The Urbanist is engaged by Goodland Group to prepare design guidelines and a resource consent for an agricultural cooperative development. The project seeks to establish 25 new rural lifestyle living lots, five orchards totalling 1.4ha, a productive farm that includes a farm manager’s house and communal building, and enables significant ecological restoration to occur on 66.8ha of the 138ha site. The design has been guided by the natural landscape features, helping increase the potential to enhance biodiversity and resilience utilising natural systems.

The cooperative farming development is unique in the sense that it incorporates areas of significance to iwi and protection of those areas, maintains a rural community lifestyle with Kaipara Harbour coastal views, dwellings nestled in native bush, and is connected by a network of walking and cycling trails through the communally owned farm.