Students embark on Homestar 7 renovation
The house in its home for the year. It will be renovated and auctioned in situ before being moved to its final destination.
One Tree Hill College Deputy Principal Terry Kimiangatau addresses attendees at the welcome event in June.
The evening was complemented by a barbecue and a mix-and-mingle for representatives from sponsors, teachers, and students.
In a nationwide first, One Tree Hill College’s Trade Academy is offering a new real-world method of learning — by supporting students to carry out an ambitious renovation of an ex-state house.
As part of Kāinga Ora’s Mangere Development, the nation’s urban development authority is replacing swathes of our state housing stock. A 1970s state house from Lavinia Crescent (in what is soon to become the suburb of Aorere) has been redirected from that great ‘suburb-in-the-sky’, finding itself instead trucked into a fringe patch of grass on a secondary school campus to await a new, industry-leading lease on life.
Originally self-funded, the project was supported by Kāinga Ora after it occurred to the teaching team that one of the many houses coming out of neighbourhood redevelopments could be repurposed. “Where a house can be relocated, we prefer to try and do so, especially when prioritising education,” said Nigel Chandra of Kāinga Ora at a June 6th event held by the school to herald the house’s arrival. The house was ‘sold’ to the school for the symbolic sum of $1, with the authority covering the costs of moving it to its metaphorical operating room.
BCITO (who have a longstanding relationship with the school’s Trade Academy) school liaison Tess Coles says the project is “much more relevant, [and] gets them [students] in contact with suppliers … they can see what it’s like in the real world.” NCEA Level 2 and 3 pre-trade students will also be working towards NZGBC’s Homestar 7 certification. Head of One Tree Hill College Trade Academy Charlotte McKeon (also an architecture student at Te Pare School of Architecture and Planning) said in an interview with the AM Show: “ students are not only learning about the building code, but also working with practices that exceed it.”
ArchitectureNow will return to the project post-transformation. Once complete, the house will go to auction in December (fingers and toes crossed) — Stephen Smith of Barfoot & Thompson Ellerslie is looking forward to it: “the only thing comparable really is something like ‘The Block’ houses.”
Arguably though, this project has far more to offer us than mere weeknight entertainment.
Sponsors: Kāinga Ora, BCITO, PlaceMakers, Woods Glass, NZGBC, Mammoth, VIRIDI Engineering, Simx, Gracely, Proconsult, Paslode, FNC Designs, Kohler, Green Gorilla, AS Scaffolding, ITI NZ, Super Fence, James Hardie, GIB, Women in Trades, Rotary Club of Penrose, Hargraves Homes, ECKO, TR Building Removals, Daikin, Peter Hay Kitchens, Construction Mangement Group, Englefield.
