Bowled over by sustainable vibe

Vert, cnr Hamilton & Jervois Rds, Herne Bay. Photo/Ted Baghurst

VERT APARTMENTS, CNR HAMILTON AND JERVOIS RDS, HERNE BAY

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ON OFFER: Seven freehold, single-level apartments in the 15-unit Vert development. A mix of two-bedroom apartments with studies plus one three-bedroom penthouse apartment with study. Each has one or two en suites, guest toilet, separate laundry and either two garages or two car parks. All have individual air conditioning, sizes from 117sq m to 207sq m.

SIZE: Varies from 117sq m to 207sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: $1,695,000 to $3,190,000. Body corp estimated at $4700 to $9450 a year.

INSPECT: Sat 3-4pm.

ON THE WEB: vert.co.nz

CONTACT: Patrick McCarthy, Up Real Estate, ph 0272 333 988.

FEATURES: Air conditioning, guest toilets. *Study.

Architect Kerry Avery has been designing apartments for 20 years for people who'd said they'd never leave their traditional family homes. That was, until they'd seen the same spatial and lifestyle features packed up in modern materials and handed to them on a floor plan designed for a more integrated style of living.

"We give them a high stud, full-height doors and lots of storage and then they're interested," Kerry explains, walking through the display suite of this 15-unit, three-storey development of single-level apartments on the Herne Bay ridge line.

This Avery Team Architects/Location Group collaboration is known as Vert, which is French for "green" and the green attitude surrounding these apartments. Its nod to sustainability is due, in part, to its location on subdivided land previously owned by Ponsonby Bowling Club.

This apartment complex, with harbour and urban views, freehold titles and Jervois Rd and Hamilton Rd street addresses, stands beside the club's new clubrooms, on its own title, also under construction on the site of its original 1890s timber building at 105A Jervois Rd.

But more than complementary design unites these two entities. At the heart of these perimeter buildings are the club's private lawn bowling greens next to the apartments and the all-weather synthetic bowling greens directly behind the clubrooms.

The lawn greens and perimeter gardens that will be irrigated by recycled rainwater are important features of the development, says Avery. "Here, we're using the greens and the landscaping as the level of separation from neighbouring properties and it's a compatible use."

Developer Mark Weipers, of Location Group, describes the 35m wide lawn from the Jervois Rd apartment terraces to the neighbouring tree-lined Hamilton Rd homes as "a unique offering". He adds, "It is a space protected in perpetuity. No-one will be allowed to build on it."

Six of the apartments will have their entry at 105 Jervois Rd, six at 107 Jervois Rd and three at 1 Hamilton Rd. Their exterior cladding is a mix of terracotta "rain screen" panels over waterproofing and insulation, composite metal panels, and floor-to-ceiling laminated double or triple glazing for solar and noise control.

Throughout the apartments, the 2.7m stud enhances the open-plan living spaces that lead to tiled balconies with motorised aluminium overhead louvres and terracotta adjustable vertical louvres where appropriate.

The first eight buyers chose their interior palettes from a selection that included 12 granites, 20 quartz options, ceramic tiles and wool and solution-dyed carpets, says Avery.

From their choices in a variety of finishes in black, white and soft grey neutral tones, Mark and Kerry chose the schemes for the remaining seven apartments.

The ground floor display suite showcases one example with materials that include 80mm-thick engineered quartz kitchen benches, 2mm-thick white high-gloss laser-edge polymer kitchen cabinetry, European appliances and New Zealand-made, laminated, lime-washed American oak bathroom and laundry cabinetry.

Image 1 of 4: Vert apartments in Herne Bay offer a 'green' indoors, and a smooth green right outside

The free-standing bath is enamel and the threshold between the wet rooms -- the bathrooms and the laundry -- into the carpeted/tiled areas is Atlantic granite.

In the lounge is a framed space for a wall-mounted TV set above an electric fire.

In the basement, near the garaging and storage units, is a wet bay for washing cars with stored rainwater.

Throughout, these "green" elements showcase a project that comes complete with an agreed Code of Conduct between the body corporate and the bowling club for the likes of hours of operation, designed to make this unique snapshot of neighbourhood living a lifestyle option with a difference for those downsizing into a style-appropriate near-city vibe.