Welcome to the virtual home of the Sanctuary
Mahi Whenua gardens and food forest

ORGANICS IN THE HEART OF THE CITY

This majestic green space, located by the Unitec Mt Albert campus, is home to more than 400 species of plants and trees. The fertile soil and beautiful surrounds have been providing food and enjoyment for centuries to creatures and humans. It is a green avenue for the public accessing the Oakley Creek/Te Auaunga Walkway. Find out more about the rich history of the land in the Origins section.

Since 2011, the space has operated as a successful organic community garden and food forest, run by volunteers, in partnership arrangements. It is located by the Unitec Institute of Technology campus at Mt Albert, Auckland, on land now under the ownership of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. Over 60 members and their families are directly involved.  In June 2017 the group became an Incorporated Society and charitable organisation.

The Sanctuary Mahi Whenua is recognised as the space of many sustainability firsts for Auckland. These include the city's first multi-layered food forest, the first engineered swale and the first ecostructures. To read more about urban sustainability and the role the Sanctuary Mahi Whenua plays read more in the nuturing the land page.

The Sanctuary Mahi Whenua was here to stay — but its future has again been cast in doubt

The future of the Sanctuary Mahi Whenua gardens and food forest was seemingly assured in the proposed new Land for Housing development at Unitec (now known as the Carrington Development), announced 25 March 2018.

Nearly 6500 supporters signed our petition -- and our action group worked hard to achieve this result to preserve the area we all were striving for, but at times seemed near impossible. 

However, we were told at the end of 2023 that the whole area of the Sanctuary Mahi Whenua is to be built over for housing.

THE FUTURE — IN 2024 THE SANCTUARY MAHI WHENUA GARDENS ARE UNDER THREAT

The Sanctuary Mahi Whenua is a beautiful place and important to many people in our community. We think that the Sanctuary will be a hugely valuable part of future communities at the Wairaka Precinct if it's protected as community green space.

Yolanda van den Bemd composed this music video about the Sanctuary Mahi Whenua to highlight the importance of this open green space for the community. It would be heartbreaking if this gem of peace, biodiversity, trees, and gardens, the Sanctuary Mahi Whenua gardens and food forest, was built over.

To be clear, we have no dispute with the intended new owners of the land, Ngāti Te Ata, and understand the need for housing.

Our objection is with the Crown allowing planning for this development and not protecting it as open green space as announced on 25 March 2018.

The Sanctuary Mahi Whenua was mentioned to be retained in about 100 of the 230 submissions received for Proposed Plan Change 94 - so it won't be easy to overlook by the PC 94 panel.

We placed a caveat over the main area in May 2024 (the area that Unitec delineated on a map), but this did not include the compound area or sheds.

On 11 November 2024 we were given 19 days notice to remove items from the sheds as they were to be demolished — at a time when we had no vehicle access. This was despite on-site checks with the planners and us in July 2021 and August 2022 at which we were assured that the buildings did not need to be demolished to construct the new footpath (except perhaps the northernmost one). The sheds were demolished on 4 December 2024.

On Thursday 12 December 2024 the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development took the Society to the Auckland High Court, at which the Crown sought to remove the caveat. Our position is that the caveat should remain, and the Crown should keep to its contractual obligations to retain the Sanctuary gardens as agreed to in the sale and purchase agreement between Unitec and the Crown in March 2018.