Back on the tools at our developing villages

Linda Jones village

Murray Halberg village

Our construction teams have picked up their tools after the summer break to get back into building beautiful villages around New Zealand and Victoria.

With work on 12 sites the construction teams are as busy as they have ever been.

Project Manager of William Sanders in Auckland, Matt Bell, had an intense year in 2020, handing over the village centre, serviced apartment block and two blocks of independent apartments in quick succession.

Describing it as a ‘fantastic milestone’, Matt said: “It was a great way to round off a challenging year and I am very proud of our team.

“The feedback from the new residents moving in has been overwhelmingly positive.” They won’t be hanging up their hard hats just yet though, with three blocks still to build.

At Murray Halberg, Project Manager Ross Duxfield and the team are focused on finishing the second half of Stage 4 in the first quarter of 2021, having handed over the first half of the block in November.

The care centre has been open for over a year now and is currently home to 79 resthome, hospital and special care residents and 49 serviced apartment residents.

Linda Jones village in Hamilton has had residents living in the first lot of townhouses since May 2019 and now has four apartment blocks and a beautiful village and aged care centre open.

Project Manager Gary Cox now has his sights firmly focused on the next four apartment blocks and three more stages of townhouses.

There are no residents at Keith Park village yet, with the first two apartment blocks due to open later in the year.

Ricky Ciobanu, Project Manager for the village in the west of Auckland, says work has also advanced on the village centre and preparations for other apartment blocks.

Ocean Grove construction site

Keith Park village construction site

Interior of Linda Jones village

Down the line in Havelock North, residents have been steadily moving into townhouses at James Wattie village.

At Riccarton Park in Christchurch construction is progressing swiftly. Towards the end of January, the first townhouses had roofs on and crews were moving towards making them weathertight.

Meanwhile, across the ditch Victorian Construction Manager Martyn Osborn said while COVID-19 restrictions cut the output of works at Ryman’s sites during the different lockdown stages. The dedicated team worked hard to ensure residents could move into John Flynn in Burwood East and the Ocean Grove village on December 23.

This year will also be busy, with work continuing at pace at John Flynn, Aberfeldie, Highton and Ocean Grove.

Residents will continue to move into John Flynn’s first building of independent apartments while construction of the aged care centre is well under way.

The Aberfeldie village is also quickly taking shape with residents moving in later this year.

Vibrant communities are blossoming at both the Highton and Ocean Grove villages, and the Highton aged care centre is on track to be opened midway through the year. Demolition crews have been busy at the Ringwood East site clearing the former Daisey’s Hotel in preparation for remediation works.

“There is no doubt 2021 is going to be a huge year,” Marty says.

“If 2020 taught us anything, it is that when faced with challenges we rise to the pressure and excel, and we’ve definitely hit the ground running this year.”