Wairarapa building consents spur hope

Consents were granted for 23 new buildings worth $4,102,500 across the Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa districts in August, according to Statistics New Zealand. FILE PHOTO

The number of building consents being granted in Wairarapa is slowly rising and a local construction company is optimistic about the year ahead.

Consents were granted for 23 new buildings worth $4,102,500 across the Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa districts this August, according to Statistics New Zealand. They included 12 residential buildings worth $2,808,000.

The total number of consents granted in Wairarapa this August was just up on 22 in July and 20 in June.

Holmes Construction managing director Andy Holmes said the business had had a good year, and next year looked solid.

It had been working on a mix of projects in recent months, including residential and commercial jobs. Martinborough, in particular, had provided much work lately.

Mr Holmes said Holmes Construction was due to start three large commercial jobs in Wellington next year using its coresteel building system and Wairarapa projects were looking promising, too.

"I'm feeling pretty positive about business in general," he said.

Across New Zealand, 2291 new dwellings were consented in August 2015, up 11 per cent from August 2014.

The region that consented the most new dwellings in August was Auckland at 741, followed by Canterbury with 596 consents.

Nationwide, the value of building consents reached an all-time high in August 2015, boosted by planned non-residential work in Christchurch, according to Statistics New Zealand.

More than $1.5 billion of building work was consented across New Zealand, with one-quarter of that value coming from non-residential buildings in Christchurch.

Business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said several large consents contributed to the increase.

The largest was a consent for the Regional Science and Innovation Centre at the University of Canterbury.

So far this year, Christchurch has consented $1.2 billion of non-residential building work.

"What we're seeing in Christchurch is a few big consents for offices, hospitals, and the university," said Mr Kelly.