Kerikeri business making emergency homes for cyclone-hit families in Tairāwhiti

Site Scope workers, from left, Rhys Gibson (Kerikeri), Rylee Walker (Ōhaeawai) and Tyson Edwards (Kaikohe) work on a transportable home for cyclone-hit Te Tairāwhiti. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A dozen families in cyclone-ravaged Tairāwhiti will soon be living in warm, dry temporary homes thanks to a Far North family business.

The first two transportable homes, built by Site Scope near Kerikeri, were trucked to the flood-hit towns of Te Karaka and Waipaoa north of Gisborne last week.

Two more left yesterday and more are due to hit the road on Monday.

Site Scope general manager Hamish Abercrombie said he contacted Toitu Tairāwhiti, an iwi organisation in the Gisborne region, to see if his company could help after Cyclone Gabrielle.

The iwi group had committed to delivering 110 temporary homes by the end of this month for displaced whānau, so they had somewhere to live while their homes were repaired or replaced, and Site Scope agreed to build 12.

Abercrombie said the company started making modular building systems in 2019 and branched into transportable homes a year ago.

The homes, which were suitable for permanent or temporary accommodation, measured about 30sq m and were self-contained with a kitchen, toilet, shower and air-conditioning. The bedroom could fit a queen-size bed.

“When we went down there to deliver the first two it was quite incredible to hear the stories from victims first-hand. We just don’t understand what they’ve been through. Some of them had a metre of water through their homes.”

A Northland-built transportable home is delivered to a flood-damaged property at Waipaoa, about 20km north of Gisborne. Photo / Site Scope

One couple shed “tears of appreciation” when the temporary home was craned onto their property.

They had been living in a tent on their driveway and then in a caravan after flooding left their house uninhabitable.

“Now they’ve got a warm, dry, properly constructed home that will get them through winter and beyond,” he said.

Many homes in the area would be raised out of reach of future floods but that would take up to 18 months.

Abercrombie said the Waimate North Rd business had about 10 staff but had to take on another half-dozen subcontractors because the work had to be done so quickly.

He’d been impressed by the way suppliers, subcontractors and the council had rallied to the cause.

“They’ve stepped in at a moment’s notice to make it all happen,” he said.