International Award for Milford Opportunities (Stage 2) Masterplan

The project has won the Commonwealth Association of Planners 2022 Award for Planning for Conservation of the Built & Natural Environment and Cultural Heritage.

After winning the New Zealand Planning Institute (NZPI) 2022 Best Practice Award | Strategic Planning and Guidance; and the Resource Management Law Association (RMLA) 2022 Project Award; the Milford Sound Piopiotahi Masterplan has been recognised by the Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP).

Under the umbrella of the Commonwealth of Nations, CAP brings together 30 national professional planning organizations around the world, which represent almost 40,000 professional planners.

In the Award citation, committee chair Jihad Bitar (Canada), Vice President of CAP said:

The Masterplan sets a strategy for land use, transport and infrastructure, ecological conservation, natural hazard management, cultural experience and the operation of tourism within Piopiotahi Milford Sound, Milford Road, Te Anau basin and the surrounding area.

The MOP Masterplan distils 16 distinct workstreams to develop an integrated programme of investment, governance and operational change that will optimise tourism and economic development for the region and enhance and protect the distinctive character of place in Milford Sound Piopiotahi.

The MOP Masterplan is a holistic effort to dramatically improve a place all New Zealanders hold dear and enables the benefits of Aotearoa New Zealand’s prize attraction to be shared more fully throughout the wider Southland Region. It offers insights and solutions that are applicable for all communities that rely on tourism.

For further information please contact Tim Church, Jane Rennie, Katie Chilton or Yvonne Pflüger