Support for healthy and active lifestyles, meeting the needs of both young and old and housing catering for a range of families within well designed neighbourhoods are features of Hobsonville Point.

For any communities to thrive, people need to like living there. By providing high standards of amenity, a safe environment and plenty to do, the Hobsonville Point development will attract and retain residents who are willing to engage with their community.

Walking, cycling and recreational opportunities will help people connect with each other, as will a developed waterfront area with its cafes and shops.

Two schools are planned for: a new primary and a secondary school, along with pre-school facilities. The New Zealand Traditional Boatbuilding School (info@atbs.org.nz) is already established on site providing teaching for apprentices and community interests. The commitment to enable broadband throughout the site is generating strong interest from the tertiary and trades based sectors.

These opportunities will strongly support the ‘whole of life learning’ aspirations for the development.

With its coastal edge and many native and exotic trees and plants, the Hobsonville Point development site lends itself naturally to a strong environmental focus.

The site borders the sensitive Upper Waitemata Harbour presenting valuable opportunities to maintain and enhance the existing native habitat. A particular focus will be on retaining significant vegetation and restoring the coastal edge to form a continuous “green corridor” so people can enjoy the bush and harbour.

Energy use will be minimised through good design and technology that will make saving energy easy. A treatment train will help cleanse and slow storm-water run-off while rain-water tanks will help reduce water supply pressures.

Minimising waste and recycling will be a feature of construction and residential phases.

Allied to the residential areas of the settlement will be a significant marine industry precinct developed in conjunction with Waitakere Properties Limited.

There will also be employment opportunities associated with the schools and shops as well as home-based businesses or working from home via fast broadband connections.

It is anticipated there will be some 2,000 jobs on site (apart from the construction phase) while other work opportunities will exist in nearby Massey/Westgate to the west and Albany on the North Shore.

A number of boatbuilders are already established on site, including Yachting Developments Ltd and Formula Cruisers, along with the New Zealand Traditional Boatbuilding School. Approximately 200 marine workers are already on site and construction of new facilities has not yet begun.

Improved public transport will link to those areas and to the CBD through a planned new ferry service.

The development aims to allow people to celebrate their own cultural heritage, while also enabling residents to share values, beliefs, customs, behaviours, identity and a sense of place and community.

The Hobsonville Point area has local and regional character values as a result of its landscape, buildings and history.

To Te Kawerau a Maki, the area was traditionally known as Onekiritea (originating from the whitish clay soils in the area), reflecting the knowledge that ancestors of Te Kawerau a Maki held with the land and its natural resources. The extensive tidal flats on the eastern and southern edges, known as Tahingamanu (which means the gathering of birds into a flock) were rich in seabirds and shellfish.

Landscape values include views into and from the site, the coastal fringe of bluff, mangrove and native and exotic trees, and the picturesque former air force base itself with its distinctive buildings and trees.