About.

Established in 2020, Maximum Planning is a Professional Environmental & Urban Planning Consultancy based in Christchurch and services greater New Zealand. Our services include Planning advice and preparation of Resource Consent applications amongst many other skills. No project is too big for us to tackle, we love a challenge!

Our aim is to help you achieve your 'Maximum' development potential in a fast affordable manner. We understand that navigating Councils processes can be complex, however, our Public and Private sector expertise saves you on resource consent timeframes and costs.

About 'Max'

Max Stevenson is the Owner/Director of Maximum Planning. He is an avid outdoorsman with a passion for innovative thinking, the environment and helping the community. Max has a 'Bachelors Degree in Environmental Management and Planning' and he has over 7 years of Planning experience working in both the Public and Private Sector as a Senior Planner.

Max's resumé includes working for the Kaipara District Council, Inovo Projects Ltd, Government of British Columbia (Canada) - Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship and as the lead Planning Consultant for Project Velocity - Kainga Ora (Housing New Zealand). Max is also a Volunteer Firefighter/First Responder with over 3.5 years experience in this field.

Max specializes in complex and multi-disciplinary developments. His expertise includes the following:

Preparation of Feasibility Studies, Planning Assessments and Resource Consent Applications for large scale rural, residential, commercial and industrial developments such as townhouse developments (e.g. 72 residential units/dwellings), medical and emergency facilities (e.g. medical centre or ambulance station), stormwater basins, bridges, subdivisions and other land-use developments such as commercial (e.g. car dealership), residential and industrial activities (e.g. storage facility).
Preparation of Regional Council resource consent applications for construction-phase stormwater discharge, earthworks, water use/take, operational discharge, air discharge, groundwater discharge, in-stream works, re-alignment of a creek, explosive blasting of rock etc.
Preparation of Plan Change Submissions.
S127 and S221(3) variations.
Within Scope Amendments
Applying Urban Design Principles.
District Plan Reviews
Interpreting and applying the Resource Management Act, District and Regional Plans, Policy Statements, National Environmental Standards.
Key Stakeholder Engagement e.g. Local Iwi, DOC, Fish and Game NZ.
Lead Planning Consultant providing Planning advice to Kainga Ora (Housing NZ) assisting with streamlining NZ’s State Housing process (Project Velocity).