ISSUE 28 | SEPTEMBER 2023

This issue

In this issue, we talk about our use of offsite manufacturing and how our smartly designed new homes keep heating and cooling costs down to $1 a day. You will learn more about how we worked closely with an Auckland-based hapū, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, in designing our largest public housing development - Te Mātāwai on Greys Avenue. Discover how we’re designing and building public housing at an efficient and predictable pace with our new Housing Delivery System. Also, find out more about how Kāinga Ora supports the development of local District Plans and hear from our Director of Urban Design on the need for more compact cities.

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

Tēnā koutou,

Although Mother Nature threw a few curve balls at the beginning of 2023, our mahi has been making great strides regardless. Thanks to the help of all our partners we’ve just constructed the highest number of public homes ever in a financial year and are undertaking the largest retrofit program on our existing housing stock. To add to that, our build programme has more than 4,000 public homes currently under contract or in construction for delivery this fiscal year, all while we innovate to deliver more homes at a faster rate and lower cost.

Our urban planning and development work also continues at pace and scale. Our large-scale projects are creating award-winning environments for communities, and we are assessing the use of our tools as the Government’s urban development agency to benefit key development areas, increasing housing, and supporting the growth of thriving communities. 

You’ll be hearing from us again later this year, but in the meantime, if you have any feedback on Development and Construction Matters you would like to share, contact us at updates@kaingaora.govt.nz.

Ngā mihi maioha,
Patrick, Caroline, Mark, Katja and Matt

A village in the heart of a city  

In late June, our build partner Icon completed the construction of Te Mātāwai, a new urban village in inner-city Auckland. Te Mātāwai encompasses 276 apartments across three multi-storey blocks, between 9 and 13 storeys high, and is our largest public housing development to date. Designed in close partnership with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, an Auckland-based hapu, Te Mātāwai will be home to around 400 people and will adopt a single-site supported housing model combining permanent housing with 24/7 on-site support. Read more about the construction involving over 3,000 people and watch the animation below to appreciate the elements designed by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei artists. 

Paving the way for reducing carbon

We continue to look for ways to reduce our carbon footprint and drive sustainability, both throughout construction as well as during the operational use of the buildings for the individuals and whānau who call them home. Two standout new developments doing just that are a 19-home complex on the corner of Bader Drive and Ventura Street in Mangere, Auckland, and a three-storey building on Christchurch’s Riccarton Road. 

Read about how the excellent design of our Bader Ventura homes means they can be heated and cooled for as little as $1 per day, winning it the coveted Supreme Award at the recent Construction Sector Beacon Awards. You may also be interested in checking out the case study done on the landmark development by the Construction Sector Accord. Also, find out more about how twenty one-bedroom apartments on Riccarton Road will share rooftop solar energy, creating annual savings of $350-$400 for those living in them. 

"The project is an open challenge to our industry, that we all must step up and address our climate change emission reduction obligations now."

CEO of BRANZ, Chelydra Percy, on our Bader Ventura development.

Offsite Manufacturing through design precision

Offsite Manufacturing (OSM) has many benefits as a construction method, including a reduction in material waste and build time. Over the next 12 months, at least 12% of all our public housing redevelopments will utilise this construction method. Read more about how the use of Cross Laminated Timber is speeding up the development of the Highbury Triangle, an important six-level apartment complex.

Introducing the HDS and a transformative pilot to co-design build contracts

New materials, construction methods and innovative design are not the only ways we are transforming the future of residential construction. We’ve developed and are testing a new Housing Delivery System (HDS) projected to cut our public housing construction build times by 80% and costs by at least 30% through planning and delivering the build process differently. Learn about how our housing sector partners are finding this new System and approach which means homes can be planned, designed, and delivered in a more predictable and transparent manner. 

A new pilot programme is now looking to take the HDS efficiencies further, by collaborating with our build partners and suppliers to co-design an exciting new model for build contracts, materials supply and logistics. Find out how Kāinga Ora is taking a more active role in the supply of building materials through our ‘Relational Agreement’ Pilot, in the construction of over 100 public homes for Rotorua. You can also check out a Newsroom article about the contract pilot here. 

Recently, the HDS won the Leading Innovation Award at the Australasian Housing Institute’s Brighter Future Awards in New Zealand this September. The Award recognises transformational thinking, with lessons that could be broadly applied to other housing organisations.

“Everyone is really keen to build, and as volume ramps up, we will continue to see the power of the Housing Delivery System approach.’’ 

Chief Executive of Miles Construction, Mark Farrell.

 "The HDS is a step change in getting quality dwellings built faster, which will have a huge impact on our communities, providing good quality places for people to build their lives.”

Principal Architect of Context, Scott Cracknell

Fitting out a place called home  

Our Retrofit programme aims to remodel 10,000 existing public homes over the next decade, working closely with over 25 build partners across the motu. One of those build partners - Rhys Finlay Contractors - completes an average of one retrofit home in the Hutt Valley region each week. Read about the programme and what it means to those who partner with us on this impactful work.

"The Kāinga Ora customers whose homes we complete are excited to move back home and our teams take pride in seeing neighbourhoods refreshed as the homes are renovated."

Director, Rhys Finlay

Award-winning infrastructure in our Large-Scale Projects  

Te Ara Awataha, a key greenway rejuvenation project in our Northcote Large-Scale Project (LSP), has taken home three accolades at this year's IPWEA Asset Management Excellence Awards. Read about how the project to develop a 1.5 km blue-green corridor led to the 'daylighting' of the  Awataha stream, and how this proved invaluable during the Auckland Anniversary floods. 

Our civil design and infrastructure alliance is an important delivery partner for this core infrastructure in our Auckland LSPs, and in August we marked an important milestone - extending the contract for this work for a further five years. Our General Manager - Urban Development and Delivery, Mark Fraser, talks about this exciting new phase for the LEAD Alliance.

Assessment for SDPs commences in two regions     

At the end of August, we invited the public to give their feedback on the proposed key features of two potential Specified Development Projects (SDPs) - the Northern Growth Area in Porirua and the Western Corridor in Tauranga. This feedback will help inform our recommendation to the Minister of Housing and the Minister of Finance as to whether or not the projects should be established as SDPs. 

Supporting collaboration between the public and private sectors and mana whenua, the SDP process is a tool that can be used to plan and deliver complex and transformational urban development projects. To find out more about SDPs, visit the dedicated SDP website.

Preparing rangatahi for jobs in construction

The scale of development within our LSPs (Large Scale Projects) means we can generate opportunities for young people to train in construction. We're proud to have partnered with Ama Training Group, a registered NZQA training provider committed to upskilling Māori and Pacific into meaningful employment. Learn more about how the Group is engaging rangatahi (youth) in our Northcote development by maintaining the playgrounds and open spaces of the construction site.

Supporting good urban planning

Increasing housing in the right areas involves a coordinated and well-thought-out approach, with clear urban planning guides at a local level. Learn about how Kāinga Ora makes submissions to regional and city councils on local District Plans to ensure we can deliver warm, dry, healthy homes close to employment, education, public transport, and recreation. 

While we look at the ways our urban areas can grow, our Director of Urban Design, Sue Evans, discusses how Kāinga Ora is working with its partners to reclaim our cities as people-centred places and help make sustainable urbanism the norm.