Muriwai on the mend: Homeowners paid out and materials repurposed after Cyclone Gabrielle

More than half of the 69 Muriwai houses condemned after Cyclone Gabrielle hit in 2023 have been deconstructed.

Thirty-nine of the homes deemed unsafe for living have been dismantled or relocated and the rest are awaiting action, says house-removal programme manager from the Auckland Council, Kris Bird.

The Auckland Council allocated $774M to buy cyclone-damaged homes, including the high-risk Muriwai properties.

The buyouts were based on a market value established by registered valuers as at January 26, 2023, before the anniversary weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.

“The first thing we try do is relocate a house whole. To date, we have relocated or partially relocated 12 of the houses in Muriwai,” says Bird.

“If the former owners haven’t been able to get into their properties for safety reasons to get belongings out, whilst we are doing the deconstruction, we try and get out as much stuff as we can for them and leave it in a safe place for them to come and pick it up.

“During the settlement process they provide a list of stuff that they'd love to get back out of the property.”

Bird says deconstruction company, Trow Group organised for some deconstructed material to be sent to the Pacific Islands for housing and schools.

Auckland Council expect house removals to be complete early next year, depending on when it can take ownership of remaining properties. Photo: Savannah Jonkers

Other materials have been sent to the Helensville Zero Waste recycling centre where small homes and buildings are built from recycled materials.

“We wanted to take material that represented a devastating loss for our community and turn it into something that we could put back into the community that enriched it,” says general manager Treena Gowthorpe.

“We’re working on a business model of building tiny homes which we sell to the community to fund gifting tiny builds back into the community to support areas of need.”

The centre has just finished a tiny build for South Kaipara Good Food, a food bank in Helensville.

The next two will be for a local church to help house the homeless, complete with preloved beds, sheets and blankets, a sink, jug and toaster.

Meanwhile, on March 23, around 300 Muriwai locals gathered for the unveiling of ‘Pou Hirihiri’ - a sculpture commemorating the devastation felt by the Muriwai community from the 2023 storms.

Celebrated sculptor, Jeff Thompson, famous for, among other works, the corrugated-iron elephant at the Auckland Zoo and the huge Taihape gumboot, incorporated materials from around 30 category-three homes into a public display.

The community funded sculpture consists of eight pillars that vary in height and are created from recycled materials, including roofing, tiles, concrete, bricks, letterboxes and even kitchen sinks.

Thompson described the response to his work as “incredibly positive,” as many victims recognised items from their homes.

He says he aims to add more elements to the six blank sides of the pillars as houses continue to be deconstructed at Muriwai Beach.