The 121 Festival is a three-day ‘Dance Odyssey’ event that was held in March 2020 and 2023. The festival was held at Tauherenikau Events Centre and had four main stages that were scattered throughout the diverse site and were carefully designed to match the surroundings, as well as two indoor stages.

The festival had a major sustainability drive and provided reusable cups, water bottles, and ensured on site food came with compostable plates and cutlery. Post festival they also helped with restoration of local indigenous bush blocks, protect wildfire risk and plant new trees.

Whilst the festival provided some of New Zealand emerging and heritage artists that covered a wide range of genres from soul, to rock, to drum and base, there was space for yoga and art workshops. The wellness centre was underneath overarching trees which, during the day was an education and workspace, then transformed into an ambient music zone by night.

Spencer Holmes Involvement

As the festival would exceed the District Plan requirements for noise, parking, lighting and temporary activities Spencer Holmes was tasked with procuring a resource consent for the three-day festival. This included advising on obtaining neighbours’ sign off, communicating with the territorial authority and a comprehensive assessment on environmental effects. The specific wording of conditions of consent was reviewed and advice sent to the client to ensure that the proposed activity would meet the conditions.

With the in-depth analysis of the district plan, and advice provided due to similar consents being approved around the Wellington region, the resource consent was granted and the festival was a great success with some of the staff of Spencer Holmes attending.