Daisy Apartments touted as the future, but Aucklanders will be big car commuters 'for years'

Monday, 26 March 2018

(Left to right) Auckland Councillor Chris Darby, Ockham residential co-founder Mark Todd, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, and City Hop Managing Director Victoria Carter in front of one of Daisy Apartments' two shared cars

Auckland mayor Phil Goff has cut the ribbon on a nearly car-free apartment development.

Daisy Apartments, on Akepiro Street in Mount Eden, has 33 apartments and space for two shared cars.

It was recently crowned 'New Zealand's greenest apartment building' by the New Zealand Green Building Council after it was given a 10-star rating.

Green Building Council chief executive Andrew Eagles said internationally New Zealand was behind most OECD countries when it comes to heating and water efficiencies.

The development is the first apartment building to score 10 stars on the Green Building Council's HomeStar rating.

'The average 'r value' which corresponds to how much heat is lost through walls is twice as bad here as it is in the United Kingdom and Ireland.'

Eagles said Housing Minister Phil Twyford's announcement that the building code would be reviewed was a good step to remedy New Zealand's less efficient housing.

He called the Daisy apartments 'a snapshot of the future of urban living'.

Despite being located on a 320,000 square metre plot, residents at the Daisy block have access to an adjoining public 'pocket park'.

The apartments are also a short walk from Dominion Road, Auckland's busiest bus route.

The development has a rooftop solar farm and a separately metered hot water supply where people can see how much hot and cold water they used and would be billed separately.

In lieu of private car parks Daisy has 12 scooter parks, 40 bicycle spaces and two shared cars for the use of residents, operated via a Cityhop model.

But the building's lack of parking wasn't part of the HomeStar scoring, Eagles said.

Some apartment buildings share washers and dryers, this one shares cars.

The development was spearheaded by Ockham Residential and is more affordable than the average Auckland property.

The average apartment is marketed for $530,000, 60 per cent of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand's median house price in Auckland, which in January was $845,000

Co-founder Mark Todd said he believed Daisy's unprecedented commitment to urban living without private cars would pave the way for a new international style - public transport focussed apartment projects.

Todd said the cost saved on building a carpark reduced the price.

'Auckland is growing rapidly, we will be the size of Sydney in 30 years.'

Precinct Property's Wellington portfolio manager Kevin Pugh was impressed with the uptake of biking facilities at a Wellington office.

'The progressive mandates of the Auckland Plan and the Auckland Unitary Plan promote the creative use of urban land and dispense with dated car centric rules.'

As a result, car parks around many city centres are being sold for record-breaking amounts.

Skycity Entertainment Group is marketing its Federal Street carpark at the base of the Sky Tower.

In December last year, a single Auckland car park was sold for a record-breaking $265,000.

The sale price was nearly three times the previous record of $100,000.

Colliers International national director Alan McMahon said council regulations limit the number of car parks in office developments in the city, particularly the central business district, which put individual car spaces in high demand and made them more expensive.

Colliers International national director Alana McMahon said the demand for car parks still greatly exceeds the supply, and will for years.

'More and more people travel to work in the central city by public transport but the demand for car parks still greatly exceeds the supply, and will do for many years by our calculations.'

McMahon said in a residential development, doing without basement-level car parks could lead to big savings.

'By not having them the developer can save on construction costs, and sell the apartments more cheaply.

'There is a proportion of buyers who are happy with that.'

He predicted there would be an increasing number of apartments with an alternative to car parking space in the coming years.

Property giant Precinct Property spokeswoman Jessica Curnow said the company is seeing an increased demand for bike parking and end of trip shower facilities, but it didn't necessarily reduce the demand for carparking.

The company's new Commercial Bay development has an increased ratio of bike parking, the company is also repurposing some car parking spaces in the HSBC House on Queen Street into food and beverage spaces.

The company's Wellington portfolio manager Kevin Pugh oversaw an upgrade to facilities at office building, One Willis Street.

'We've seen a big increase in the number of people cycling and running to and from work, as well as getting out to exercise at lunchtime.'