Pure Advantage to Deliver Affordable Housing for NZ

Pure Advantage to Deliver High-Performance Affordable Housing for NZ

Pure Advantage is seeking expressions of interest to build more affordable, greener new homes in off-site manufacturing pilot

Auckland, 12 February 2014 – Pure Advantage announced today that it is issuing a Request for Expressions of Interest for an at-scale pilot project to deliver high performance, affordable residential housing using off-site manufacturing techniques.

The pilot project which is believed to be the first of its kind in New Zealand will be based in the Christchurch area. Pure Advantage particularly wants to hear from any interested companies that deploy domestically-based manufacturing of building components using a local workforce, as well as nationally-sourced material.

Pure Advantage CEO Duncan Stewart says as a result of its extensive consultation and research, Pure Advantage identified sustainable housing among seven key green growth opportunities for New Zealand and has since been working with industry experts and corporate leader Kiwibank on a commercial solution.

Stewart adds that Pure Advantage asked building industry experts a key question – ‘if New Zealand has understood the health, welfare, environmental and economic benefits of affordable, sustainable housing for many years why has the country has failed to build any significant volumes?

“The answer is a complex one that included financial and legal risk, regulatory barriers and other market conditions which results in very little incentive for innovation and improvement. However the Home Advantage workstream has identified that the off-site manufacture of affordable, sustainable homes will be a key disruptive opportunity to deliver much better outcomes for the New Zealand housing market.”

“We now know that with the support of funding partners, we can not only potentially offer mortgages to homeowners but also finance the off-site manufacture builders themselves to help upscale their operations. Our intention is to deliver an at-scale pilot development of 300-500 homes to prove the business model and kick start the off-site manufacture industry.”

Copies of the Request for Expressions of Interest can be obtained by emailing info@pureadvantage.org. Responses are due Friday, 21 February at 5:00pm.

Key partners in the Home Advantage Group include Hobsonville Land Company, Auckland Council, Building and Construction Productivity Partnership, Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment, and Beacon Pathway.

About Pure Advantage:
Pure Advantage is a not-for-profit entity comprised of business leaders who are passionate about ensuring that New Zealand becomes a greener, wealthier nation. Our aim is to articulate the green growth vision, provide a credible business case and deliver an ambitious green growth strategy for New Zealand. In doing so, we aim to enlist leaders from businesses, communities, iwi and government.

We strongly believe that the private sector, in partnership with government, can drive a new green direction for New Zealand's economy. Pure Advantage is focused on galvanising industry but we also recognise the role of government.

Underpinning our strategy going forward is the need for robust economic research that demonstrates the scale of the challenges and opportunities that we face.

Join us in improving the economy, environment and living standards of all New Zealanders, visit our website www.pureadvantage.org.

ENDS

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