Making New Zealand - Construction

Television (Full Length Episode) – 2018

This episode of Making New Zealand traces New Zealand's housing history, examining the way building construction changed as the population grew. A team of architectural historians including Bill McKay and Ben Schrader comment on New Zealand's changing communities, from Māori settlements to the bustling streets of Edwardian Dunedin and 1980s Auckland. The documentary highlights the ways building materials and a better understanding of essential infrastructure shaped each city. The devastating earthquakes in Napier and Christchurch emphasised the need for New Zealand to build back 'better'.

Double brick walls and unreinforced masonry were common in New Zealand buildings before 1900. Years later we would pay the price.
– Narrator Mark Clare on hard lessons for earthquake-prone countries