Boffa Miskell is engaged to provide a full range of planning services for the project. Services being provided include:

• In conjuction with the project lawyers, the resolution of District Plan appeals affecting the consent status of the proposed development.
• Identification of consent requirements, advising on consenting strategy, and assistance with Council and stakeholder engagement.
• Planning input into the concept design of the new hospital to ensure a consentable design.
• Preparing applications for, and obtaining all resource consents for the project. Applications prepared to date include applictions for demolition of existing buildings, including the heritage protected former Cadbury factory buildings.

Boffa Miskell has also been separately engaged to provide Visual assessment, and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) assessment services.

Design for the new hospital is currently underway. The heritage protection afforded to the facades of the existing Cadbury factory buildings posed an early significant consenting challenge for the project.

Considerable work is required prior to construction of the new hospital facilities, including demolition, and site remediation and preparation.

Boffa Miskell worked with the project managers, lawyers, and technical experts to ensure technical assessments were prepared that provided a robust supporting basis for the demolition of the existing buildings, in the absence of a finalised design for the new hospital development.

All submissions on the resource consent for demolition were resolved prior to the hearing, and the consent has since been granted

Another significant challenge has been commencing planning, design, and consenting without having a settled planning framework to support a hospital development on the site due to appeals on the Proposed Dunedin District Plan. This also meant a wide range of planning methods (e.g. consent or designation), and pathways (e.g. standard process, Covid fastrack) had to be considered and kept alive to deliver the project while efforts were made to resolve appeals.

Boffa Miskell assisted the project lawyers (Greenwood Roche), and Minsitry to resolve appeals, while remaining agile to using the most effective and efficient planning method/pathway for the project. Appeals were ultimately resolved which secured an enabling zoning for the hospital, and enables consenting to proceed as a restricted discretionary activity (rather than non-complying).

An application to the Minister for the Environment to fastrack the consenting under the Covid 19 Fastrack Consenting Act has been subsequently applied for and accepted, thereby enabling the consenting of the hospital to progress through a quicker process than would be typical for such a project.

The project is expected to be consented and constructed in stages over the next 10 years.

Our role included planning advice, resource consent application and advice through consent processing. Visual Assessment and a CPTED Assessment.