Eastern Bay of Plenty adds to building consents

APARTMENT buildings and flats are on the rise in Whakatane with figures showing the Bay of Plenty region has added to the recent growth in residential building consents.

In September 2015, 2,242 new dwellings were consented in New Zealand – up 257 (13 percent) from the same month last year.

Of the total number, 355 building consents comprised of apartments, townhouses, flats and units.

The trend for the number of consents is at its highest level since November 2004.

Statistics New Zealand said Bay of Plenty had the third largest increase (up 72) of consented dwellings following behind Waikato (up 158) and Auckland (up 106).

In September 2015, 188 residential building permits were granted in Bay of Plenty to the combined value of $62 million.

At the same time in 2014, only 116 were granted to the combined value of $40 million.

Two sites in Whakatane are undergoing alterations and additions, including building repairs, additions, extensions and strengthening.

An Auckland property investor is breathing new life into Whakatane’s Riverview Apartments.

Stephen Baskett, an engineer from Clevedon, is overseeing a major renovation of the apartment block on Landing Road, overlooking the Whakatane River.

Baskett and his wife, Michelle, own six other investment properties but this is the first one they have bought outside of Auckland.

However, the apartments do require a fair bit of work.

He has been busy planning a new front fence and was feeling very good about his investment in the Bay of Plenty.

“Everyone you talk to, it is all positive,” he said. “All the local contractors we are using are positive, it has all been good.”

He is hoping to have the renovations completed and new tenants in place by early December.

Garraway Street flats are also being altered with new front entrances and overall maintenance with local contractors developing the building.

The buyer’s plans for the site are not yet known but neighbours hoped he would bulldoze the units and build new homes for the elderly.

Its size and closeness to shops and Whakatane Hospital made the 2638-square-metre site appeal to developers.

Statistics New Zealand’s building consent data said the total value of building work consented in September 2015 was $1.5 billion, comprising $911 million of residential work, and $619 million of non-residential work.

For the year ended September 2015, compared with the September 2014 year, the value of building consents increased for residential buildings, up $945 million (10 percent) to $10 billion and non-residential buildings, up $755 million (15 percent) to $5.7 billion.

Kawerau had also added to the increase of non-residential building consents in September following the recent completion of Kawerau Medical Centre’s new wing.

The extension was urgently needed when enrollments began to increase significantly.

Practice manager Lana Nicholas said three new rooms had been added to the existing medical centre – two consultation rooms, making six in total, for GPs and visiting specialists, and a larger nurses’ consultation room, also equipped for day surgery.

Co-owner and general practitioner Emily Hermanson said the extension had allowed Kawerau Medical Centre to open its new KMC Specialist Centre.