- Hon Dr Megan Woods
The regeneration of a landmark location on the fringe of Wellington's CBD will provide warm, dry public homes for an estimated 900 families and individuals, the Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods announced today.
This confirms $296 million of the Government's public housing funding is supporting the delivery of the Arlington Development in Mt Cook, Wellington with infrastructure work underway, following decontamination of the site.
"This is a significant milestone for the construction of around 300 new homes for public housing, plus shared amenities such as a playground, community gardens and rooms, offices, and orchards in the heart of central Wellington," Megan Woods said.
"This is what new 21st Century public housing looks like: warm, dry homes in developments that are designed to create and nurture communities, while connecting them with their immediate environment.
"All these homes will be built to Homestar6 standards, meaning they will be energy efficient with high standards of sustainability around construction materials and waste," Megan Woods said.
The 17,000m2 site is Kāinga Ora's largest in the country and will consist of 16 buildings, ranging from town houses through to six-storey light-engineered timber apartment blocks.
Architectural lead Designgroup Stapleton Elliott have woven cultural narratives developed by local iwi alongside regeneration and urban design. The development replaces the 1970's high-rise Arlington Apartment building that was deemed about a decade ago, to be no longer fit for purpose.
"This site and area have a rich history of social housing and a strong sense of community. This new development allows for shared amenities from orchards and gardens through to the community centre and public park at the heart of the development to help residents build a sense of belonging, pride and connection with their homes and wider community," Megan Woods said.
Kāinga Ora entered into an agreement with Wellington City Council in 2019 to lease, develop and maintain the site for 125 years. Since then, all previous buildings have been demolished and main infrastructure work has been underway.
All of the homes will be public housing to help address the increasing demand in the region.
Construction of the homes will create employment and training opportunities, providing further economic stimulus to the local and national economy. Up to 7.5% of construction funding will be allocated to priority businesses, including Māori and Pacific led local businesses or social enterprises.
The use of light-engineered timber will also see significant reduction in carbon emissions and enables the use off-site manufacturing (OSM) for portions of the build.
"The adaptability of OSM means this build method tackles some of the major challenges facing the residential construction sector, such as reducing construction time, cost, sustainability, health and safety, and skills and materials shortages" says Minister Woods.
Construction of the first set of 16 blocks is scheduled to start later this year and completion of the homes will be staged between 2023 and 2025.
Note for Editors
- Confirmed funding for Arlington is $296 million, including approx. $50 m for site decontamination/remediation, infrastructure, construction of the new homes and communal amenities.
- Employment and training opportunities for 40 apprentices and four new graduates with at least 50% of these roles for those who identify as Māori, Pacific and women or Kāinga ora customers.
- Arlington is one of 16 Kāinga Ora development sites underway in Wellington City. Key developments include 80 homes at Rolleston St due for completion in 2023 and 80 new homes at Evans Bay to replace 20 old ones.
- Offsite manufacturing (OSM) is increasing across the build programme to provide more quality homes at a faster rate, and with the best outcomes for people and whānau, communities, and the construction industry. See Transforming construction through innovation; our offsite manufacturing plan.
- The Homestar programme rates density and resource efficiency; energy, health and comfort; water; waste; management; materials; site, adding up to a total of 120 points. There are mandatory minimum performance levels for key attributes: Thermal performance, fixed heating source, water efficiency, ventilation and moisture minimisation. More information at the New Zealand Green Building Council website.
- Since November 2017, this Government has delivered 8,787 new homes, of which 7,043 are new builds. More info on the Housing Dashboard.
