At the Raglan Town Hall, on Sunday the 3rd of November, our local Whaingaroa Raglan Affordable Housing Project – aka WRAP – are hosting a day long forum to capture the thoughts and aspirations of the Whaingaroa Raglan community about housing – affordable housing specifically.
Presuming we could build affordable housing in Raglan, what would that look like for you?
What do you think our future housing needs will be and what should we incorporate into our homes of the future?
Should we be designing eco-neighbourhoods with open spaces, shared gardens and facilities or should we be envisioning multi-dwelling, small footprint, self-sustaining energy and potable water use complexes in ‘downtown’ Raglan …. or both …. or something else?
Starting at 9.45 with a welcome, the forum will take the shape of 5 panel discussions designed to inspire a conversation about housing so we can capture as much of the audience input as possible for inclusion in future housing projects.
During the breaks there will a chance for the audience to also note their ideas on the themed post-it boards around the town hall walls.
Each panel with start with brief presentations from each of the panellists so the audience can understand the experience and backgrounds that they each bring to the conversation. The balance of the hour long session will then be given to the audience, to tell us what you think, question the panel, and exchange ideas, under the masterful facilitation from our own wonderful Ian Mayes – eco-design and ‘all things building’ expert. For a taste of who’s who on the panels
Theme 1: 10 -11 am: Co-creation and community led housing designs – a look at designs from around New Zealand and elsewhere that are functioning successfully; how do we design a Whaingaroa Raglan version.
Antanas Procuta (Paua Architects) – passion for the design of neighbourhoods and spaces that enhance community interaction; Francesca Dodd-Parr – Raglan mum of 2, PhD student at Waikato University, focus on housing policy and environmental planning; Habitat for Humanity – input on behalf of Nic Greene (GM Waikato branch) – how Habitat will partner with WRAP to provide expertise in housing needs across the spectrum; and still to be confirmed papakāinga and co-housing projects.
Theme 2: 11 – 12pm: Energy conservation, eco design + strategies to reduce the cost of housing – what’s happening in this space and our own Raglan energy production initiatives.
Ian Mayes – keeping the cost of our existing homes affordable, incorporating eco and energy cleverness in future designs; Chris Rees – local electrician, alternative energy expert and representative of the Raglan Local Energy group; Antanas Procuta – back again with more specifics on eco-design.
For more about the rest of the programme watch this space over the next two weeks – lots more to come.
For any questions or if you’d like to input to the forum, call WRAP project lead, Fiona McNabb 027 688 9754.
