Waikato Business News December Recap 2020

CAMBRIDGE PROPERTY MARKET
BOOMING
THE STORY THEN
October - Cambridge’s popularity as a place
to live and invest has scarcely been dented by
Covid-19, and the property market is booming
post-lockdown.
That was the message given to the audience at
a Cambridge Chamber of Commerce Leaders
Lunch held at Henley Hotel on 29 September.
Like the other presenters, Antanas Procuta,
principal architect of PAUA Architects, has seen
a surprisingly buoyant market in the past two
or three months.
He said during lockdown he soaked up as
much as he could from the experts, including
economists and health specialists, and is
applying that to the firm’s response.
HUKANUI ENVIROCLASSROOM
“When Covid-19 happened I was determined
that we weren’t going to lay anyone off. Keeping
the hope going, that was really important,”
he said.
tects as business development manager.
“We’re very delighted and proud to have
Phil joining us after Labour Weekend.”
When it comes to planning, he said he is looking
18 to 24 months ahead. He also stressed
the importance of marketing. “If you take your
eye off marketing, your business suffers.”
But in the last two months, he said things
have changed remarkably. “I think people
have been saying ‘if we do nothing, nothing’s
going to happen’ so we’ve seen a lot of
activation, a lot of people have been coming
to us saying ‘right, we want to be doing these
things’.”
He also told the audience that Cambridge
Chamber chair Phil Mackay, who has a background
in hospitality, was to join PAUA Archi-
KITCHEN CLASSROOM
The event concluded with a presentation
to Procuta, marking his 25 year involvement
with the Chamber.
THE STORY SINCE
PAUA Architects is delighted that the
Hukanui Primary School ‘Garden to Table’
Enviroclassroom has won a Learning Environments
New Zealand (LENZ) Award.
PAUA Architects worked with the students
of the school’s enviro-elective and their
teacher, Michelle White, to develop a brief
and a design for the new building, called
the ‘Living Room Kitchen’.
The award citation reads: “This project reveals
the worth in pursuing solid student engagement
throughout an entire design, research and
build phase. The breadth and depth of student
involvement is comprehensive, valuable and
not tokenistic. The outcome is a showpiece of
the Enviroschools principles, and clearly meets
the holistic approach of the school’s philosophy
whilst ensuring a high level of educational
value. The project is an excellent example of
innovation, including waste reduction, water
conservation, ventilation, lighting, and heating
solutions, all integrated into the educational
value of the design.”
The ‘Garden to Table’ kitchen classroom
provides students of Hukanui Primary School
a learning space for preparation, cooking, and
sharing of food grown by the students. The
kitchen classroom complements the ‘Living
Room’, constructed in 2009 as a dedicated
space for the Enviroschools elective. The kitchen
classroom provides six kitchen workstations for
groups of students to prepare produce grown
in the fruit and vegetable gardens adjacent.
The students participated in both the design
and construction of the kitchen classroom.
An existing freestanding pizza oven was incorporated
in the design of the kitchen. Existing
rakau ti kouka/cabbage trees were retained
and will become part of perimeter gardens.
The exposed macrocarpa trusses provide for
a generous interior space with colour scheme
selected by the students. The resilient non-slip
flooring, complete with glitter flake, appealed
to the design team and children alike.
Rainwater is collected for use in the garden
and kitchen waste water is disposed of on site.
Louvres at both high and low levels provide
for passive ventilation, assisted by mechanical
extraction as required.
Learning Environments New Zealand promotes
quality design of learning spaces and professional
development amongst a community of
educators, designers and decision-makers.
QUALITY STRUCTURE PERFORMANCE
CONSTRUCT RESIDENTIAL
18 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS - RECAP December 2020