Waimea Weekly
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Locally Owned and Operated
Wednesday 1 June 2016
Food bank gets a boost
Gladstone Road
Page 11
Poutama stReet
Who’s Who
Shay and fire crews save day
Wanderers to host semi-final Page 21
Page 16 - 17
Simon Bloomberg Shay Roberts made a new best friend last week when she jumped a fence to rescue a frightened dog from the flames at a garage fire at Three Brothers Corner near Richmond. Emergency services were called to the fire at 30 Appleby Highway at around 2.30pm on Thursday after the occupants of the house phoned 111. It took four crews about 20 minutes to control the blaze that destroyed the garage and threatened to spread to the nearby house on the property. But the real drama had already unfolded before the fire crews arrived. Shay, who was working in a field behind the property, ran to the rescue of two dogs that were in danger of suffering serious burns from the blaze.
Barnett Construction’s, from left, Nigel Barnett, Terry Coleman, Renee Roeske, Chris Keen, Chris Barnett and Bevan Coleman, on a building site in Richmond last week. Photo: Simon Bloomberg.
New home market ‘pumping’ Shay Roberts who rescued a dog from the garage fire near Three Brothers Corner on Thursday. “I was working in the field and saw the smoke and heard ‘pop, pop, pop’ and then someone screaming - it was really scary,” she told the Waimea Weekly. “There was a dog tied to a nearby shed, so me and a workmate rushed over
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Simon Bloomberg
The home building industry around Nelson and Tasman is “pumping” with many building companies taking on extra staff to keep up with demand and prospective buyers willing to wait more than 12 months before they can move into their new homes. “There’re not enough hours in the day, or days in week, to keep up,” Milestone Homes Nelson Bays regional manager Adam Hills says. “I’ve been with Milestone for seven years and I’ve never known anything like it - the industry is absolutely pumping.” Adam says Milestone presently has
“15 houses under contract” and has just employed another five builders to keep up with the demand. He says many buyers are signing contracts for new homes on subdivisions that are still being developed and haven’t got titles and as a result have to wait up to a year or more to move in. Simon Collett of Home Living Solutions says they are presently developing six subdivisions for over 150 new homes in Nelson and Tasman and they are “pre-selling everything”. Home Living Solutions manages the complete home building process from land development through to design and build.
“People are grabbing sections and waiting 12 months. We are selling sections that won’t even have a title by Christmas.” Adam and Simon both say the demand for new homes is a direct result of the housing market being put under pressure by people moving into Nelson from the bigger centres. Adam says the gap between the price of old and new homes is also narrowing, making new homes a more affordable option. GJ Gardner Homes Nelson-Tasman franchise owner Graham Vercoe says
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