The broader Housing Acceleration Fund is an initiative to increase housing supply in the short to medium term with three key components:

• Maintaining momentum and enabling a step-change in housing delivery for the six Kāinga Ora large-scale projects across Auckland and Porirua
• A contestable infrastructure fund administered by Kāinga Ora which would support projects from around the country where investment in infrastructure will unlock housing development, and
• Infrastructure for Māori housing – to enable Māori-led investments in infrastructure for Māori housing outcomes.

Work on the infrastructure fund Kāinga Ora is leading is progressing well. Cabinet is set to make final decisions about the design settings and criteria for the fund late this month.

Employment standards

Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities is undertaking a review of its procurement processes, its construction contracts and development agreements to be more explicit in our expectations of our build and development partners and suppliers in relation to employment standards. This bulletin is one way we are reminding suppliers about our requirements and expectation we have that those who work for us, either directly or indirectly, comply with all relevant New Zealand legislation, including health & safety regulations, and that they act with integrity in all their professional dealings with us and those we contract.

It is our expectation that everyone who works on our sites are legally entitled to do so and that they’re not working under any conditions that do not comply with the Employment Relations Act 2000. Recent media reports have outlined some unacceptable and exploitative labour practices which have no place in the New Zealand construction industry.   

We will be taking other steps on this important issue, such as:

• Installing site signage: giving guidance to anyone who is concerned about working conditions and who may wish to contact New Zealand’s Labour Inspectorate
• Contractor instructions: outlining Kāinga Ora expectations and existing obligations in relation to compliance with legislation
• Updating applicable Codes of Conduct.

You will read more on this topic in future bulletins. Meanwhile, do contact your Kāinga Ora representative if you are unclear on any of the above.

Keep in touch and sign your colleagues up to receive this monthly bulletin by emailing updates@kaingaora.govt.nz.

Message from our land development, construction, commercial and urban planning leaders​

The Government earlier this month announced additional ways for construction workers to safely enter New Zealand, where they meet the requisite criteria, as part of wider changes to the current border exception and Managed Isolation Allocation System (MIAS).

In addition to the current border exception process, from June to October 2021, 60 places have been made available per month in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities solely for construction workers on critical work visas under the group allocation category. This will provide an alternative pathway through the MIAS where critical workers have been unable to secure a place over the June-October 2021 period. More information on the new group allocation process for construction workers, including how to apply, is here.

In addition, a new MIQ time-sensitive allocation category means any employer who has less than 10 employees with a critical worker visa can apply if they meet the criteria. More on this can be found on the MIQ website here.

The allocation was informed by sector feedback facilitated through the Construction Sector Accord, the shared commitment between government and industry to lift the performance of the construction sector, of which Kāinga Ora is a contributing and steering group member.

First MATES accredited site

Kāinga Ora build partner Kalmar Construction, who is engaged on our 102-unit St George’s Road development in Auckland’s Avondale, has achieved accreditation status with MATES in Construction - the first Kāinga Ora site to do so. An accredited site has prioritised training and preparedness for good staff mental health and suicide awareness. At least 80 percent of Kalmar’s team members on the project are General Awareness Trained in the MATES programme and 1 in 20 have Connector status. Kāinga Ora applauds our build partner Kalmar in attaining accreditation for this project.

To sign up your site to the MATES mental wellbeing programme, please email taylor.norman@kaingaora.govt.nz

Six projects take out architectural design awards

Six developments delivering great outcomes for the people who live in them have been recognised in the 2021 Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) Local Awards.

In Auckland, three Kāinga Ora projects received awards in the Housing – Multi Unit category. These included the Galway Street and Waterview Court apartments, both were designed by Ashton Mitchell, and were built by Bracewell Construction and Latham Construction respectively. Brookfield Avenue and Onehunga Mall development, which was designed by Monk Mackenzie and built by Home, also picked up an award.

In Wellington, the Hanson Street development in Mount Cook, designed by Herriot Melhuish O’Neill Architects and built by Holmes Wellington, as well as the Castor Crescent development in Porirua, designed by Tennent Brown Architects and built by Jennian Homes and Mike Greer Homes, won awards earlier this month. In addition to winning both of the Housing – Multi Unit awards, Castor Crescent also won a Resene Colour award.

The High and White streets development in Rangiora, north of Christchurch, which was designed by Rohan Collett Architects and built by Home, also won a NZIA local award this month. The project last year received an excellence award in the multi-unit residential property category of the Property Industry Awards and took out the Grand Prix New Zealand honour in the Dulux Colour Awards.

