Community Focused Development

MacKinnon, who headed the DGM Group, started the development of Seaview – a 75-home, people-focused mixed residential development on the 1.6 ha site fronting Seaview and Hawke Streets.

MacKinnon was selected following an expressions of interest process for development of the 1.6ha former Central New Brighton School site. He says the concept of providing quality housing to those seeking an affordable home to buy or rent appealed. There was an added bonus knowing that his development would contribute to regenerating a suburb that he has fond memories of when he was growing up in Christchurch.

MacKinnon, who has a proven track record for developing high and mid-rise buildings in the central city, says he hadn’t previously considered investing in New Brighton. “But when I weighed up the costs of developing in New Brighton on ideal sandy soils for building against both the price of land and the cost of building high rise in the central city, the New Brighton proposal had merit,” he says.

The land was purchased from CNZ, which is leading the New Brighton Regeneration Project. After it was sold by the Ministry of Education following the Christchurch Earthquakes, CNZ facilitated an arts and culture hub on the site with the eventual intention of building new homes to bring more people and activity to the heart of the suburb.

CNZ General Manager Urban Development Cath Carter says there’s real momentum in New Brighton now, with the private sector starting to take a pivotal role.

“The regeneration work started with publicly funded projects on the foreshore, the playground and He Puna Taimoana, which attracted people. That was complemented by our work to support local businesses and pave the way for more housing to bring people close to the action,” she says.

“The regeneration work started with publicly funded projects on the foreshore, the playground and He Puna Taimoana, which attracted people. That was complemented by our work to support local businesses and pave the way for more housing to bring people close to the action,” she says.

MacKinnon completed two of a five-stage development (14 houses) following the demolition of the school buildings. A public reserve adjacent to the Ray Stokes Hall runs through the middle of the development. Recognising the school’s significance in the community, some of its special features including the flagpole, an olive tree with a plaque remembering those who served in the First and Second World Wars and other trees have been saved. “We wanted to keep something of the school that holds very special memories for so many,” MacKinnon says.

And in a nod to the arts community that has called the school home post-earthquake, CNZ purchased the two-metre high He Toki Maitai sculpture by Jon Jeet, who had a studio in the old school buildings, and worked with MacKinnon to install the artwork on site.

David Hill of Wilson and Hill architects, has designed the houses in the development which are all two-storey with bedrooms upstairs and living on the ground floor.

MacKinnon prides himself on the liveability of his developments of “cool quality homes that people love to live in”. The development is 450m from the beach and he likes that there is a very “beachy” feel to the location.

“It’s a project that already has given me a lot of personal satisfaction. After the 1980s when the suburb was bustling New Brighton went through a bit of a low, but that has definitely bottomed out and it’s on the way up,” he says.