The work value of building consents is up. Photo / File
The work value of building consents is up. Photo / File
Consents worth more than $12 million were issued in Rotorua last month, up significantly on last year.
Twelve commercial consents were issued in August with a total value of $2.5m, compared with eight consents values at $1.4m last year.
While the number of residential consents issued in August was downslightly (111 issued in August last year and 101 this year) the work value increased from $7.6m in 2018 and $9.6m in 2019.
The largest commercial consent was issued to TPB Holdings Ltd for exterior cladding and internal services to the tune of $1m.
Tony Bradley from TPB Holdings said the cladding and internal work was being done at a multimillion-dollar, architecturally-designed, three-storey building on Fenton St.
"The consent was done in two stages and this is the second stage," Bradley said.
Property developer Tony Bradley. Photo / File
He said the build was going well and was on track to be closed in by the end of the year.
"Once you get out the ground, once the foundation work has been done, things get a lot easier. We're just out of the ground so I'd expect things to go faster from here."
A total of $600,000 will be spent on the refurbishment of bathrooms following consent issued to Millennium and Copthorne Hotels New Zealand Ltd and $450,000 on alterations to an existing fit-out by Antor Corporation Ltd.
There were 18 new dwelling consents for 29 dwellings issued for the month of August with a total work value of $7.9m.
Rotorua Masterbuilders Association President Bill Clement said the consents provided a "fairly good" snapshot of what was happening in Rotorua.
Rotorua Registered Master Builders Association president Bill Clement. Photo / File
"Summer is just around the corner so you'd expect applications for consents to be going in about now," Clement said. "It's a lot nicer tackling work in the summer than in the winter.
"As far as residential consents go, while there may not necessarily be a lot of new homes going up, there are a lot of people doing alterations, extensions and even smaller things like putting in new fireplaces."
Clement said it was fair to say there was "quite a bit" going on within the commercial sector.
"Again you'd expect to see that going into summer," he said
"Overall things seem to be going well in Rotorua. We still need more land and that's something we need to work on."
Rotorua property developer Ray Cook said consents needed to be compared for a 12-month period as opposed to month-by-month.
Developer Ray Cook.
"Some consents are lodged well in advance before work being carried out so what the figures show may not be what is happening right now," Cook said.
"One big job can make a big difference in a month but, if you balance out the consents over 12 months, you might find the numbers will balance out year-on-year."
