Introducing our first-ever Landscape Design Guide

The Landscape Design Guide for State Housing is Kāinga Ora’s first official guide on landscaping standards for all of our state housing and transitional housing developments.

The guide was largely compiled by Senior Urban Designer Nick and supported by Senior Landscape Architect Rob in collaboration with landscape architecture consultants Greenwood Associates.

The guide contains 10 key design principles that inform different components of the landscape design process. These principles reflect the priorities, values, and expectations for the landscapes within our developments, and if not adequately considered, will lead to poor outcomes for Kāinga Ora, our customers and the neighbourhoods they live in.

“Landscaping plays an important role in community building and place making, and with the number of new housing developments we have in the pipeline over the next few years, this guide will help us to achieve that by creating thriving communities for our customers,” Rob says.

The guide sets out expectations around community focal points, seating, transport connections, streetscape layout, fencing, trees and other vegetation, and maintenance.

The plan is to start implementing the thinking within the guide across all of our projects as soon as practicable, Rob says.

The Landscape Design Guide will be made available to our consultants to ensure the guidance is implemented across our entire state housing and transitional housing portfolio.

Download the Landscaping design guide [PDF, 18 MB]

Design concept for one of our state housing developments on the corner of Great North Rd and Titirangi Rd, Auckland