Malfroy School will carry out $650,000 of external and internal alterations. Photo / File
Malfroy School will carry out $650,000 of external and internal alterations. Photo / File
More than $1.5 million will be pumped into major projects including new classrooms at two Rotorua schools.
Figures from the Rotorua Lakes Council show Kaharoa Primary School and Malfroy Primary School, alongside Toi Ohomai, were issued some of the largest consents in January.
Work to be completed at Kaharoa PrimarySchool included fixing weather-tightness issues and installing two additional classrooms and was worth $864,000. Malfroy School will carry out $650,000 of external and internal alterations and Toi Ohomai will get a new cafe within the i-Site with a work value of $380,000.
Toi Ohomai will get a new cafe within the i-Site with a work value of $380,000. Photo / File
Kim Shannon, head of the Ministry of Education infrastructure service, said the Kaharoa Primary School consent related to weather tightness repairs to Blocks B & C at the school.
"We have provided two relocatable teaching spaces for use while the work is carried out, which we expect to be completed by the end of the year," Shannon said.
"Weathertightness repairs were completed on Block E in 2019. Blocks B and C were built in the early 1970s, and Block E was built in 1981."
Seven commercial consents totalling $2.1m were issued in January. This compared with eight consents with a work value of $4.1m for the same period last year.
Sixty-one residential consents worth $3.8m were issued for the month including five new home builds with a work value of $2.5m.
The homes will be built in Brookdale Dr and Oturoa Rd in Ngongotaha, Russell Rd in Koutu, Carroll Pl in Owhata and Willow Ave in Hannahs Bay.
In total 61 residential consents were issued for January compared with 35 (with a value of $3.7m) for the same month last year.
Rotorua president of the Registered Master Builders Association Bill Clement. Photo / File
Master Builders Association Rotorua president Bill Clement said while new build numbers were relatively low, there was still a lot going on within the building industry.
"Within those consent numbers will be things like new roofs, perhaps disabled person showers and ensuites," Clement said.
"Basically if you're doing like for like, maybe just a revamp within your bathroom and swapping out taps and a shower head say, you often don't need consent. But if you're moving things around including pipes, then you need consent.
"The same for a roof. If you're going from something like a Colour Steel roof to a tile roof, then you need consent opposed to if you're just upgrading from Colour Steel to Colour Steel."
Clement said almost all Rotorua builders he was familiar with were busy. "And that's including the newcomers to town.
He said equity in property contributed to people upgrading their homes.
Professionals McDowell Real Estate co-owner Steve Lovegrove. Photo / File
Professionals McDowell Real Estate co-owner Steve Lovegrove, said while it was good to see consents for new builds were still being issued, the number was disappointing.
"I would love to see, what we need to see, is two-to-four times that number [5] each month," Lovegrove said.
"Five a month equates to 60 a year. I believe that is only a fraction of what we need to address our housing concerns."
Lovegrove said there needed to be a large residential development that would encourage a continual flow of new build consents as opposed to the sporadic number and placement happening now.
"Not that I want things to go crazy and we end up with what I call caravan park subdivisions [we in Rotorua like our space] but it would be great to have a residential development that would create a vision for people to see."
