​Housing trust completes Riverside Park development

Last year the Trust completed the construction of 11 new three-bedroom homes on land gifted from Riverside Park developer, Infinity Investment Group.

Paul Croft, Chief Executive Officer of Infinity Group, says the 11 sections were part of an agreement with Queenstown Lakes District Council to provide affordable housing as part of the consenting process.

“We are delighted to be able to give something back to the community and help provide the an affordable place to live for 11 more local families,” Croft says.

Riverside Park, in Albert Town, is a mixed tenure development with households in one of the Trust’s three different programmes, Trust Executive Officer Julie Scott says.

“Some are in the Shared Ownership programme, some in Rent Saver, and others are in our Affordable Rental scheme. We offer a variety of programmes to suit the individual household’s needs and financial situation. A fourth programme will be added later this year called Secure Home. This will allow households to buy the home with a long-term, affordable lease on the land from the Trust.”

The homes were built by local firm Breen Construction, with an average floor area of 120sq m, including garage. They are on section sizes of 400sq m, which allows the Trust to reduce the end cost of delivery.

“As we continue to design and build developments, we have turned our attention towards medium-high density construction, and are very focused on reducing the footprint of homes. Ultimately this brings the end cost of the build down and enables us to help more households into affordable and secure tenure housing,” Scott adds.

“We have a growing waiting list of Wanaka residents seeking housing assistance and the contributions we receive from developers like Infinity play an important role in filling some of that demand,” she says.