Development Response
What is Development Response,
and why is it important?
Welcome to the Development Response approach.
It’s the right thing to do, and this guide helps make it easy.
What is Development Response?
Our city is changing - better connected public transport, resilient future-proofed infrastructure, transit-oriented development, private sector projects and public realm improvements signal an exciting future - supporting the creation of more homes, more jobs and economic growth.
But while we're transforming the city, we know that construction and disruption can pose significant challenges for nearby businesses, residents and visitors. For many, it means noise, detours, or changes to daily routines. For small businesses, it can mean reduced foot traffic, operational and access adjustments, and a confusing streetscape that can make it difficult to attract customers and keep things running smoothly.
Project teams are under pressure to deliver improvements on time and to budget, while maintaining a viable business precinct, a comfortable place to live and a vibrant city to enjoy with minimal disruption. By taking the time to build a thorough understanding of neighbours' needs, operations and concerns and by continuously reviewing and adapting to find solutions, we can avoid, or mitigate, the often serious impacts of construction.
Development Response is a proactive approach that keeps the needs of businesses, residents and other users front of mind, and makes meaningful efforts to minimise disruption while delivering for Auckland.
The ideal outcome is a successful, no-surprises project and a community that feels heard, involved from the beginning, prepared for what’s coming and ready to embrace the completed space.
Note: These best practice guidelines are a work in progress which are intended as aspirational standards. They reflect our goals and intentions, and while we strive to meet them, they do not constitute formal policy or a commitment to immediate implementation. They are a reflection of our commitment to continuous improvement and may evolve as we learn and grow.
Why take a Development Response approach?
There are three key reasons why taking a Development Response approach is the right and easy thing to do:
- Be a considerate neighbour
How would you like to live or work next to a noisy and disruptive construction site? While the changes we make are usually for the public good, it's often not fair to the immediate neighbours whose livelihoods and quiet enjoyment of their homes and businesses is under threat.
By having empathy and thinking about how we'd like a project to run if we were living alongside it, we can demonstrate that while we often can't avoid all negative impacts, we are doing our best to care for the neighbourhood.
- Maintain our social license
The council group has an ambitious transformation programme for the city, but we will only be able to complete everything we hope to achieve if we retain the support of the general public, key stakeholders and elected members.
In a 2022 survey of 1,000 city centre residents, only 1 in 4 respondents believed the council group and our construction partners were doing enough to reduce impacts on neighbours.
To maintain our social license, we need to demonstrate that we're capable of looking after people while we complete this important work.
- Make our jobs easier
By considering our impacts on neighbours and embedding Development Response approaches into projects, it makes projects run smoother in the long run. Anticipating pain points, planning for the worst, and taking action to prevent and minimise impacts means we can generate fewer complaints, reduce the likelihood of delays and keep projects on track.
The Development Response Approach
At its simplest, taking a Development Response approach is taking the time to consider who is in the neighbourhood and what impacts your work could have on them, thinking about what could be done to minimise the negative impacts, and then exploring what else might help to improve customer experience around your project.
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Development Response is a mindset woven through every stage of a project, centering the needs of communities alongside traditional project outcomes.
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It supports successful project management by reducing the likelihood of issues, building trust, and strengthening community buy-in and Council's reputation.
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Being informed and proactive - by understanding the local context and anticipating impacts, plans can be adapted to align project delivery with the needs of the people and place.
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Development Response is more than stakeholder management - it is a two-way relationship with businesses and residents, with lasting benefits beyond the life of the project.
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Development Response is collaborative. It works best when every project team member gets involved, and each role brings new perspectives to help shape the outcome.
The Elements of Development Response
Supporting people through change using a Development Response approach can draw from a wide range of activities and expertise at different phases of a project.
The core principle of Development Response is understanding impacts on place and people as early as possible in your project planning. Knowledge gained here informs early decisions, is continuously reviewed and feeds into all the other components of the Development Response approach.
Effectively mitigating construction impacts relies on getting to know the neighbourhood and spending time building knowledge and relationships.
The diagram below shows how the elements of Development Response approach are related.
Getting started with Development Response
The earlier you begin to understand a community and the implications of change, the easier it will be for you to make informed decisions and to minimise negative impacts in both your construction approach and the final design.
If you haven’t already, it’s most important to determine your Development Response approach before you begin the construction procurement phase – this is the key opportunity to set clear expectations with your contractor(s) and to factor in appropriate resourcing and costs for a no-surprises approach.
But even if your project is advanced, you can still make a difference for those impacted by your work by taking the time to understand the impacts and consider making changes to improve customer experience.
Check out our step-by-step guide
Your Development Response toolkit
We have collated a toolkit intended for public service professionals, project leads and construction contractors, to help you understand what Development Response is and put it into practice.
You will find useful guides and resources to help you integrate Development Response into your projects.
Note: These tools and guidelines are intended as aspirational standards. They do not represent formal policy or a commitment to immediate implementation.
Need help?
Need advice, help or troubleshooting?
Have some ideas, lessons learned or success stories?
Get in touch: citycentre@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz.
How to deliver Development Response
This online toolkit is a collection of tools, tips and templates to support you to identify what approaches might be relevant to your project and the context in which it's being delivered.
Note: These tools and guidelines are intended as aspirational standards. They do not represent formal policy or a commitment to immediate implementation.