Otago Daily Times

Terrace houses new angle for ‘The Block’

- µ The Block NZ screens on Sundays at 7pm and MondayWedn­esday at 7.30pm, on Three

WHEN The Block NZ premiered its sixth season on Sunday, builder, broadcaste­r and presenter Peter Wolfkamp returned as the site foreman; overseeing the teams’ building sites and ensuring the contestant­s follow council regulation­s as they carry out their renovation­s.

This year’s theme is Side by Side, sonamed for the fact that the teams are working on semidetach­ed terraced houses that sit side by side. This year’s teams, twins Julia and Ali, brothers Ling and Zing, best friends Stace and Yanita and brothersin­law Andy and Nate, are given 12 weeks to finish their threebedro­om, threestore­y home; each of which was divided from one property.

As each new season of The Block NZ looks at a different style of property, Wolfkamp says shifting to higherdens­ity homes was a natural progressio­n for the show that reflects the direction of housing in Auckland city.

‘‘This is kind of The Block meets the Unitary Plan,’’ Wolfkamp says.

‘‘This is what, in many parts of Auckland, is going to be what the city is going to look like. And there’s some real challenges with that, because we need to get more people living in the same space and we need to build quality houses.’’

Previous seasons of The Block NZ have been criticised for its depiction of homes being flipped for profit; last year’s winners Sam and Emmett pocketed $480,000 after their threebedro­om Meadowbank townhouse went for $1.6 million at the endofseaso­n auction.

In response to this, Wolfkamp quotes Phil Twyford, who in 2014 said The Block

NZ had been ‘‘more successful than the National Government at completing and selling homes’’, and says this season of the show will help encourage viewers to embrace highdensit­y living.

‘‘Auckland has a massive housing shortage without a doubt . . . The fact that we’re building new homes — in this location there was one home, we’re now creating four — that’s what we need to be doing. That’s what’s going to be a part of solving the housing crisis, is to be able to build better homes on smaller sites.

‘‘People are embracing city living again. This is where we’re heading, and you’re either on board or you’re not.’’

 ??  ?? Peter Wolfkamp
Peter Wolfkamp

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