A landmark project for Ockham, Daisy embodies our core ideals – elegance, sustainability and efficiency – that would later feature in Auckland's 2015 Unitary Plan.

On the city end of Dominion Road, close to all the action of the CBD, K' Road, Kingsland and Ponsonby, Daisy does away with carparks. Instead, inhabitants of Daisy’s 33 apartments enjoy proximity to buses and trains, secure basement lockups for scooters and bicycles and the use of a shared Cityhop vehicle. 

Finished in 2018, the six-storey building also boasts a photovoltaic solar farm on the roof for on-site power generation powering common areas, Zehnder heat recovery ventilation systems to warm the building with less energy and a rainwater harvesting system with basement storage tanks for reuse on-site. Oh, and the Body Corporate also manages communal vegetable plantings and fruit trees on the adjacent reserve. In a car-centric city like Tāmaki Makaurau this is all a bit revolutionary. It’s easy to see how Daisy achieved a 10 Homestar rating, the first apartment building in New Zealand to do so.

As if this wasn’t enough of an accolade, Daisy was so trailblazing that it offended Mike Hosking, who penned a column in the New Zealand Herald on the matter, defending the use of cars and even querying the development’s name: "Cars aren't going away,” Hosking wrote. Then: “Daisy is the name of a cat or dog - not a building.”

We didn’t need to do much of a rebuttal as we reckon Daisy stands for itself – but we did post a reply in The Spinoff, explaining our decision-making and the building’s name. “Daisy is located in Akepiro Street. Akepiro is a native tree colloquially known as New Zealand’s tree daisy. Seemed a no-brainer really – relevant, meaningful and beautiful, the antithesis of outmoded ideas…” 

Dominion Road

Dominion Road is one of Auckland’s best and most beloved boulevards.

A hotspot for dumplings, noodles, and all manner of cuisines; home to the heritage Capitol Cinema (in operation since 1922); site of the cheerfully disconcerting Boy Walking sculpture; and inspiration for the Muttonbirds’ 1992 classic ‘Dominion Road’, this road has earned its iconic status.

Bordering the suburbs of Mt Eden, Eden Terrace and Kingsland, with a gateway to Ponsonby and the CBD at its northern end, Dominion connects a great swathe of the city all the way from Ian McKinnon Drive to the Manakau Harbour.