Auckland-based construction company RECO is transforming the terraced housing sector, with an award-winning Mt Wellington development that offers an exciting blueprint for the future. 

The 145-unit project places community at the fore, creating a unique variety of homes that step beyond your stereotypical new housing developments. 

“We have designed a community that caters for all, from young couples, to families, to elderly people,” explains RECO Director Ryder Song. “This is not simple terraced housing where everything looks the same – here every block is different, from the roof pitch and elevation through to the colours, materials and even the streetscapes.” 

As the client, UNISPOT limited developed this 145-unit project put community first, creating a unique category of homes that goes beyond typical new residential developments.

But while the wide array of designs sets this development apart, there is one key building block that remains unchanged – the use of GIB Barrierline®. 

“We first tried GIB Barrierline® back in 2019, and haven’t used anything else since. For construction and development, the golden triangle of time, quality and cost is vital, and GIB® ticks all those boxes. It’s a reliable quality brand that people trust, it’s cost-effective, and because everybody is familiar with it - from subcontractors through to building inspectors - there are no timeline holdups.” 

And when you’re building a much-needed neighbourhood in the heart of Auckland, that’s good news for everybody. 

Scheduled for completion in July next year, The Glade is ideally positioned in Richmond – a vibrant new community just minutes from Sylvia Park. RECO has already completed stage one and two of the project, earning silver in this year’s Master Builder Awards for their efforts. It’s recognition that RECO and architectural partner OZAC and client UNISPOT are rightfully proud of. 

“We were thrilled to win this award,” says OZAC Architects’ Keith Feng. “It places us among the best of the best New Zealand-wide, and confirms that we’re achieving our goal, which is to design and build good houses responsibly. We’re creating communities where people want to live, and I hope our work inspires more developers to use this model looking forward.” 

Homes within the precinct range from two-level two bedroom plus study offerings (a great start for young couples), right through to spacious three-level four-bedroom homes with internal access garaging and double balconies. GIB® has played a crucial role in enabling RECO and OZAC to build outside the box. 

“There have been a lot of challenging details in the plans, but GIB® systems have enabled us to keep the internal processes simple, which is very important in a development of this scale,” says Ryder. “It’s a long loop from design to selling units, and at every stage of the journey people want to know about fire protection, noise control and weather tightness.” 

And thanks to unrivalled support from the GIB® team, any potential complications have quickly been addressed. 

Adds Keith, “The GIB® team listens to industry, to site managers and to developers. We were installing GIB Barrierline® in a stepped roof, but there was no literature on that. We approached GIB® and they immediately updated their literature according to our needs. They also updated their literature to help us develop a cantilevered first floor, so that we didn’t need to add a shelving angle. This saved a huge amount of time, hassle and money and helped ensure the project went smoothly. Not many manufacturers are as committed to meeting industry demand.” 

For project manager Will Xu, GIB® helps make life easier. Not only is it “easy to install and there’s not much dust” but the project hasn’t failed a single inspection relating to GIB Barrierline®. 

“A project of this scale can be challenging,” says Will. “One day we had 22 subcontractors on site with around 100 tradies in total, so site circulations can get very complicated. Luckily though, everyone is familiar with GIB® systems and products so that helps things run more smoothly!”