16 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Veros Property - Wooing Tree Estate Regional NZ becoming hot property Karen Phelps Kiwis are leaving high density metropolitan areas to relocate in places such as Wooing Tree Estate in Cromwell. The supply-demand balance has been out of kilter in New Zealand for some time and Veros development managers Sean Haynes and Stephen Cornwall says it will take some time to resolve. “The needle hasn’t really moved all that much in terms of meeting demand but supply is starting to make some gains,” says Sean who says this is partly due to government policy changes, which are encouraging investment in new housing, and higher density developments. One trend that has been noticed at Veros is the shift in interest from metropolitan areas to the regions. He points to Cromwell, where Veros is currently working on the Wooing Tree Estate development, as a good example. “It’s the amenity and lifestyle on offer in places like Cromwell with the cycle trails, lake and wineries that is attracting people to relocate to Cromwell,” says Sean. “This is the same across New Zealand regions, which are experiencing growth and increasing demand.” This has meant councils will need to provide a regulatory environment coupled with investing in infrastructure to support that growth, he says. Sean says this has been challenging for smaller regions, which haven’t traditionally been used to huge growth in short spaces of time. Part of the solution will be building up rather than out, thinks Stephen. “Metropolitan areas – Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington, haven’t been able to keep up with demand for new housing and are bursting at the seams. “Investment in infrastructure to open up greenfields areas is expensive and not always viable. The alternative is to invest in existing infrastructure and build up.” He points to Tauranga as a good example where greenfields areas are faced with substantial infrastructure and regulatory hurdles to overcome, which will take years to resolve. Roads don’t get built overnight for example, says Stephen, making the rapid delivery of the houses New Zealand needs problematic. One thing both agree on is that resolving New Zealand’s housing issues is complex. “It’s challenging as there are a large number of factors that go into delivering homes, which need improvement including cost, speed of delivery of projects, funding, material supply chain and sufficient skilled workers,” says Sean. “There’s no silver bullet; if it was that easy the problem would have been solved already.” But they say that the services Veros offers are part of the solution of delivering projects more quickly. “Inexperienced developers can struggle to get projects off the ground but at Veros we’ve got a lot of experience in delivering developments. By bringing our expertise to projects we can optimise them and de-risk them,” says Sean. For example on the Wooing Tree Estate project Veros added significant value from the outset by facilitating the partnership creation and funding for the project. Veros was then engaged as development managers to manage the delivery by providing services throughout different stages of the project life cycle including project programming, consultant team procurement, design management, cost management, risk management, contract management, contractor procurement and sales strategy. The pandemic threw challenges into the mix but this was where Veros’ value was clear, says Sean. “For example cost escalation just means we have to be very organised and work closely with our contractors to identify risk areas, for example where we might need to pre-order, and build in contingency strategies.” Stephen says that the ability of Veros to “It’s the amenity and lifestyle on offer in places like Cromwell with the cycle trails, lake and wineries that is attracting people to relocate to Cromwell. This is the same across New Zealand regions, which are experiencing growth and increasing demand.”
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