Lights, Camera, Action

Here at Creating Communities we're proud of what we've achieved in Glen Innes in the short time that we've been a part of the community. So proud in fact, we're putting together a video to showcase some of our new homes and the local area.

We're bringing a new batch of homes to market and so we thought this was the optimum time to show you what we've been doing. Our homes are carefully constructed, taking into account the particular idiosyncrasies of each site and taking advantage of the local topography and close proximity to transport, schools and the Village.

There's no dispute that Glen Innes is the place to be with fabulous homes, great neighbours and lots of exciting retail stores to explore.  Mission Bay is just down the road and it was buzzing with people the day we were down there filming.

We're so enamoured with Glen Innes, we're giving away t-shirts sharing the love.  Visit our Facebook page, post a photograph of your favourite place in Glen Innes and we'll share it with all of our followers and send you a t-shirt for your trouble.

We're committed to improving the quality of the lives of the people who live and work in Glen Innes and we're doing that one home at a time.

www.creatingcommunities.co.nz

Of High Viz. Vests and Hard Hats

Some days it's a struggle to remember what blue sky looks like, especially with the current spring rains hitting so hard. It seems as if the weeks have been filled with nothing but continual downpours.

However, like the local bird population (there are ducklings everywhere...) our new homes are multiplying. We're pleased to report that our diligent contractors are busy building new houses behind a myriad of steel fences and "construction site" signs.

This can make it tricky for us when we need to photograph progress for our 'coming soon' page of the website. Don't forget to check out the page at www.creatingcommunities.co.nz and see what's going to be available soon.

However, without complaint, we don our trusty yellow hard hat, high viz. vest and steel capped gumboots and trudge through the debris that is a busy building site to bring you fine shots like this one:

Or there's this one, taken from the relative safety of the footpath across the street:

After a hard morning taking photographs, we stashed the hat, vest and gumboots in the boot of the car and rewarded ourselves with a nice freshly brewed coffee (and a little something sweet) from the cafe at Nosh. It's just down the road from these houses and an amazing asset to have in Glen Innes.

Our Homes are Selling Fast

These are examples of the interiors of the new homes we are building in Glen Innes. 

These quality, insulated and double-glazed homes are changing the face of the community. 

To date, we've sold 44 homes in the area.

There has been very high demand for these quality homes, with most of them selling before we have had a chance to advertise. Some of this is as a result of the general housing shortage in Auckland. But we believe it's a matter of purchasers realising that these brand new homes in Glen Innes are great value for money.

Our next crop of homes are nearing completion and they will also be in demand. Make sure you don't miss out. Register your interest as a prospective new home owner in Glen Innes as soon as you can.

www.creatingcommunities.co.nz

Five fascinating facts about Glen Innes

• The Omaru Stream runs through the centre of GIen Innes. We've been supporting the local planting and regeneration of the stream in GI. The wording of the proverb, "Ko au te awa, Ko te awa ko au", which translates as "I am the river and the river is me" aptly describes our commitment to this regeneration project.

• Want to sample the flavour of the area? Check out the “Kulture & Kai Markets”, held on the first Saturday of each month, 10am-2pm in Mayfair Place, Glen Innes. The focus is on quality ethnic foods, with 90% of the stalls from Tamaki or Glen Innes food retailers eager to share their culture. Oftentimes, there's also live entertainment from local performance groups playing on the Mayfair Place Community stage.

• It's home to the Tahuna Torea Bird reserve. This unique land spit juts out into the Tamaki River and provides a haven for wading and share birds. The area is abundant with migratory birds and, as a result of years of work from volunteers, the indigenous Kotuku (White Heron) is slowly making a comeback.

• If you feel the need to spend some time in large, green fields, then Pt England Reserve is the place for you. On offer is a rural landscape park in the city. Want to see cattle is grazing on rolling green fields or want to pretend you're not even in the city - then this is the park for you. 

• Glen Innes has the one and only Philippino restaurant in New Zealand! For two consecutive years, Turo-Turo has been named Metro Magazine's top 100 cheap eats.

There's so much to love about Glen Innes!

Tenant wins Lotto without even buying a ticket

COOK’S KITCHEN: Hola is a keen cook and loves her light, bright new kitchen and all its cupboard space.

Glenn Innes tenant Hola Koloamatangi describes living in her new Housing New Zealand home as the equivalent of winning the lottery.

