62 | Sections with views to die for With harbour views and upmarket house designs, Normandale Heights is proving popular with buyers. DEVELOPMENT Normandale Heights T T Hugh de Lacy C�������������� ���������������������� ���������������������� ���������� 0800 90 90 22 32A E������ ���� R��� W������, ����� ���� We bring the showroom to you A new 7.9ha hill-side residential sub-division in the Hutt Valley is successfully trading on its fabulous views and upmarket house designs. Normandale Heights is a 29-section development by local building and development company J B Hughes Contractors, offering house sites ranging in size from 400m2 to over 1000m2 that look out over the Hutt Valley and Cook Strait. The project is being offered in three stages with all the services in place: the power connected and the road and footpaths complete, 19 sections ready for sale and the first houses under construction. J B Hughes was founded by Brian Hughes a good three decades ago, and is now run by his son John Hughes who in 1985 completed his apprenticeships as a registered plumber, gasfitter and drainlayer. The company delivers the whole package of buying and developing the land, marketing the sections and building the houses, with house designs available from Lower Hutt firm Horizon Architecture. It’s also developing a three-section site on Waiwhetu Road in Lower Hutt, and has been involved in the Manor Park (27 sections) and High Street (11 sections) projects. “We haven’t had to do much in the way of marketing,” company manager Gary Cox says. “Manor Park virtually sold itself and Normandale Heights is picking up buyer interest by word of mouth. “We’re building quality homes and all of those in Normandale Heights will cost above the $!.5 million mark – or at least that’s our expectation. “That figure would have been a lot higher if the market hadn’t contracted as much as it has. “The market round here has seen depressed demand for houses at the lower end “Manor Park virtually sold itself and Normandale Heights is picking up buyer interest by word of mouth.” of the cost range, but big new houses are still attracting buyers, and Lot Two at Normandale Heights is to get a two-storey home.” Against the background of plummeting demand in the lower price range, buildings of all types have had to deal with a huge jump in the cost of materials. “We’ve seen material costs hiked by between 30% and 40% since the Covid pandemic,” Gary says. “We recently saw the cost of steel reinforcing mesh jump by 17%, followed by a smaller jump later on.” Normandale Heights offered a quality lifestyle in what Gary describes as “a private little plateau area nestled into the hillside with fantastic views from every section. “The southerly winds don’t seem to affect it anywhere near as much as another place I lived in not far away, and that’s a considerable plus for anything in the Wellington region. “It catches the southerly, but to no great degree.” And the company is not building boxes there. “Whereas at Manor Park the largest house was just 130m2, at Normandale Heights the houses will be much larger, all with double built-in garages,” Gary says. J B Hughes currently employs seven building staff and, with the help of sub-contractors, built around seven houses a year at Manor Park before moving on to Normandale Heights. While Gary serves as general manager, the building team is led by John Hughes’ son Jaden Hughes, a fully qualified builder in his own right. When it comes to marketing and sales, the company has a close and longstanding relationship with Professionals Real Estate Lower Hutt.
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