| 17 Fletcher Living - Auckland North: Red Beach Award finalists Fletcher Living’s Red Beach Development at Koura Drive was a finalist in the 2022 Property Council Awards in the Multi-Unit Residential category. Karen Phelps DEVELOPMENT 0800 SPARXS | 021 936 590 | martin@mainstreamelectrical.co.nz | www.mainstreamelectrical.co.nz Our fully qualified, experienced and friendly team of electricians offer you the best & most cost effective options to suit your needs. For simple solutions we can quote immediately or same day, for more complex projects we will come out to see you. RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL Proudly supporting Fletcher Living www.markplan.co.nz Congratulations to Fletcher Living and Smith Architects on an excellent development. Markplan are proud to have provided specialist structural engineering services to this team for this project, and many others! A selection of homes has just been released in Fletcher Living’s Red Beach development. Located at Koura Drive, the development, which was a finalist in the 2022 Property Council Awards in the Multi-Unit Residential category, has been under construction since 2016. It comprises eight stages and once completed will include over 400 dwellings and Fletcher Living’s first retirement village under its Vivid Living brand. Fletcher Living Manager Auckland North, Aurelie Le Gall says it was a thrill to be named a finalist in the awards. “We’re super proud of Red Beach and the community we’ve built there. The area used to be a downsizer market and we’ve created a more vibrant and diverse community including families and a childcare centre.” The key was offering an affordable product to the market to attract a diverse range of buyers. This included two bedroom duplexes and single level terraces in small blocks of four units. To appeal to different demographics the duplexes were designed with two different 3D forms from an identical plan – one strikingly modern with the other being a modern interpretation on the traditional Ponsonby workers cottages. The single level terraces offered a further variation with two and three bedroom versions with large gardens appealing to retirees. All are in sharp contrast to the typical large house types around the area, says Aurelie. She says that from the outset, the homes were balanced between social, environmental, and economic sustainable principles. Attention was focused on the key areas of construction – framing, slab and cladding/lining. Aurelie says that the framing is optimised to ensure minimal steel is needed and that most designs don’t require any. The slabs are all RibRaft, which is energy efficient and quick to build. Cladding was Hardies cement board, which is highly durable and made from low-toxicity products and roofing is Colorsteel – again highly durable. “Operationally we looked to maximise comfort by minimising heat loss, opting for R3.2 in the roof and R2.4 in the walls and double glazing all windows. I In addition heat pumps have been added for heating and cooling and all glazing is optimized to allow good day light levels.” While the homes were not rated in the Homestar system Aurelie says that after assessing an identical terraced house in another Fletcher site the Red Beach homes would easily achieve a Homestar 6 rating. Further innovation was achieved in the project by including some panelised prefabricated terraced houses. These were all built in Fletcher’s own Clevercore plant in South Auckland, brought to site in panels on a flat bed truck and craned into place. Aurelie says that the process allows a two bedroom, two-storey house to be built in one to two days on site. The process also allowed for better quality (no weather issues) and cheaper cost due to economies in design and production and less wastage. She says densification helped to maximise the value of land to keep up with the current housing demands while the striking architecture and high landscape quality raised the market perception of the development well above that of its immediate neighbours. “Our vision was to create a vibrant mixed community where the mix of housing more closely met the needs of the local people – retired couples, first home buyers and young families, many of whom had been overlooked by existing and recent housing provision. “The innovation was in retrofitting these types into the existing subdivision without causing urban design and resource consent issues. We also had to ensure that we incorporated good urban design principles into the layouts.” She says that purchasers can expect well-designed and spacious internal layouts, following an open-plan arrangement on the ground floor for seamless indoor-outdoor movement, and flexible arrangement of furniture internally. High stud ceilings and large windows ensure great natural lighting within the units, accompanied with a neutrally toned material palette.
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