A new quick and sustainable way of building homes at a low cost hopes to help ease New Zealand's housing woes. Video / Kelly Makiha
Auckland architect Richard Naish has designed a $335,000, three-bedroom sustainable home that can be built in six weeks and built a pilot in Rotorua.
The Living House aims to address housing, cost-of-living, and climate issues with its solar-panelled design.
Rotorua MP Todd McClay praised the project and is raising it with senior ministers.
Suburbs can be built in “weeks, not years” with a new low-cost, fast-build, sustainable housing design, its founder says.
The Living House is the brainchild of Auckland-based architect Richard Naish, whose team has designed a three-bedroom, solar-panelled home costing $335,000, excluding the cost of land.
A pilot home has been built in Rotorua’s Western Heights on Upland Rd and was completed in six weeks.
Naish said he hoped community housing initiatives would pick up the design for future projects and that it could help address New Zealand’s housing woes.
Rotorua MP Todd McClay has praised the design, saying it stands “head and shoulders” above a state project in Rotorua that delivered one-bedroom apartments for $630,000 each.
Naish, the founder of 20-year-old architectural company RTA Studio, said he took three months off during the Covid-19 pandemic to think about “what next?”.
He said affordable and sustainable homes were key themes and he sought solutions for the housing, cost-of-living and climate crises.
Richard Naish says his pre-consented 85sq m three-bedroom design arrives on a truck in a “flatpack style”. Photo / Kelly Makiha
“I felt disappointed in the successive governments’ abilities to deliver affordable housing. There have been so many failures and now there are still 21,000 people on our Housing Register. It is a global disaster.”
Naish said his pre-consented 85sq m three-bedroom design arrived on a truck in a “flatpack style” in 36 modules. Once foundations were ready, they could be put together within six weeks by two or three people.
“It means we can build suburbs in weeks, not years.”
The design uses pre-cut cross-laminated timber from Rotorua’s Red Stag Timber. It has bedrooms, a kitchen, a living and dining area and a large laundry and bathroom.
Costs are saved by having few add-ons, such as wardrobes and storage areas, able to be added by buyers later.
Compacting labour expenses also saved costs. Naish said most homes were 40% labour, but his design was 10% as many of the regular trades jobs weren’t required.
The kitchen – consisting of a cooktop, oven, rangehood and dishwasher – arrives in one unit and is connected through a hole in the floor.
Lighting and power are connected through the floor and installed in one unit that attaches to the wall, avoiding the costs of in-wall wiring.
The home cost includes solar panels, inverter, solar hot water, heat pump, flooring, lighting and carpets.
Foundations, decks and gardens were additional and buyers could choose from a range of colour schemes, but could not alter the plans by adding extra windows or walls.
Naish presented the Living House concept at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore last year after it was shortlisted in the future housing category.
His company then bought the Rotorua section for the pilot.
Naish said he chose Rotorua as the region had housing issues, was close to Auckland and was home to key players Scion, which offered advice on timber technology, and Red Stag.
He said the pilot home would be sold at cost to a local family through Rotorua Lakes Council and iwi groups.
Naish said the Living House was not a “silver bullet” for New Zealand’s housing crisis as the cost of land was still a major issue and a three-bedroom home was not fit for all purposes.
“Hearing daily news stories about kids living in cars and motels was a strong motivation to design a family home.”
He said while the home was designed to help get people out of motels and cars, it was available to anyone including bach builders or first-home buyers.
McClay said he was “hugely impressed” by the housing project, especially the cost.
“It stands head and shoulders above what Kāinga Ora has done in our city over previous years.”
He said the cost of the last Government’s “container-style” homes in Rotorua was “still incomprehensible”.
One of these four single-bedroom apartments cost $630,000 to build, excluding land. Photo / Kelly Makiha
The Rotorua Daily Post revealed in February the 12 one-bedroom apartments on the corner of Ranolf St and Malfroy Rd cost more than $630,000 each to build, excluding the cost of land.
Kāinga Ora said completed one-bedroom units usually cost between $325,000 and $520,000 each to build.
It said in response to cost criticism at the time the Rotorua apartments’ cost reflected the price of the off-site manufactured units, including all transportation, infrastructure, foundations and on-site construction work.
These were chosen because of a lack of capacity in the New Zealand market at the time, Kāinga Ora said.
McClay said the Government had signalled a willingness to work with community groups and the private sector in Rotorua to build homes at a reasonable cost.
“I congratulate all those involved for their hard work and will make sure senior ministers are aware of this accomplishment.”
Housing Minister Chris Bishop said that in his position he did not endorse particular products or houses.
A Ministry of Housing and Urban Development spokesperson said it contracted Community Housing Providers to procure housing directly.
The spokesperson said $140 million was allocated in last year’s budget for 1500 new social housing places, over the next two financial years to be operated by community housing providers.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
