PROJECT COORDINATOR:
GEOFF BUTCHER
ABOUT ME
I am a self-employed Christchurch economic consultant with thirty five years experience in a wide range of sectors, including work on urban planning issues for both developers and councils. I have been involved in subdivision and propety projects before, and managed the Hikuwai project in which Cooperative Sections created 40 sections and owners saved around $50,000 on each section. I understand the broad RMA and planning issues, and I’ve worked with financiers, lawyers, tradespeople, engineers, accountants, planners and landscape architects.
WHY AM I INVOLVED?
Like many others I was frustrated at the outcomes of the earthquake and I wanted to help Christchurch recover. In particular I wanted to help people who had to leave the Red Zone and who couldn’t afford to replace their house, but I also saw the problem as being part of a much wider problem of housing in New Zealand being unaffordable. Subsequent to starting Cooperative Sections I’ve become a trustee of the Community Housing Trust, and a director of “Your Homes Ltd”, which is the operational arm of the Trust
WHAT DO I DO AND AM I PAID?
Cooperative section development won't happen without someone to find the land, organise the members, sort out the legal and financial side of things, and manage the project. That is my role. I get paid at the end of the project, and the members when members get their new sections valued and I charge them 10 % of the difference between the cost of their section and its market value. No payment comes to me until the sections are complete, and the method of payment means that I have every incentive to keep the costs as low as possible while making the sections as desirable as possible.