Best social housing community design for Global Awards shortlisted
LONDON: The shortlist for the best social housing community design has been declared.
Over 250 programmes have been considered by the awards secretariat. One of the finalists in this category is shown above.
The controversial Flagstaff housing development is one of a number of Kāinga Ora’s housing developments around the country facing significant delays due to a range of issues including COVID-19 restrictions, global labour and materials constraints, and bad weather.
The Endeavour Ave build was first announced in 2020 and since then the completion date has been pushed back several times with construction now expected to begin in 2023 and residents expected to move into their new homes in 2024.
At the time of the initial announcement of its plans to build a new community beside the Flagstaff shops, Kāinga Ora said work would begin in 2021.
However a huge outpouring of community resistance to the proposal – particularly over plans to have three-storey high apartment blocks and the large number of houses being squeezed in – forced the housing agency to alter its plans, pushing the start date out again to 2022.
The final development will now comprise 19 two-bedroom, 32 three-bedroom, eight four-bedroom homes and one five-bedroom house, which are all two-storey. It is a mix of public and privately-owned market housing.
A letter sent from Kāinga Ora to the site’s closest neighbours last week confirmed while ground investigations would be carried out this week, the actual construction won’t start until 2023. The development is now not due to be completed until 2024.
The Global Award winner will be announced in December in London. (Globals)
