An eight-year involvement in the Temple View renewal project has seen Waikato firm Bloxam, Burnett & Olliver (BBO) win a prestigious national award.
The Hamilton-based multi-disciplinary company of consulting engineers, planners and surveyors has been working on the Temple View project since 2012.
The development, which earned BBO the New Zealand Planning Institute (NZPI) 2020 Integrated Planning and Investigations Award in April, together with project partners Mansergh Graham Landscape Architects and Construkt Architects, is a brownfields urban renewal project.
It was started by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints following the closure of Church College in 2009.
The college was part of the heart of the Temple View community so the church had to reimagine the whole community and its function and sustainability without the college.
“It has been a privilege to work alongside the church and the myriad of development partners and stakeholders to now see the new vision for the community come to life,” says BBO director John Olliver.
The most significant building in Temple View is the Category A Hamilton New Zealand Temple.
Located immediately south of the project site, the temple lends its name to the village, is a focus for the community and a reference point for the project.
The vision of the project is to regenerate Temple View while retaining the special character of the village. Elements include:
- Shaping a connected, legible and pedestrian friendly street network.
- Increasing the residential population of Temple View to stimulate future economic development.
- Creating attractive and inviting open space areas.
- Developing built form and infrastructure that is sensitive to the natural constraints of the land and the heritage values of the existing buildings.
- Displaying cultural heritage by ensuring a large proportion of the development has access and views to the Temple and other culturally significant buildings.
- Designing residential unit types to promote social interaction.
The masterplan sets out a new street network incorporating three new roundabouts on Tuhikaramea Road, weaving the new development into the existing fabric of Temple View. The plan also links the heritage-ranked Kai Hall, GRB Building, First House and Mendenhall Building with a series of well-designed urban spaces, walkways, native plantings and lakes.
The brownfield site presented geotechnical and infrastructure challenges. The eastern portion of the site is on peat-land, the site was contaminated, and infrastructure was substandard.
The collaborative approach enabled the team to come up with design solutions that satisfied engineering and environmental requirements while enabling good design outcomes.
Extensive use of preloading has ensured that the land is available for residential use and all contamination has been removed.
The project is being realised in stages. The completed works, including the combination of the rebuilt Tuhikaramea Road, refreshed heritage buildings, and a new sensitively designed Legacy Park, has helped revitalise Temple View.
This gives it a solid basis for the next phase which will involve the development of about 300 residential houses, a small commercial area and the development of the adjacent public open space with further landscape planting and walkways.
The latest recognition for BBO follows earlier accolades for its work on the Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway.
It picked up NZPI planning awards and a Resource Management Law Association award for the consenting and engagement process, plus an ACENZ award of merit.
Olliver says the Huntly section has been a key high-profile project for the company.
“Since we were awarded the project by NZTA in 2010 we have seen it through design, resource consenting, alterations to the designation for the road, extensive engagement with tangata whenua, tendering and finally supervision of construction through to its opening in March this year.”
BBO is currently working on a wide range of projects including the Waikato River Bridge and associated roading to open up the Peacocke Growth Cell for Hamilton City Council, work on the Ruakura Inland Port for Tainui Group Holdings, and planning work for the Sleepyhead development at Ohinewai.
“The outlook for BBO is very positive, despite the general uncertainty resulting from the pandemic,” Olliver says.
“We have a wide mix of infrastructure, land development, housing, commercial and industrial projects on our books meaning the forward workload is healthy.”
