There are 10 business zones in the Unitary Plan:
•City Centre
•Metropolitan Centre
•Town Centre
•Local Centre
•Neighbourhood Centre
•Mixed Use
•General Business
•Business Park
•Light Industry
•Heavy Industry.
These zones reinforce the role of centres as focal points for business and community investment and recognise the need to provide suitable locations for specific industries.
The centre zones provide for activities that support a public realm of well connected streets, a high-quality pedestrian environment, and efficient and accessible public transport. They allow for different levels of development intensity dependent on the function and location of the centre. The City Centre, Metropolitan Centre and Town Centre zones are the primary location for growth of commercial activities. The highest intensity of activity is permitted in the City Centre zone, recognising the role of the centre as the focus of national and international business, tourism, educational, cultural and civic activities.
The Mixed Use zone is located close to centres and along the rapid and frequent service network. It provides a transition, in terms of use and scale, with adjacent residential areas.
The centres zones and Mixed Use zone are expected to accommodate an increase in the density and diversity of housing, provided that it does not preclude opportunities for business development. A high standard of amenity is required in the Mixed Use zone, given its mix of uses, including residential.
The General Business, Light Industry and Heavy Industry zones provide locations for development that may not be appropriate in centres or have particular characteristics that require separation from pedestrian intensive and sensitive uses. A good standard of amenity is expected in the General Business zone, recognising that some activities that establish in the zone may attract reasonable numbers of people. The Light Industry and Heavy Industry zones are expected to have a lesser standard of amenity consistent with their principal focus on productive activity.
The Business Park zone provides for clustering of office-type business activities in a park or campus like environment, where such uses will not impact on the viability of the city centre, metropolitan or town centres.
There is a range of possible building heights within the centres zones and Mixed Use zone depending on the context. Different parts of these zones have different attributes. In some cases these attributes necessitate an increase or decrease in the standard zone height. The different attributes include:
•the size and depth of a centre
•the status of the centre in the centres hierarchy
•existing or planned uses surrounding a centre and the interface between the centre, these uses and surrounding residential uses
•historic character
•landscape features
•height controls previously developed through a precinct or master planning exercise.
The city centre, metropolitan centres and town centres, and areas surrounding these centres, have been identified as the priority areas for commercial and residential growth. In and around some of these areas it is appropriate to enable greater heights from the standard zone height, to enable growth to occur.
In addition, the height in and around some centres is lower than the standard zone height due to the local context, including historic character or landscape features.