| 7 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Hamilton City Council “We’re looking at a balanced approach as to how to facilitate and enable growth to happen....” Taking a balanced approach to growth T T Karen Phelps There is plenty of development underway in the Hamilton CBD. Hamilton and the wider Waikato region has been experiencing huge population and economic growth, which has seen Hamilton City Council take a collaborative approach to accelerate the benefits and solve the challenges this brings. Currently there are around 178,000 people living in Hamilton but by 2041 that number is predicted to balloon to 225,000. “We’re looking at a balanced approach as to how to facilitate and enable growth to happen,” says Hamilton City Council chief executive Lance Vervoort. “The development of the Hamilton Urban Growth Strategy by Council has previously been based on specific structure plans and completion of major transportation projects. We are now considering the wider value delivered to the whole city. This is a significant shift in thinking and a more holistic way of prioritising growth options.” This has spanned residential, commercial and industrial growth with many significant projects underway or in the pipeline. Around 36,000 new homes will be needed and Lance says the first priority to limit urban sprawl is to build up via urban intensification in line with Government objectives. Funding from the Government’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund will see upgrades made to the CBD to assist intensification and enliven the city. “Sprawl is contributing to making land a more precious resource and therefore making it more and more unaffordable. With the world’s population also growing, our land is becoming even more important for food production. The land surrounding Hamilton is highly productive growing soil,” says Lance. This must also be balanced with appropriate greenfields developments, he says, and there are several underway. Residential development is nearing completion at Rototuna and a bridge being constructed over the Waikato River – earmarked for completion 2023-2024 - will open up significant tracts of land for development in the Peacocke growth cell. Council is undertaking this significant project with the help of a government housing infrastructure loan. While Peacocke has historically been made up of large lifestyle blocks the aim is to build 3700 new homes accommodating 9000 people here by 2028. It will accommodate a third of predicted medium term housing needs and 25% of long term needs. Other significant projects include Te Awa Lakes, which will include housing, amenity and recreational areas and Ruakura, a combination of industrial, commercial, logistics and housing. Developers are also looking at potential for further projects at Rotokauri. Lance says a key to successful long-term development and planning is that Hamilton City Council has collaborated with developers and also taken a wider planning approach, working with iwi and neighbouring councils in Waikato and Waipa. “It’s a boundary-free approach so we all work closely together to get the right sort of residential, commercial and industrial growth and ensuring we have the right infrastructure in place at the right time. The idea is to create communities where people can live, work and play.” Creating housing goes hand in hand with facilitating job and business opportunities in the region, says Lance. He says key growth areas for business has been identified around tech, particularly agritech, manufacturing and logistics. He says all have strong fundamentals and increased investment will unlock potential for growth and job creation. Significant projects such as Tainui Group Holdings’ inland port will underpin this making Hamilton a central location for freight to move through to the Port of Tauranga. Other significant projects underway include developments to the north of Hamilton Airport and also the completion of the State Highway 1 expressway to the eastern side of the city further improving access. Combined with the daily Te Huia rail service to Auckland, which will help improve access between cities, Lance expects people to continue to want to move to Hamilton due to lifestyle and cost of living advantages compared with Auckland. The lifestyle opportunities Hamilton offers are also attractive to people, says Lance citing Seddon Park cricket stadium, Claudelands event centre, FMG Waikato Stadium and Hamilton Gardens as key attractions. Lance says Council is looking at how to further improve its value proposition and has upgraded the arrival area and visitors centre at Hamilton Zoo with plans to offer overnight accommodation as a point of difference. Hamilton Gardens will receive investment in new gardens and visitors centre with added value products on the cards such as guided tours. Lance says one of Hamilton’s key strengths is its young educated workforce supported by a strong network of education providers including the University of Waikato, Wintec and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. He says that pre-Covid 19 around 50006000 international students chose to study in Hamilton meaning a much larger pool of talent was in the region. Waikato Innovation Park in Ruakura also provides a dynamic business campus where collaboration between businesses and research organisations drive commercial growth for resident companies. While growth is an opportunity and a challenge Lance says that the future looks bright: “Businesses are moving to Hamilton and others that are already here are expanding. We’re in a very strong position to be a city of choice for people. Hamilton has huge potential and we are now starting to see that potential realised.” Above, left, infrastructure works on the Ring Road, and, right, the massive Ruakura development will combine industrial, commercial, logistics and housing.
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