What Fletcher plans at Ihuma¯tao
Fletcher Building doesn’t expect any secrets to be unearthed at Ihuma¯tao, should the construction giant’s 480-home development at the contested site go ahead.
For the past four years, the NZX-listed company has been planning O¯ ruarangi – a housing project on a 32-hectare site in Mangere, on the edge of the Manukau Harbour, a half-hour drive south from downtown Auckland.
The land, which was until recently a privately-owned farm for 150 years, sits next to the 100ha O¯ tuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve as well as the small village of Ihuma¯ tao.
Fletcher Building planned to start earthworks last month but the development stalled after protesters, who have been occupying the site for four years, blocked heavy machinery.
Since then, what was once a little talked about occupation has become a national conversation about Ma¯ ori land rights and past injustices, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying no construction will take place at Ihuma¯tao until a solution was reached by all parties.
Who owns the land?
For 800
years,
Ma¯ori were the inhabitants of Ihuma¯tao. The country’s first vegetable patches were toiled there and it acted as a food bowl for Ta¯ maki Makaurau.
In 1863, armed British and New Zealand troops forced the inhabitants off the land which was later cleared and, for the next 150 years, owned and farmed by the Wallace family.
In 2007, the then-Manukau City Council intended to add Ihuma¯ tao to the O¯ tuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve but failed.
In 2016, it was purchased by Fletcher Building at which point Save Our Unique Landscape started occupying the land, calling for it to be made a place for all New Zealanders.
Overview of Oruarangi ¯
Should it go ahead, the development – named after the road it’s on – would include 480 homes, ranging from compact and affordable to spacious, two-level homes, built in five stages over seven years.
The area is a designated Special Housing Area (SHA), approved by the Government, Auckland Council and Heritage NZ for residential development.
About 30 per cent would be ‘‘affordable’’, including 40 homes (8 per cent) available to people from the area’s whakapapa.
Fletcher Building said it would develop a pathway to ownership programme to help Ma¯ ori into homes.
Homes would be built on 75 per cent of the available 32ha site. Eight hectares, the equivalent of about eight rugby fields, would be set aside as open space and added to the O¯ tuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve. This land would be returned to mana whenua.
The homes
Fletcher Building would not say how much the homes would cost nor how big the houses or sections would be.
In Auckland, ‘‘affordable’’ homes are priced below $650,000. However, it is not clear how many would fit this definition.
Homes would be a mix of two to four-bedroom homes that are light, warm, dry and energy efficient, Fletcher Building said.
‘‘We’re seeking to break down barriers to home ownership for first-home buyers, those currently finding it difficult to enter the housing market, and those with strong cultural ties to the area,’’ the company says on its O¯ ruarangi website.
Secrets of the land
Areas on the site have been identified as having archaeological and cultural importance, including midden (remnant sites of early household waste), burial caves, lava flows, lava caves and early European dry stone walls and a homestead.
Fletcher employed archaeologist Rod Clough to assess the site. Archaeologists would be onsite at all times during the earthworks phase, to investigate the known archaeological sites and in case additional discoveries of Ma¯ ori origin were unearthed.
Ma¯ ori involvement
Fletcher said early on it engaged with iwi Te Kawerau a¯ Maki and Te A¯ kitai to gauge their views and partnered with Te Kawerau a¯ Maki and the Makaurau Marae Trust, who represent the people with mana whenua over Ihuma¯ tao.
‘‘Through this partnership approach, we have been able to plan the development in such a way that supports their sustainable kaitiakitanga of the surrounding area,’’ Fletcher said.
The site’s master plan was designed in partnership with local iwi, it said.
Fletcher Building says it has tried to find a solution with the protesters since 2016.