Six Hawke’s Bay prisoners have been ‘doing time’ constructing a four bedroom Habitat for Humanity house for a local family – and learning some valuable trades skills along the way.

Since August this year, a team of six prisoners from the prison’s rehabilitation section have been constructing the house from the ground up and it is the first time in New Zealand that an entire house has been constructed ‘inside the wire’ of a prison. The building is specifically designed so it can be craned over the prison’s fence in two modules on, after which the pieces will be transported to their final site in St Leonards, Hastings.

Following the house being transferred to its permanent site, a team of local volunteers will join the two parts together and finish the house inside and out, including landscaping and fencing. The family will move into their home in early December. The experience the prisoners gained during the building and construction is the equivalent to around level two – about high school level – and is designed to encourage them to work towards a trade.

“The prisoners gain valuable skills towards the National Certificate in Building Construction and Allied Trades,” says Nic Greene, General Manager of Habitat for Humanity Central North Island. “It allows prisoners to give something back to the community by building a home for a local family in housing need. This benefits the local family and their community. At the same time, the project gives the prisoners, who are studying for a national certificate, an opportunity to get practical experience and so improve their chances of stable employment after being released,” explains Greene.

It is the eleventh home Habitat has built for a Hawke’s Bay family and it is taking Habitat one step closer to reaching its ultimate goal: eliminating sub-standard housing in New Zealand. “We approached corrections about 18 months ago now. They wanted to find something tangible for the prisoners to make. Up until now they had been building saw horses and loft ladders,” says Greene. The family has not yet seen their new home, and can’t wait to get a chance to visit the prison and see the progress. They are currently helping out in the Hastings ReStore, the local fundraising arm of Habitat for Humanity CNI, and will also be working on their home after the house has been moved to its permanent site.

The original idea for the house came from Bob Hall, a local engineer, who came up with the concept because they couldn’t fit a normal size house through the prison gates. They took the original design concept to a designer and he drew it up into what is effectively two seven square metre modules. And it has proved to be so good, Habitat are considering using it again. “It’s a great design because it’s simple and when we have volunteers and others helping with the building of a house, we need something that is reasonably simple – and cheap – to put together,” says Greene.

The prisoners were managed by a prison guard, who also helped with the theory side of things and a qualified builder was engaged by Habitat to act as their building supervisor. He worked inside the prison for 14 weeks and enjoyed the experience. “The feedback we’ve had is that’s it’s been really valuable and the supervisor has been enjoying it,” says Greene. “The prisoners have been getting involved and getting some real value out of it. Seeing a house go up in front of them has been really good.”

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