Performance Based Design – consultation now open

Kāinga Ora plans to introduce a performance-based regime for the design of our new homes and the products that we use. Two resources outline the proposed performance-based standards:

• M-134 Design Performance Requirements
• M-135 Product Performance Requirements

Consultation with industry partners who have an interest in or use the M-255, which is a standard tool to ensure minimum spatial requirements supported by building systems and products for public homes only, is critical to ensure that the documentation is fit for purpose. Submissions are open until Friday 4 June 2021 here or you can contact the project team at performancerequirements@kaingaora.govt.nz.

Building a pathway to success

From labourer to future team leader, Sam Fidow has already made his mark in construction as a participant in the Kāinga Ora apprenticeship programme.

Established in 2019, the programme initially took on 64 cadets and apprentices. A record 30 cadets and apprentices joined in March and April, bringing the total to more than 150 working on Kāinga Ora sites. The programme is now available in Christchurch and will soon be offered in Wellington and Northland.

Auckland-based Carrington Construction took Sam on as a labourer in February 2020, with the assistance of SENZ Training & Employment, a service provider Kāinga Ora partners with. The Kāinga Ora Social Outcomes team works closely with our build partners and their subcontractors to help them find new employees and apprentices and provide support through toolkit grants, mentoring sessions and pastoral care.

Sam is now a 2IC on site and enrolled in a Level 3 foundation qualification with BCITO. His next career goal is to become team leader by the end of the year.

He’s grateful for the opportunity to build his skillset and work alongside a great bunch of people in a small company of 17 that looks after their own.

“It’s been good and challenging. It’s all the learning and people you work with that make it awesome,” Sam says.

Training and Development Manager Rob McDonald has enjoyed seeing Sam’s progress.

“It’s been good to see how far he’s developed since he’s come on board,” Rob says.

“You have to be emotionally invested, and willing to learn and work hard.”

Kāinga Ora cadet and apprentice breakfast sessions

We’re encouraging cadets and apprentices in the Kāinga Ora apprenticeship programme to register for our breakfast sessions. These two-hour sessions will be held in Auckland over three consecutive days and will take place in June, August and November. To register, please email Karine.Moka@kaingaora.govt.nz

Apprentice Sam Fidow, left, and Recruitment Manager Rob McDonald, of Carrington Construction, at their Hobsonville project site on the corner of Clark Rd and Scott Rd.  Sam is gaining invaluable on the job knowledge with the company under the Kāinga Ora apprenticeship programme.

Large-scale projects director – Christian Hurzeler

For Christian Hurzeler, making a real difference to the lives of current and future New Zealanders is what motivates him. This, he says, is why he works at Kāinga Ora.

Christian works in the Kāinga Ora Urban Development and Delivery (UDD) team as the Director of Large Scale Projects. The UDD team is leading the largest urban regeneration ever undertaken in New Zealand. It’s a multi-billion dollar programme that aims to create thriving and connected communities with high quality housing, amenities and public spaces.

Christian has worked on projects as varied as the activation of Auckland’s Britomart Precinct, delivered data centres, educational, commercial and retail facilities; he even managed the delivery of the world’s first YouTube studio for Google.

“I work with a team of incredibly talented and capable people,” says Christian. “It’s so rewarding to be able to work together to make a real physical, tangible difference, creating homes and communities, so our customers can experience a sense of place and belonging,”

UDD has five large-scale projects in various stages of design or delivery in Auckland (Northcote, Roskill, Mangere, Oranga, Tamaki) and Wellington (Porirua).

Ensuring the availability of build-ready land to deliver more homes that meet a range of New Zealanders’ accommodation needs, including for public housing customers and first home buyers, as well as market homes, is a priority.

Among the challenges of large-scale projects is working at pace to deliver infrastructure and build-ready land in existing neighbourhoods.

“You’re working in people’s backyards and they are living their lives at the same time you’re undertaking major infrastructure and renewal projects,” Christian says.

“We need to plan with and for our communities, that means taking a place-based approach to ensure our customers are kept informed and engaged.”

Christian Hurzeler, Director – Large Scale Projects, fly fishing in the Upper Mohaka River in Hawke’s Bay, earlier this year. Christian has a multifaceted background but is putting the mahi into where he believes it counts most – Kāinga Ora Homes & Communities.