tier 1 Councils, where many residential developments are now restricted discretionary activities.

The second change around rules having immediate legal effect at the time of plan provisions notification. This will mean planners will have to be certain of the science involved in the hazard maps that are notified, and to have tested the provisions over a wide range of scenarios to make sure there are no perverse outcomes. While we believe this is a positive change overall, we do wonder if it will make some councils more gun shy to notify a hazard plan change.

What we would like to see support these changes, is further education of planners on natural hazards. There is a variable understanding in the wider planning community around the difference between hazard, risk, and susceptibility, as well as impacts of climate change on hazards, and built form resilience to natural hazards. There are some development forms being advanced (and in some cases approved) in areas where further development is not appropriate. There is a strong mantra around we must provide more housing, but we would argue at what cost? You only have to travel into a community that has been impacted by a natural hazard event to see the social, economic, and cultural impacts. These impacts can last for a life time and in these instances you have to ask, how could we have done better, why have we not done better, and why does this continue to happen?

17/06/2024

Last week, James Beban had the privilege of being a keynote speaker at the NZIQS Conference held at the Tàikina Convention Centre, which was attended by approximately 500 people. His spot in the conference was sponsored by Pandion.

In this keynote speech James explored why there has been so much change at in District and Regional Plans over the last four years and what is driving this change. He also explored the state of natural hazard planning in the country and where he sees how land use planning will continue to evolve over the next several years, especially in respect to natural hazards.

While Quantity Surveyors and Planners do not have a large intersection of disciplines, with the increasing number of planning overlays, and the implications that these have on the cost of development, we expect that as planning continues to evolve, there will be greater working together of these professions. As such, it was a privilege for James to be able to speak at this conference and something he greatly enjoyed.

12/06/2024

Every now and then, we get asked to participate into something a little different. This time James Beban was asked to be interviewed on Coast Access Radio. The interview ranges through a range of topics, including:
- Natural hazard planning and its challenges
- The tensions between urban design and planning; and
- Even how financial markets impact planning outcomes.

If you have a spare hour, or are interested in any of the above topics, the interview can be heard below:

Rosalind Derby explores architecture, urban design, and how to design and build in ways that suit the environment.

24/05/2024

We are thrilled to have been honoured with an award at the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Tuia Pito Ora (NZILA) Awards last week. Having our Upper Hutt Sustainable Landscape Guide - Te Mahere Horanuku Toitū O Ōrongomai recognized is truly the icing on the cake. We can't wait to proudly display this award in our office! hashtag 👏 🎉 🌲

08/05/2024

The Urban Edge team are in the midst of a push to submit somewhere in the region of 50 applications before the Hutt City Council's development contribution fees undergo a substantial increase on July 1st, 2024. Despite this increased workload, our usual responsibilities remain unchanged.

Everyone is working extremely hard and demonstrating their ability to juggle multiple demands. It’s in times like this that teamwork becomes crucial, and we witness this unity within our team on a daily basis.

To give the team a little boost, we fired up the BBQ yesterday and put on a yummy lunch. We've also made sure that our snack and sweet stash is fully replenished (plus, we've got plenty of fruit!). You can bet there'll be more of this over the next couple of months.

We are also considering bringing back the lodging bell for June – time to queue up the bell themed songs playlist !

22/04/2024

Recently we decided to put down our planning tools and pick up a fishing rod and spend the day on the water – with Jono from Cook Strait Fishing Charters. For many in the team, fishing is not in their blood, but they were willing to give it a good go. When fish were not being caught, there was time to enjoy the stunning Wellington coastal scenery including an epic dolphin show. Several of our staff caught their personal best fish ever. A great day on the water, with a great team, what more could you want!

21/04/2024

We are thrilled to introduce two new additions to the Urban Edge Planning Team:

Alice Blackwell - Senior Planner : Alice has an impressive background, spanning over 15 years in resource management across local and central government sectors. She brings a wealth of expertise including extensive experience in handling a diverse range of projects in the resource consents domain.

Gabe Espera: Intern Graduate Landscape Architect.
Gabe will be working for us part time for the next few months on various projects

Welcome aboard ! we are lucky to have you both

28/02/2024

Our shoutout this week goes to one of our team members, Andrea Reid (Landscape Architect and Urban Designer), for her outstanding contribution to sustainability and community empowerment.
Andrea has been busy behind the scenes designing and releasing the "Upper Hutt Sustainable Landscape Guide." This invaluable resource is a game-changer for our local community, providing advice and practical tips to enhance landscaping projects while promoting biodiversity, resilience, and sustainable living.

To support the release of the guide, Andrea ran a Sustainable Landscape Guide Workshop at Upper Hutt Central Library. It was a great success, with a highly engaged audience eager to delve into the guide's insights and gain valuable advice for their personal landscaping projects.
We're incredibly proud to have Andrea on our team, leading the charge towards a more sustainable future for Upper Hutt and beyond.

Grab your free downloadable copy of the guide here, or pick up your own hard copy from the Upper Hutt Library: https://www.upperhuttcity.com/Home/Tabs/Council/Sustainability/Upper-Hutt-Sustainable-Landscape-Guide

01/02/2024

On Wednesday we switched the "P" in UEP to stand for pizza instead of planning! Following on from our successful tomato growing office challenge, we havested the tomatoes and Laura Brownlie worked her magic and turned them into a pizza sauce. From there Karen Williams brought in her wonderful portable pizza oven and Corinna, turned the kitchen in a dough making factory and before we know it we were churning out the pizzas for an office lunch. Who would have thought that growing tomatoes would have resulted in an awesome pizza lunch, though I am still not sure about zuchinni on pizzas (looking at you Laura Brownlie).

12/10/2023

Its that time again, our annual tomato plant growing competition has started in the office! There is nothing as competitive as an office wide tomato growing competition. Like last year there are three categories:
- Tallest Plant
- Prettiest Plant; and
- Heaviest Yield.

Lessons have been learnt from last year and the pots are bigger, the prime spots in the office have been occupied, and the companion planting is more diverse. We will see if Eve Mclachlan and Andrea Reid can take the top spots this year or if they will be toppled by a planner.

The winner of each category gets to make a donation to a charity of their choice.