The Challenge: This development represents one of the earlier three-level terrace unit development in an otherwise suburban street. Council had many questions regarding its intensity, as well as its relationship with its neighbours and the wider neighbourhood.

The Solution: We took on this challenge and essentially won the support of Council through a robust resource consenting process. Avant demonstrated that more intensified housing is possible with good design and identified what is feasible under the Unitary Plan. What resulted is seven modern homes now occupied by families wanting to live in the area, replacing a single old home that was previously uninhabited.

The Challenge: The client’s brief is to build their family home on a site layered with various council landscape protection controls. Whilst the site enjoys a sweeping views of the Coatesville foothills, it is also this feature that makes it challenging to obtain resource consent for a modern building amongst the striking natural landscape.

The Solution: The team at Avant understood what the controls and protection overlays meant for the consent process, provided the planning perimeters for the architect from the get-go, and also went about coordinating with the right consultants to prepare the resource consent application. The end result is a non-notified approval with limited questioning from Auckland Council, a big part due to our working knowledge of the intricacies of the Unitary Plan.

The Challenge: This was one of Avant’s earliest multi-unit projects and is one of the more challenging ones in the infancy of the Unitary Plan era. This site presents multiple challenges given its cross-fall topography and the balance needed to achieve yield, on-site residential amenities and protecting the neighbouring residential amenities.

The Solution: The development was only able to be consented through good teamwork with our various partners, specifically the designer and civil engineer. This design infringed nearly all metrics of the prescribed permitted activity standards and in-depth urban design analysis was required. The finished product looks fantastic and is a great reflection of a good design. This is a great example of what can be achieved through good design given the site circumstances rather than designing to the prescribed rules.

This project was for 7 high-end townhouses in the heart of Epsom, turning one lot into 2 blocks of terraced housing for our growing city.

The Challenge: Having a modern addition visible from the street in the Residential Special Character Area overlay is always a challenge. There is generally resistance to character building modifications by the heritage architects at council.

The Solution: Working closely together with the client and the architect, and by having a comprehensive understanding of the process, we prepared a compelling application to convince council that modern additions, when done right, can add value to heritage architecture and enhance the overall quality of the property.

The Challenge: This was a challenging site as there were significant height in relation to boundary restrictions due to the sloping topography of the front of the site.

The Solution: To overcome this challenge we used good sympathetic design with articulation and green living walls to soften the visual impact of the development, creating something that met the client’s creative vision whilst also meeting the restrictions of the site.

The Challenge: The proposed vehicle crossing conflicted with an existing Puriri street tree.

The Solution: We leveraged our constructive working relationship with different departments of Council including AT, traffic engineering and arborist to find a solution for the driveway matter and retain the Puriri tree.

The Challenge: Establishing a non-industrial use in an industrial zone is often tricky, given Council’s protective stance on preserving them for industrial activities. An added complexity is the convoluted access and parking situation within this commercial park, making RC for this fitness centre a bit of a challenge.

The Solution: As soon as Avant was engaged to manage the RC process, we put together an experienced team of consultants towards preparing a comprehensive application package, covering all the key matters that Council would typically scrutinise for an activity of this nature. It was a great outcome for the clients as they secured resource consent quickly, giving them certainty to move forward and realise their plans to get more people fit!

The Challenge: We conducted the primary feasibility report on the plans to build this Brown Bay Apartment Block that required a tricky to get Overseas Investment Office consent for the client.

The Solution: Using our expertise the Overseas Investment Office consent was recently obtained, meaning that this project could go ahead and apply for further Resource Consent to be built.

The Challenge: The steep terrain of the site, especially in relation to house design, (including a swimming pool!), access, and servicing, made this a challenging project.

The Solution: With a great project team involved from the get-go we came up with a design solution that enabled our client to intensify the site and resolve the issues posed by the site’s terrain, turning this site from one house, into 3 freehold lots.

The Challenge: The client set out to provide affordable and functional residential units on the site, to achieve his goal of having passive rental income and also contributing to social housing demand. The project involves removing the existing house on the land, which was not in a great habitable state, and replacing in its place six two-bedroom units.

The Solution: The project was met with some initial push-back from Auckland Council during pre-application meeting stage, as the initial design was not up to the Council’s urban design standards. Avant was brought in to assist with the resource consent process, as well as providing urban design input to achieve an suitable outcome for both Council and the client. What resulted was an efficient resource consent approval through working closely with the design team, identifying key areas of concern from Council and solutions to resolving them. More importantly, the client was ultimately able to build six high quality apartment units, realising his vision and offering healthy homes to six happy families.

A multi-unit comprehensive residential development consisting of social housing, kiwibuild and private residences on the foreshore with riparian reserve through the site.