Throwing shade

Throwing shade

Houses in Rixon Grove and at the top of Pirie Street will lose their winter sun when the new Mayfair apartment block goes ahead on Austin Street.

Shading assessments provided to the Wellington City Council as part of the resource consent application for the new building shows that the town belt end of Rixon Grove, plus one or two of the houses at the top of Pirie Street will be affected.

The proposed six-storey block will block sun for those areas to varying degrees from autumn through to spring.

The Local is aware of residents in the affected area who are concerned about their loss of sun.  Most of them would support a new development if it was not as high.

The sun modelling also shows that the apartment block will cast some shadow onto the grounds of Victoria Bowling Club, however club president Gary Ruane isn’t worried.

Victoria Bowling Club did register their interest in the development and sought advice about the impact of shading on the bowling green.

“Even though there will be some impact on green one, really it's in winter so there’s not going to be a lot of overall impact.”

Ruane said the club would not be objecting to the apartment block as a result, and in fact thought the addition of more neighbours might result in the club attracting some new players.

Meanwhile the Wellington City Council was expected to release its notification decision on the development at the end of March.

This followed a number of requests for information from the developer, regarding traffic safety, geotechnical issues, wind tunnel effects and shading.

A new website advertising the development has launched, which says the apartments are scheduled for completion in early 2027.

Developer Mark Quinn Nick Mills on Newstalk in early March that he expected ‘spades in the ground’ in around the middle of this year.

Public meeting

Neighbours of the proposed Mayfair development are calling a public meeting in late April to discuss the implications for the community.  Check out the-local.co.nz for dates and times once confirmed.