'A myth': Developer dismisses plan to remove Auckland CBD height limits

A major Auckland property developer says a Government proposal to remove building height restrictions in the CBD is just politics and he doesn't believe there will be a single new apartment built in the short term because of the change. Under current rules, parts of the Auckland CBD have building height limits of 72.5m – in other areas, the limit is 35m. The proposal would remove these caps for the majority of the central city and scrap other rules about how big and far apart buildings have to be. RMA Minister Chris Bishop said that current CBD planning rules are holding back growth. "The modelling suggests that these changes are potentially very significant. At full uptake, annual GDP is expected to increase by $1.87 billion. "Tens of thousands of new homes in the city centre, tens of thousands of new jobs in the city centre."