Ngā Kāinga Anamata - Homes of the Future

The project was gifted its name, meaning ‘homes of the future’ to reflect its aspiration of building tomorrow’s houses today, while maintaining a cultural lens and links to core Māori values.

The core focus of Ngā Kāinga Anamata is to achieve the Government’s 2030 carbon emission targets by 2024, sharing insights and influencing change in New Zealand’s built environment.

The project will deliver 30 new homes within five, three-level apartment buildings in Auckland’s Glendowie. Each near identical building will use a different construction technology, enabling sustainability insights to be gathered on a range of building materials and systems.

Each building will achieve significantly reduced carbon and energy outputs; achieving both Passive House standard and net zero energy.

Industry leadership

Ngā Kāinga Anamata seeks to resolve many underlying problems with the housing sector in Aotearoa New Zealand and is the start of a national response to climate change mitigation in the built environment.

Initiatives such as rooftop photovoltaic panels have been critical in slashing the buildings’ lifecycle carbon emissions

A dedicated public housing development, the project will achieve MBIE’s Building for Climate Change proposed 2030 final operational efficiency cap by 2024; six years ahead of expectation.

Focusing on the ‘trifecta’ has been critical in slashing the buildings’ lifecycle carbon emissions to a fraction of those in a traditional New Zealand home. The trifecta includes:

1. Low carbon materials
2. Operational energy efficient solutions
3. Local renewable energy generation

Construction and monitoring of these buildings will help Kāinga Ora understand the overall cost and benefits of low-carbon public housing, and report our insights back to the industry.

Project snapshot

Ngā Kāinga Anamata makes up a large part of the Cranbrook and Crossfield development, accounting for 30 of the 40 new warm, dry homes to be delivered on site.

Full development snapshot:

• Corner of Cranbrook Place and Crossfield Road, Glendowie
• 5,569 sqm site
• 8 older state homes replaced with 40 new warm, dry homes:
• 5 x three storey walk-ups (30 x 2-bedroom apartments) - Ngā Kāinga Anamata
• 1 x three storey building with elevator (8 x 3-bedroom apartments)
• 2 x three-bedroom townhouses
• A community room

Ngā Kāinga Anamata snapshot:

• 5 x three storey walk-up buildings, each using a different construction method:
  • Heavy timber/cross laminated timer (CLT)
  • Light timber frame (LTF)
  • Precast concrete
  • Light gauge steel
  • Hybrid CLT and LTF
• 30 x 2-bedroom apartments
• Expected timeline: Q1 2022 – mid-2024

Ngā Kāinga Anamata also aims to address biodiversity loss, actively protecting, restoring and supporting local ecosystems. Planned native biodiversity corridors and large pockets of regenerated native forest will provide a network of plant life supporting insects, birds and other animals so they can co-exist and thrive alongside the new development.

Ngā Kāinga Anamata aims to address biodiversity loss, actively protecting, restoring and supporting local ecosystems

In November 2021, Ngā Kāinga Anamata was selected among 17 global sustainability initiatives to feature on the world stage at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26). Successful projects were identified as making an immediate positive impact on both the planet and people’s lives, outcomes that are critically important to Kāinga Ora as a major property developer and public housing landlord.

Check out the 'Build Better Now' virtual pavilion(external link).

For more information on the project and the commitment by Kāinga Ora to be part of the climate change solution watch the videos below: