Earlier this month New Zealand moved to the new COVID-19 Protection Framework, also known as the traffic light system. In response, Construction Health and Safety NZ (CHASNZ) has updated its New Zealand COVID-19 Construction Protocols, which outline requirements under red, orange and green settings.

If COVID-19 presents onsite, please alert your Kāinga Ora contact and seek guidance from the Ministry of Health on how to manage the risk of infection spreading on the site. The CHASNZ protocols also provide specific guidance on this.

Thank you for your efforts to adjust site work to the new traffic light system. Your support helps to ensure construction continues uninterrupted, so we can keep delivering more homes to people and families throughout Aotearoa.  

We will update you as further information becomes available about how the traffic light system will impact the way we work. As always, feel free to reach out to your Kāinga Ora contact if you have questions.

Meanwhile, the demand for housing in New Zealand continues unabated. With the support of our build and development partners we remain committed to delivering quality homes at pace, while responding and adapting to COVID-19 challenges.

Despite changes in alert levels and extended lockdowns, we completed 2,432 new homes during the 2020/21 financial year – exceeding the 2,400 target. We also enabled more than 2,000 public, affordable and market homes for development partners by completing civil construction works on more than 100 superlots.

Our next bulletin will reach you in February 2022. Until then, wishing you and your whānau a safe, relaxing and well-deserved break during the holiday season.

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

Updates from our land development, construction, commercial and urban planning leaders

New superlots to be released

Development partners on the Kāinga Ora Invitation to Participate (ITP) list will soon be presented with an opportunity to purchase land in our Hobsonville Point neighbourhood.

The offer is for the final two superlots, which are on prime, elevated land within the Hobsonville Point development. The expected yield is approximately 250 new homes, which will be a mix of apartments and terraces.  The Information Memorandum will be released to the market during late January 2022, and the closing date for submissions will be mid-March 2022.

We are also preparing to announce the release of a new superlot within our Northcote Development. This offer is for one 4,000m² superlot with a yield of approximately 108 market and affordable apartments. We expect to launch the Information Memorandum in early 2022.

For more information about becoming a partner in our urban development projects, visit https://udd-itp.co.nz/ or email procurement-UDD@kaingaora.govt.nz.

Kāinga Ora Offsite Manufacturing (OSM) Plan

We are pleased to announce the release of Transforming construction through innovation: our Offsite Manufacturing Plan. You can read and download the Plan on our website.

The Plan sets out the action Kāinga Ora is taking to realise the benefits of offsite manufacturing (OSM) and how it can contribute to us building homes and communities more effectively, quickly, affordably and sustainably. There is a strong focus on how we can help grow the capability and capacity of the New Zealand OSM sector. 

The Plan supports our role in driving system transformation, using our scale and partnerships to lead a more effective and sustainable future for the building sector. It complements our existing use of OSM across our build programme including public, market and affordable housing, and is a companion document to Building Momentum – our construction plan for future homes.

If you are an OSM supplier with capacity, we want to hear from you. Please email CCO@kaingaora.govt.nz.

Infrastructure Acceleration Fund

The first funding deal for the Government’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund (IAF), administered by Kāinga Ora, has been signed, enabling over 400 additional dwellings in Porirua.

The agreement signed between Kāinga Ora, Porirua City Council and Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira (Ngāti Toa Rangatira), will see a planned development stage at Kenepuru Landing almost double the number of dwellings it delivers.

This agreement is a significant start to the IAF, with funding and housing outcomes agreed for the Ngāti Toa Rangatira development fast-tracked due to its very strong attributes and advanced stage of the project.

With over 80 responses to RFP for the IAF due in from across Aotearoa by 17 December, we look forward to further announcements in 2022.

Our award-winning developments

Six Kāinga Ora developments have received recognition for their design excellence at the 2021 Property Industry Awards and Te Kahui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architecture Awards (NZIA).

Mangere’s Bader McKenzie development and Onehunga’s Brookfield Avenue development took out excellence awards at the Property Industry Awards, while Onehunga’s Galway St development and Waterview Court development won merit awards.

On top of this, Waterview Court development and Rangiora’s High and White Streets development have won national awards at the NZIA Awards. Earlier, High and White received an excellence award at the 2020 Property Industry Awards, as well as an award at the 2020 Dulux Colour Awards.

