150 new homes coming soon
In Flaxmere, Hastings District Council is making steady progress to prepare Council-owned land for 150 new top-quality and affordable homes with civil construction work set to get underway early 2022. Recently, Council put out the call for developers with the necessary track record, experience, capability and capacity to submit formal proposals to build the houses at three sites, once the civil construction works are complete from 2023:
- 30 Swansea Rd (behind the Flaxmere Village shops)
- 244 Flaxmere Ave
- 72 Caernarvon Dr (next to the Flaxmere College sports fields)
The design of these new homes will follow best practice urban design and subdivision guidelines. The new subdivisions will include trees, indented parking and modern street lighting.
If you're keen to buy one of these Flaxmere homes, register your interest here.
If you just want to be kept in the loop about Flaxmere housing, sign up to our newsletter here.
Info for local trades people
Te hunga kāinga e āwhina nei ki te whakatū kāinga ki Pāharakeke - Locals helping to build Flaxmere homes.
When securing goods and services, Hastings District Council is guided by its progressive procurement strategy that is focused not just on price, but also on wider environmental, cultural and social outcomes, such as training and employment opportunities.
It is Council’s expectation that the preferred developer(s), wherever suitable, will use qualified and capable Pāharakeke-based and/or local trades, contactors, subcontractors and businesses (including training/apprentice pathways). The final decision, however, will be made by the developer (s).
For tradespeople who have registered to be considered for this work, now is a good time to start preparing. Find out more about support agencies who can help.
Q&As
Please select from the list below
- 244 Flaxmere Avenue (PDF | 1.9 MB)
- 30 Swansea Road (behind the Flaxmere Village shops) (PDF | 11 MB)
- 72 Caernarvon Drive (next to the Flaxmere College sports fields) (PDF | 1.1 MB)
At 244 Flaxmere Avenue (about 45 homes)
Behind the Flaxmere Village Shops (about 40 homes)
Next to the Flaxmere College sports fields (about 60 homes)
The exact number of homes in each area will depend on the final detailed design.
At 244 Flaxmere Avenue – end 2022
Behind the Flaxmere Village Shops – mid 2023
Next to the Flaxmere College sports fields - end of 2023
The time between now and then will be spent laying pipes for drinking water, storm water and waste water, putting in other infrastructure like power, building roads, and finalising who will build the homes and what those houses will look like.
Because Hastings District Council owns the land, it can put rules around the types of homes that can be built on them. The homes will have to be minimum six-star rated, which means they must exceed the standards set in the New Zealand Building Code. That means they will be, warm, weathertight and energy-efficient.
When the new Tarbet St sections (also Council-owned) were sold to first home buyers, the new owners had to agree to using brick, tile and aluminium joinery (meaning they will be warm and weather-tight, and to minimum garaging and outdoor areas. A similar formula will be used for the next three areas.
Council has a number of ways it can make this happen. In Tarbet St, the sections were only sold to people who did not already own a home (so first home buyer/people renting), and the new owners had to agree to live in them for a minimum of five years. Those conditions meant landlords and developers could not buy them. The buyers still needed to have an income that meant they could get a loan from a bank and pay it off.
With the next three developments (above), Council is talking to charitable housing trusts. They help low-income families to buy their own home so they don’t need to borrow so much money from a bank. There are various options, e.g. shared ownership (the trust owns the house with the family) or rent-to-own (the family pays rent with part of the rent paying off the home). The three new developments will have a mix of options.
