All-women group of tradies to build “Climate Safe House"

An all-women group of tradies will help the Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust build a “Climate Safe House” at the Home and Living Show, to be held at Forsyth Barr Stadium on 2-3 November.

The house is the brainchild of the Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust, and is a result of a partnership with Otago Polytechnic.

The Climate Safe House will be assembled at Forsyth Barr Stadium before being moved and eventually completed at a Waitati site.

The 60m2, one-bedroom eco-friendly home will be solar-powered and built from heavily-insulated panels provided by sponsor Formance.

The project aims to tackle the challenges of climate change as well as showcase innovative technologies in building and the opportunities New Zealand has to build future-focused, cost-effective housing, says Scott Willis, of Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust.

“The Climate Safe House project's goal is to develop housing for coastal areas vulnerable to climate change and to implement adaptive planning in practice.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to get creative with new materials to construct a high-performance, affordable and adaptable model house that will provide shelter to someone in need.”

The Climate Safe House will provide a warm, efficient, elevated and transportable home for a Blueskin community member whose home has been rendered unliveable by repeated flooding.

The Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust is leasing the property in order to build the house and will sub-let the house to the property owner at a peppercorn rental, removing it when flooding becomes too extreme. The community is taking responsibility for adaptation.

The group of women tradies will largely comprise a mix of Otago Polytechnic learners and graduates. In addition there will be student projects focused on filming the construction, creating the storyboard and graphics, as well as native plantings on site at Waitati.

Their presence at the Home and Living Show will highlight Otago Polytechnic’s wide range of trades and construction programmes – particularly building, electrical, and plumbing (the latter will be offered from 2020). 

“Dunedin is entering a building boom and requires a large and diverse pool of tradespeople to draw from,” Otago Polytechnic CEO Phil Ker says.

“We hope that by using an all-women team, we will help encourage other women to enter the trades.

“Otago Polytechnic is pleased to be partnering with the Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust on this important sustainability project,” Ker says.

“We hope it will raise awareness, not only about climate change issues, but also the positive actions which can be taken to help make a better world.”

Terry Davies, CEO Dunedin Venues, says he and his team are thrilled to host the Climate Safe House project during the Home and Living Show at Forsyth Barr Stadium. 

“This is a great community project and it’s been terrific working with all of the partners. We’re pleased to be able to support the initiative with the provision of space at the Home and Living Show and look forward to see it all come to fruition on 2 and 3 November.”

Read the ODT article

Read Scott Willis' Otago Daily Times column

Find out more about BRCT’s projects