Kiwi bach DIY project

You can pretty much guarantee the scenery will steal the show when you feature a holiday home on Grand Designs NZ. Or to be more accurate in this instance, a good old Kiwi bach.

And the latest episode doesn’t disappoint. We even have storm surges, which are always going to be a problem when you build just metres from the high tide mark.

Victoria University School of Architecture lec- turer Guy Marriage has teamed up with cousin Briony Ellis, an event manager, and her sports administrator husband Roger Wood, a sports administrator, to build a family bach at Pukerua Bay north of Wellington.

Ellis speaks for all of us when she talks about wanting a bach: ‘‘I think it’s a dream that everyone has.’’

This location has special significance and a lot of nostalgia for the family – Ellis’s family have owned four baches at Pukerua Bay, all built by her great grand- father in the 1920s. ‘‘I have always felt like I belong here,’’ she says. ‘‘In the transient life that we lead, the only constant has been Pukerua Bay. This is where I come from.’’

But, as architect narrator Chris Moller says, this is a beach renowned for ferocious northwesterly storms and a surging ocean that’s forever changing the coastline.

It’s all DIY for these troopers, from start to finish. Oh, and it’s a tsunami zone in an area prone to earthquakes.