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Taller buildings and increased development capacity are on the way for Auckland’s city centre, following Auckland Council’s decision to accept recommendations that will help deliver more homes, more businesses, and better access to the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau.
The decision was made by Auckland Council’s Policy and Planning Committee, which accepted in full a set of recommendations from the Independent Hearings Panel (IHP), an expert body established to hear public submissions and evidence on Plan Change 78. The IHP recommendations were based on extensive public input, expert evidence, and hearings.
“As a city resident, I’m pleased plans to increase density to allow more growth in the central city under Plan Change 78 are now done and dusted. When I look at the swathes of people coming in and out of the city to work every day, this makes a lot of sense. It is also one of three growth areas highlighted in my manifesto”, says Mayor Wayne Brown.
Unlocking long-term capacity
Chair of the committee, Councillor Richard Hills, says unlocking this amount of development capacity in the city centre makes room for well over four times the number of homes and businesses we have today. This enables around a 300 per cent increase in floor space.
“This is a positive step forward giving more people the chance to live, work, and study close to major transport, shops, and services, future-proofing our city for the people who live here now and the ones still to come.
“Our city centre is already one of Auckland’s fastest-growing residential areas and our largest employment hub. It supports around 159,000 workers and 15,500 businesses, contributing approximately 20 per cent of Auckland’s total GDP and around 8 per cent of New Zealand’s.
“Our decision today, will help create a more vibrant, bustling and lively city centre — one that’s alive with people, jobs, culture, and opportunity — like you see in successful cities around the world.”
“It also supports our investment in the City Rail Link and other city centre upgrades which is also helping to attract $6 billion of private-sector investment. This further strengthens the city centre’s role as a hub for jobs, housing, retail, hospitality, culture and community.”
What the changes involve
Most of the changes the council publicly notified in Plan Change 78 were backed by the IHP with only a few minor differences, which advances the council’s overall growth strategy for the area.
Key changes include increasing building heights across much of the city centre and removing limits on floor areas to allow for a wider variety of building sizes and types. These changes are central to the council’s plan for more quality homes, businesses and services in the heart of Auckland and supporting a liveable, dynamic and attractive city centre.
18 midtown developments – recent, underway and planned – within 5 minutes’ walk of 3 Te Waihorotiu Station entrances. Station entrances shown in blue on map.
What’s next for Auckland’s growth plan?
With the council’s decisions now made, they will be notified by 30 May 2025. Once notified they will be included in the Auckland Unitary Plan and are expected to become operative in June 2025.
Outside of the city centre, Auckland Council is working on a new plan change that will deal with two of the biggest challenges we face in our region – strengthening rules to better protect people from natural hazards such as flooding and enabling more housing in the right places, especially near large centres and transport hubs. On its own the legislation that underpins Plan Change 78 does not let us tackle the challenges that floods pose or consider the government’s proposal to opt out of the MDRS.
For this work to proceed, a change in legislation is required to allow the council to withdraw the remainder of Plan Change 78, except for the city centre decisions made today, which is being considered as part of the government’s RMA reforms. The council is currently working on an approach while we wait for central government to give the go ahead.
Key Changes
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Maximum building heights have significantly increased within the City Centre Zone. In many areas, including along the western edge, height limits will increase from 30 metres to 72.5 metres, roughly 20+ storeys. In the core of the city centre there will be unlimited height (subject controls to protect sunlight access to key parks and open space, significant views of the harbour and maunga, and historic heritage).
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The council’s changes in the publicly notified Plan Change 78 allowed for four times more development capacity in the city centre over what currently exists. The IHP has made further changes to allow for even more capacity.
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Modelling is underway to calculate the differences between the notified capacity and the further increases made by the council’s decision today.
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Floor Area Ratios — planning rules that limit how much total floor space can be built on a site — have been removed. This will allow far more flexible building designs for commercial and residential use and allows for more efficient land use, as long as buildings meet other adaptable urban design rules.
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The western edge of Karangahape Road will increase heights from 15 metres to between 35 and 72.5 metres, depending on the building type, allowing more development in a walkable, well-connected area near rapid transit. This does not affect historic heritage protections for Karangahape Road currently in place.
- The council accepted IHP recommendations to slightly reduce the Karangahape Road Precinct by removing a small block that includes 538 and 582 Karangahape Road.
