Communities win city award

Our most ambitious development so far is now an award winner.

Hoiho Lane was the last of three communities to open in ŌCHT’s 90-home Brougham St development.

Our Brougham St development is the first of its kind to receive a Christchurch Civic Trust Award since the awards started 44 years ago.

The Trust has been awarding projects that enhance the heritage and environmental values of the city since 1977.

It has awarded the best in high-spec new builds and heritage restorations, and in community and civic projects.

Now, it has recognised the city’s biggest single community housing development since the 2010/11 Canterbury quakes.

ŌCHT’s received a “Category A” award for our 90-home Brougham St development.

A Category A award is open to projects that “made a material and beneficial change to the city environment, involving either development on a new site or re-development of an existing site or structure”.

The citation says our award “recognises the social enterprise in re-establishing a community housing amenity in Sydenham that is environmentally sustainable”.

The Civic Trust delved into the South by Southeast Architects-designed development’s past as it explained why it deserved an award.

Built by Southbase Construction, it replaced Brougham Village, the Christchurch City Council-owned complex demolished in the wake of the 2010/11 Canterbury earthquakes.

The complex was transferred to ŌCHT after the Trust was established in 2016. Its redevelopment was supported by a council loan.

The Civic Trust notes ŌCHT approached the development with its objective of providing warm, dry, healthy housing in mind.

Accordingly, the Brougham St development was designed to achieve the New Zealand Green Building Council’s Homestar 7 standard.

Homes on Korimako Lane opened in January, 2021.

It set out to build “a safe and environmentally sustainable amenity with green spaces, safe areas for children to play and communal gardens”.

“In its construction there has also been consideration of the safety and longevity of materials,” the citation reads.

“The attention to window location, insulation and heat recovery systems has contributed to making the homes as energy efficient as possible.

“The brick cladding was deliberately chosen to fit with both residential and industrial buildings in the area.”

Open-plan living areas maximise the positive thermal impact of the sun.

ŌCHT chief executive Cate Kearney says the award is a nice acknowledgement for a project that, ultimately, has sustainable tenancies at its heart.

The project team actively sought ideas from tenants and ŌCHT staff, and re-examined existing complexes, as part of the design process.

They wanted to know what worked and did not work in the past, to develop socially and environmentally sustainable communities.

There were many elements to the design, over-and-above the need to achieve a high Homestar rating.

Communal vegetable gardens punctuate shared green spaces.

“The homes reflect the industrial, commercial and residential buildings in the area, and modern design elsewhere in the suburb and the rest of our city,” Cate says.

“We really wanted the project to show what community housing can be, not what it used to be.”

Achieving a Homestar 7 rating was good for the development and for the communities it’ll support.

“We want our communities to be sustainable, to encourage sustainable tenancies and to help people enjoy great, cost-effective homes that set new standards.

Southbase Construction delivered the South By Southeast Architects-designed project for ŌCHT.

“We’re building for the long-term – we want these homes to be great homes for decades to come.”

One hundred and fifteen people now live in the three interconnected communities of 1-4 bedroom homes that comprise the development.

The first community, Korimako Lane, opened in January 2021. Karoro Lane opened in April 2021 and Hoiho Lane opened in July, 2021.