For those who missed the recent New Brighton Residents Assn AGM at St Faiths Church in New Brighton two weeks ago here is a little insight.
One of the first residents groups to live stream the event, people could not only tune into the NBRA meeting, but also hear from two very interesting speakers including Roy Appley from the police (to be featured in another post).
First up was Williams Corp the residential property developers with three projects underway along Marine Pde. These alone with add 103 new apartments to the central and North New Brighton area. This is a summary of some of the things discussed.
Sales Manager Riyaan Mohamed talked about the considerations around the locations Williams develop, and these include being close to local businesses, reducing the speed of urban sprawl onto good productive land, nearby transport links and affordability.
“New Brighton is becoming a lifestyle choice and the likely residents might be retired couples or upwardly mobile young couples or singles wanting their own space.”
He also emphasized the building style and materials were sourced locally, designed to be warm and future proofed using sustainable materials and warranties passed onto owners: “the insulation ratio is higher than code requirements”.
In response to a query from the floor around future proofing against climate change, tsunamis and quakes, assurance was given the units were built to be independent of each other and on a very sturdy foundation of a compressed gravel bed of up to five metres, and on top a concrete ribraft base and a polystyrene barrier.
In respect to no garages, having a garage in a one- or two-bedroom apartment increases the prices and takes up valuable living space.
Mohamed also says most Williams Corp homes sell out very quickly and the concern about lack of garaging is not a deterrence and follows trends in urbanisation around the world.
There was a question about how an electric car might be re-charged when parked on the street, (and from my understanding that would be up to the Body Corp and City Council around charging stations in or nearby the vicinity).
Other questions focussed on whether most buyers were owner operators and if not, what was to stop these been turned into “low level rentals” and attract “undesirables”. The response was the 1- or 2-bedroom options restrict who can be accommodated, and the rents tend to be above the median level because of the location and quality of the complex.
The Williams Corp spokesperson said the majority were owner operators and indicated more emphasis would be given to local first home buyers when sorting through applicants.