John Tookey: AUT Future Environments Professor on the Government instructing Auckland to allow 15 storey buildings around train stations

The Government's instructed Auckland Council to allow apartments at least 15 storeys high near key City Rail Link train stations.  

Density requirements around the Mt Albert and Baldwin Ave stations require at least 10 storey apartments, and requirements around the Maungawhau, Kingsland, and Morningside rail terminals have been increased from six storeys to 15. 

Simeon Brown and Chris Bishop say it will ensure Auckland takes economic advantage of the transformational investment in the city. 

AUT Future Environments Professor John Tookey told Mike Hosking that even the proposition of consenting a 15 storey building in the middle of a city isn’t a five minute undertaking. 

His suspicion is it will take at least a decade to see any kind of measurable mass urban densification around the stations. 

He also told Hosking that the Government’s interference in running Auckland is likely to cause significant political issues.  

Tookey says NIMBY-type arguments will likely crop up: why here, who’s going to fund it, and how will it impact everyone else in the area? 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Big call from the government as they override the Auckland
Council around future buildings. So as part of the CRL
which is the big train and new train stations that
come with it, they want up to fifteen story buildings
around them so we can all train to work and
live like we're in New York. John Tooky is the
professor of Future Environments at aut and is with us.
John Morning, Good morning. So a couple of stories here
won the height and you know whether or not you

(00:22):
want to go out or up. And two the fact
that now central government seems to be running a city
and overriding a local council. Deal with the first one first,
if they build it, will they come.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I suspect. So certainly it helps. I mean all you
got to do is look at many of the European
city examples, places like Glasgow in London and so on,
where you know, you get these little community groups built
around these train stations that yeah, they create a microcosm
of existence in the city and they facilitate smooth travel.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
All right. The other part of the fact Wellington's running Auckland,
not Auckland running Auckland. Is that an issue?

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Oh, that's a massive political issue for sure, racing certainty.
I mean that you just know that it's going to
cause problems when because we're going to end up with
the classic sort of nimb type of arguments that are
going to hove interview straight away. Why have we got
to have it here? You know, who's going to fund this,
How is it going to impact everybody else in the area,

(01:22):
what's going to happen to localhouse prices, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
And then we go down the text argument, which I
think labeler into I'm not sure this current lot are
that if you live in close proximity to something they
would regard as magic, like a train, you get text
more is that where we're.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Hitting My strong suspicion is that it's likely to go
that way. You know that there is no doubt about
the fact that there is massive utility associated with being
close to a railway station, with easy access to the
city center and all those sorts of things. There is
no doubt about that inevitably that's going to you know,

(01:58):
put pressure on taxation levels. You know, obviously I was
going to say council tax not council tax rating rating. Sorry,
And you know that's that's inevitably going to be a
consideration and a concern.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Do you have any sense of a timeframe on this,
because I'm sure we've been talking about infrastructure in thirty
year plans and tall buildings and railway stations and living
like will in Paris forever.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, let's put this way, just the simple proposition of
consenting a fifteen story building in the middle of a
city is not something that's a five minute undertaking, and
even and then when you build it, you know you're
talking a couple of years. So my suspicion is that
this is going to be at least a decade type
of undertaking to see any sort of measurable mass urban

(02:49):
deentification around these sort of railheads.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
So don't hold your brith, John appreciate John Tookey, Professor
for a Future Environment tod Aut.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
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