howick golf club

Andrew.Stewart Limited (ASL) was engaged by the Howick Golf Club to acquire the necessary land use and regional resource consents for the redevelopment of a greenkeepers facility and associated drainage works.

In addition, the stormwater discharge consent (granted as a ‘water right’ in 1976) for the club house and carpark was due to expire and required a new consent to allow the existing discharge to continue.

The project presented some interesting challenges in terms of the two stormwater discharges for the greenkeepers and club house. While the discharges were able to meet with the relevant ‘Controlled Activity’ standards of the Air, Land and Water Plan – such standards required testing and reports to prove they can be met. Through the Section 92 process (RMA), Council requested treatment devices to ensure the discharges met the relevant standard (75% removal of Total Suspended Solids) and confirmation of such.

Rather than simply commissioning the necessary reports, which is both costly and time consuming, ASL offered a different solution. Firstly by changing the activity status of the application to be ‘Restricted Discretionary’ rather than ‘Controlled’ allowing ASL to present an argument placing greater weight on the objectives and policies of the Plan, rather than meeting specific standards. These objectives and policies include an emphasis on the ‘Best Practicable Option’. Secondly, working with the Council and Club engineers to redesign the proposed drainage systems to utilize the vast grass areas on the golf course as an alternative form of treatment to ‘hard engineered’ solutions.

With respect to the discharge from the redeveloped greenkeepers facility, the design of the drainage system was revised to redirect stormwater through existing swales on the golf course, providing treatment and minimizing the discharge volumes.

In terms of the clubhouse discharge (which had been occurring for 35 years), the retrospective installation of treatment devices presented significant cost hurdles for the Golf Club. Working with the Council, ASL came up with a solution that modified the existing piped system and utilized existing grass swales on the site to treat the stormwater prior to discharge, at minimum cost to the club.

The necessary consents were successfully obtained and the Club can now continue to discharge stormwater with the necessary approvals in place. Works have begun on the greenkeepers facility redevelopment and are due for completion shortly (May 2011).