| 101 T T Russell Fredric Cosy housing for cooler locations A key feature of Karearea Kabins is the SIPs (structurally insulated panels) that are central to their design. Karearea Kabins BUILDING An innovative new option is offering small-footprint accommodation in the Queenstown Lakes District. Karearea Kabins has just built two 28sqm, highly energy-efficient cabins, which can be made weathertight within three weeks, for a Fernhill site, Kārearea is the Maori name for the native New Zealand falcon, and the concept of the cabins is the brainchild of Falcon Developments owner Damian Orman. Falcon Developments is a well-established building business that has been operating from Queenstown for nine years. “I’ve kept an eye on the tiny home craze that’s been going on, and found that a lot of people were in these tiny homes and they were too hot in the summer and couldn’t heat them effectively in the winter, so they weren’t performing very well in the alpine environment.” This led Damian to offering a quality solution to provide comfortable, energy-efficient homes with a small footprint that will also contribute to alleviating the chronic shortage of workers’ accommodation in the area. A key feature of Karearea Kabins is the SIPs (structurally insulated panels) that are central to their design. SIP panels are high-performing, thermally efficient composite panels comprising a sandwich of two layers of structural board with an insulating layer of foam in between that can be used as walls, roofs and floors. The panels combine superior insulation with near-zero air leakage, creating a consistently warmer, drier, and healthier indoor environment when combined with thermally broken and hermetically sealed windows and doors. Karearea Kabins’ exterior cladding options can be individually tailored. “We can put any cladding system on them that a client wishes,” Damien says. The cabins are built at Karearea Kabins’ Queenstown yard, and can either be trucked and craned or helicoptered to a site. “The other consideration for this area is hard-to-reach places; you don’t necessarily get good vehicle access to all of a section,” Damien says, adding: “Because they are a SIPs model they are a lighter frame, lighter weight, extremely robust, very well braced and thermally efficient. They only need two kilowatts of heating.” The Fernhill cabins are being heated with Herschel infra-red panels. Damian notes there are many people working in the Wakatipu area, who are single or a couple and do not need a two- or three-bedroom place, and that the motel-sized Karearea Kabins will be perfectly adequate for them. Karearea Kabins also offers the possibility of being sited at or close to where workers are employed, including in more remote locations, greatly reducing or eliminating travel time and expense. “Over a few years we’ve designed and thought of different solutions and scenarios, and settling on the cabins seemed to be the solution to a lot of the questions that we were coming across. Karearea Kabins can be placed pretty much anywhere.” The cabins are built by Falcon Developments’ team of licensed building practitioners, and are fully consented, based on a structural engineer’s design and site-specific drawings and documentation, from Design LBP’s. In collaboration with specialists, Damian is currently looking at designs for off-grid options that will be tailored to individual situations. “I think Karearea Kabins are a solution to a lot of people’s needs, and especially in this environment, in this location,” Damien says.
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