Kauri Place development brings joy to all

Marie (pictured above) and Fred met with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as she opened one of our largest completed housing projects outside of New Zealand’s main centres this week.

The 40 new warm, dry homes in Kauri Place, Hastings are fully tenanted and are already transforming people’s lives. They are helping to get people out of of cars, motels, garages and other unsuitable living spaces so that they can focus on the future.

The homes are a mix of single story, two-storey and duplex designed in collaboration with iwi and Hastings District Council, using a place-based approach. This approach is all about building up a better understanding of the most important issues for the local area and using this information to build thriving communities at scale and pace.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Fred

The 40 homes were completed in July this year, 20 months after construction started, - a significant achievement given the challenges posed by COVID delays and supply chain pressure. Minister of Housing and Urban Design, Megan Woods, Ikaroa-Rawhiti MP Meka Whatiri and Ngāti Kahungunu Chair Bayden Barber also spoke in support of the development and the impact it is already having on the Hastings community.

Penny Homes built 23 of the homes in Kauri Street and Mike Greer Homes built 17 of the homes in Kauri Place. Approximately 95% of those who worked on the site were local people which shows how projects like these are growing the region’s capacity and capability to deliver large residential developments to a high quality and at pace.

Kauri Place is just one of the Kāinga Ora housing developments completed as part of the Hastings Place Based housing plan. We have delivered 254 new public homes, including redeveloping 60 existing older homes, which were no longer fit for purpose and we have another 127 public homes and six supported homes in progress.

Kāinga Ora is working alongside iwi, Councils, local organisations and build partners. We all have the same goal – to share resources and develop a practical plan to address the housing needs. More than 600 houses are projected to be built by 2023 between all partners to the plan.

The development boasts a palette of colourful homes. A reference group drawn from Iwi representatives, St Mary’s School and Mahora Primary School, Hastings City Council and Kāinga Ora, met with architects working on the homes’ design.

Inspiration was taken from the longstanding name of the street and place – Kauri. Colours of the Kauri tree (trunk, leaves and nuts) and its frequent visitor the Kereru pointed the way to a harmonious colour scheme used in the development. Manu whenua also gifted the name of a new access way created by the development. Ohika Crescent references back to the old Māori name for the land in that area – Ohika Block.

Kauri Street and Kauri Place development