Part of the WikiHouse NZ prototype being assembled in the hallway of Papanui Baptist Church - in readiness for the Social Housing Forum.

WikiHouse/NZ assembled a prototype structure as part of our presentation at the Social Housing Forum in July - at the Papanui Baptist Church in Christchurch. We had a great time with the team putting the frame up in record time on the Friday and down again on the Monday. A very practical demonstration of what can be achieved by a team of unskilled construction volunteers over a long weekend :) The whole frame went easily into the back of the Delta Community Trust van and, despite being a very tight squeeze into the space with just 15mm headroom to spare, the whole process went smoothly from start to finish.

Our presentation was very well received by those attending - and was a great opportunity to talk about our model for assisted self delivery through empowering local people to deliver first class solutions, in a sustainable way, alongside existing public, private and NGO/charitable interventions. Around 50 people attended including representatives of the key organisations actively addressing issues in this arena.

One of the key issues we need to address with social housing is the nature of the procurement model; from that of ever increasing subsidies supporting a broken delivery model to a community empowerment framework that provides a platform for users to engage with the process directly and have their particular needs met.

From a 'one size fits all' to a 'custom size related to user needs' at an equivalent cost and with far greater building performance. We believe that WikiHouse/ NZ is well on the way to achieving this.