Dean Croucher presents Dow's submission on Central City Plan to Mayor Parker & Councillors

Dow Group has undertaken a lot of work in Christchurch over the last 20 years; for clients like Meridian, PGG Wrightson, Rabobank, Intergen and several key Government agencies.

With an in depth understanding of the City and local market, Dow prepared a submission on the Central City Plan; Christchurch City Council's blueprint for rebuilding Christchurch. Getting Christchurch re-built is a priority as its New Zealand's second largest city and a key commercial hub.

The Dow team is supportive of the content and shape of the plan. It is heartening to see such an aspirational strategy. While the traditional property market commentators have rejected the commercial viability of the planning, particularly the height limit, we are more optimistic that the general themes adhere to contemporary trends and more importantly, the likely demand from tenants.

We don't believe the height limited (which is similar to the limit in the Thorndon area in Wellington) is an issue; albeit caveated by further comments. Our main caution is ensuring the sites are large enough to create low rise large floor plate buildings. This will require site amalgmation. With small sites, lower height restrictions and a condensed CBD the economics of development could be marginal. Certainly Christchurch will need to accept higher rental levels moving forward regardless of the outcomes. 

We pointed out to Council that the success of the business parks like Show Place and Hazeldean for example (and other examples in Auckland and Wellington) have excelled over the last 10 years as the traditional CBD had old stock (with small floors); limited parking; complex traffic routes and a rather dull and grey aesthetic. However if Council proceeded with the concepts outlined in the plan they were more likely to attract large tenants - these are the life blood of a city as they are the large employers. Larger tenants are looking for low rise, large floor plate buildings with high levels of connectedness, amenity and practical sustainability features. Critical mass is needed to re-build the Central City. Therefore planning needs to appeal to the larger occupiers. Relying too much on boutique businesses may be a risk but will provide vibrancy and interest.

Councillors were interested in the observations presented and Councillor Wells (who was chairing the session) highlighted that our submission had introduced some new themes. We look forward to the fine tuning of the plan that flows from the vast number of submissions.