Hawke’s Bay’s First Emergency Shelter Gets a Generous Lift

The dream to establish Hawke’s Bay’s first emergency shelter for the prevention of homelessness is becoming reality as the $100,000 hurdle to move the two storey building has been overcome.

Hawke’s Bay house moving company, Relocate Homes NZ has come on board to move the building for free.

Relocate Homes NZ Managing Director Shannon Tawhiti said he is excited to get the wheels moving on such a positive project, which will help so many Hawke’s Bay families.

“When some parents from our local Kindy, who were involved in the project asked us to help, we jumped on board because housing is our passion. We hate seeing buildings demolished and really want this amazing project to work.”

Kiri Swannell, her husband Kevin and their family run a soup kitchen in Napier and have been calling for an emergency shelter. They were donated the Property Brokers Building in Hastings, provided it could be moved within a reasonable time frame.

“We are in the business of taking houses that no one wants, shifting them to new sites, renovating them and putting families into them, so this project fits with everything we believe in. We are really excited about working with the Swannells to get this project off the ground.” said Mr Tawhiti.

Relocate Homes NZ is a local, family run business owned by Shannon and Hayley Tawhiti. It specialises in the buying and selling of relocatable houses across the North Island.

“We have over 10 years of experience doing challenging jobs like this, we have the skill level and all the latest gear to make this happen.”

The Swannells say they are overwhelmed by the Tawhiti’s generosity as they had received quotes of $100,000 for relocating the large building.

“It’s absolutely awesome. We couldn’t make it happen without the Tawhitis. We had budgeted $100,000 to move the building so we are so grateful and so pleased that a local Hawke’s Bay company is donating to the cause,” said Mrs Swannell.

Relocation Homes NZ will also store the building in an industrial yard until a new site is found.

“Most house moving companies we spoke to said we would need land to move the building onto, so it’s a huge relief that the Tawhitis are also going to store it for us.”

On a scale of 1 to 10, Mr Tawhiti says this relocation job is a 10 and will be no easy feat.

“It is a very complicated job because there are so many variables. It’s two story, it’s high, it’s heavy and it’s wide, so there are 3 main factors going against it. But we have successfully moved dozens of two storey houses and have a lot of experience and very skilled staff.”

The key to ensuring the move is successful will be three to four weeks of preparation where the building will be separated into three parts.

“There will be plenty of preparation work needed to separate the top story from the bottom story. We also need to do a lot of bracing work to ensure the building stays in place when it is moved. Safety is paramount, and we have very high safety standards,” said Mr Tawhiti.

The transporting of the entire building is expected to take 3-5 days.

Mr Tawhiti said he also has a large network of local tradesmen and businesses that he will call on to get involved.

“This is an amazing charitable project which will give so much back to the community. We are so inspired by what the Swannells are doing and really want to make this happen.”

A project manager is still needed to oversee the project and builders are still required as well as a crane.

Mrs Swannell says they look forward to working with the Tawhitis over the coming months, but there is still a long road ahead with a big focus now on finding land, which is the last major piece in the puzzle.

For offers of help, please phone Ms Swannell on 027 3019 491. Make a pledge at givealittle.co.nz/project/limitlesshope, or donate directly to HB Limited Hope Trustee Ltd: 38 9017 0031 584 00.

ENDS

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