Whangārei HBA

MRCagney has developed several models to support Whangārei’s last few housing and business assessments. Starting in 2018, we worked with Colliers and developed the full Housing and Business Development Capacity Assessment for Whangarei District Council (WDC). This required us to gain a deep understanding of the local context, goals, and likely future growth of all urban areas within the district. Key tasks we undertook to develop this report include:  

• Estimating demand for business land across the capacity, and comparing this against likely capacity for business land  
• Identifying recommendations for policy revisions to support the land use aspirations of WDC 

After the success and usability of the models we produced for WDC in 2018, they engaged us to update their housing and business capacity models in 2021. Given their ability and confidence to run scenarios independently of us using our previous models, Council felt capable to draft the HBA internally, rather than outsourcing it to us. In 2021, we produced the following models for Council: 

• Housing Capacity and Feasibility Model, an online model 
• Housing Demand and Sufficiency Model, a spreadsheet model  
• Business Development Model, a spreadsheet model  

Our approach for the online Housing Capacity and Feasibility Model (2021) was particularly innovative, as it was the first (and as far as we are aware, the only) housing capacity model that has been made available online for the client to directly use and run housing development scenarios, independently of consultants. To achieve this, we worked collaboratively with the team at Council to understand the context of housing and planning rules across Whangārei to ensure the model meets the needs of the team and Council. The tool can be reviewed and explored here (enter “demo” into both the username and password fields). Council have used this both to complete their HBA reporting and to inform subsequent planning activities and decisions.

The model also won a Highly Commended Best Practice Award (Strategic Planning & Guidance) from the New Zealand Planning Institute in 2022, which recognised the value of our approach and the model developed.  

The model was further updated and refined in 2024 when the Business Development model was integrated into the online housing capacity model. This gives WDC a single source of data on both housing and business capacity and feasibility, and the ability to run development scenarios independently.