Brand new town takes shape South East Auckland continues to grow like topsy with Flat Bush being New Zealand’s largest and most comprehensively planned town.
T
aking shape on 1700 hectares in south east Auckland, Flat Bush is expected to be home to at least 36,000 people by 2025 with Auckland Council, the Howick Local Board and partners all working collaboratively on the development and transformation of the area. The development includes five neighbourhood centres and has a strong focus on open space, high urban design standards and environmental sustainability. Progress on infrastructure so far includes skate park facilities, playgrounds, sports fields, the
8 — Design and Build South East — 2016-2017
cultural lawn, pathways and riparian planting at Barry Curtis Park. A number of major road upgrades include Stancombe, Flat Bush School, and Ormiston Roads,while the Ormiston Bridge stands as a gateway to the new Ormiston Town Centre where development is well underway. The centre’s first supermarket opened in November 2015 and residential development around the town centre is underway. One new school, Ormiston Primary School has recently opened, while Ormiston Junior High
School is expected to open early in 2017. Both will help address the educational needs of the area’s growing population. More than 4500 new dwellings have been built across this wider area and more are planned. The council and the local board have been working together with developers to deliver the remaining areas of stage two residential and soon to be released stage three. The stage three-block is a strategic Special Housing Area (SHA). A design code for intensive housing developments includes minimum apartment size