Invercargill City Council staff and guests joined mana whenua at a whakawātea to mark the beginning of the Housing Innovation project on Friday.

Four energy-efficient, warm and healthy homes are to be built on Council-owned land as a first step towards renovating and revitalising Council housing in the city.

Council Group Manager infrastructure Erin Moogan said the Housing Innovation project was the fruit of a good decade of labour at Council.

“These units will not only be houses but warm and dry healthy homes, not only built strong but built sustainably, not only good for our tenants but good for the planet, built to love and built to last.”

Council Project Management Office Programme Director Lee Butcher said the units would be built using modern, sustainable materials designed to make them economical to heat, that would stay warm and dry, and that would be easy to repair and renovate.

“These houses represent a pilot project that aims to modernise Council’s model for delivery of housing services to meet the needs of some of our most vulnerable people.”
The proposed development will encompass the construction of four units and the redevelopment of the existing parking area at a site on Stirrat St, Butcher said.

Resource consent for the builds have been granted and design is in its completion stages now with construction slated to begin in May. Completion is set for the first quarter of 2024.