A dramatic home which stretches 60 metres along a hillside overlooking a Waimea Plains vineyard has taken out a supreme building award.
Harris Builders took home the supreme award and four others at this year’s Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast, Registered Master Builders 2016 House of the Year competition.
Jennian Homes Nelson Bays Limited also won four awards.
They won the bronze for the Future-Proof Building new home $500,000-$650,000, the silver award for the Nulook new home $650,000-$1 million category and the gold and category awards for the GIB show home award.
Jason Gardiner Builders Limited won two awards for two Nelson homes to take home gold in the Nulook new home $650,000-$1 million category and silver for the Carters New Home $1-2 million category.
Nelson-based company Hybrid Homes won the sustainable home award for the lifestyle category and also took home the silver award for Nulook new home $650,000-$1 million category.
J Lewis Building won the gold and category awards for the Future-Proof Building New Home $500-$650,000 category for a Nelson property design.
The eight gold award winners from the night will now go on to compete against winners from around the country.
The national gold reserve finalists will fight it out at the supreme awards of the year and renovation of the year gala dinner on November 26 in Auckland.
(The Nelson Mail, Monday, July 25th, 2016)
Shipping container shopping is coming to Nelson in a project to transform a central city site.
Construction is under way on “Kirby Lane” between Bridge Street and New Street, which is expected to be ready for fit-out by retailers in November.
The concept is similar to Christchurch’s successful post-earthquake Re-Start Mall where shipping containers house a diverse range of retail spaces.
It was hoped the Nelson laneway would feature a diverse mix of businesses including local boutiques, craftspeople, artists, clothing stores and eateries with the second level containing office spaces.
Marketed as affordable, the base rent for a space of 14.7 square metres started from $7000 a year.
To keep costs down, tenants will share resources such as toilet facilities, waste disposal areas, and marketing.
Construction was on track with the space expected to be ready for retailers to fit out by November 1 then handed over by December 1.
(The Nelson Mail, Tuesday, July 26th, 2016)
The Trathen’s building is slowly coming down.
Some of the distinctive bay windows of the 93-year-old building were taken out on Monday night leaving the facade looking like it was missing some of its teeth.
Director of Trathen’s Properties Ken Trathen said the back of the building was demolished and he thought everything was on schedule.
The windows have been gifted to the Nelson Provincial Museum.
The building’s fate was decided in August last year when the Trathen’s announced a multimillion-dollar complex would replace the old structure.
The decision came after Nelson City Council required the building to be strengthened for earthquakes or demolished by December 2019.
For 70 years the building housed Trathen’s department store, but it has had untenanted upper levels for 20 years.
The family had looked at retaining the facade, but it would cost more than $1m and require digging 17 metres down without fully mitigating the earthquake risk.
The proposed new building was expected to cost about $2.38m and would feature two restaurant-cafes with outdoor dining on the upper level.
(The Nelson Mail, Wednesday, July 27th, 2016)
Tasman District Council has shaved $12 million from its huge debt in the past year as it stays ahead of its self-imposed rates and debt limits, a new report shows.
However, the council’s debt is still forecast to increase from $129m to $166m by June 2017.
In a pre-election report, chief executive Lindsay McKenzie outlined the council’s financial position, its financial strategy and major projects along with the top six challenges it faces.
In the report, McKenzie said the council was well ahead of its rates and debt limits because it had made ‘‘significant operational savings’’ and spent less on emergency works and cleanups.
Rates increases have been limited to a maximum of 3 per cent a year. For 2016-17, the increase has been set at 1 per cent, down from 2.96 per cent forecast in the Long Term Plan.
While rates increases and debt had been reduced, the council had still allowed for key infrastructure challenges, the mayor said.
In the pre-election report, McKenzie said along with rates and debt, the other key challenges the council faces are water security and supply, growth, natural disasters, and regional opportunities.
Richmond is the largest and fastest growing town in the district with an estimated 15,850 residents at June 2016, followed by Motueka with an estimated 11,850 ward residents.
The district’s total population is an estimated 49,500 residents as of June 2016.
The council has an operating budget of $106m and manages $1.3 billion of assets.
(The Nelson Mail, Wednesday, July 27th, 2016)
Clifton Terrace School is the latest Nelson primary school to reluctantly accept a zoning policy.
An enrolment zone reaching from the end of Glen Rd near Seafield Tce to Atawhai Dr will be instituted at the start of the 2017.
