Bay of Plenty Business News April/May 2018

30 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS April/May 2018
WAIKATO NEWS
Momentum grows fund for wider role
Leading transformational projects such as
the Waikato Regional Theatre is just one
of Momentum Waikato’s major objectives,
according to new chief executive Kelvyn
Eglinton.
By GEOFF TAYLOR
Kelvyn says Momentum
Waikato’s even more
important role is to
grow its Endowment Fund to
$25 million by 2020 at which
point the Foundation will begin
a grants system giving
Parkhaven
takes shape
Hamilton first purpose-built multi-use
apartment building is taking shape
before thousands of curious eyes as
motorists drive past it daily on Tristram St.
The five-storey Parkhaven building will
house a cafe and retail on the ground floor,
and office space and 21 apartments above.
The building opposite Founders Theatre and
close to Seddon Park is due for completion in
December. The $14.5 million development
by BCD Group meshes with a Hamilton City
Council plan to make the area north of London
Street high density. Mixed-use development
is starting to gain traction in cities like
Auckland and Tauranga and Parkhaven now
brings the concept to Hamilton.
(Full story, page 28)
away between $1.5 million and
$2 million a year. That money
is likely to go to two or three
major causes a year rather than
many smaller grants as other
Waikato philanthropic trusts
do.
Kelvyn says Momentum’s
aim is to create transformational
change through large “oneoff
hits” to causes it identifies
will bring big returns to the
community. The causes will be
those that are best placed to effect
change on Waikato’s aspirations
and issues as identified
through the evidence based
Vital Signs report prepared in
2016.
Momentum Foundation’s
endowment fund currently sits
at about $14 million.
Kelvyn says more Waikato
people are getting involved in
philanthropy through Momentum,
either through bequests
to a certain cause or a straight
donation into the Endowment
Fund.
“We are seeing a huge increase
in philanthropic bequests.
People are realising
that they’ve done well out of
living in Waikato and they
want to give back.
“We have fantastic generous
organisations and people in
Waikato who have made huge
contributions but there’s just as
much opportunity for everyday
people to become involved in
philanthropy. If enough people
give $10 out of their pay every
month collectively we make a
big difference.”
Meanwhile, Kelvyn says
Momentum’s role in supporting
regional projects is based
around how one investment
from Momentum can leverage
investment from other partners
to do something greater.
“The regional theatre is
an example as it leveraged
off Hamilton City Council’s
Ferrybank Plan and the River
Plan. The discussion at Momentum
was ‘so how do we
leverage those plans and the
need to build a theatre along
with the determination to
transform the CBD?’
“If the council makes an investment
as it has with the theatre,
we can add to it but at no
more cost to the ratepayers and
the outcome for the city is truly
transformational - it happens
faster and at a greater level
than would otherwise happen.”
The new theatre at the former
Hamilton Hotel site on
Victoria St is now proposed to
be complemented with a boutique
hotel, a public art gallery,
retail space and a walking and
cycling bridge across to Memorial
Park.
Momentum Waikato chief executive Kelvyn Eglinton.
“That’s the bit that people
miss when they focus on just
the theatre,” says Kelvyn.
“From Momentum’s perspective
the theatre is the catalyst
to do a whole lot of other
things, a series of projects
which when all linked up gives
a greater benefit.”
Exciting times for new
growth boss at HCC
To say Hamilton City Council’s new general
manager city growth has taken up the
job at an interesting time would be an
understatement.
By RICHARD WALKER
The city centre, which
has been achingly slow
to fill with life, is set to
gain more than 1100 workers
from commercial developments
already complete or on
the books, while 300 more residents
are predicted to be living
in the CBD over the next
five years.
Longer term, Hamilton’s
population is picked to grow
by 1.4 percent annually, with
one forecast putting its population
at 225,000 by the year
2043.
Traffic flows in Hamilton
climbed 3.6 percent in 2016,
while commercial consents in
2017 were through the roof at
$144m, significantly higher
than any other recent year.
