In something of a rarity for Queenstown Hill, a new home has arrived on the back of a truck — or rather, two trucks. Edinburgh Dr’s Cleone Blomfield had lived in a Michael Wyatt-designed home since ’92 before buying the section below in the early 2000s to protect her views. She started to think about what to do with the site after her husband Peter Blomfield died in 2023. Her son Piers wanted to move here to practise law, so Cleone decided he could move into her house and she would build on the site below. “I wanted a house that was warm in winter and cool in summer, and I’ve seen people with passive houses.” Looking online, she discovered Cromwell-based Arbol Eco Homes builds transportable homes, and was sold when visiting their factory on an open day. Arbol’s architect subsequently designed a 100sq m home with her input. After five months’ construction, the home was trucked over in two sections early last Thursday morning — the front pod with the living room, kitchen and dining area and a two-bedroom, two-bath pod — then craned onsite. Arbol co-owner Todd Couper notes it was too wide, at about 8 metres, for one truck and too heavy for craning onto a steep site. The home is about 95% complete — “you’ll never know it was a transported house or that it was split in two pieces”. [Missing Credit]Home sweet home: Cleone Blomfield checks out her new pad. Photo: Philip Chandler As with all their homes, he says it will be comfortable in winter and summer and have low energy consumption. The alternative was building on a difficult site in all weathers, for over year — “we’ve done really the hard yards back at the factory”. They will now add a garage, driveway and retaining wall, after an excavation job and decking to take advantage of the spectacular views. Cleone is delighted with a result which means she can stay in the area, while she says the second bedroom will be useful if she needs nursing help. scoop@scene.co.nz
