Design Review Panel
Earlier this year, our Urban Design Panels team asked for feedback on improving the effectiveness of our Design Review process by surveying a range of our builder partners.
Frequently asked questions
If your development has ten or more units and is located in one of the Auckland Housing Programme neighbourhoods and you would like to take advantage of the streamlined process, please give the Panels Team an early heads-up when you plan to bring the project to the Kāinga Ora Design Review Panel.
We recommend getting in touch about four weeks prior to your preferred date. In order to take advantage of the streamlined process, , you need to apply for a pre-app number with Auckland Council by contacting jeremy.wyatt@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz.
It is crucial that you submit your drawings at least one week prior to the scheduled DRP meeting to allow our panelists as well as the Auckland Council Urban Designer to review your drawings prior to the session. These longer than usual lead times are to allow the Council to allocate resources towards the review.
The following neighbourhood belong to the Auckland Housing Programme:
- Owairaka
- Mangere West
- Mangere East
- Roskill South
- Roskill Schools
- Northcote
- Oranga
- Aorere
- Wesley
- Waikowhai.
For developments with ten or more units, please request a pre-app number by contacting jeremy.wyatt@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz. We can only facilitate Council to participate in our DRP process if a pre-app number is supplied. We encourage you to do this as early as possible given lead times at Council.
Our DRP sessions are held weekly on Tuesday mornings. Bookings can be made with the Urban Design Panel Team at DesignReview@kaingaora.govt.nz. For standard bookings (less than 10 units), please allow ten working days prior to your desired panel session date. For more than 10 units, where you are wanting to take advantage of the streamlined service with Council, a minimum of two weeks' notice is required, and longer preferred by Council wherever possible.
Each Auckland Housing Programme neighbourhood has an assigned Kāinga Ora Urban Designer. We highly recommend engaging with this person after you have signed your land sales agreement in order to refine your design. This urban designer will be able to support you through the design review and approval process. Your Kainga Ora development manager can put you in touch with the right person.
Every development is reviewed by the Kāinga Ora DRP, a panel made up of three independent urban design experts. An Auckland Council Urban Designer will also be involved at the review if the development has ten or more units.
Besides from the panelists, the Kāinga Ora Urban Designer and Development Manager attend the session. The developer partner or representative (i.e. architect, landscape architect) presents the scheme, which should be limited to 20 minutes. The chair then invites the panelists to seek points of clarification and to discuss key issues with the developer partner and representatives.
The approved Assessment Report will be uploaded to Basecamp and distributed to the applicant by the Urban Design Panel Team within three working days after your session.
It depends on the complexity of your scheme (I.e number of units, typology, underlying site constraints etc) as well as the level of details provided in the drawing sets as to how many reviews will be required.
As a rule of thumb, proposals with standalone homes, duplexes and/or terraces and less than 30 units usually require two design reviews. One at site layout stage and one a Pre-RC stage.
Apartment buildings and sites with more than 30 units, as well as marker buildings, usually require three design reviews. This includes an additional review at concept layout.
A Final Assessment Report will be issued if all fundamental and significant issues identified by the panel are resolved. You’ll need this document to apply for resource consent with Council in the next instance.
Page updated: 29 August 2022