Page 12 - HW June 2019

hard news
NZCB’s $5 billion Halo
INTRODUCED JUST OVER three years ago, NZCB’s Halo building guarantee now provides more than $5 billion in cover to people undertaking a home build or renovation.
However, data indicates much greater rates of uptake of Halo in some parts
of the country than others, despite
its clear points of difference from
other building guarantees and the prevalence of building-related issues for consumers.
NZCB Chief Executive, Grant Florence, says: “There are still a lot of people who are prepared to take the risk of undertaking major building work without having any kind of guarantee in place.”
Halo is independently managed, ensuring that there is no conflict of interest in the management of claims as can be the case with in-house building guarantee insurance.
In addition, Halo is underwritten by a syndicate at Lloyds of London and carries an A+ rating from Standard & Poor’s.
Of the 13,000+ residential housing projects across New Zealand that are
Hidden treasures
WHAT ARE THE chances of this? A significant find of swamp kauri – prehistoric kauri trees which can be buried for 800 to 50,000 years under peat swamps – has been found at the construction site of the country’s largest retail store in West Auckland.
Siteworks on Vinod Kumar’s bold Nido homewares venture revealed more than 20 pieces of swamp kauri measuring up to 7 metres in length.
One of the world’s most expensive timbers, the swamp kauri is being donated to traditional carvers and students at Te Wananga o Aotearoa Mangere so they can carve it into pou whenua.
Nido Managing Director, Vinod Kumar, says the find at the Henderson
now covered by Halo, 75% are in the North Island and more than a quarter (27%) are in Auckland. NZCB says this reflects not only the level of building activity in Auckland but also a wider lack of awareness of the importance of having a building guarantee in place and of the benefits of Halo in particular.
Halo is only available to people who build or renovate with a builder who is
a member of NZCB and is applied by NZCB member builders to all work they do for their clients that is valued at over $30,000. Clients undertaking lower value building work can also opt into Halo.
www.nzcb.nz
construction site was immediately recognised by Assistant Site Manager Lisa Wade who was overseeing the excavation of the foundations of the new 27,000m2 furniture, furnishing and homeware store.
Construction on the more than 31,000m2 site at 158 Central Park Drive in Henderson began in October last year and is expected to be completed around spring of this year.
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10 NZHJ | JUNE 2019
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