British sceptical at N.Z. wood houses

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 7

British sceptical at N.Z. wood houses

NZPA London Wooden houses came in for some sceptical comment at a press conference in London to launch New Zealand designed wooden houses on the British market. But a New Zealand architect Roger Walker, and the manager of a firm building Lockwood homes in the United Kingdom stoutly defended the durability and stability of wooden homes. “New Zealand has developed some of the world’s most advanced techniques for preserving wood,” Mr Walker said. “New Zealand wooden

homes are built to withstand earthquakes, strong winds, and rugged outdoor conditions. The timber industry is now highly sophisticated, with kiln drying and electronic stress and bending.” Pilot examples of Mr Walker’s vintage home design and Lockwood’s Wanaka home are among the innovative designs displayed at an exhibition in the “model” town of Milton Keynes which has been designed to feature houses with new and even futuristic ideas..

However, there seemed to be some doubt that the wooden homes would be popular with British homeowners, long accustomed to looking at rows of neat brick terrace houses or brick “semi” and detached houses in the suburbs.

“Won’t British people feel these are a little temporary looking, with rather radical designs?” a British journalist asked Mr Walker.

He replied: “Well, to the New Zealand eye much British housing looks rather like a group of transit camps. Sadly, British housing design since the war seems to have become rather stultified and stereotyped.” Mr Marvin Stephens, managing director of Greenwood Houses, which is promoting the Lockwood home, admitted: “This is a 'try it and see’ exercise.” “The wooden homes are unusual in Britain but we find reaction is strongly polarised. People either dislike these houses immensely, or they find them fresh and exciting.” Both Mr Stephens and Mr Walker admitted that the

price of the houses put them in the middle to high price bracket.

Both houses are estimated to cost around £43,000 ($105,350) in Britain. But Mr Walker said his firm would be happy to sell about 50 a year. “We’re not hoping to inundate the British market with wooden houses,” he said. “We’re just aiming at a small segment of the market.”

Mr Stephens commented: “The wooden houses many British people have seen before have been imported from Scandinavia and look like cabins but these houses are different. These houses lock like houses.”