Family plans huge home underground

A New Zealand family is waiting to hear if they can build a vast Wā naka home that will be almost two-thirds underground – and more than 10 times the size of an average Kiwi home.

The Nature Preservation Trust Ltd has proposed the 2000m2 home on the shores of Lake Wā naka.

The subterranean level will include six bedrooms with ensuites, a kitchen, three lounge areas, a media room, a sauna, a gym, a pool and a hot tub, according to a resource consent application. Access and light will be provided through five cave-like portals facing the lake.

The application says the doors and windows in the portals will be set back 2.5m from the hillside to ensure they are not visible from the lake and track below.

The two upper storeys will contain a library and games room, a studio, two studies and another lounge. The roof will be almost flat and will not contain any chimneys, heat pump or air conditioning units.

The proposal includes plans for a separate in-ground swimming pool, a spa pool, and a 450m2 implement and storage shed.

The owners would have access to a nearby helicopter pad.

The Nature Preservation Trust property sits between Wā naka and Glendhu Bay, looks out to Ruby

Island, and is next to the Millennium Track, a popular pedestrian and cycleway.

Nearby properties include the exclusive Whare Kea lodge and Damper Bay, where billionaire Peter Thiel hopes to build a 10-room luxury lodge.

The owner of the land is Nature Preservation Trustee Ltd, and Wā naka lawyer Janice Hughes is listed as the sole director and shareholder of the company.

Hughes said she was a trustee for the private family trust.

‘‘It’s a Kiwi family, and this will be their family home.’’

The family had an association with the area, wanted to be respectful of the environment, and had already undertaken extensive landscaping work, she said.

According to the application documents, they have already established 4000 native plants on the site in two stages, and are planning a third stage of planting.

Nature Preservation Trustee Ltd applied to the Queenstown Lakes District Council for resource consent to build the house in 2018, which was granted non-notified.

However, the owners of the neighbouring Whare Kea lodge sought a judicial review of the council’s decision, and it was overturned.

A new application was resubmitted last year and was publicly notified. Commissioners Robert Nixon and Jane Sinclair heard the application last week. There is no time frame for a decision.