Business South November 2021

The big picture experts For property developers looking to establish a working relationshipwith an experiencedmulti-disciplinary land and site development consultancy Eliot Sinclair bring a lot of value to the table. A strong relationship focus has been central to the company’s development since the business was established nearly ninety years ago as a specialist land surveying consultancy. Through innovation, diversi ication and evolution Eliot Sinclair has assembled a full suite of complementary disciplines including civil engineering, urban design, environmental engineering, planning, geotechnical and structural engineering, three waters and landscape architecture. Managing Director Mark Allan says Eliot Sinclair’s main ethos is about bringing together the expert and specialist services needed by its clients to achieve successful projects and at the heart of that is developing relationships. “Because our consultants are so used toworking together on the big picture, they look at what the client is trying to achieve and take all of those factors into consideration. We look at treating all aspects of the client’s project as one. So it’s that relationship between our internal departments and then our relationshipwith our clients.” Employing just over 100 sta , Eliot Sinclair’s main o ice is in Christchurch with regional o ices in Queenstown, Hokitika, Rangiora and Nelson. Mark describes the land development side of the business as the horizontal work on a piece of land including everything a purchaser or developer would need from pre-purchase feasibility assessments through design to construction management. “We do all of the surveying through the subdivision process, the civil engineering, three waters management, resourcemanagement planning and design. Site development is the vertical development and encompasses the built form. It involves obtaining planning consent with urban design input, followed by structural engineering, geotechnical engineering and landscape architecture. All of our services can be a standalone work package if required.” Eliot Sinclair works with a diverse range of customer sectors including private individual home and landowners whomight just want to respond to a landslipwith a retainingwall. But most projects involve working with clients like Ngāi Tahu Property undertakingmajor developments like theMānia Industrial subdivision in Christchurch. “Our relationshipwith Ngāi Tahu Property goes back to 1997,” says Mark. “Eliot Sinclair was engaged to assist with due diligence when Ngāi Tahu Property was looking to purchaseWigram Airbase. Once the land had been purchased Eliot Sinclair became involved throughout the whole development process providing all the consultancy services required.” Like theWigramproject, Eliot Sinclair was engaged to complete due diligence on theMānia project prior to Ngāi Tahu Property purchasing the land. “We thenworked through design and consent management and consulted with the contractors and utility providers. Ngāi Tahu Property didn’t just want it to be an industrial estate, they wanted attractive central open space areas. So, the stormwater management reserves have been designed to have a recreational function.” Mark describes howEliot Sinclair’s augmented reality videos and still images taken by UAV survey are a powerful insight, perfect for creating marketing visuals of Mānia.