Making a massive contribution to community well-being has been a major driver for main contractor Trademark Construction in the delivery of 106 new homes for Lower Hutt families in need. The $45-million Kāinga Ora project has revitalised the heart of Epuni with warm, safe and elegantly designed architecture.
Comprising 93 apartments across eight separate blocks, five four-bedroom homes, four duplexes and a community centre, this was a project of significant scale for Kāinga Ora and Trademark alike. It is the largest Kāinga Ora development in Lower Hutt to date and the largest project completed by residential, commercial and industrial specialist builder Trademark in nearly 30 years of operation.
Trademark Construction manager Shane London says it wasn’t a difficult job, but it was certainly large-scale. “At Trademark, we’ve become a preferred construction partner by staying true to ourselves and our values,” he says. “Our focus is on delivering exceptional projects for our clients at the right price, without compromising quality or value.”
Trademark has already delivered other smaller-scale but equally successful Kāinga Ora projects in the past and built strong partnerships with the agency and its consultants. The company was selected for Epuni on an early contractor involvement basis, providing design input from the early stages and throughout the construction phase.
“We provided valuable input during the design phase to help inform the buildability of the project and offered budget estimates as plans evolved,” Shane says. “We worked alongside designer Isthmus to find some opportunities for prefabrication to minimise the number of unique elements while retaining the sense of identity in each separate block and to limit the number of claddings, which ultimately sped up construction.”
“The Epuni project really highlights what Trademark can achieve with the experience and expertise we’ve got on our team.”
Since construction began during the COVID-19 pandemic, Trademark has experienced some challenges with resourcing. “Staff were getting sick, and some materials were unavailable so we ended up with multiple variations on this project. But we like to embrace any challenge and create a solution. Our strong relationships and the exceptional collaboration and commitment of our team and our subcontractors were key to the success of this project.”
That success is defined by Shane as delivering for Kāinga Ora. “When families arrive and are overwhelmed with emotion because they finally have a warm, safe home to call their own, it makes every challenge worthwhile. Witnessing such heartfelt gratitude is truly humbling and puts everything into perspective.”
Shane loves to deliver quality solutions to deserving and appreciative end users, and Trademark is happily entrenched in a long-term relationship with Kāinga Ora. “The Epuni project really highlights what Trademark can achieve with the experience and expertise we’ve got on our team. It shows our ability to deliver complex developments with precision and care.”
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