Auckland developers have welcomed Christchurch heritage-style housing business Brooksfield’s arrival but others are sceptical about replications.
Williams Corporation’s Matthew Horncastle said the company had a specific niche and he predicted it would do well with its shift north.
Brooksfield co-founder Vinny Holloway said the business had already taken deposits on five of eight new townhouses on two sites in Pt Chevalier.
Those places are selling for $1.2m to $1.6m each and are Brooksfield’s Auckland debut.
Brooksfield was doing well with presales when many other new developments had stalled or been shelved, Holloway said, due to others’ bad architectural designs.
“The reason developers in Auckland are having a hard time selling is that their homes are absolutely awful,” Holloway said.
Horncastle said Holloway calling other new townhouse developments absolutely awful or ugly was “a little rough or rich as that is opinion”.
Williams Corporation has built many Auckland residences in Mt Albert, Avondale, Henderson and Te Atatu.
Williams is yet to build at 16 Shelly Beach Rd, St Mary’s Bay, bare land, which it bought some years ago.
Architect Julian Mitchell, of Mitchell Stout Dodd, questioned Brooksfield homes.
“They built faux, architecturally regressive buildings. Referring to our history is important but designing carbon copies of houses built a century ago isn’t a healthy way forward,” Mitchell said.
He questioned the authenticity of what Brooksfield projects.
“Old buildings have great charm but there’s something somewhat simple-minded about just re-doing it in this day and age. It’s not a progressive way of doing things,” Mitchell said.
He understood people loved quaint styles but asked how far should we look.
Margot McRae, of Devonport Heritage, said: “You can’t create heritage with new builds. But I can understand people wanting a heritage look because villas and cottages have a pleasing, homely look and relate to the street in a way that so many modern houses don’t.”
But only genuine old houses built of native timbers are the real thing.
They can also be draughty and require lots of maintenance, “but those of us who live in truly old houses don’t mind. We love that the houses have a story and are full of history”.
Trish Deans of Devonport Heritage said that entity was advised by the late Jeremy Salmond who has never supported building replica heritage homes.
“New homes should reflect new building principles and styles. The basic principle is keep the heritage buildings you have and don’t try to replicate, as the outcome will be a Disney-fied version of genuine kauri buildings,” Deans said.
Shane Brealey, of build-to-rent apartment developer Simplicity Living, said it was “fantastic” that Brooksfield was coming to Auckland.
Older homes had many attractive features and he said he lived in bungalows and villas in Mt Eden for about 25 years and had fond memories.
Simplicity’s model is the opposite to Brooksfield: big, modern. It is nearing completion of its largest project: the 297-unit Te Reiputa on the Mt Wellington Highway.
But Brealey said there was a place for replica heritage homes.
“There are some good design principles they got right back then, like roofs that got the water to the outside and had good eaves. Many modern terrace house designs have internal gutters and no eaves.
“The design will be enhanced from the original villas to meet building code standards, like RAB board and no scrim,” Brealey said.
Newmarket’s Domain Terraces on George St, developed last century to replicate Sydney and Melbourne places, are popular, and still look great today”, he said.
James Kellow of NZ Mortgages and Securities said that business had funded about six Brooksfield projects, including the two in Pt Chevalier.
“They’re good guys,” Kellow said of Holloway and Hickman.
Andrew Crosby, former chief executive of Universal Homes and now of Xpectproperty, referred to the higher maintenance costs of older homes.
“I love weatherboard and so does your paintbrush. I love my 115-year-old villa. I also love new homes,” Crosby said.
An Institute of Architects spokesman said it did not comment on individual projects but was broadly in favour of more density and townhouses in cities.
Holloway said Brooksfield was marketing townhouse “cottages” on two Pt Chevalier sites: 51 Moa Rd with a completed valuation of just over $6m, and 61 Smale St with a completed value of $5.6m.
“We’re coming to Auckland because we have a lot of requests from Aucklanders, people who love our houses and don’t want to move to Christchurch.”
He hopes to expand into Waterview, Mt Albert and Mt Eden.
The Pt Chevalier townhouses start from $1.2m for a 98sq m two-bedroom, 1.5 bathroom, one study and a garage.
The company needed to come to Auckland, which was suffering a massive loss with so many older homes being demolished, Holloway said.
Yet there was a need for density, with the way people live these days, he said.
Last month, Holloway and Hickman featured in Society Insider by Ricardo Simich.
Brooksfield has delivered more than 600 houses since its inception in 2019, making the pair millions of dollars.
But rather than creating cookie-cutter terraces, the pair are focused on “storybook” homes.
Those are often Georgian colonial-revival weatherboard and brick townhouses that blend into the heritage homes around them, Sumich reported.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.