KiwiBuild summit to thrash out practicalities of Government plan

Phil Twyford, due to open the summit tomorrow. Photo/Jason Oxenham

A summit is being held this week on the Government's 100,000 KiwiBuild affordable housing scheme and the organisers say they expect strong debate among industry experts.

Immigration, fast-track building, healthy homes and removing barriers to make the scheme work are all topics up for discussion at the event being held in Auckland and those interested will be able to ask questions of experts online.

A spokesperson for buildnz | designex which is running the event said more than 400 industry professionals had booked for the event at the ASB Showgrounds at Greenlane from 9.30am today, finishing on Thursday.

Housing Minister Phil Twyford and Building and Construction Minister Jenny Salesa will speak at the event.

Prefab NZ's Pamela Bell, the Institute of Architects' Tim Melville, Red Stag Timber's Marty Verry and Ngai Tahu Property's Brett Ellison are in the first session with Twyford.

Warwick Quinn of the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation, Grant Florence of Certified Builders and David Kelly of Registered Master Builders are scheduled to speak along with many others.

"With over 400 industry professionals signed up to attend, this will be New Zealand's biggest summit dedicated to the KiwiBuild programme," the spokesperson said.

Although the summit is fully booked, the spokesperson said questions could be lodged at a web site.