Our Urban Development Institute of New Zealand UDINZ team
were pleased in 2025 to deliver our inaugural event
“Whakatipu Taone: Growing cities with Mana Whenua".
The celebrations included
a fabulous Gala Dinner and
two study tours showing collaboration in practice.
| Gala Dinner, 2025:
HELD ON:
📅 Thursday 9 October, 2025
⏰ 5.30pm till late
📍SOHO Hotel, Auckland
The dinner was a celebration of Urban Development empowered by Iwi Māori Partnerships held the evening of 9 October 2025.
It highlighted, through:
(i) a Panel discussion between sector leaders; and
(ii) an inspiring keynote dinner speaker,
the ingredients for successful partnerships between Iwi and urban developers - partnerships creating outcomes that are also attractive to those wishing to invest for purpose.
It showcased future visions where cities honour Te Ao Māori, promote sustainability and create spaces that reflect our unique identity and aspirations.
Those in attendance were progressive individuals and organisations keen to be part of:
➡Celebrating partnerships that honour mana whenua and intrinsically NZ values of inclusiveness in shaping urban spaces; and
➡ Improving their understanding of how urban development can be sustainable, culturally responsive, community-driven AND attractive to international purpose driven investment
The event was for developers, urban designers, policymakers, consultants and supply chain as well as central and local government and iwi leaders wishing to explore the potential to collaborate for future urban landscapes that reflect and honour Aotearoa's bicultural heritage.
| Our Speakers:
Names of our Speakers and Panelists were as follows.
Kaikōrero
Kaiwhakahaere o Te Pae Kōrero | Panel Facilitator
Rārangi Pae Kōrero | Panel Line-up
Kaikōrero Matua | After Dinner Keynote
| Our 2025 Sponsors:
With thanks to all of our 2025 sponsors for trusting us and stepping up to support this great new event on the calendar.
| Site Tours:
HELD ON:
📅 Thursday 9 October, 2025
⏰ 1.00pm - 3.30pm
📍Meet at SOHO Hotel, Auckland
UDINZ along with, supporting organisations Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga|Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and Ockham, ran a site tour early on the afternoon Thursday 9 October as an adjunct to the Whakatipu Taone: Growing Cities with Mana Whenua gala event, at the former Carrington Site. Like the main Gala, this tour celebrated Urban Development outcomes empowered by Iwi partnerships.
This project, a collaboration between the government, Marutūāhu, Ngāti Whātua, and Waiohua-Tāmaki rōpū, and their project partners is designed to transform a 39.7-hectare area into a thriving community with at least 4,000 new homes.
The development, also known as Te Kukūnga Waka, aims to create a vibrant and livable neighborhood with a mix of medium- to high-density housing, including market, affordable, build-to-rent, and social housing options. The project will also feature extensive native plantings, high-quality open spaces, and upgraded public transport infrastructure .
Three Tāmaki Makaurau rōpū are working together to deliver the project, which is enabled by collective Treaty redress arrangements. This collaboration ensures that Māori values, perspectives, and interests are integrated into the development process. In terms of progress, enabling works, including road realignments and upgrades, are well underway. Housing delivery has commenced but the entire project anticipated to take around 10-15 years to complete.
Attendees joined us initially at SOHO where we heard from supporting organisation Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga | Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and then we travelled to the site to visit the recently completed “Toi” by Marutūāhu/Ockham.
We ended the tour with Q&A and refreshments at the Residents Lounge.
Tour Guides:
Fiona Coughlan, Manager, Development Tools at Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga | Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
Mark Todd, Founder, Ockham.
HELD ON:
📅 Friday 10 October, 2025
⏰ 9.45am - 12.30pm
📍Panmure, Auckland
UDINZ along with, supporting organisation Tāmaki Regeneration Company (TRC) ran a site tour the morning after the Gala Dinner on Friday 10 October as an adjunct to the Whakatipu Taone: Growing Cities with Mana Whenua gala event. Like the main Gala event, this tour of TRC's work in Tāmaki celebrated Urban Development outcomes empowered by Iwi partnerships.
Tāmaki Regeneration is a housing-led, place-based regeneration organisation that works alongside Mana Whenua, the community, and partners to shape the future of Tāmaki through New Zealand’s largest regeneration programme.
Their focus is on increasing the pace of housing delivery by building new warm and dry homes, being an excellent tenancy and asset manager for social housing in Tāmaki, and delivering social and economic programmes that leverage the redevelopment and accelerate broader outcomes for whānau.
Tāmaki is made up of approximately 20,000 diverse residents, with around 35 percent of residents aged under 25 and approximately 60 percent of the population identifying as Māori and/or Pasifika. Through the regeneration programme and redevelopment of homes in the area, the 900ha of Tāmaki will become home to a population of approximately 60,000 by 2043.
Attendees joined us at the TRC offices to hear about their program of work and then toured the wider site by bus with the TRC team representatives ending the tour with Q&A and refreshments.
Our Tour Guides:
Shelley Katae, TRC Chief Executive, (also our Gala Dinner Panelist)
Daniel Henderson, TRC GM Commercial & Development
Joanna Brain, TRC GM Strategy & Masterplanning
Michael Phillips, Māori Outcomes Manager