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Paul Hennessey has an inspiring vision of a thriving community in which people live in their own warm, dry comfortable and affordable homes. He’s partnered with his wife, Pascale to create Park Homes in order to turn that vision into reality. But is it really possible to have an affordable and a comfortable home?
Affordability is a big focus for Paul and Pascale. But affordable doesn’t mean ‘cheap’. Paul has noticed that cold and draughty says seems to be common in New Zealand.
Too Much Timber Framing?
Originally from Wales and qualified as a plumber, electrician, gas fitter and builder (yes, all that!), Paul was surprised with the amount of timber framing that he saw going in to new building when he arrived in New Zealand. Lots of timber can be good for strength, but where there’s timber in a wall, there’s no insulation. Too much timber increases thermal bridging. This reduces the energy efficiency of the building and increases the risk of condensation somewhere in or on the walls.
Not Normal
Pascale grew up in the South Island. She has the typical New Zealand experience of ice on the inside of windows and lots of condensation. But after living in Europe for a while, Pascale realised that this wasn’t normal for the rest of the world. It’s just what Kiwis have come to accept and even expect of the houses here. Even the new, expensive ones.
In post earthquake Christchurch, Paul and Pascale noticed that millions of dollars was being spent on foundations to rebuild homes, but the houses being built we not improving.
Doing Something Different
Pascale recalls the conversation that led to Park Homes. Paul was standing in the kitchen sharing to Pascale that he’d always had a dream of building earthquake resistant, super insulated transportable home. “Just do it!” Pascale encouraged him.
So Paul quit his job and spent a year building what was to become the first prototype house for Park Homes. It also became Paul and Pascale’s home for 18 months.
Living in the First Park Home
As a prototype, this first home has been well tested. Paul and Pascale lived in the house through all four seasons to see how comfortable it was and how low the running costs were during through the year.
The house was also seismically tested during the 5.9 Valentine’s Day Earthquake in February 2016. Pascale explains that this experience was significant for her. It made her appreciate the feeling of being safe in her home when something (like an earthquake) happens.
Around this time, the ‘Tiny House’ movement was starting to gain momentum. Paul and Pascale decided that their combination of slightly larger, modular home that was still transportable and very comfortable could be of interest to others.
Changing the Housing Market
Pascale appreciated that some education might be required because the concept they wanted to offer is different from the standard, large family home being built in most subdivisions. So they set about creating a website packed with information and resources including downloadable e-books to explain concepts like why uPVC windows are more energy efficient than regular aluminium ones, how insulation works and the importance of minimising thermal breaks.
[Tweet: The building code (is) quite low, it hasn’t been changed significantly enough to advance people’s knowledge and understanding of what a decent quality well, insulated house is like.]
Affordable and Comfortable
Paul and Pascale have created Park Homes for people like themselves. They were first time home buyers in the New Zealand market and they wanted something that would be worthy of living in for several years. Houses built to the current code are not up to this standard and so they created the change they’d like to see.
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