The Base Shopping Centre
BBO was the principal civil and transportation engineering consultants on this flagship project; a large retail centre located in Te Rapa, Hamilton. BBO was responsible for all transportation planning, design and civil infrastructure for Stages 1 to 3 (approx. 35,000m2 gross floor area), including significant resource consent monitoring of the related traffic impacts on the adjacent high-volume traffic at the time when it was State Highway One. Stage 4 included a further 24,700m2 gross floor area. Further stages have seen The Base expand to over 100,000m2 gross floor area including over 800 carparks. Significant consultation was undertaken with Hamilton City Council and Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi), to address their traffic-related concerns and minimize the delay to the consent application. The Development is now owned by Kiwi Property, and BBO continues to provide advice in various matters associated with ongoing additions, changes and expansion of The Base retail centre.
The challenge
The site of The Base originally housed the NZ Airforce and required rezoning to allow the development of the retail area. Once rezoned BBO secured resource consents for the anchor tenant, The Warehouse, and subsequently for a range of large format retail stores. The aspirations of Tainui Group Holdings Ltd changed over time to incorporate a large mall, eateries and services. The challenge was to adapt consents and engineering to provide for the changing needs of the site including transport access, public transport, stormwater management and discharge, wastewater discharge, reliable utilities supply, and high-quality landscape and shopper experience.
During the Hamilton City District Plan review in 2012, BBO identified issues with the ongoing uncertainties of having to obtain multiple resource consents as The Base grew. We worked with Council staff to implement rules that simplified the consenting process while ensuring the development remained within agreed floorspace caps.
Demands increased as the site grew, and a further level was introduced to the Mall, requiring BBO to provide ongoing innovative traffic solutions. A multi-disciplinary approach to the development was needed including working with building and landscape architects, retail experts, engineers and planners. Consultation and ongoing integration with Hamilton City Council and Waka Kotahi were essential to a successful outcome.
At times, stringent timeframes for construction were needed to ensure limited impact on public access. The site was developed in a staged manner commencing in 2002 through to 2015.
The outcome
BBO delivered all planning, infrastructure design, traffic design and analysis.
BBO remained flexible throughout the development phases, testing innovative out-of-the-box solutions based on hard constraints for getting traffic moving in, out and around the site. This site was one of the first low impact stormwater solutions in Hamilton, utilising soakage systems to minimise impacts on the downstream system.
The result is a highly accessible and successful sub-regional shopping centre.
