Gowerton’s nearly ready

We’re opening new homes for more than 40 people to call home in Richmond.

ŌCHT opens 37 new homes in Richmond this Friday (December 10, 2021).

Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust will officially open Gowerton Place this Friday, ending a journey that started with the Canterbury quakes.

The 37 new homes are built on the site of the old, 30-unit Gowerton Place community housing complex.

The then-Christchurch City Council-owned complex was already 50-years-old when it was damaged in the 2011-12 quakes.

The complex and the land were transferred to the Trust when it was established in 2016. The homes were identified for renewal.

All homes have open plan kitchens and plenty of light.

The site was cleared at the end of last year for contractor Consortium to turn Gravity Architecture’s plans into a community.

The frames and roofing were up by May and the 34 one-bedroom units, and one each of 2-bed, 3-bed and 4-bed units, took shape.

The two-storey, 4-bedroom home stands alone at the top of the site. The other homes are spread across five, two storey blocks.

The homes all face a large communal area that includes car parks, green space, a pergola and raised vegetable garden beds.

The communal spaces are landscaped and open.

The inside boundary is marked by a plant-lined creek. On the other side are council-owned and ŌCHT-managed Whakahoa Village and homes owned by Kāinaga Ora.

The Gowerton Place homes are all designed to achieve the New Zealand Green Building Council Homestar 6 rating.

Their resource-efficient layouts provide well-insulated, high performing thermal envelopes; they will be comfortable and efficient to run.

With Gowerton Place, ŌCHT will have opened 123 new homes this year. Another 33 are due early next year at Coles Place, St Albans.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development supports the development. Tenants will come from the Public Housing Register.

There were 1755 people on the register at the end of the June quarter this year. There were 1233 in the same quarter in 2020.

Shared, raised vegetable garden beds are set into the communal space.