News

A scene from Struthers Lane, not far from homestyle's Christchurch office - Image courtesy stuff.co.nz

To our relief the staff of homestyle’s Christchurch office is safe and well after the big quake on the morning of the 4th. Though the office remains in the cordoned of CBD area, there is a green-for-go sticker on the door and the site came off relatively unscathed – we were very fortunate. After grabbing our computers we’ve setup a temporary office, and are continuing on our scheduled print deadline...at this stage issue #38 October/November will be on shelves 27 September, as planned!
The phone line to this office remains down; but if you have any queries our main line number of 03 377 4272 has been diverted to mobiles, and our emails are running fine.
We wish everyone in the region the best for the days and weeks to come; hopefully those aftershocks have ceased so people can get some hard earned sleep.
 

A celebration of iconic New Zealand letterboxes is underway at the Kaipara Coast Plant Centre & Sculpture Gardens, at Kaukapakapa. With a view to “keep the excitement of going out to the letterbox” alive for another generation, Geraldine Bayly (Centre Manager) is inviting New Zealanders to create unusual and amazing letterboxes and enter into their search for NZ’s top letterbox.
Now there’s something you can’t do with your email.

Entries close October 30 and the exhibition for the best box opens November 20. You can enter here.

Image courtesy stuff.co.nz
 

The government has taking some bold steps to assist those looking to crack on with DIY projects this summer.

In a bid to make it easier for homeowners with a tool belt to work on their own properties, Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson announced some more relaxed rules for minor alterations. At the same time, he has sought to firm up the responsibilities of contractors completing work, with builders soon to be required to provide evidence of their ability to backup their work financially in the event that a dispute arises.

See the full article here

On Friday night the Canterbury regional Master Builder House of the Year awards were held in Christchurch. There was a stunning array of houses nominated, from modest renovations to multi-million dollar new residences. Nominees in each category can receive either no award, or a bronze, silver or gold medal, with the home receiving the highest number of points winning its category. This means that there can be multiple medals awarded in any one category, with points determining whether each home reached bronze, silver or gold status.

There was one house that immediately caught our eye on Friday night, and that was a home we featured in the June/July issue of homestyle. Mike and Lisa Brown’s beautiful family home inspired many of our readers, and won both a gold medal and the overall category prize for the Builder’s Own Home Award. It was a very worthy recipient, and certainly stood out from the crowd. Mike + MO Brown Builders also won a gold medal and the overall category prize in the New Home $350,000 – 450,000 Award for a home they built in St. Martins, Christchurch. We wish Mike every success at the national Master Builder House of the Year competition in Auckland later this year, where both homes will be competing for the national prize in their respective categories.  

The dining area is stepped down, which establishes a notion of separation from the main living space, without the use of any dividing walls.
 

At the Awards dinner, Mike credited wife Lisa for being an integral part of the company, and for making many of the design decisions inside their home.

Another up and coming builder recognised at the Canterbury House of the Year Awards was Jesse DeWys from JD Homes. We are excited to be featuring Jesse’s own family home in the forthcoming issue of homestyle magazine. Jesse received a silver award in the New Home Under $250,000 category for a house he built in Rolleston, Christchurch.     

Well done to all the builders who won awards for excellence in such an esteemed competition!

New statistics released by the Electricity Commission show that New Zealand households are paying at least $129 million a year more than they need to in electricity charges by using inefficient light bulbs. Electricity Commission chair, David Caygill said "the statistics showed that despite the rapid uptake of energy efficient light bulbs, nearly 90% of NZ homes still had older-style builds in over half their sockets." One home in six had no compact fluorescent lamps and are missing out completely on the opportunity to cut power bills! “The cost savings from using energy efficient lighting are significant – for some technologies more than $100 over the lifetime of a single bulb,” said Mr Caygill.

Are you saving all you can on your energy bill? Check out the RightLight.govt.nz programme, a partnership between the Electricity Commission, Consumer NZ, the Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority, Master Electricians and the Green Building Council, to make sure you have all the information you need to make good lighting choices.

 

As production on Issue 35 drew to a close, we said goodbye to our graphic designer extraordinaire Suzanne Grimwood, who has left us to take on the challenge of motherhood. We will miss her creative craftiness and uber organisation, which was a godsend as production deadlines loomed! We wish her and husband Kevin all the best and can't wait to meet their little one.

Taking over the hot-seat and with big shoes to fill, we welcome the return of Amber Armitage. Home from a hiatus in London, Amber is enjoying being back in the homestyle office; despite the grueling tasks of the trainee period! We look forward to seeing the inspiration Amber picked up in London. Stay tuned for her update later in the week.

Celebrating the completion of Auckland’s most significant development in recent years, Prime Minister, John Key officially opened the 21 level, 23,000 sqm Deloitte Centre at 80 Queen Street, Auckland. The Deloitte Centre is Auckland’s most advanced environmentally sustainable commercial building and the first high rise tower in New Zealand to achieve a 5 Star design rating with the New Zealand Green Building Council. It was built, owned and managed by Brookfield Multiplex Construction. “Our buildings are designed with the future in mind for our clients, tenants and the environment,” says Managing Director Tim Pope.

Australian architects Woods Bagot were engaged to create a design for the building that includes environmentally sustainable design elements such as a double ventilated façade, improved natural lighting to offices, low water usage fittings, extensive metering of energy and water usage and a rainwater harvesting system. Winter gardens and six levels of interconnecting voids animate the podium spaces to deliver a workplace that enables cultural change and improved productivity. Users of the building are encouraged to walk or cycle to work by the provision of showers and changing facilities in the basement.

 

ecostore, the plant-based household and personal care products we know and love, are now available in the city that never sleeps – New York. Duane Reade is the biggest drug store chain in New York City boasting more than 250 stores and is a popular one-stop-shop for local Manhattanites stocking up on health, beauty and convenience needs.
Founder of ecostore Malcolm Rands says: “With a 50-year history in the most exciting city in the world, the Duane Reade is the place where many of the world trendsetters shop.  And ecostore is being promoted as the cutting edge eco option.
“With 150 stores on Manhattan Island alone, providing effective, healthy home products to city dwellers in such an iconic setting is very exciting for us. “Where else in New York would you want to be?”says Rands.

 

 

After winning the inaugural “What’s Your Problem New Zealand” competition in August (and $1m in research booty), Resene immediately set to work with their R&D team to create the world’s first sustainable paint. Prize money well spent I’d say.