• PROJECT Christchurch Temporary Housing
  • LOCATION South Island
  • SECTOR Residential
  • Client Department of Building & Housing
  • Duration Apr 2011 - Sep 2011
  • Value $19 million
Following the Canterbury Earthquakes, Hawkins partnered with Spanbild Holdings and Fulton Hogan to deliver 64 temporary homes for displaced families, providing a complete solution to the immediate housing shortage caused by damage to residential property in Canterbury.

Forty two dwellings were delivered in Linwood Park and twenty two in Kaiapoi Domain. The dwellings ranged from one to four bedrooms.

Hawkins and our JV partners provided a comprehensive proposal to the Department of Building and Housing (now Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)), with a complete solution to issues raised in a request for proposal to provide imminent temporary accommodation. Our team provided a subdivision type design, with a range of housing options which are semi-permanent and will be removed from site at a later date.

Careful consideration into the foundations and building fabric was required to meet the temporary nature of the development, however the modern, insulated and efficient buildings provide a ‘home away from home’ for families waiting on the repair or rebuild of their homes.

Rapid production and assembly was required to meet anticipated demand from local residents. As such, the houses were built in clusters and work was precision timed. Logistics and planning were key elements and it became a production line, with four houses being started every day.

The house designs were submitted to MBIE for a multiproof consent, eliminating the need for each dwelling to be audited for building consent compliance individually. Each house has it’s own building consent and code compliance certificate which enables the houses to be relocated at a later date.

Hawkins worked with Christchurch City Council in an audit based inspection system rather than scheduled inspections which enabled the 64 dwellings to be completed to meet an extremely challenging programme.

The 22 homes in Kaiapoi were completed in eight weeks (44 days) using a total of 12,011 man hours. This equated to two days per house.

The 42 homes in Linwood were completed in 13 weeks (67 days) with a total of 24,197 man hours. This equated to 1.6 days per house.

One of the real successes of the project was the ability of the Hawkins, Spanbild and Fulton Hogan teams to work together to deliver the best result for the community in a very short time frame.

In addition, Hawkins carried out the relocation of 20 temporary houses plus associated roading and services as a community housing project at Rawhiti Domain for the earthquake rebuilding of affected people and families in mid-2012.

Hawkins also worked with MBIE to deliver permanent accommodation in Rangers Park. This project involved the provision of 18 homes and 22 apartments, with the intention they would be used as temporary accommodation for earthquake displaced residents, and then sold as the demand for temporary accommodation reduces.