Fletcher Building to announce new Auckland house-building factory next month

Fletcher Living's fast construction at Hobsonville Point.

House construction giant Fletcher Building will announce further details of a new high-tech fast house-building Auckland panelisation factory next month.

Steve Evans, chief executive of residential and land development at Fletcher, said his company would soon unveil a new Auckland panelisation factory which would speed house construction.

Steve Evans said details will be announced in June. Photo/Jason Oxenham

"We have a panelised factory that's being negotiated now. We're in the process of negotiating a lease and it will be in Auckland," he said referring to faster construction techniques after Fletcher unveiled its two-houses-in-four-days video last year at Hobsonville Point.

"In June, we will prove it works for terraced homes at Hobsonville Point as well," Evans said yesterday.

Fletcher is building thousands of new homes and has projects either on or planned at Beachlands, Hobsonville Point, Karaka, Kowhai Ridge, Ormiston, Red Beach, Stonefields, Swanson, Three Kings, Totara Heights, Waiata Shores in Manukau, Whenuapai and Christchurch.

Last year, Fletcher showed fast construction techniques via a time lapse video of Fletcher Living putting up a new Auckland residential duplex worth nearly $2 million in four days.

The company said it had also built a single Auckland house in a day.

"This was the speed test," a Fletcher Living spokeswoman said of the duplex home construction, built during April just before Easter. The 177sq m four-bedroom homes at Hobsonville Point sold for $935,000 each.

Evans said Auckland houses usually took six to nine months to build. One day was Fletcher Living's aim but building such a substantial duplex in four days was a significant achievement, he said.

The business was particularly keen to work with the Government on the 100,000-residence affordable KiwiBuild scheme, he said yesterday.

"Fletcher will tell the Government what we're already doing and encourage it to make more land available for KiwiBuild homes which we would build. We're already building homes that satisfy the KiwiBuild criteria in Massey and on the former Manukau Golf Course.

At Rolleston, south of Christchurch, house-builder Mike Greer's business formed Concision, a joint venture with construction business Spanbild to develop the new $14 million factory in the iZone industrial park where Weinmann specialist German machinery is installed for the production-line house-panel manufacturer.

Greer has subsequently sold out of that business to Spanbild.