Can a heritage building be repurposed?
Stoney Homestead is one of the oldest farmhouses in the former Rodney District. It’s a heritage building listed with Heritage New Zealand and in the Auckland Unitary Plan. The site has known archaeological values and the adjacent reserve area contains scheduled trees. There are a lot of factors affecting development of this property. Following extensive restoration of the building, the next challenge was identifying uses of the building and site that would be both self-sustaining and respect the competing values of the site and buildings.
Planning Plus™ sought an Auckland Council resource consent to extend the building, establish a community centre, meeting rooms, commercial kitchen for hire, museum rooms, vintage themed tea room and small scale events such as weddings. The variety of activities allowed for flexibility in the use of the building to allow the building and site to be used for a number of differing activities, maximising the number of people who could use it. This also provided the best opportunity for the site to be economically self-sustaining. Working together with a team of proven specialists, Planning Plus® undertook a detailed planning assessment, write an Assessment of Adverse Effects (AEE) report, lodged a comprehensive application and respond to technical planning questions from the Council. The application was lodged within agreed timeframes and within budget.
Resource consent was obtained on a non-notified basis. The community centre is now successfully operating and works as a hub for many community groups throughout the year.
If you have a house in a heritage or special character area, development can quickly become a headache. Let us manage the process for you- find out how here