You get the idea?
Then there’s the politics.
The expensive Peacocke
development is firmly at the
heart of the debate over housing
pressure, thanks to potential
upfront funding of $300
million from central government
in a mix of subsidies and
interest-free loan.
The 10 year plan is out for
consultation, including Garden
Place yet again being eyed for
an upgrade at a potential cost
to council of $3 million, and a
proposed rates rise of 9.5 percent
for each of the next two
years.
It’s hardly a storm, but it
certainly makes for an intriguing
weather formation.
Welcome to the job, Jen
Baird.
Of course, challenges posed
by growth are more attractive
than the opposite. So you
could equally argue these are
exciting times. That appears
to be Jen’s view, based on her
levels of positivity.
It can’t hurt that she is back
in her home town after a couple
of decades away, nor that
she left Auckland’s clogged
streets to do so.
“It’s fantastic coming back
to Hamilton. I love this place.
Hamilton’s got a hell of a lot
going for it, It's got great jobs
and educational opportunities,
it's got fantastic amenities,
there are trees everywhere,
it's got the river which is
amazing, it has great bars and
restaurants, really great retail
now. It's affordable, relatively
speaking.”
And: “there’s no congestion”.
Hamilton City Council’s new general
manager city growth, Jen Baird.
As she takes up the reins,
where does she see the pressure
points?
“I think it is the scale of the
need for more houses in Hamilton,
the fact that so many
people are choosing to move
here, and how we make sure
that we are delivering what
we need to, in an integrated,
cost-effective way.”
With about half the development
in Hamilton being
infill, she says the growth and
infrastructure teams are working
closely together including
cross-functional teams to help
deal with future development.
She says central government’s
imperatives around
housing affordability and special
housing areas have taken
up a lot of her early time in the
role and describes Peacocke as
an “enormous project” for the
city if the councillors choose to
go ahead.
Jen has actually been back
since July last year, when she
started as the council communications
and marketing
manager. Now she has a second
floor corner office with
glimpses of the city she grew
up in and returned to after
gaining a management degree
at Waikato University and then
building her career in the UK
and Auckland, most recently as
chief marketing officer for real
estate heavyweight Barfoot &
Thompson.
From here she manages a
staff of 180, who look after everything
from dog registration
to residents wanting to subdivide
or put in a swimming
pool, from city safety to city
planning.
That suggests her new role
will have variety in spades and
Jen couldn’t be more enthusiastic
about it.
As she says, her team
touches an enormous number
of residents across the city,
along with developers, iwi and
elected members.
So, not yet two weeks into
the job at the time of the interview,
her meetings calendar is
chokka and she’s doing a lot of
listening.
“I want to make sure that I
am really tapped in to what the
people of the town need from
my team,” she says.
“There are many diverse
opinions out there about where
Hamilton should be going and
what we should be doing and
how we should be changing
and developing and growing as
a city, and I want to hear all of
those.
“My role really is about
strategy and leadership, and
making sure that we're all
joined up, that we've got all the
right people involved to enable
us to serve our councillors and
our city as best we can.”
On that front, she pays
tribute to her “really high performing”
city growth team as
well as to her predecessors for
the way in which they worked
to enable residents and stakeholders.
It’s about sitting down
with people and looking for
solutions. “It's not just slapping
down the rules and saying,
these are the rules, figure
out a way.”
The customer focus she
brings from her commercial
background will help, as will
her understanding of the property
market.
Long-term, she sees a lot
of people like her arriving in
Hamilton from all over, bringing
more life, spending money
in the stores, and creating demand
for more events.
In that sense, growth is
good, though the flipside is the
pressure it puts on infrastructure.
“So there's a real balancing
act to be made. These people
are coming, and how do we
make sure that we can provide
them with the things they need,
like houses, but maintain the
character and specialness of
this place as well,” she says.
“I think it’s a really exciting
time for the city, it’s come a
long way. If we look 20 or 30
years into the future it will be
vastly different again.”