A new housing development designed for hapū
Written by
26 March 2024
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5 min read
Focused on enabling whānau to purchase their own home on their papa kāinga in Ōrākei, this project offers terraced housing in Hawaiki Street consisting of 24 one, two and four-bedroom homes.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei have created an innovative model where they still own the land and their whānau pay for the build of the house as a way to offer more affordable home ownership options for their whānau in Ōrākei, a suburb where homes on the private market are unattainable for some whānau.
This has been made possible with a new funding framework with the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) which enables lending for housing on iwi land, a barrier for many looking to borrow and build on iwi-owned land. Under the new model, hapū members who meet BNZ’s normal home lending criteria can secure a BNZ home loan for papa kāinga housing at standard home loan interest rates.
Jeff Vivian, director of the project’s build partner Vivian Construction, says there was a really strong focus on making sure the cost was as low as possible but to a high specification.
“It was important to find innovative ways of reducing the cost, because the cheaper our build costs could be, the lower the purchase cost. It’s not a profit-making project development; it’s about community.”
Sourcing different products and focusing on the speed of construction was key to achieving this.
“There are some sustainability elements in there as well with the products that have been chosen. Jasmax and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei have a really strong focus on designing in a way that considers the impact on the environment.”
It was important to find innovative ways of reducing the cost, because the cheaper our build costs could be, the lower the purchase cost. It’s not a profit-making project development; it’s about community.
Close to the Ōrākei marae, the housing development sits atop the Kupe Street ridge linking Takaparawhau and Pourewa Reserve, two significant taonga for the hapū. According to Jasmax, the design of each townhouse has been informed by kōrero and workshops with whānau.
“The modern homes will have weatherboard cladding, upper-level balconies, solar water heating, rainwater collection for reuse, energy-efficient appliances and limited allocated car parking grouped to the edge of the site to promote alternative transport options. The internal living areas are elevated to maintain privacy while allowing for whānau to connect and interact with each other in a communal garden located through the middle of the site.”
Now with cladding underway and GIB being installed in the first townhouses, the ground floor slabs for the 24 homes started last year.
“The biggest challenge we’ve had so far was last winter and getting the site prepared for buildings. The way we worked through that was by not opening the whole site at once – we broke it into sections and completed a section at a time. We excavated and then refilled it with concrete or fill, and completed drainage in sections to allow us to not expose the site to too much of the weather,” says Vivian.
The other challenge has been working with the client to get the budget right.
“You’re maintaining a high standard of product quality, balancing that with green initiatives and then trying to have each townhouse as affordable as possible.”
Builders have the same goals as consultants and architects – we want to build beautiful buildings.
Specialising in high-quality, high-end residential and commercial builds, Vivian Construction completed close to 100 townhouses last year – the success of each project a result of effective communication and collaboration.
“A project’s success comes down to working collaboratively with the client and the consultant team. When a project goes well, you can always point to a wider team. If we’re all on the same page and working proactively to solve problems and answer questions in a timely manner, that’s the driving factor that allows everyone to go forward and be successful,” says Vivian.
The key to this is trust, with the need for everyone involved – consultants, designers and builders – to take the time to focus on the goal.
“Builders have the same goals as consultants and architects – we want to build beautiful buildings. We work alongside the architects to find good design solutions and outcomes. We’re not architects, but we know how to build complex details.”
In projects such as Hawaiki, the advice Vivian Construction can give around buildability can hugely benefit the overall project cost.
“We can find good, efficient solutions and it leaves money in the budget for the nicer finishes at the end. When we come into a project, we focus on structure and civil works to see if we can get that running as efficiently as possible, which leaves a good budget for the finer things at the end.”
Vivian Construction’s experienced team can provide a wide range of services including commercial fit-outs, new builds and project management. If you’d like to collaborate on your next project, get in touch today or explore more projects on ArchiPro.