By Mt Hobson Group

03/13/2012 We love our homes. Our lives our spent to own them, work on them, and alter them to suit our ease and style. In the Ponsonby and Grey Lynn areas, when it becomes necessary to make external additions or alterations to our heritage homes, resource consent is required by law. Under the Residential 1 Zone, also known as a Heritage zone, all of Auckland’s earliest established residential neighbourhoods work to preserve their historic look and feel. Areas like Ponsonby and Grey Lynn show particular coherence of form and character (reasons why we love them) and so are subject to additional controls. Most of the period style houses (think villas and bungalows) in Ponsonby and Grey Lynn are zoned Residential 1 and require a resource consent (planning permission) from Auckland Council for any external alteration or addition. Everything from new buildings, to restoration of existing buildings, from walls to fences, is going to fall under specific regulations that may require a resource consent.

It can be difficult to understand these regulations without first determining the characteristic style of a home, which includes the type of roof, the height of the walls, and the location of the windows. Are your ideas for a fresh look starting to sound complicated? It doesn’t have to be complicated. Coordinating an experienced architect alongside a townplanner or resource management consultant can make the process to add some new external decorative details, or a well-designed addition that completes an existing a lot easier. While these controls and regulations seem onerous and can become a headache for homeowners simply wishing to improve upon their surroundings, they protect the neighbourhood from poorly designed or out of character buildings. This is where experienced professionals can be brought in to assist with red tape and the Council, to get your plans approved. Taking on a home project doesn’t have to be a headache. With the right professionals involved, it can be done efficiently, affordably and in good time. Email Hamish Firth from Mt Hobson Group on Hamish@mhg.co.nz with any town planning concerns you may have. Mt Hobson Group have over 10 years town planning and resource consent experience enabling its clients to effectively navigate the myriad of local authority and resource management bureaucracy.

Mt Hobson Group

Dealing with Local Government for Resource Consents in Auckland and around New Zealand can be confusing, time consuming and costly.A skilled Town Planning Consultant can save you both time and money in the resource consent process. As Planning Consultants we take the hassle out of obtaining Resource…

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