Robyn Edie/Stuff
Te Puawai Developments director John Elliott, left, and the project’s land development manager Ethan Black on the 70 hectare site in east Invercargill (from Tramway Rd to the south and Rockdale Rd to the east), which will be converted into a residential subdivision. An earthworks consent has allowed a road and stormwater work to be done on part of the land, but no subdivision resource or building consents have yet been applied for.
A subdivision planned for east Invercargill has been delayed, but the developer hopes the first sections will be available for sale next summer.
No resource or building consents have been lodged for the subdivision, despite earlier plans to have the first sections for sale late last year.
Now the developers hope to have the first sections available next summer.
The Te Puawai residential development, in east Invercargill, is expected to alleviate housing pressures in the city.
One of Te Puawai Developments two directors, John Elliott of Invercargill, said the subdivision would still proceed, but not as quickly as forecast.
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Though earthworks consent had been granted to build a gravel road and put in stormwater drains on part of the land, with the work completed, no subdivision resource or building consents had been applied for.
Elliott said the delay was down to the housing market slowdown and the design work still proceeding.
Te Puawai Developments was “transitioning from” Bonisch Consultants as the project designer, and would announce a new designer in coming weeks.
Elliott said Bonisch Consultants managing director Boyd Wilson had done a lot of work on the project “and we want to honour him for that”.
The original idea for the subdivision came from Wilson, and it was picked up on by the Te Puawai directors, Elliott said.
Wilson said it wasn’t prudent to comment at this time.
Elliott said subdivision consents would be applied for when a decision was made on the new designer; then the project’s timescale would be revised.
There was not enough time to get machines working the land this summer, “but definitely next summer”.
Elliott said they had appointed Ethan Black as the project’s land development manager.
Black said the priority was to do the job right.
“We are really looking deep into each decision, to make sure it’s the right option.”
In 2021, the Invercargill City Council agreed the 70 hectare site could be changed from a rural zone to residential.
The council’s planning and building manager Jonathan Shaw said resource and building consents still had to be applied for, and granted, before work could begin.
Elliott said the first main consent Te Puawai would apply for would be subdivision consent, followed by engineering consents to do more earthworks, curbing, drainage, roads and more.
“The plan is to do land and home packages and other companies may want to as well. We don’t want land just sitting there doing nothing.”
There was “still a lot of interest” in the sections, he said.
In 2021, a Te Puawai Developments spokesperson said it would be giving first-time home buyers preferential consideration for the first run of sections. On Wednesday, Elliott said that would still be “part of the mix”.
The Te Puāwai residential development sits on a 70-ha block of grassland between Tramway Rd and Centre St, flanked by Rockdale Rd and Regent St. Along with 600 sections to be created in multiple stages over a decade, it will include a commercial hub, which will look to include neighbourhood facilities such as a medical practice, childcare centre and cafes, and a retirement village.
Elliott said the aim was still to finish the subdivision in 10 years, but it would ultimately depend on the market and demand.
Te Puawai Developments second director is Philipp Daniel Haas, according to the Companies Office website.
