What We Need Government To Do

None of this happens on its own. Every issue on this site traces back to a rule, an incentive, or a power local government doesnt have yet, here is what needs to change, and why.

What government should do.

Good buildings follow the rules they are given. Right now those rules reward speed and the lowest possible cost, and say almost nothing about how a building looks or how long it will last.

These changes would make building beautifully the easy option rather than the brave one.

Design codes for town centres

Every council should adopt a clear, illustrated design code for its town centre and main streets: height in proportion to the street, materials, window proportions, rooflines and ground-floor frontage. A code tells developers what is expected before they spend a dollar on design.

Faster consents for approved designs

A building that follows an approved pattern book of traditional designs should move through consenting faster and more cheaply. Make the beautiful option the low-risk option, and the market will choose it.

Real incentives to build well

Reward buildings that meet the code with discounts on development contributions, extra floor area or rates relief. Today the incentives all point toward building cheaply. They can just as easily point the other way.

Stop demolition by neglect

Owners of listed heritage buildings should be required to maintain them, backed by grants and support for earthquake strengthening. Too many fine buildings are left to decay until demolition becomes the only option.

Public buildings set the standard

Courts, libraries, stations and council offices are paid for by all of us. They should be built to the standard we expect of everyone else, and built to last a century rather than a funding cycle.

Ground floors for people

On main streets, require active ground floors with windows, entrances and shelter, so the street level of every new building adds to the life of the city.

Tax and Zone Short-Stay Rentals Like What They Are

Christchurch built 484 new inner-city dwellings last year. Only 50 new residents moved in, because surge pricing around big events makes it more profitable to leave a unit empty most nights than rent it long-term. Central Government needs to give Councils a bed register and a bed tax, so short-stay units are taxed on how theyre actually used, with the revenue funding the infrastructure they lean on, and zoning power to ring-fence residents-only areas with no short-stay accommodation. Both tools already exist overseas. Neither currently exists here.

What we propose.

Short-stay rentals have a place in a healthy city. The problem is when they take over the new housing a city centre needs to come back to life.

Treat them as accommodation

A home let to a different guest every few nights is a business. It should be zoned and rated as commercial accommodation, like a motel.

Keep new homes as homes

Limit how many new inner-city apartments can be let short-term, so the housing we build is actually lived in.

Put it back into the street

Commercial rates from short-stay rentals should fund the streets, parks and squares their guests enjoy.

Shopfronts are not billboards.

More and more retail chains are wrapping entire buildings in brand colours and oversized signs, turning the facade itself into an advertisement. On a historic main street the effect is immediate: the architecture disappears and the street starts to look like a retail park.

Councils should limit signage to a share of each facade, keep it within the building’s architectural frame, and stop original features being painted over or covered. A business can be seen without erasing the building it trades from.

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