Building material donation for Mangere church

The Mangere church leant a helping hand earlier this year when it allowed Precision Construction to use the church carpark during construction of the Kāinga Ora Tinkler Place development.

As a show of thanks, Precision Construction and Kāinga Ora have chipped in for some building materials to help the church convert a neighbouring house it owns into a social services centre.

Ifalame Teisi is the operations manager of the Taulanga U Trust, which will operate the centre. He describes the donation as “awesome” and says the church feels “really blessed”.

“Many of our church members are tradespeople, and they’ve volunteered their labour. We have a team carpenters, electricians, plumbers and painters helping with the renovation.”

Ifalame says the trust offers a range of programmes and services, including youth mentoring, school holiday programmes, elderly assistance, mental health services, parenting programmes and other support.

Precision Construction site manager Craig Whittaker says the company was able to set up an office in the church carpark and also store building materials there.

“The church was extremely accommodating throughout the project. They were just so easy and pleasant to deal with.”

Aside from chipping in to buy building materials with Kāinga Ora, Precision also sourced surplus materials from other Precision building sites in the area.

“We were touched by goodwill of the church and wanted to show our appreciation. We’re proud to be contributing towards the community centre, which we know is going to make a real difference.”

The Tinkler Place development comprises two two-bedroom homes and one accessible four-bedroom home. New residents are set to move in shortly.

Meanwhile, the church is already putting the building materials to good use, with work on the community centre well underway.

Pictured above left to right: Precision Construction site manager Craig Whittaker, Kāinga Ora Community Connector Urban Development - Planning John Kumitau, and Taulanga U Trust operations manager Ifalame Teisi