The decision comes after Hampden Street School’s deployment of a zone in April and continued deliberations at Nelson Central School to follow suit.
Clifton Terrace School principal Rob Wemyss has been a staunch opponent of zoning since it was first proposed for several city schools in 2014 but had to ‘‘bite the bullet’’, he said.
It was estimated about 48 current Clifton Terrace pupils would be excluded by the new enrolment scheme.
Wemyss said zoning was particularly disappointing for families in The Wood and the siblings of current pupils who could miss out next year.
He was concerned that school choice in Nelson was ‘‘slowly being curtailed’’ as zoning became more prominent in the city.
(The Nelson Mail, Thursday, July 28th, 2016)
After weeks of quiet, the historic Trathen’s building finally came down last night while bystanders watched on Trafalgar Street.
Heavy machinery reduced the street to one lane so the building could be attacked from the inside and out.
Trathen’s Properties director Ken Trathen said it was an emotional time for the family.
Trathen said watching the building come down was fascinating and although it was an end of an era he was excited for the future.
Built in the early 1920s, the building has the most stylish facade on Trafalgar St but has a National Building Standard rating of only 6 per cent, making it an extremely high earthquake risk.
Formerly home to Trathen’s department store, a leading Nelson retailer for seven decades, it has had untenanted upper levels for 20 years.
The new building was expected to cost around $2.38 million and would feature two restaurant-cafes with outdoor dining on the upper level, extending over the footpath.
Construction is scheduled to start in October.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, July 29th, 2016)
Three new Special Housing Areas (SHAs) for Nelson were approved by Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith yesterday.
The potential for 61 houses across three sites – Haven Road, Wakefield Quay and Farleigh Street – brings the total number of approved SHAs for Nelson to 13 and potential number of SHA homes in the city to 484.
As the final sweep of Cabinet sign-offs in the SHA process, it also solidifies local and central government’s accord for a fast-track method to increase housing supply.
This latest round of gazetting also includes amendments to two existing SHAs.
Tahunanui’s Ocean Lodge development and Barcelona Lofts in Stepneyville have been allowed an extra storey, making each five storeys tall. Speaking at the newlyapproved Haven Road site yesterday, Smith said he understood the Ocean Lodge and approved Farleigh St SHAs were controversial in their communities.
Smith stressed there was no guarantee any approved SHA would proceed as ‘‘someone still needed to come up with the cash’’ for development but said the SHAs were Government’s short-term solution to address inadequate housing stock and rising house prices.
‘‘The Government’s view is that the planning process is too slow and bureaucratic and special housing areas have been created as a mechanism to fast track new development in the short term.’’
The long-term solution was to reform the Resource Management Act ( which SHAs are able to bypass) and focus on a city plan for Nelson that better facilitated housing growth. Reese said that plan was ‘‘in the process of being reviewed’’.
Two proposed SHAs – Saxton and Newman Drive – did not receive Cabinet’s rubber stamp.
Smith said those SHAs would not be approved until council was able to give them its full support.
‘‘The Government has given no consideration to the Saxton or Newman Drive application because they have not yet fulfilled the council’s requirements, and may not,’’ he said.
(The Nelson Mail, Saturday, July 30th, 2016)
Multiple submitters to the draft Moturoa/Rabbit Island Reserve Management Plan have called for forest trails on the western half of Rabbit Island to remain open to the public.
Sport Tasman, Nelson City Council, Nelson Mountain Bike Club and Nelson Tasman Cycle Trail Trust are among the submitters seeking continued public access to the interior of the island. The draft plan includes a proposal to restrict public access to the area.
A single trail is suggested around the coastline along with a shorter loop via Barnicoat Rd. People who wanted to have access to other areas would need to apply for a permit. In a submission, Sport Tasman chief executive Nigel Muir opposes the proposed changes, saying it will limit the usage for the community, particularly families with children, to explore and enjoy smaller circuits in the forest.
Another inclusion in the draft plan that attracted multiple submissions was the possibility of allowing biosolids to be spread on up to 53 hectares of Rough Island.
Submitters against the proposal included Friends of Nelson Haven and Tasman Bay, and mayoral aspirant Maxwell Clark who says nobody ‘‘in a right frame of mind’’ would put biosolids on the island.
The draft plan attracted more than 270 submissions.
A total of 34 submitters are due to be heard at a Tasman District Council hearing on Monday.
(The Nelson Mail, Saturday, July 30th, 2016)
“When someone does something good, applaud!
You will make two people happy”.”
Samuel Goldwyn