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Let's Twist
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As Development Manager, Campbell Twist is the man responsible for managing the creation of Stonefields. Village News caught up with him to ask some important questions about the community:
How long is it going to take to create Stonefields?
As you may know, Landco has been working closely with Auckland City Council and Auckland Regional Council for over five years to get to the point we are at now. We’ve taken a lot of time and care to develop a high quality master plan for the area. I’m pretty excited about it, as it is going to be a very high standard when it is finished.
Of course, we now have a lot of work to do to deliver this plan, now that we have received the final go ahead from the Environment Court. Among my many tasks and responsibilities is to deliver the main stages of the community on programme, which we anticipate will take the next four years to complete. |
Once we have an approved master plan, we take the land to a point where it has appropriate zonings and consents, then we earthwork it to make it suitable for building on – which you’ll have seen happening for 18 months or so – and then we install the appropriate infrastructure, such as drainage, roads, pavements, streetlights, lakes and reserves.
Once all that work is complete, parcels of land are sold on to our town centre, house or apartment building partners, who then apply for consent to build on the land according to the agreed plans. This work will take another number of years on top of what we do. However, because this work is carried out in stages, you’ll see some areas of the site being built on sooner than others. For instance, the area nearest the new traffic intersection will be the next area to have houses built on it, most likely this year. In all, Stonefields will not be complete for another 6-8 years. It will be a carefully phased project; one that will see steady and controlled progress.
What are you currently working on?
We are currently working hard to ensure that the area nearest to the new traffic intersection is ready for our main house building partner, Fletcher Residential, to move into and create new high quality homes.
We have also been working to complete roading into the community – which should be handed over for public use later this year – and as you can see we continue to progress our earthwork activity across the site. You may be able to see large piles of rock here and there across the site.
This is rock we have recycled from the site, enabling us to use stone from the former quarry in our roads. It has also enabled us to minimise the need to bring any fill into the site from elsewhere, keeping truck journeys around the local area to a minimum.
Have you shut off the end of College Road now?
Yes. As you’ll see as you drive into the area from St Johns or from along College Road, the road alignment at the top of College Road has changed, to provide a new and efficient entry point into Stonefields.
As a result, the old College Road alignment has changed. A 300 metre section of College Road has now been permanently cordoned off to allow for the new road layout. This old section of road will become part of the new community, with additional houses on the land down to the new intersection.
When will the first houses go up in the quarry floor?
You should see the start of house building activity before the end of the year. If you are interested or have further questions about this work, please visit our housing partners for more information.
Will all the houses be like what has gone up along College Road?
At Stonefields there will be a wide range of housing types and styles, from large detached family houses through to two and three storey terrace and town houses, plus high quality apartments in five and six storey buildings in the town centre and around the lakes. As we will be working with a range of different house and apartment builders, including Jalcon, Signature, Mitchell, GJ Gardner and Platypus, there will be a variety to the look and styles of the buildings.
All of the buildings that are built will go through a consent process and pass through Auckland City’s stringent Urban Design guidelines, to ensure their quality and aesthetic merits.
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