Grand Designs NZ: The recycled home made from Real Groovy and an old Wellington wharf

The Mangawhai home is almost entirely made from historic recycled materials. Photo / screenshot

An Auckland couple's dream of building from recycled material transformed the remnants of iconic New Zealand structures into their dream home in Mangawhai.

On this evening's episode of Grand Designs NZ, Patty and Geoff Coley saw through the construction of their home out of timber from an old Wellington wharf, as well as bricks from the old Real Groovy store in Auckland.

The centrepiece of the build was bringing nine enormous trusses made from the timber salvaged from Wellington's Ferry Wharf, which was built in 1894.

Bringing these trusses to the building site leads to some nerve-racking moments as the builders struggle to fit them in like puzzle pieces.

Patty and Geoff also cladded the walls with the 100-year-old bricks from the old Real Groovy store, accentuated by sliding doors made from reclaimed rimu, taken from Wellington's old Whitcoulls store from 1907.

Host Chris Moller says he was inspired by Patty's vision of building a recycled home.

"What excited me about this build is that Patty's vision of recrafting and repurposing these fragments of our history encourages us to celebrate the beauty of these old handcrafted materials from which our county was built," he says.