A new town is being built on the outskirts of Auckland giving everyone from first-home buyers to retirees a chance to swap the hustle and bustle for some rural peace.
Paerata Rise, between Karaka and Pukekohe, will offer 4500 new homes. It's far from a soulless housing development. Rather than profit, the main driver is creating a thriving community for the future.
"This is 300 hectares of single ownership which means we control how we design the town to best suit the people living in it," says Chris Johnston, chief executive of Grafton Downs, a charitable company within the Methodist Church, which is overseeing the build.
"We are making sure it has all the amenities a town requires. Things like childcare centres, schools, the right kind of shops, lots of parking, good roads, extra greenspace. We have developed a very high level, large scale master plan and we want to create a community to be proud of both now and in the years to come."
Paerata Rise house prices range from $650,000 through to about $1.2million. At least 350 homes will be classed as affordable housing. Ten show homes are open now for people to have a look.
Good transport links to central Auckland is key so Paerata Rise will have its own railway station.
"Auckland Council is looking at three sites on our boundary and we are due to hear back from very early next year on which one they've chosen so we can plan our roads to it," says Mr Johnston.
A New World supermarket is going up next to the town while Pukekohe, a five minute drive away, has lots of 'big box' stores such as the Warehouse and Mitre 10.
Schooling has been carefully planned. Paerata School is moving to the new site in 2021 catering for 750 students from year 1-8. The existing Wesley College will also be moved from its current site and a new Wesley Co-ed high school built within the township which will cater for 600 students - almost double the current roll.
To cater for all those families, there are lots of cycleways, parks and plenty of sports areas including tennis courts, rugby fields, even a golf course.
As for that dream of working from home? The whole town is serviced by ultra-fast broadband and there are already provisions in place for new technologies.
"For example, our cycleways are three metres wide which in the future could accommodate autonomous vehicles," says Mr Johnston.
Paerata Rise is about allowing for now but planning for the future.
"So that also means looking after our tributaries and streams that are going through the site, doing more plantings than is required, working with our ecologist to get a good plan around ecology, double treatment of stream water," he says.
'It's about what will it look like in 50 years' time. The Church and the College are going to be part of this community for a long time. It is important to be in a community that everyone is proud of."
Thirty households will be living in Paerata Rise by next year and more are joining all the time. For those wanting to check out the town for themselves the 10 show homes are open daily to the public along with an onsite cafe.
There's also interactive map on the Paerata Rise website to help people find the perfect house and land package for their family's needs. There are already 46 titles for sale and another batch about to be released soon.
This article was created for Paerata Rise.
