Kaikoura workers' village would cost you $150 a night

Thursday, 31 August 2017

The 75 units each have a modest self-contained bedroom and ensuite.

A room with an ensuite, three meals a day, shuttle transport and access to a shared gym for $150 a night.

It might sound like a plush hotel trying to sell a weekend getaway, but it is the going rate at the workers' village in Kaikoura.

The purpose-built, prefabricated Fyffe Rd campus houses 270 to 300 workers on the State Highway 1 and Main North Line rebuilds on any given day.

Some earthquake recovery workers are paying up to $150 a day to stay at the North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery alliance (NCTIR) temporary village.

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For the same price, providing they book in advance, workers could stay on the waterfront at The White Morph Hotel Kaikoura, complete with balcony, kitchenette and queen-sized bed.

Evon Ashoka, Amarilis Freire and Ann Le Breton were working at the village in June.

NCTIR stakeholder and engagement manager Mike Seabourne said the village was provided to NCTIR staff and any subcontracted companies working on the recovery effort.

The majority of village workers had their accommodation covered by contractual agreements between the alliance and each subcontractor, he said.

Kaikoura's NCTIR temporary workers' village on Fyffe Rd.

However, Seabourne was unable to provide the rate included in the contracts due to commercial sensitivity.

Workers staying at the village without an accommodation agreement with NCTIR were subject to a $150 daily rate.

The first three truckloads of village units arrive on site in Kaikoura in May.

People who stayed at the workers' village without an accommodation contract likely worked in the surrounding region on other projects such as the alternate inland route.

The transport alliance used Spray Marks as an example, a company that supplied traffic management services.

NCTIR acting project director Manea Sweeney said Spray Marks had teams located across the coastal corridor from Waipara to Clarence.

'[They] find their own accommodation for their team as required to suit the locations they are in, for example near Mt Lyford, or on the Picton to Christchurch alternate route, through Murchison and St Arnaud. Spray Marks has agreed [to] this approach with NCTIR,' she said.

Workers in the village without an accommodation contract were the exception and not the rule, a NZ Transport Agency spokeswoman said.

The site at Fyffe Rd in Kaikoura, which had been an empty paddock, also provided recreational facilities, a dining hall, laundry and a gymnasium.

'For workers staying at the village, breakfast includes a selection of cereals, fresh fruit, yoghurt and toast or a cooked breakfast,' Seabourne said.

'Each worker staying at the village receives a packed lunch consisting of fresh fruit, sandwiches, a muesli bar, bottled water and other snacks.'

The village, which opened in July, contained 75 units, each with four self-contained bedrooms and ensuites.

As well as the temporary village, there were about 50 workers in leased accommodation in Clarence.

NCTIR did not disclose the expected final cost of providing the workers' village, citing commercial sensitivities.

The workers' village was expected to be in use until the rebuilds were completed, Seabourne said.

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