Lot 326 is where Casa del la Holdsworth will be constructed (Click to enlarge)
We’re currently at that ‘in the system’ stage waiting for our plans to be approved by the Christchurch City Council. Patience is the key here methinks. It is a good chance to share some of the journey with you. The best place to start would be, the section.
We are the proud owners of a plot of developed and compact land in Halswell. It’s located in final, Stage 6 of Halswell on the Park and as far as outlook is concerned we’re pretty happy with it.
Features we were looking for in a section were:
- North facing
- Close to the city centre and amenities
- Quiet street
- A nice, new subdivision
- Close to parks recreation areas
- Affordable (harder than it sounds!)
Of course these features are generally similar features anyone would look for but finding a section that met those criteria in Christchurch? Now that’s a different story.
The day we drove through the subdivision and decided to actually walk on the sections was a very surreal occasion. We kind of decided tentatively to go for it while standing on the land.
Interestingly our plot, Lot 326 was not our first choice; 309 was. We thought we wanted the north facing part of the section to be the street front. After visualizing having a BBQ at the front of our house during summer we settled on something that had the north face towards the rear of the section. 326 was perfect for this as our outdoor entertainment area will be on the north-west side of the house – good afternoon and evening sun.
We also like the fact that Lot 326 is in a cul-de-sac so there is low volume traffic and a nice street area for the girls to ride bikes etc. Add to that we have a park just over the way with proposed tennis courts, an existing playground and park facilities we believe it’ll be a great area for the family to hang out.
We went back a few more times by ourselves and with the developer during the negotiation stage to confirm we were still happy with the decision and much to our relief, at no time did we think, ”No, this isn’t right”. Always helpful when reaffirming a decision to take that leap into building.
We were quite lucky to secure our section as it had already been previously purchased but was sold back to the development company after the owners had a change of heart. Our gain I guess (after an engineering report confirmed there was nothing wrong with it). Another stroke of luck for us was the fact we decided to go for it then in May as I believe all the sections in the street are now sold. Demand for sections has increased dramatically in light of the earthquakes so getting in prior to insurance payouts was a very good decision.
We have a long way to go but so far so good and there you have it – how we got our section.
Hyde Place Build 