977 days ago

First stage of big Halswell retirement village nears completion

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

Christchurch will get another retirement village when the first stage of Halswell’s $210 million Banbury Park opens in May.

The development, designed to resemble a subdivision with stand-alone houses built along streets, is going up on a 14-hectare site between Milns and Sparks roads.

It will have 191 houses, 42 apartments, a rest home with hospital and dementia care, and facilities including a pool and a restaurant. All buildings will be single or double storey.

The complex is being built by Qestral Corporation, a Christchurch company headed by Ryman Healthcare founder John Ryder, which develops upscale retirement villages.

Qestral bought the farmland for about $6.6m in 2019, most of it from Christchurch developer and investor the Carter Group, owned by Philip Carter.

Ryder said the first 12 homes finished would be followed by another 24, and completing the development would take five years.

The project has been expanded to cover an extra 2ha from when it was first announced, and construction costs have risen, Ryder said. The original budget was $160m.

The Banbury Park site is immediately south of the Meadowlands subdivision being built by Danne Mora Holdings, with 155 sections in six stages. It is just north of land owned by the Carter Group which is also earmarked for residential development.

Banbury Park’s houses will be from 116 square metres to 230sqm in size, while the apartments will be part of the main facilities building.

Banbury Park is being built in Halswell by Qestral Corporation.

As with other retirement villages, occupants will buy a right to occupy only, and will not own their homes.

Christchurch already has about 50 retirement villages, of which Burlington in Redwood and Alpine View in Marshland are both owned by Qestral.

Ryder said since establishing its first two complexes in the city, they had been made aware of demand for retirement homes in the southwestern suburbs.

“Halswell is a hugely busy area for construction and new housing – there’s been a huge amount of interest from people around the area,” he said.

The company also owns the Coastal View retirement village in Nelson and is developing others in Hamilton and Whangarei as part of a development programme costing more than $750m.

Other retirement villages planned for the Christchurch area include Ryman’s complexes in Park Tce in the central city and Main North Rd in Northwood, while fellow operator Summerset plans to build on land it has bought at South Belt in Rangiora, and Springs Rd in Prebbleton.

More messages from your neighbours
1 hour ago

Can you crack Today’s neighbourhood conundrum?

Riddler from The Neighbourly Riddler

Without a bridle or a saddle, across a thing, I ride a-straddle. And those I ride, by help of me, though almost blind, are made to see. What am I?

Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.

Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.

Image
T
6 hours ago

Free red bricks wanted

Trudy from Hornby

Hi everyone, I'm after free red bricks please? I'll come pick them up, no problem. Thank you 😊

12 days ago

Kalle

The Team from Humans of Christchurch Ōtautahi

"Sports and travelling run in the family, and that's kind of what's led me to come to New Zealand."

"I grew up in a small town in Finland. My dad was involved with sports all his life, he was a shot putter, discus thrower, powerlifter, we traveled quite a bit when I was a kid. He never mentioned much of the rugby days. He just said he broke both of his shin bones playing rugby, so he said, ‘never play the sport, It's crazy.’

I started playing when I was 18. I played my first cap for the Finnish national team in 2014, we won the Finnish championship with my club. Rugby is not a big thing in Finland.

I moved here to play rugby in 2017. The club that wanted me to come over was Methven Rugby Club. They got me here and they were like, ‘what do you do for work? I’d just finished chef school in Finland. ‘We'll get you a job at Mount Hutt as a chef, you can do that while you play rugby with us.’ I said, ‘Perfect. Yeah, I'm in’.

I've always loved food. My mum was an amazing cook, and still is. When I was studying tourism I worked in some hotels in Finland, and I saw how the chef's worked. I just loved the kitchen vibe and I was like, Yeah, that’d be something I'd love to do.

I've had more of a culinary journey In New Zealand than in Finland. I started at Mount Hutt, after that I worked at The Dubliner in Methven. I worked as a senior pizza chef at Sal’s for maybe six months then worked as chef de partie at Cellar Door. At Eliza's Manor, I worked myself up to a junior sous chef. Then the opportunity came to work my first head chef job at Moon Under Water.

We're privileged to have a busy atmosphere, we can try new things and get a bit creative. There are no TV’s, just come here with your family or with your mates, play board games, to socialise.

I really want to drive the local food and ingredients through the menu. We don't mind spending more for quality ingredients as long as it's supporting New Zealand businesses. We just love to use local. And it's pub food, but I feel like it's elevated.

I play club rugby here for the Christchurch Football Club, the oldest club in New Zealand and I still play regularly for the Finnish national team, whenever they can fly me over to play."

- Kalle

View more stories, or nominate someone: @humansofchch
www.humansofchch.org......

Image