Whare - Housing Upgrade Research Facility
In post-earthquake Christchurch we are in the unique position of being able to improve Canterbury's housing stock as thousands of homes are repaired.
Ara is helping to find cost effective solutions to making homes healthier to live in and more efficient through collaborative research projects.
WHARE stands for:
- Warm
- Healthy
- Affordable
- Resource efficient
WHARE also signifies a house or building in Māori.
Ara relocated a red-zoned house from Kaiapoi to its Madras Street Campus in August 2015 and retrofitted this house with interventions such as ventilation, insulation and better management of indoor air quality. The goal of the project - to investigate, in partnership with industry, maximum benefits in achieving a warm and efficient house through cost effective means.
Students from trades, engineering technology and architectural studies gained real world experience through coursework and research projects in the contextualised learning space of the WHARE.
Ara would like to thank our WHARE partners Southern Response who have donated the house and had it moved to the site on the corner of Madras Street and Ferry Road and Hawkins Construction for preparing the foundations.