Glendale Road Update
The development of Visionwest’s Glendale Road site has been a long-term project, with the past year bringing significant progress and clear signs that work is well underway. The Village of Hope – Kāinga o te Tūmanako aims to create an integrated village that addresses homelessness, strengthens whānau wellbeing, and fosters intergenerational connection.
There are three stages to the development:
Stage 1 – 24 Community Housing Apartments.
Stage 2 – The Community Hub.
Stage 3 – The Intergenerational Learning Centre (ILC).
Planning
Over the past twelve months, the campus development team has led extensive consultation workshops and events with staff, whānau, GEBC members, and the wider community, to better understand the community needs that must be represented in the design of the community hub. Feedback from these groups continues to shape the design and purpose of the project.
The plans for Stage 1 – the 24-apartments with a community room in the centre – have been completed. Resource Consent was issued on 10 March 2025 with conditions. Those conditions have since been met and siteworks have commenced.
Planning for Stages 2 and 3 continue. The feasibility study for the Intergenerational Learning Centre (ILC) has been completed – this is written about in detail in the Milestones section of this report – see page 16-17.
Funding
Funding from HUD and Visionwest has been received for Stage 1. Funding initiatives for the next Stages are in the planning stages. Several funding organisations have expressed an interest in being involved.
Stage 1 siteworks
In March 2025, the clearing of the site for the Stage 1 works began. This involved the removal of Building 8 which previously housed Ōhinga Tū. The removal of 93B Glendale Road is scheduled for July 2025. This will free up the entire Stage 1 site and siteworks will begin immediately.
In the meantime, the wider Visionwest team has been working tirelessly to secure appropriate facilities for services that have needed to vacate buildings associated with the project. We are looking forward to opening new Ōhinga Tū premises in early 2026. Other services have been accomodated at Visionwest’s Koru Paihere buildings on Glengarry road.
It’s exciting to now see physical evidence of the much longed for development. A huge thanks to those who have supported the project so far. There is a long way to go but a start has been made.