Congratulations to everyone involved in delivering these award-worthy homes for our customers. Special mention goes to the architects, Peddlethorp, Monk MacKenzie, Ashton Mitchell and Rohan Collett Architects, as well as build partners Precision Construction, Home, Latham Construction and Bracewell Construction.

Construction Consultancy Service Panels

In line with the Kāinga Ora Building Momentum plan and the Construction Sector Accord, we are establishing a number of preferred supplier panels for construction consultancy services.

These panels will provide benefits to both Kāinga Ora and suppliers by giving preferred suppliers visibility of our pipeline, building greater understanding between suppliers and Kāinga Ora, improving social and environmental impacts, and significantly improving contracting arrangements. The following categories are those we have identified as suitable for creating Panels.  RFPs will start to be released this month.

• Engineer to Contract as defined in NZS3910:2013
• Architecture, including urban design, landscape architecture
• Engineering Services – including civil, geotechnical, traffic and transport
• Building Engineering Services - including structural, mechanical, HVAC, electrical, fire and façade, etc.
• Quantity Surveying
• Consultancy Services – including planning, surveying, consenting (not covered by Consentium at Kāinga Ora)
• Project Management
• Specialist Consulting Services – heritage, green fields, environment, archaeological, etc.

This is an exciting opportunity for construction consultancy services to demonstrate their ability to partner with us and support the extensive Kāinga Ora build programme. We are committed to the Kāinga Ora Social and Sustainable Procurement Plan – Pā Harakeke. This Plan clarifies what is important to Kāinga Ora in terms of social and sustainable outcomes.

• Qualified panellists will be identified to support regional projects located across New Zealand’s 12 regions
• The period proposed is two years, with the right of renewal being one plus one years (2+1+1)
• Each category and region has restricted numbers of suppliers to ensure each supplier receives some work from Kāinga Ora
• We especially encourage local and smaller companies to apply. Māori and Pasifika-owned businesses are also encouraged to apply.

View our Construction Consultancy Service Panels Video, which explains how we aim to set up our own panels for construction consultants, or visit our website for more details. For more information, email procurement@kaingaora.govt.nz

Workforce Assurance

Together with our delivery partners, we are leading one of the largest build and urban regeneration programmes in New Zealand for decades. We pride ourselves on the role that we are playing to improve wellbeing for New Zealanders – and that includes ensuring our build programme is productive, and provides fair and meaningful work for our suppliers.

The contracts we enter into to deliver this programme employ thousands of workers in complex supply arrangements, and we are seeking to assure everyone that worker welfare is being upheld throughout our supply chain.  

To support this, we are undertaking a programme of work to assess our procurement, contracting and contractor management systems and how effectively they can identify and respond to the risks of worker exploitation, collaboratively with our suppliers.  Once we have this scoped, we will work progressively to improve our systems in partnership with suppliers.

We are currently in the assessment phase, and some of you may be asked to participate in an interview with Kāinga Ora or its advisors. We encourage you to participate fully and openly, this is about understanding current systems and how we can work together to strengthen them, not about specific instances of exploitation.

Kāinga Ora invests in Tauranga

Approximately 1,000 more new homes are likely to be built in Tauranga over the coming years due to the acquisition of a 95.3 hectare site by Kāinga Ora.

The purchase of Ferncliffe Farm in Tauriko West is the first acquisition under the newly created Kāinga Ora Land Programme, set up to lead strategic land acquisitions to enable housing and thriving communities in areas of need.

Development planning and design work for the site is now underway, with preliminary plans indicating approximately 1,000 homes can be built on a portion of the site. This is a long-term investment in housing for Tauranga, bringing more housing choice and further employment in the area.

We look forward to engaging further with the community and partnering with local firms as our development plans progress.

Support on materials cost fluctuations

New measures are now in place to help our public housing build partners manage fluctuating materials costs.

As you will be aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on global manufacturing, supply chains and logistics. In some instances, materials have been in short supply and prices have increased since contracts were signed.

Andrew Showler, Technical Director Construction and Innovation, says the Kāinga Ora team has been working to address these challenges for some time.

“We are working with our supply chain partners to ensure we forecast demand as far in advance as possible to reduce the potential for cost fluctuations, while doing what we can to ensure continued supply of materials and products.

“Our advice to our build partners is to plan ahead and place orders as soon as possible.”

