| 21 Affordable housing boost for Q’town T Virginia Wright Sited on the old Whakatipu High School grounds near central Queenstown, the first stage of Te Pã Tãhuna is expected to be complete by the end of the year. Ngai Tahu Property: Naylor Love - Gorge Road DEVELOPMENT Like many other towns and cities in New Zealand, Queenstown struggles to provide housing for all those that wish to live there. It’s a situation that Ngai Tahu Property (NTP) are working in partnership with the Crown to do something about as part of the government’s “Crown Land for Housing” programme, aimed at providing affordable housing. Sited on the old Whakatipu High School grounds near central Queenstown it’s called Te Pã Tãhuna, and they expect the first stage to be complete by the end of the year. “It entails over 300 homes of various typologies, mostly walk-ups (up to three storeys with no lift), with some apartments and townhouses over a staged development,” says Development Manager, Lucy Gould. The first stage of NTP’s Te Pã Tãhuna development has seven live-work apartments on ground level and 10 apartments each on levels one and two. The live-work apartments have a supplementary office space on the front of the building facing Gorge Road. “They’re intended for someone who wants to have a work-space as part of where they live;” explains Lucy. “So you could have a home-office, consultancy or a tradesperson who wants some office-frontage, or a customer-based business such as bike-maintenance, or a beautician or a florist, or any number of things as long as it’s not disruptive for the other residents,” Having a cultural component to the development, a combination of design elements with an associated narrative to express the values of the Ngāi Tahu people, mana whenua, is part and parcel of its identity as an iwiowned business; part of the wider Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu group. It was arrived at after engagement with a panel of representatives of the seven local hapū and will be referenced in a variety of ways including a pattern that will feature on the buildings’ interiors such as in the stairs, as well as in the landscaping, where it will be reinforced by the use of natural fauna that are significant to the local mana whenua. The narrative talks about the interior settlements and ancestral trails that were used to move through the Lake Whakatipu region, the town basin, and by extension the area of the Te Pā Tāhuna development. “It was significant as a home-base, a place of settlement, important for the procurement and harvesting of natural resources. “The narrative talks about the abundance of food and resources such as pounamu and local features including the waterways, lakes, and glacier-fed pools. “It’s about the trails to the area, the connections, and places of occupation and the Māori tradition of ahi kā, home fires burning,” explains Lucy. Of the 300 homes planned for the staged development around a third are being built as part of the Kiwibuild programme with the associated price cap and restrictions around eligibility: in the first stage, 10 of the 27 nearly completed were therefore sold for up to $600,000 for a two-bedroom, $500,000 for a one bedroom, with the remainder sold at market prices. Apart from the price there is little difference in terms of structure, fit-out and so on. This development will contribute to reducing the shortage of affordable housing in Queenstown by making available housing for first home buyers. Working closely with builders Naylor Love, and despite the challenging environment familiar to all those in the construction industry, they’re still heading for completion of this first of ten stages of development by the end of the year. “We hope to provide the sort of housing that the residents and the people who keep the town going so desperately need,” says Lucy. “High-quality housing with an affordable component that’s built by an iwi-owned organisation that also reflects the values that are important to the iwi. We put a lot of focus on the shared public spaces and communal areas and I think the quality of the landscaping and the cultural features will create a really good environment for all of the residents to enjoy.” QUALITY ROOFING AND WATERPROOFING SOLUTIONS Specialist Roofing | Membrane, Metal, Tile & Shingle Tanking & Underground Systems | Decks & Balconies High Performance Warm & Green Roof Systems Since 2006 021 761 642 | admin@watertightsystems.co.nz | www.watertightsystems.co.nz 03 409 0004 | INFO@STYLISHTILES.CO.NZ WWW.STYLISHTILES.CO.NZ 222 GLENDA DRIVE QUEENSTOWN OUR SERVICES: TILE SUPPLY TILE INSTALLATION SCREEDING UNDER TILE HEATING WATERPROOFING TILE CONCEPT DESIGN TILE MAINTENANCE COMPLIMENTARY SITE MEASURES, QUOTES AND MORE… SUPPLIERS AND INSTALLERS OF PRORCELAIN TILES & STONES. instagram.com/stylish.tiles facebook.com/stylish.tiles archipro.co.nz/professional/stylish-tiles SERVICING QUEENSTOWN LAKES, OTAGO & SOUTHLAND
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=