Property & Construction | Prefab NZ/HIVE Unique timber homes Peter Tucker of Unique Timber Homes Ltd became a Touchwood building partner three years ago, initially in the Bay Of Plenty and took on the opportunity to work with Touchwood in Canterbury. Both parties saw this as a chance to be involved in the rebuild of the city using “solid wood” as the eminently suitable and sustainable material for the job. “Having experienced the devastation first hand of the February 22 Earthquake, I felt that my experience and knowledge of building, and in particular the Touchwood product would be a practical solution to providing an alternative housing package to the people of Canterbury,” Tucker explains.
Team: Hybrid Homes and Living House: Ekokit – Toi Toi design
feature rooms that can be relocated in design phase, to clip together to give you a home that suits your requirements and your site. Hybrid Homes and Living was formed in 2004, This standard-based approach also allows the designs to be built in phases – you can grow when founders Jamie and Natalia Harrington from a one bedroom to a three bedroom started searching for their new home. They wanted a modern home in a city environment home as your requirements and or that was eco-friendly, self-sufficient and future budget change. proofed. They soon realised that the only way The frames and trusses are prefabricated from to get what they wanted was to design and local materials in Nelson and shipped to site build their own home. Through this process for assembly by your nominated licensed the passion for sustainable building and Hybrid builder. There are a further two shipments of Homes and Living was born. materials to complete the Ekokit build – all Hybrid Homes and Living deliver homes that both look great and are built smarter. They require much less energy to run, are healthier to live in and are easier on the environment.
timed to ensure the materials are there as the builder requires them.
All Ekokit designs including the Toi Toi design include passive solar design, thermally broken joinery, double glazing with Low Emissivity, Ekokit is a range of pre-designed houses that woollen insulation in excess of the building have been specifically created to be flexible, standards, local building materials with no sustainable and within the price range of chemical treatment, zero VOC paints plus ordinary New Zealanders. The Toi Toi design energy and water efficient appliances – will represent the Ekokit range at HIVE. including taps, shower, lights, oven, hob, When you choose an eco-friendly Ekokit home, rangehood and dishwasher. you are making a choice based on more Hybrid Homes and Living holds its designs to a than the lowest up-front cost and the lowest high standard, its features repeatedly exceed allowable standards. the New Zealand Building code standards with Hybrid Homes’ sustainable home designers overall insulation levels over two times the work hard to make Ekokit homes affordable required standard. and ensure they exceed current NZ building standards. They also aim to reduce the environmental impact of building your home and minimise its consumption of resources throughout its life – so that your home (and you, its owners) will leave a healthy and valuable legacy for future generations. Every Ekokit home is designed with the following five principles in mind:
The Guardian Unique Timber Homes and Touchwood are working together on their show home for HIVE - The Guardian home. Deon Swiggs, Pamela Bell and Lianne Dalziel in front of the Snug
Team: Touchwood and Unique Timber Homes House: The Guardian The Touchwood construction/building system was developed by Corgi La Grouw, Ivan Scott and Brooke La Grouw, three passionate business people devoted to the utilisation of abundant Pinus Radiata timber products that are being grown and produced in New Zealand for both local and export markets. They developed a revolutionary simple method of solid wood panel construction taking into account the total use of timber, reduced wastage, optimised production and simplicity of onsite construction to save time and money and to create a pleasant natural product into a hardy practical building product.
Touchwood precision machine and join the selected pine boards into complete wall panels at their factory. The panels are then wrapped and delivered to the building site where the wall structure can be assembled in a matter of hours. The Guardian uses energy and water efficient appliances and fittings, it has an estimated homestar rating of at least six stars and a Lifemark rating of five stars. Specs: Building length: 13.442m
The building system needed to reach a standard that not only met the New Zealand standards, but exceeded these while at the same time being cost competitive with conventional building products and economic during the onsite construction period.
Building width: 7.992m
Touchwood homes are:
Bath: 2
• A solid wood product
Price: $240,000 (Incl GST) – Excluding consent fees, relocation, connection of services, landscaping and on-site remedial work
• Carbon positive
• Take advantage of passive heating, cooling and ventilation
As with all Touchwood homes The Guardian uses solid wood construction including a panel wall system and Touchwood’s patented wall bracing system. The wall bracing method performed better than most bracing systems available in New Zealand when tested at Scion in Rotorua. The solid wood system permits a high degree of natural insulation and the wooden walls resist the harshest form of living styles.
Floor area: 100.86m2 Deck areas: 36.76m2 Bed: 3
• Environmentally friendly • Cost effective
• Optimise energy efficiency
• Hard wearing
• Optimise water efficiency
• Naturally beautiful
• Minimise toxic building materials and waste
• Extremely strong
• Use locally made (Australasian) building materials where possible.
• Quick to construct
Ekokit homes have been designed with flexibility in mind. The standard designs
• Factory quality controlled.
Do you want a Warm, Energy Efficient, Affordable Home? ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪
Passive solar heating, cooling and ventilation Thermal, energy and water efficiency Non-toxic, locally made building materials (where possible) Comparable pricing, incomparable benefits Insurance registered design and builder of new homes and rebuilds (conditions apply) Showhome being built at HIVE, Curletts Road, see us there from October
See what we can do for you 68 | September/October 2012 www.canterburytoday.co.nz
0800 435 6548 www.ekokit.co.nz