“So the first enabling works package that we will get on with is about eight to 10 months and basically involves excavating the side of the hill to create the building platform for the first three towers,” Fleischl said.

CMP will appoint the civil works contractor.

About 16,000 cubic metres of dirt and gravel and about 3500cu m of schist would be removed from the site, Fleischl said.

“We will be digging and benching down and anchoring the entire face of the Ben Lomond reserve up to about 9m. While this is happening, we’ll be progressing with the details of the design of the towers.”

CMP would then be in a position to continue piling and putting down foundations for all three buildings.

“We plan to build the three concurrently. We’ll be using two heavy-lifting, luffing cranes, the idea being that they are all built simultaneously and completed around the same time.”

However, the work presented a number of challenges, Fleischl said.

A site full of rock and schist would mean heavy-duty equipment would be needed.

“We’ll be drilling rock, hydraulically breaking rock. There’s some pretty tough ground to get through to get to where the base of the buildings will be.”

Securing subcontractors and staff, and challenges in finding good accommodation for them, were other obstacles to the job.

“We expect that we’ll be at full capacity from a resourcing perspective very late next year, with 230 to 250 workers on site.”

CMP’s part of the contract was estimated to take about two years.

The master plan incorporates a future precinct-wide wellness and hot pools development, designed to serve the wider neighbourhood and community as later stages are delivered.

Fleischl, the son-in-law of CMP founder and chief Ron Macrae, said the entire precinct might take about 15 years to build.

He predicted CMP would do more work in Queenstown. It is also working for developer Tony Gapes to build the $85m 221-room six-level Radisson Red hotel opposite the FreshChoice supermarket on Hylton Pl.

Gapes is planning new hotels there, calling the area Alpine Quarter.

The new hotel is expected to take 20 months to build, with an initial three months of foundation work.

On December 23, the Queenstown Lakes District Council said it had completed settlement on stage one of the land to be developed in the Lakeview Te Taumata precinct.

The deal, signed by both parties in October 2019, contractually binds 94 Feet and the council to commercial terms.

Settlement followed the developer meeting the conditions of the agreement, including design approval, consenting, funding, equity commitment and contractor engagement.

This is the first lot sold to the developer. Land parcels will be sold progressively in seven stages, with each stage to be developed in accordance with a master plan approved by the council.

Each parcel has a fixed base land payment, with additional profit share payments allowing the council to benefit from value uplift and development success.

Stage one has settled for $8m. But $75m was to be paid over the course of the development, plus any profit share received, the council said.

All up, 5% of the proceeds would be given to the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust for affordable housing, the council said.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.