Business North December / January 2021

22 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Tauranga - Blue Haven - Classic Developments Papamoa’s new space to live, work and play T Sue Russell The East Quarter Development will be home to over 350 new residences. S teve Cutfield is General Manager for Classic Developments. He’s been in the role for two years now and enjoys the challenges that come with leading a major property development company. “I am responsible for land acquisition in conjunction with the Classic Developments’ Directors. Land procurement can be easy or very difficult and it often comes down to the existing owners appreciating what the realistic value of their land is.” With a growing lack of simple green field sites, particularly in the Bay of Plenty, Steve’s head-space is in the future, looking beyond an existing site to see its potential for future development, particularly as the urban sprawl driven by population growth places stresses on areas just beyond existing housing areas. Classic Developments is involved in devel- oping sites across most of the property sector, creating large-scale residential housing, commercial retirement, green and brown field sites, as well as developing land it owns. Specialists from within the wider Classic Group enable Classic Developments to retain a strong place in the very active property development sector. “I think this is one of our key strengths, in that we collectively carry an enormous amount of experience and understanding as to how to achieve our property goals in any given region.” Classic Builders is the company within the Group that carries out the bulk of construction work as is the case at The East Quarter Devel- opment, a joint project Classic Developments is undertaking with Blue Haven Management, and a third-party investor. The development is taking place in Papa- moa, one of the Bay of Plenty’s key growth areas. “The land was acquired back in 2019 and we have been working through a master plan vision of residential and commercial activity alongside Blue Haven Management,” Steve says. Stage 1 subdivision work is underway and the first houses are expected to be commence from April 2021. In total The East Quarter Development will be home to over 350 new residences. The settlement is being designed to pro- mote a real ‘live, work, play’ environment, where those living in the Quarter will have recreation and social facilities to enjoy as well as commercial spaces in which to work. “It’s all about living local and promoting peo- ple walking and cycling rather than jumping into their car to travel some distance to work.” Asked what challenges have presented in developing The East Quarter, Steve says that placement of necessary infrastructure has brought its share of problems to overcome. “We’ve been collaborating with Council as to how we develop the infrastructure to meet the areas short-term needs while Council evolves the long-term solutions.” Steve says Classic Developments’ greatest advantage when acquiring land to develop is that the company is vertically integrated. “We’re capable of carrying out all facets of development within the Classic Group so it makes for a very efficient and cost-effective working model.” And while Covid-19 brought some upheav- al in terms of keeping to schedule following several weeks of no work, Steve says the situ- ation has bounced back well, with very strong enquiries for homes. “It’s fair to say there is a little bit of uncer- tainty as we approach 2021, but the Govern- ment’s financial response and the very low OCR has enabled some people to look more seriously about acquiring property as a more solid investment.” As General Manager, Steve says he’s proud of the company culture. “Everyone cares for the Group’s vision and believes in what we are trying to achieve. And we all live and breathe our simple but power- ful company code – Care, One Team, Daring, Excellence.” “It’s all about living local and promoting people walking and cycling rather than jumping into their car to travel some distance to work.” CIVIL CONSTRUCTION SPECIALISTS (07) 5420419 | admin@baycivil.nz | www.baycivil.co.nz SUBDIVISIONS | DRAINLAYING | COMMERCIAL SITE WORKS EARTHWORKS | UTILITIES | PAVEMENTS AND CARPARKS