Monthly Archives: February 2016

Co-Housing New Zealand – a new national network

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co-housingnzOver 30 years ago I lived in a community at St Pauls Anglican Vicarage.  Tim Gummer was one of those people, and we have recently reconnected around contemporary Co-Housing in New Zealand – what goes around comes around it seems.

Tim is behind a small group in Auckland, and set up a facebook group.

In late December he set up a website http://cohousing.org.nz/ to help develop an ecosystem for communities in New Zealand to connect and develop, as a new generation of cohousing emerges here.

It’s early days for the site but like a few properties it’s… ‘full of potential’. Check out http://cohousing.org.nz/communities to see a wide range of formative communities: rural &urban, small &large, site hunting & secured. You might just find a project you want to be part of.  The Viva Community and the New Brighton Sustainable Coastal Village are both there.

Watch their space http://cohousing.org.nz/

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Actual Costs of Building Affordable Homes

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There’s lots of talk of why affordable housing is so difficult.  The costs of land and construction are often thrown about as contributing to house prices rising way beyond affordability.

beacon pathwayYet much of those costs are based on anecdote or, at best, modeled information.  What about actual empirical evidence?

Beacon and NZIER have set out to rectify this.

graphUsing the actual costs of 69 affordable and social houses build in Auckland in 2015, we’ve built a Cost Tower.  This divides costs into 7 categories: Land cost; Land development & infrastructure costs; Professional fees; Construction costs; Council and consenting costs;  Finance, valuation and real estate costs; GST.

The Cost Tower shows where the biggest costs fall (Land and construction) and therefore where the biggest impact of reducing costs will be.  Large variances between top and bottom quartiles show there is considerable room for improvement.  Why are some houses built for so much less than others?  That’s a question the Cost Tower will help builders and developers explore.

Cost tower: Construction costs of social and affordable houses, Auckland 2015

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About Beacon

Beacon offers a range of services and expertise to other organisations sharing the same journey toward transforming New Zealand’s houses and neighbourhoods.

With an extensive knowledge base from our five year government research contract, and experience in numerous collaborative demonstration projects, we have a lot to offer.

Whether you want expert advice, have an idea for a demonstration project that needs developing, or want to tap into our network, we can help!