Business Central May 2022

| 85 Urban Plus ‘We’re here to get people into housing’ T T Virginia Wright Urban Plus’s goal is to provide affordable, high standard dwellings to buy or rent. COMMUNITY Urban Plus is a Council Controlled Trade Organisation (CCTO) for Hutt City Council (HCC) who are its sole shareholder. Directed by a board of six, they’re a team of seven, with three development managers, a housing manager, projects and support manager, a construction manager, and their Chief Executive Daniel Moriarty who stepped up 15 months ago having worked as a development manager for 13 years. They do a mix of things to do with residential housing, much of it aimed at supporting lower income earners and the elderly into accommodation. To this end they charge well below market rates on the 200 units they own and manage throughout the Hutt Valley, because as Daniel explains “rents are just as bad as house prices to be honest.” They’re charged with growing their own portfolio through residential property development aimed, on the one hand, at housing the lower income and elderly, and on the other at releasing affordable housing within the medium density developments they’re undertaking. They’re also charged with working with socially minded organisations, such as community housing providers, which has led to their partnership with HCC, local iwi Te Atiawa and Kahungunu Whanau Services (KWS). Urban Plus are building 19 one and two bedroom units in Hutt Valley’s Molesworth street which KWS will purchase using Ministry of Housing and Development funding, to then rent them out to people on the housing register. “Within our statement of intent we have three measures for property development,” explains Daniel, “and if we’re selling to a community housing provider our returns are development costs plus a 10 percent margin, so we are reducing our sale price to them but also our profits. “So that’s why we’re here, we’re not out for full profits we’re here to get people into housing at all different stages along that housing continuum.” In practical terms what that also means is that they specifically target first home buyers within their affordable, medium density developments. They allocate some of their two and three bedroom units for a return of 15% rather than the more usual 25 or more percent profit margin made by developers, which allows Urban Plus to keep their prices down. The townhouses are bought off the plans with deposits of 5% or 7.5% (also lower than the more usual 10%), and there are constraints in the contracts to prevent investors taking advantage of what’s on offer. Those townhouses signed up for between 18 months to two years ago are now being lived in, and so far the feedback is very positive. Urban Plus make the most of the efficiencies that building at scale provides. The units are double glazed and they use a variety of cladding to avoid them all looking the same. While they may be steering away from New Zealand’s traditional quarter-acre section their medium density townhouses are designed for easy living. “The stud on the ground floor is 2.7 metres rather than the more usual 2.4, which really opens up a sense of space and light,” says Daniel. “We pay close attention to solar gain in terms of layout and design both inside and out, and we provide parking one for one as well as additional parking for visitors.” Among the various developments in the pipeline, some for sale on the open market others for their own residential portfolio, are five units that Daniel’s particularly pleased to be building. “We don’t currently have anything accessible on our books and my own passion is to provide for a wider tenancy base. So we have five single-level wheelchair accessible units going up in Petone and they’ll be built to a Homestar 6 rating which means they’ll have things like heat-pumps and double glazing and be built to higher standard than is required by the building code.” It all combines to make it clear that Urban Plus’s goal of providing affordable dwellings, whether to buy or to rent, is not being pursued at the expense of quality of life for the people who will end up living in them. 03 339 7756 info@mikegreercommercial.co.nz www.mikegreercommercial.co.nz Mike Greer Commercial has a nationwide reputation for delivering well-built, future-ready projects. Our projects are for government agencies, development companies, aged-care and retirement organisations, healthcare groups, community groups, and a variety of retail and commercial clients. Mike Greer Commercial are proud to be supporting Urban Plus, being one of their key local Wellington build partners. P 022 494 1288 E admin@urbanedgeplanning.co.nz W urbanedgeplanning.co.nz We are a specialist team of planners, urban designers and landscape architects experienced in delivering high quality development throughout the Wellington region working closely with our clients to meet their needs. Our team have a strong background in local government and continue to work with councils as trusted advisors. We prepare resource consent applications for non-residential and residential developments including multi-unit housing projects and subdivision. Our urban design team provide high quality design advice to support private development and plan changes. Our Landscape Architect will prepare landscape plans for a range of residential and non-residential projects. We prepare private plan changes to rezone land in order to reach the full potential of a site for residential development. RESOURCE CONSENT APPLICATIONS | URBAN DESIGN Looking to Develop? 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