An historic winery becomes a retirement village

The site was previously the location of the Mills Reef Winery, founded in 1989. The site is in the heart of the Bethlehem neighbourhood, and the open lawn area adjacent to the large main winery building was often used for public events and concerts, so the conversion of the site to a large 88-unit retirement village, resulted in a lot of public attention.

The winery building, rather than being demolished, was retained and converted into the central clubhouse facility for the village.

Client

Classic Developments

Location

Bay of Plenty

Project team

Morné Hugo
Bryan Sanson
Blair Clinch
Topsy Steele
Tessa Milne

Worked with

Classic Builders
The Preston Family
Thomas Keal

Project date

2016 - 2023

The Boffa Miskell landscape architecture team worked closely with the project development team to define an appropriate design character and plant selections for the various parts of the village. We also worked closely with the Classic Builder’s in-house design team, to design and detail the site entry gates, water feature and fencing components of the project.

Our work included:

  • An overall landscape plan for the development including planting plans, schedules
  • Individual lot landscape plans for the 88 residential units, including planting plans and schedules;
  • Design of boundary planting and fencing treatments as required by the Resource Consent;
  • Main entry gateway, fencing and water feature design • General streetscape landscape design
  • Design input into the ‘look and feel’ of the individual villas from an urban design and landscape perspective;
  • Design of the show home landscape;
  • Irrigation specifications and management of the irrigation design process with a specialist irrigation sub-contractor/s;
  • Compiling of all relevant landscape and maintenance specifications
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