Click here to see our interview with Better Homes And Garden at the Live Expo 2010
Rave Reviews
Parkwood has been in the transportable
homes business for many years. Here,
BuildHome has revisited a couple of the
company’s homes and invited their satisfied
owners to offer insights into their particular
Parkwood Homes’ experience.
When you are presented with such stunning natural beauty as the Hawkesbury River, you want to create a dwelling that makes the most of the surroundings.
IN A BID to ease the state’s rental crisis, the NSW State Government is attempting to convince local councils to approve more secondary dwellings.
Parkwood Homes has a range of designs that meets this potential solution.
With a trend away from traditional
brick-and-tile construction, designers are seeking construction
methods to take advantage of the new innovative materials
now being introduced into the Australian housing market.
WHEN THE TEAM at Parkwood Homes
won the contract from The Department of
Sport and Recreation to construct a cluster of cabins at
Lake Ainsworth in Lennox Head, NSW, they were
given an opportunity to think outside the square. It was a ‘Design & Construct’ tender and
Sport and Rec’s brief was for a
design that would last, attract a strong rental return and
which would be
durable and hard-wearing.
Tucked in behind the primary.
Parkwood Homes scoops building awards for turning
impossibilities into realities at challenging sites.
Gosford relocatable home builder wins 4 awards culminating with the
major award for Best Commercial Project for 2002.
Newcastle Master Builders Awards Won Were:
Best Commercial Project under $3million
The Judges Awards for Environmentally sustainable development
Best construction of a detailed or innovative project
and the Major Award on the night - The Best Commercial Project
(open division)
The misadventure of a lost architect has seen Gosford Construction Company; Parkwood Homes
win four awards at this year’s Newcastle Master Builders Awards.
Architect, Mik Ilet inadvertently walked into Parkwood Homes office instead of a nearby kit home
manufacturer only to discover that their manufactured homes presented a better solution to a
challenging project that he had undertaken for the NSW Department of Works. The challenge was
to supply nine accommodation units to the NSW Department of Sport & Recreation’s Milson Island
and Broken Bay facilities, both of which had difficult building sites and were only accessible by water.
On site construction was to be no more than eight weeks and provide five star accommodation
for a medium budget.
The units were completed at Parkwood Home’s Gosford factory including bathroom and kitchen
fittings and ceiling fans wired and ready to go. Each unit was then split into four major and minor
sections ready for transportation which involved no less than a low loader to the boat ramp; a
barge across the Hawkesbury River; two tractors to drag the sections up the beach; and a 30 ton
all terrain all wheel drive crane (which itself was barged to the site) to lift each section onto the
hillside sites.
Despite the fact that the units had not originally been designed to be transportable, Parkwood Homes turned architect Mik Illet’s vision into
a reality completing the installation in just
five days and with no variations or additional
costs. There was no compromise on quality
or construction method with the units
boasting features including select Brush Box
timber flooring, blue mini orb metal ceilings,
Tallow Wood Timber Decking and angled veranda
railings in stainless steel.
Parkwood Homes Managing Director, John McDougall was thrilled with the opportunity that
the project presented, “While we are well known
for our work creating transportable homes, this
project created an opportunity for us to expand
our horizons and demonstrate our expertise with
leading edge designs and versatility and applications
in other markets.”
The accolades given to the project at the Newcastle
Master Builders Awards will no doubt have
people seeing portable building projects in a new
light.
Despite the total project only costing $1.3million,
it won the Award for Commercial Projects Under
$3 million against other projects which were
more than double the cost. It was also awarded
the Judges Award for both the Best Construction
of a Detailed or Innovative Project and the Best
Environmentally Sustainable Development with
the judges commenting,
“This project highlighted
the government’s brief for minimum
impact in a highly sensitive island
area and resulted in less than one trailer
load of rubbish being removed from
the site after the project was complete.
The builders attention to environmental
considerations was a tribute to what
can be achieved by the industry”.
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