Architecturally-designed medium density housing

Architecturally-designed medium density housing: an award-winning future for Auckland?

In the midst of Auckland’s housing crisis, one of the city’s leading residential home builders and its architectural partner are showing that medium density terraced housing is a viable, affordable and architecturally attractive option in an increasingly space restricted region.

Home builder Jalcon Homes’ architectural partner, Stevens Lawson, recently took out the top prize in the Medium Density Category at the NZIA Awards for its work on the Squadron Lane Terraces development in popular Hobsonville Point, which features 38 terrace houses delivered by Jalcon Homes.

Nicholas Stevens, Director of Stevens Lawson, says that the NZIA award for Squadron Lane Terraces shows that medium density housing can be architecturally exciting and meet the changing needs of a diverse population of people, all hungry for new housing to reach the market.

“The fact is, we’re not going to fix Auckland’s housing problem one house at a time. Well-built, medium density housing is the future of Auckland so it’s exciting for us to be working with Jalcon to lead the charge in creating award-winning, city-block style neighbourhoods.

“Hobsonville Point has been held up for several years now as a shining example of a best practice, master-planned residential development, but this is the first time an architectural award has been won in the area. We are working with Jalcon Homes on a similar project in Pine Harbour, so it is promising to see that there is both homeowner demand and industry support for this style of higher density housing.

Jalcon Homes, the developer and builder of Squadron Lane Terraces, says that creating design-led homes on a large scale is an integral part of ensuring Auckland’s housing pipeline increases.

Jalcon’s Sales Manager, Andrew Olsen, says the company is proud to be delivering award-winning, architecturally designed homes that are shaping Auckland’s new communities; “The terraced homes at Hobsonville Point represent a very promising solution to Auckland’s housing crisis.

“Homeowners get beautifully designed, well-constructed and affordable homes, with solid concrete and brick structures, and the city gets a good supply of medium density homes coming onto the market to meet some of its shortages.
“We have a vision of delivering unique, quality-driven and functional dwellings, and Squadron Lane Terraces demonstrates without a doubt that this approach is more than possible.

“We’ve partnered with the Stevens Lawson team for a number of projects, and are proud to deliver such high quality home design in collaboration with the team. Building award-winning, multi dwellings means listening to our customers, working collaboratively with our design and development partners, and keeping a close eye on the present and future needs of the communities in which we are building these homes.”

Stevens and Olsen say that with limited land for development, homeowners and developers are waking up to the possibilities of medium density housing.

Stevens adds, “Terraced housing, done well, can in fact provide many of the attributes that a standalone house offers. Squadron Lane Terraces, for example, features 2 and 3 storey homes, with sunny courtyards, garaging, and solid walls. In the current economic climate, you would be pretty hard pressed to find a standalone home that offered that level of quality for an affordable price.

“As we see more residential development in the city fringe, and more brownfields development, medium density housing has to be attractive, well-designed and well-constructed, or people simply won’t accept it as a way of living. It’s not about creating a bunch of houses all together; it’s about creating an integrated, sophisticated and low maintenance option for the modern buyer.”

Olsen adds, “Our terraced houses are affordable, and because of their smart design and construction, they are built to be low maintenance, and made to last. We know those are the key factors many modern homeowners are seeking, which is why we’ve seen such strong demand.

“The old ways of doing things are not going to work in the emerging housing environment, so with our design partner Stevens Lawson, we are forging a bold new path with beautiful, affordable homes that are fit for purpose and changing the way Auckland homeowners think about housing.”

ENDS

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