Construction:
Construction of homes in Aotearoa requires building consent from local authorities, and anything outside established planning guidelines will also require resource consent. These consents are managed by local authorities, and present a potentially challenging barrier to collective housing development. These challenges have been broken down in the headAs the final step before a collective housing project is occupied, management of challenges associated with construction is essential. This period involves immense capital cost, investment, time, and effort. The following headings break down some of the potential challenges associated with construction that a collective housing community may face:ings below:
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The costs of construction can grow rapidly as plans change, markets shift, and challenges are found as has been the case in recent years. These impacts can be reduced by isolating components of the development into separate processes or stages that allow incremental progress, and careful cost planning and assessment at each stage. If costs increase, the project overall scope and material quality are the two main areas savings can be made. Every project needs two contingency funds, a design contingency in the early stages of a project to cover the reduced level of detail resolution available at the time and a construction contingency to cover unforeseen events during construction. If a project is to run to budget contingencies should be regarded as part of construction costs, as they are inevitably needed as the complexity of building plays out during the construction period.
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Managing design and construction from establishing a design, pricing, settling on a construction contract, and the administration and management of construction queries, changes and costs perspective is a complex task that will require support from a range of professional consultants, and contractors. Hiring local firms to work on a collective housing project can be a great way to build community rapport and reduce transport costs. Care must be taken to ensure that any consultants and contractors are sufficiently skilled for the work they are contracted for. This may require a dedicated project or contract manager or an architect with project management experience and expertise.
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Every small decision about the size of a project and its infrastructure made by a community and their designers and contractors will contribute to project costs, so all need careful consideration. Big issues and major moves have a disproportionate effect on costs so should be carefully negotiated at a project feasibility stage when they are still lines on paper. Like for any development the number of households related to the overall land cost, and the extent of individual and common areas are key factors in the initial design and cost feasibility for collective housing. Keeping design and construction simple and following standard industry construction methods is another key route to affordability.
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Members of the collective housing community are typically committed and diverse, often with some consulting skills or particular qualities they can contribute to a project. Often community members' inputs are instrumental in establishing the project viability or realisation. It makes sense for community members with particular expertise to be formally engaged by and paid for the work they contribute from their profession when this work would otherwise need to be commissioned and paid for by others. While some will see this as a conflict in interests as was perceived with architect Robin Allison at Earthsong, the reality as played out in that example is quite the reverse. In what UK academic Christina Cerulli describes as a conflux of interests, a community will likely benefit additionally from the extra commitment contributed by their own members when they are consultants within a project.
