Family’s industry on show
Former panelbeaters shop cleverly transformed into sleek living spaces, writes Deborah Telford
When Maike Blackman and Phil Walters told their teenagers they’d be trading their Westmere home for an inner city industrial warehouse space, the kids couldn’t wait to move.
“They realised it was a cool, alternative thing to do,” says Maike. “And when we redesigned and renovated this space, it became a real family effort.”
Since visiting an artist friend’s warehouse studio in London some years ago, Maike has been fascinated by the idea of converting an industrial space into a home.
So she and Phil, an industrial designer, began scouring the inner city’s industrial enclaves about five years ago for a property to buy.
It took nearly a year before they found this 304sq m space in Hargreaves St, which runs parallel to the bottom of College Hill, and is easy walking distance to Ponsonby Rd, St Mary’s Bay, Wynyard and Beaumont Quarters and the city.
“I’ve always thought that if you are going to live in the city, you want to live right in the city,” says Maike, who sold her car and now walks or rides her motorbike to get where she needs to be.
The family moved into Hargreaves St in August 2015. The property, once home to Newton Panelbeaters, was dilapidated when Maike and Phil bought it in 2013.
“The rats were the size of corgis — I am not joking. And everything looked completely unsafe. There were literally a thousand ways you could die here.”
While waiting for council consents and thinking through their redesign, Maike and Phil got stuck in, demolishing the inside of the building — with plenty of help from family and friends.
“We had a pretty tight brief. We wanted to retain the building’s industrial character and feel, create flexible living spaces and come up with clever design solutions to tackle the plumbing and electrics in what was essentially a concrete box.”
After the inside of the building was stripped, the builders took off the old roof, leaving only the original steel roof beams and what Maike describes as “a very expensive gap between two other buildings”.
Retaining most roof beams meant few structural alterations were needed.
Only one roof beam was removed to create space for a mezzanine level, which has sliding glass doors to a north- facing deck.
Concrete walls enclosing three sides of this outdoor space are planted with creepers that will grow to create a vertical lawn.
The mezzanine level includes the master bedroom, which opens to the deck, an en suite and dressing room.
“It is almost like an apartment up there, so we can live above the rabble.”
The ground level includes a wide, central hallway that leads from the bright red front door down to the open plan living room, dining room, lounge and study nook.
To the right of the hallway are a bedroom, bathroom, laundry, and giant storage room- cuminternal garage for everyone’s pushbikes and Maike’s motorbike.
Another bedroom, and an office and media room, which can both double as bedrooms, are to the left off the wood- panelled hallway.
Lined, floating walls built over the existing breeze block walls, provide good insulation, and a log burner in the lounge heats this space in winter.
The next move is to another inner city project. PRICE GUIDE: TENDER: INSPECT: SCHOOLS: CONTACT: ON THE WEB: * Off- street parking