Projects

Silverlight Studios Fast Track Consent Applications

Silverlight Studios is a consented development located on the outskirts of Wanaka in Queenstown Lakes District. The multi-purpose development is large in scale and will be unique in New Zealand and the world. It is designed to help meet the growing demand by international and national screen production companies for sound stages and related facilities, as well as popular film set locations (modelled on famous and often filmed cities around the world as well as historical/period villages). Development of the total site is expected to be spread over a ten-year period. Once completed, the development would significantly increase New Zealand’s sound stage capacity and its international market share of the screen production sector.

Silverlight Studios sought two parallel consents under the COVID-19 Recovery (Fast Track) Consenting Act 2020. The first covering all the proposed land development and buildings, including sound stages and supporting spaces, office space, retail and hospitality areas, multi-functional buildings, carparks and expanded central lake. The second covering the provision of apartments (within proposed buildings) to accommodate a portion of the expected on-site workforce. Silverlight Studios commissioned M.E Consulting to assess the economic impacts and effects (costs and benefits) of the proposed project, including the economic benefits that would be delivered to a district significantly impacted by COVID-19 at the time.

Working with estimated capital and operational expenditure projections provided by Silverlight Studios, M.E carried out an Economic Impact Assessment (EIA) of the development on the Queenstown Lakes District, Rest of Otago and Rest of New Zealand economy over an 11 year period (covering the first long-term lease period). This was based on a Multi-Regional Input Output model approach, with care taken to clarify and account for the source of funding (essential for understanding net additional direct expenditure) and the likely distribution of suppliers (including imported goods and services). Factors specific to the film industry such as government subsidies and PAYE implications for temporary and more permanent crew members were also captured in the modelling. Updates of the EIA were provided as construction costs and timing were refined, including as a result of the proposed apartment activity. EIA results covered the estimated direct, indirect and induced economic impacts.

M.E Consulting supported the project team throughout the Fast Track consenting process. This included responding to requests raised by the consenting panel and participating in expert conferencing to prepare a Joint Witness Statement on economic effects, specifically the implications of a large construction and operational work-force on the Wanaka housing market. This required developing scenarios of how non-local construction staff and later film crew would be housed over time, examining the current housing and rental market and the capacity of those markets to increase supply over time to meet additional demand (and in addition to the other seasonal demand pressures).

The Silverlight Studios project is one of numerous residential and commercial Fast Track consent applications that M.E has now assisted with across the country, examining economic impacts, employment effects, and wider economic costs and benefits.

Housing We’d Choose – Future Proof Sub-Region

As part of the upper North Island Golden Triangle, the Future Proof Partners (‘FPP’) sub-region is expected to continue to grow strongly over the next 30 years.  Aligned with this growth there are changes in the nature of households, their formation, and their needs.  A desire to maximise the efficiency of urban space, reduce sprawl and consumption of highly productive lands, along with a belief that the current planning provisions are not delivering an appropriate mix of housing, means the FPP Councils are looking closely at what people need and want in terms of their dwelling choices and the forces working behind those choices. 

The FFP Housing We’d Choose study contributes a unique understanding of the demand side of the housing equation. This study collected the views of more than 800 residents across the FFP sub-region to understand what is important to them in choosing a place to live, and it has explored what types of housing they would choose to buy or to rent, if it were available, within their current income and financial constraints.  The main difference between this study and previous research into housing preferences is that this research introduced ‘real life’ constraints on people’s choices.  The research created a discrete choice experiment in order to explore people’s choices and trade-offs. This study replicates previous research undertaken on household preferences and choices in Auckland (2015) and Dunedin City (2018) carried out by Market Economics and Research First. The same research is also being completed for the Nelson-Tasman councils.

Assessing Queenstown Lakes District’s Industrial Economy

To inform stage 3 of Queenstown Lakes District’s rolling district plan review, M.E carried out a detailed assessment to identify and describe the district’s industrial economy. The report examined its structure, economic role, geographic distribution, recent changes and projected future growth. It also examined the way in which operative zoning currently provided for industrial businesses and the economic implications if the status quo was maintained.

The report found QLD’s industrial economy to be unique and not especially influenced by industrial economy trends happening at the national level.  Overall, QLD’s industrial economy is characterised by small scale businesses that serve local level demand. While there is some dependence on inputs supplied from the rest of New Zealand, the industrial economy effectively operates within two largely self-sufficient catchments. 

Only a small portion (between 5-13%) of industrial economy businesses were found to have a functional or operational need to locate in an industrial zone (2017). Those that did tended to be relatively larger (in employment terms) and relatively more ‘heavy industrial’ in nature and this was considered likely to hold true in the future.  However, a number of factors that are currently impacting on the viability of those industrial businesses in those operative industrial zones were identified as matters that could be addressed as part of the district plan review process.  

Notably, while the industrial economy overall had been growing, the industrial economy share of businesses in the district’s industrial zones had been declining over time.  This was attributed to flexible zone provisions that have allowed a range of activities that do not have a functional need to be in an industrial zone to occupy zone capacity and drive up land values, leaving industrial activities unable to compete. 

This report provided a number of high-level recommendations for managing activities and effects in and on industrial zones. The report informed the Council’s strategy to proposed zone changes and the s32 evaluation. M.E then supported Council with expert evidence in the industrial zone hearings.

A Business Case for Open Oceans Aquaculture

Open ocean aquaculture has great potential to contribute to food security, enhance livelihoods in regional NZ and make a positive contribution to New Zealand welfare. However, this growth needs to happen in a sustainable manner to limit the impact upon natural ecosystems, whilst maintaining a low emissions profile and providing new economic opportunities for Māori. New Zealand’s experience with salmon farming, combined with our solid reputation for high quality products, and suitable oceanic environment provides a strong platform for the country to become a global leader in open ocean aquaculture.

New Zealand Trade & Enterprise commissioned a report to provide information for potential investors and sponsors to make informed investment decisions and to understand open ocean aquaculture potential in New Zealand. The report assesses the attractiveness of the proposed investment from different dimensions, including an overview of the financial feasibility and an assessment of potential direct, indirect and induced economic impacts, as well as the costs and benefits to the New Zealand economy and New Zealanders to inform an overall view of the case for investment.

M.E Consulting, working alongside a consortium of specialists, contributed to the business case.  M.E delivered the ‘value for money’ component, using a hybrid tool to assess the economic impacts as well as the costs and benefits.  The assessment was enriched by looking at uncertainty by way of a Monte Carlo Simulation showing the distribution of outcomes under different probabilities.  The work enabled the wider team (and readers of the final report) to consider different configurations, business structures and the trade-offs between options.