A Housing New Zealand decision to spend $377 million on prefabricated housing over the next three years will create about 225 new jobs mainly in assembly-line construction.
The state housing agency has decided to buy 500 fully prefabricated houses for infill sections behind existing state houses in Waitakere, North Shore and Manukau for $117 million in the next two years.
It will spend another $260 million on 2000 one- and two-bedroom prefabricated modules that will be added to three-bedroom existing houses to meet a growing need for larger families.
About 500 will be built in the financial year starting this July, 1000 in the following year and 500 the year after that. Three-quarters will be in Auckland and the rest in Christchurch and Wellington. The cost includes renovating existing houses to create new halls or passages so the extra rooms can be added.
Kevin Stanley of Stanley Group, which has completed a pilot for Housing NZ, said the programme would create about 225 new jobs in the industry.
