Late last year Auckland’s new mayor announced a task force to look at housing. Phil Goff said, “We know we want to build more houses. What is standing in the way of it?” This group will look at ways to free-up land, accelerate large-scale development, infrastructure funding, skill shortages, cost of building materials, ways to combat land-banking and affordable housing. It will be headed by Councillor Chris Darby, Chairperson of the Auckland Council Planning Committee.
 
This session features a panel discussion on Auckland housing, focused on density, quality and affordability. It won’t just discuss design because as Ockham Residential’s Chief Executive Helen O’Sullivan puts it, “The problem is no single party has control of all of the levers. We urgently need some ‘joined-up thinking’ with all of the relevant parties at the table …”. Comedian Guy Williams will MC this event and our panel will feature Councillor Chris Darby, Helen O’Sullivan, Lee Beattie (Head of Urban Planning at the University of Auckland) and Graeme Scott (ASC Architects, Chairperson of Urban Design Forum NZ). Many questions are expected from the audience and your ideas are welcome too.

Free, book here