Two Arlington sites in Hopper Street, Mount Cook, Wellington have recently been leased by Kainga Ora – Homes and Communities from Wellington City Council (WCC) to be redeveloped.

Around 300 high quality modern public and affordable homes will be built for a range of people in need of housing in central Wellington.

This is a significant project forming part of the necessary urban repair and renewal of the former Council housing complex.

Designgroup Stapleton Elliott (DGSE) acting as architects and principle consultants of a multi-disciplinary team, has achieved an approved Resource Consent and is now working with Kāinga Ora to further develop the project.

The much-needed inner city houses will provide homes for a range of tenants including families, those living alone, older people and supported living homes for the city’s most vulnerable homeless. Typologies range from one-bedroom units to five-bedroom family homes, and will include a community space, play areas, public park and community gardens to help support the cohesive functioning of the development.

Further objectives of the brief were to utilise a six-storey building height allowance and a streamlined consenting process under the previous Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act (HASHAA).

The overarching strategy for the project’s design is to provide the optimum and most sustainable site development responding to the unique opportunities the site offers, as well as providing a distinctive and successful ‘place’ connected to the Mount Cook neighbourhood and the city.

In addition to the provision of housing, quality amenity areas complement the development as well as the adjacent neighbourhood. These include shared streets, café/support services and a centrally located community centre opening onto a generous, sunny neighbourhood park. In addition, adventure hilly landscaped play spaces offer equipped areas for children and young people.

A project of this scale that addresses a variety of edge conditions requires a built form response that has a level of architectural consistency and a balanced degree of diversity in response to its context. DGSE has provided a proposal that has sitewide built form coherence combined with diversity of architectural expression, creating a special sense of place, home, and community.

project’s design is to provide the optimum and most sustainable site development responding to the unique opportunities the site offers