New street, new houses points to Urban Plus expansion

Fairfield Waters is the most ambitious residential development that Urban Plus Ltd has taken on to date but even before finishing touches are completed, all but one of the 20 new homes have been sold.

The mix of two-storey townhouses, single storey homes and two-storey terraced housing is off Summit Rd in Fairfield, on a new private road officially unveiled as Glen Evans Crescent by the late mayor’s wife Barbara on February 27.  Two of the couple’s sons, Mike and Geoff, were also present.

It’s fitting that there is now a street named after one of our greatest mayors.

Mayor Ray Wallace said Glen, who was mayor from 1986-1995, was “one of the city’s champions”.  He had a very deep understanding of Lower Hutt, “particularly its vulnerabilities” (he was a driving force for floodway projects and the replacement Ewen Bridge) and was also at the helm at the time of the tumultuous and highly-charged government-mandated 1989 amalgamations, when Lower Hutt, Eastbourne, Petone and Wainuiomata were joined.

Ray said Fairfield Waters is a medium density development that is aligned with the city’s Urban Growth Strategy, an ambitious plan to boost the number of homes in the city by 6000 by the end of 2032.  “We’re on target for that at the moment.”

Profit from the Fairfield Waters project will be ploughed back into expanding the city’s social housing portfolio, which is focused on providing rental units for low-income people over 65.  Last year Urban Plus sold off 27 social housing units that were considered to be of the wrong design or location for modern needs.   That leaves us with 151 units, and Urban Plus is now negotiating for  suitable sites to build additional units.