The Kāinga Ora team has also worked to provide a more consistent approach to dealing with cost fluctuations that are a direct result of COVID-19 by amending the existing COVID-19 variation clause in build contracts.

“We want to make it easier for our build partners to claim on cost fluctuations so they can focus on completing projects and help us meet the growing demand for housing in New Zealand,” Andrew says.

The new claims process relates specifically to the 15 most common materials, which account for approximately 80% of the construction cost on the majority of our developments.

Where the net cost of these 15 materials has increased since the contract was signed, our build partners will be asked to complete a pro forma claim form, which is in the process of being sent out​​​​​​​​​.  The claim will be assessed by the Engineer to Contract, in conjunction with Kāinga Ora.

Wherever possible, we are encouraging build partners to use the existing National Supply Agreements to purchase specific products such as stoves, electrical fittings and carpets. These agreements contain prices that have been fixed until June 2022.

If you have any questions, please contact Andrew Showler: Andrew.Showler@kaingaora.govt.nz or Trina Lincoln, Associate General Counsel Construction: Trina.Lincoln@kaingaora.govt.nz

Kāinga Ora is amending its processes on cost fluctuations

Apprenticeship programmes reach new milestone

Kāinga Ora and its build and maintenance partners have supported more than 500 tradespeople into careers over the past two years, as part of our national apprenticeship programmes.

Housing Minister Megan Woods announced the milestone earlier this month at a public housing construction site in Riccarton, Christchurch.

“This fantastic milestone represents hundreds more builders, carpenters, electricians, painters, drain layers, and scaffolders who are part of ‘Team Housing.’ Together they are building more public housing or upgrading and maintaining the nearly 70,000 public houses across New Zealand,” she said.

Electrical apprentice Matt Sauni of Wright Wire Electrical, and builder-in-training Tony Siva of Home Construction, are two Christchurch apprentices who have been supported into jobs as part of the Kāinga Ora initiative.

For Tony, who studied construction trade skills at Ara Institute of Canterbury, his apprenticeship was a way to build a future.

“My plan for the future is to buy or build my own house and hopefully go back to Samoa to rebuild my village,” he told Ara after beginning his apprenticeship.

“It’s never too late to study or change your career path. If you work hard and put the time and effort into a trade, I guarantee you’ll reap the benefits.”

Launched in 2019, the Kāinga Ora apprenticeship programmes are delivered in partnership with build and maintenance providers. The aim is to use the scale of our national development programme to grow New Zealand’s pipeline of skilled construction workers, while increasing public housing supply and stimulating local economies. 

The team building futures, from left: Home Construction’s Paul Nanai, Tony Siva and Chris Stephens, Kāinga Ora South Island Deputy Chief Executive Paul Commons, Minister Megan Woods, Home’s Israel Cooper, Matt Sauni of Wright Wire and Kāinga Ora Project Manager Mark Booker.

Offsite manufacturing boosts public housing in Gisborne

Offsite manufacturing is being used to ramp up the supply of public housing in an area of severe housing deprivation. Tairāwhiti has an urgent need for more homes and Kāinga Ora building partner Iconiq Group is working on a number of sustainable initiatives to help deliver.

Iconiq Group has recently built two homes at its Gisborne premises. The offsite manufactured (OSM) homes are nearing completion. The homes are designed to be easily picked up and moved to vacant sections. 

Kāinga Ora has an agreement with Iconiq Group to build four OSM homes each year. This will provide certainty of ongoing work, enabling Iconiq to invest in Tairāwhiti plant and people.

Sustainability is a key driver for both Iconiq Group and Kāinga Ora. These homes fit the bill, says Iconiq Group Construction Director Nathan Te Miha.  

“Where possible, we use timber sourced from East Coast forests, which is then manufactured into an innovative, engineered wood product from Wood Engineering Technology (WET) at a Gisborne-based wood processing facility.”

Eight building apprentices from Iconiq’s Gisborne-based building academy are assisting with the building of the homes. The Ministry for Social Development has funded the academy from the Māori Trades and Training Fund. 

“The focus is on building warm, dry homes locally by locals for local whānau. In doing so, we aim to not only create employment leading to trade qualifications, but ultimately future business owners for Te Tairāwhiti,” says Nathan.

One of the offsite manufactured homes.