Message from our land development, construction, commercial and urban planning leaders.
For all our partners and consultants, we thank you for your support and mahi over 2022. With building supply constraints and labour shortages, along with the pressures of catching up on time lost over the last few years, we know it has been a challenging year. Now, as we prepare for some festive and summer fun, we want to thank you all and hope you manage to have a restful and rewarding break.
Begun in the first COVID-19 lockdown period, our Development and Construction Matters publication has been an important way to communicate with you all, sharing both information and stories, while staying connected. Now we are all mostly back to our usual operating rhythms, we want to make sure we are communicating in a way that is relevant, and timely, for you. Therefore, in early 2023 we will be reviewing the format and frequency of this publication along with some of the other ways we provide information and tell you what we are up to.
You’ll be hearing from the team in early 2023, but in the meantime if you have any feedback you would like to share we are always happy to hear from you at industryhub@kaingaora.govt.nz.
For now, we wish you and your whānau a very Meri Kirihimete!
Barriers down as a new panel is stood up
Effective from December 2022, our Design Panel of architects, urban designers and landscape architects is in place to help create homes and communities that enable New Zealanders to thrive. This panel will enable us to match the right team of design consultants to new Kāinga Ora public housing and urban development projects. Read more about the new panel.
Seeking build partners to test a new construction process
Inefficiencies in the construction sector can slow the delivery of the new homes New Zealand needs. For the last couple of years, the Kāinga Ora Project Velocity team has been testing ways of working to speed up housing projects and we have seen some exciting results in the pre-construction phase. Now we’re looking to trial what we’ve learnt in the construction phase and are keen for like-minded build partners to work with us in a different way to help robustly test new ways of working. Watch this video for more information and email any questions, or register your interest, at projectvelocityopportunity@kaingaora.govt.nz.
Paving the way for new communities
In November, Housing Minister Megan Woods announced critical infrastructure projects in another 11 regions are set to receive a share of the Government’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund (IAF). Kāinga Ora administers the IAF on behalf of the Government. It is designed to help councils, iwi and developers overcome the first hurdle – funding for infrastructure. Necessary services like pipes and roads need to be completed before homes can be constructed. To date, critical infrastructure projects in 27 New Zealand cities and towns have received a share of the IAF. Combined, these IAF-funded projects are expected to enable around 30,000 to 35,000 new homes over the next 10 to 15 years.
The IAF is just one way that Kāinga Ora works with both local and central government, mana whenua and the private sector to increase housing throughout Aotearoa. Read more about the latest IAF announcement.
We are excited to be involved in Urbanism NZ, bringing together a diverse range OF dynamic speakers for a two-day conference focused on shaping the cities and places of Aotearoa. Key topics include: our urban environments and its delivery, the evolution of urban design in Aotearoa through mātauranga Māori, climate responsiveness, designing for a healthy urban environment, working better with communities, infrastructure requirements and connectivity, and land use and transportation.
Come along and join the discussion with a wide range of the industry, including architects, planners, designers, landscape architects, engineers, developers, transportation agencies, suppliers, residential providers, academia, and government. Read more or secure your tickets now (early bird sales are still on).
Living well by Design
At Kāinga Ora, while we are delivering an increasing number of public homes, we’re also committed to working with our partners to design housing where our customers can live well and thrive. How we design our homes is critical to the success of this, therefore from 1 January 2023 our new Ngā Paerewa Hoahoa Whare Design Requirements will replace the current M-255 Housing Standard Design. Find out more about the new requirements.
Sector insights from our partners
During August and September we conducted an independent survey with 300 of our commercial partners to understand, from their experience and perspective, some of the key challenges around construction materials and labour supply. You can find a summary report on the findings here. These valuable insights will be used to inform any potential actions we can take to help address some of these challenges, to support ongoing delivery of the Kāinga Ora build and development programmes – so that together we can continue to deliver more much-needed homes across Aotearoa. Thank you to those who took part in the survey. We greatly appreciate your time and feedback.
Building opportunity through waste
Construction and demolition waste is estimated to account for around half of all waste sent to landfill in New Zealand. Along with our industry partners, we are aiming to tackle this issue through sustainable site clearance methods when removing houses from development sites. Ensuring there is a market for reused materials can be challenging, but deconstruction contractor TROW Group has come up with an innovative solution where timber from old public houses is being used to create new furniture and assist with skill training in Tonga. Read more about how this initiative is going.