“I won first division with this place. That’s how I feel – like I’ve won Lotto.”

The mother of two adult children, who has endured four redundancies and now works as a caregiver, had previously lived just a stone’s throw away from where she is now, in Sunnymead Road.

The old state house there had been home for Hola, her father and children for 17 years. But back in February she learned she would have to move, enabling the land where her house stood to be redeveloped. It was a time of anger and anxiety.

“I was panicked and I was angry at Housing New Zealand to be honest. I didn’t want to shift after 17 years. I was a bit nervous that I was going to be moved out of Glen Innes – I know the area so well and all my family are here.” Hola says seeing houses demolished and moved out of the area also made her worry. “I just thought ‘where are you going to put us’?”

But Hola says she placed her faith in her Housing New Zealand tenancy liaison officer, Jenni Loui, who assured her she’d find her a good home.

True to her word, several weeks later, Jenni invited the grandmother of three to take a look at a newly-built two-bedroom home she might like in Apirana Ave.

“I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it, just from the outside,” Hola smiles. And the love affair continued when she saw the inside.

“It’s beautiful. It’s spacious, clean and has more cupboard space in the kitchen than the old place,” she says. “And I can feel how warm it is. My son is a builder and when he came into the house the first time he said ‘mum, it’s so warm’.”

The house is a dream Hola secretly harboured but never thought would come true.

“I saw all these new houses being built in the neighbourhood and I’d look at them and imagine where I’d put my things!” she says. In May, the keen cook - who often has her grandchildren to stay - realised her dream when she moved in to her new home and furnished it immaculately.

Now, with time to reflect, she says she can see her old home wasn’t the best place for her to be.

“When I look back at where I was before I realise it was time to move – I was too comfortable there. And the back and front yards at Sunnymead were getting too much for me. I like to be clean and tidy but sometimes I had to leave the lawns too long because I couldn’t pay for the mower man.”

It’s an issue the avid gardener, who moved from Tonga to New Zealand when she was 22, doesn’t face in her new home.

“The house is a much better layout and there’s just enough grass for me to look after. I even have a garage.”

The property is one of eight houses, a mixture of four private and four Housing New Zealand homes built side-by-side in partnership with Creating Communities Limited.

The development is an example of Housing New Zealand’s ‘blind tenure’ philosophy whereby it’s impossible to distinguish between private and social housing. And Hola says even her friends are in awe of her new home.

“They can’t believe it. They say ‘you’re so lucky!’” It’s a sentiment she agrees with fully.

“I can’t thank Housing New Zealand enough for doing things like this. I’ll really look after it.”

Proud to support our local community

We're proud to support our local community and were at Mad Ave Studios riparian planting held recently at Omaru stream.

It's great to see so many people caring about their community and beautifying projects such as this make for a fantastic neighbourhood.

We're doing our part by not only supporting these local initiatives like the riparian planting, but protecting the local stream network.

Where we are developing new properties, we ensure that the underground infrastructure is upgraded from what was acceptable in the 1940's 

These upgrades include devices to recharge groundwater systems and reduce peak storm-water flows into the local stream network. 

Thus ensuring that the hard work of the people who live in the area is protected.

www.creatingcommunities.co.nz

The changing face of Glen Innes

Auckland is a beautiful place on a crisp winter's morning like we are experiencing today. With a hard frost coating the grass, it almost looks as if there is snow on the ground.

The golden retriever who walks with us most mornings had no hesitation in rolling on the crisp frozen ground. He does, however, unlike us have a nice double coat to insulate him from the freezing temperature of the local park.

Sitting inside a warm, double glazed insulated home, some of us could be forgiven for believing that the winter sun now streaming in the north-facing windows is warming the ground as it warms the inside of our home. A quick trip outside soon dispels that myth and cold reality bites at naked hands and feet.

These are some of things we have carefully thought about while we have been redesigning homes for sites in Glen Innes.

We've removed the cold, damp and uninsulated weatherboard  homes that face south and taken care to ensure that the new homes we are building in their place take advantage of slim pickings that are mid-winter sunshine.

New homes will be on the market very soon. Keep and eye on our website and the Facebook page so you don't miss out.

You too, can be enjoying the warmth offered by a north facing, double glazed and insulated home in time for winter 2016.