Birkenhead, Tāmaki Makaurau
Four regenerative homes in a stunning micro-community.
There’s a home you’ve been looking for that’s embedded in nature, connected to community, and created to enable people and planet to thrive.
These are homes made for living well, with vibrant living at the heart. Playfully designed and beautifully crafted, Tūī Glen’s homes work to lessen the environmental impact – and aim to reverse it.
Live lighter, in one of New Zealand’s most exciting sustainable housing communities.
01 About
Four regenerative homes in a stunning micro-community.
We believe in nature. In community. And in the beauty of life that happens when the two live harmoniously together.
This is Tūī Glen. Four playfully designed freehold stand-alone homes in a micro community. Founded with the knowledge that by prioritising true sustainability, people-centric design, social connectivity and well-being over profit, we can transform lives, communities, and the world around us.
Aiming to be New Zealand’s most sustainable standalone housing development, Tūī Glen works to supercharge the ecological potential of housing: moving beyond a sustainable build, and into one that works to regenerate the land and ecology it sits amongst. A bold new solution for Aotearoa, and a better, more harmonious way of life.
A new approach to housing.
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Tūī Glen is designed and operated to reverse ecological damage, and continue to have a net-positive impact on the environment – long after the last nail has gone in.
Our homes are designed through the ahha Impact Framework: an ethically focused framework that delivers measurable outcomes across six domains of carbon, ecology, circularity, health + wellbeing, equity + access, and community + culture. Derived from the UN Sustainable Development Goals, this is a baseline commitment ahha and Good Good bring to the project. Working through the lens of this framework, we’re able to integrate positive impact measures at the outset, enabling intentional decision-making, cemented best practices and driving truly sustainable, liveable outcomes.
02 Location
The Location.
Birkenhead, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.
Set down a private driveway in Birkenhead, Tūī Glen is right in the middle of everything. Four minutes to local supermarkets, five minutes from the Northern Motorway, and an easy 15 minutes from the city. Plus with multiple beaches, bush walks, and a pool and leisure centre close at hand, you get the best of nature and culture all in one place.
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Nestled in the bush, yet a stone’s throw to great cafes, restaurants, theatres and nightlife, life at Tūī Glen really does have it all.
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Weekend days can be spent relaxing at home or down by the water, strolling through your own shared native bush, or grabbing coffee at one of the many cafes in the area. With open-plan living and ample outdoor space, evenings at home are ideal for entertaining, or meeting with friends at the local restaurants and wine bar. Public transport makes getting about simple, with regular bus routes at the top of the street and a ferry terminal nearby.
03 Homes
The Homes.
Conscious living at it’s best.
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At Tūī Glen, the focus is on living harmoniously with the land, the homes are situated on the edge of a significant ecological native forest, Kauri Glen Reserve – rife with towering tōtara, nīkau and puriri trees, and rich in bird life. The beautifully crafted 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom homes are self-sufficient through energy generation and water conservation, and aim to create a regenerative micro community through shared land uses.
In tune with nature.
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Tūī Glen homes are crafted with refined living in mind. From layout and interior finishes, it’s all about the natural simple, thoughtful details that make everyday life more meaningful.
Inside each home, a split-level floorplan follows the contours of the land surrounding it. A light-filled, open plan kitchen and dining sit on the ground floor, and step down to a cosy sunken lounge with sweeping bush views.
A crafted entryway greets you on arrival. Nude wooden walls and cork flooring give off a feeling of refined cosiness, while helping retain warmth inside the home. Designer aspects come through with night toned marmoleum and 100% wool carpets – both made from renewable resources. The custom kitchen is crafted with both style and performance in mind, with wood cabinetry and sleek stainless steel benchtops.
Upstairs, a generous main bedroom with an ensuite looks out through the forest canopy. Two further bedrooms and bathroom feature on the upstairs level, and a dedicated work from home space.
With wellbeing a top priority, light and sunshine have been considered throughout the home. The floorplan is orientated around a vaulted lightwell surrounding the stairs, carrying light deep into the house. Careful placement of windows and skylights supplement the lightwell, while bench seats and day beds are placed about the home, to create peaceful basking spots as the sun shifts throughout the day.
Outside, Dutch cobblestones on the driveway welcome you in, and a sheltered western courtyard with deck creates a private alfresco dining space to relax and entertain. At the opposite side of the house, a patio on the lower level offers a further seating area nestled amongst the native garden.
Crafted home layout.
Conscious connection.
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Consciously planned to encourage the human needs of both privacy and connection, boundaries at Tūī Glen are blurred, and courtyards and gardens curate an array of public, semi-private, and private spaces.
Outside, chance encounters with neighbours are enhanced through a shared lot dedicated to the conservation and enjoyment of the native bush, and through shared edible garden areas, central bike storage, a shared garden shed and the shared driveway lot.
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Each home is planned from the ground up with a regenerative existence in mind. A high-performance building envelope is paired with passive solar design to deliver maximum energy efficiency, PV solar collection/storage, rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling, waste minimisation and the use of carbon sequestering local building materials all contribute to the community’s regenerative goals.
Sustainable & Regenerative.
04 Sustainability
Enabling People and Planet to Thrive.
From the ground up, our homes have been designed with the aim of improving the health of people and planet, all while reducing energy - and running costs - for your home.
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+ Passive House high-performance building envelope
- Maximum insulation performance (Extra warmframe insulation)
- High-Performance Timber windows and doors with European Tilt and Turn hardware.
- High glazing thermal performance (Low-E & Argon filled double glazing)
- Airtightness (Aiming for a maximum of 1 m3/m2/hr.)
- Minimal thermal bridging with warm slab insulation.
- Balanced mechanical ventilation with heat recovery system
+ Passive solar design
- Optimised glazing ratios
- Efficient orientation
- Cross ventilation
- Natural ventilation strategies
+ Highly efficient lighting and appliances
+ Induction Cooking (100% electric, no gas)
+ Heat pump Hot Water Cylinders
+ Solar PV electricity collection and battery storage
+ Electric vehicle charging
+ Shared edible garden
+ Bike Storage
+ Zero carbon construction - site electrification -
+ Highly efficient water fittings and fixtures
+ Rainwater harvesting/storage (13,000L tanks under each house)
+ Rainwater UV & filter treatment for potable drinking water
+ Grey water recycling system for each house for reuse in toilets and gardens -
+ On-site organics treatment/composting for each house
+ House design for zero waste (compartmental recycling, compost & waste bins)
+ Non-toxic construction materials
+ Aiming for 90% reduction in construction waste to landfill
+ Utalising Zero-carbon & carbon-syncing construction materials
+ Using local materials where possible -
+ Removal of exotic & invasive species
+ Rewilding the native bush within the Significant Ecological Area
+ Native planting surrounding the ne houses to create new ecologies and soft boundaries
+ Covenanted Significant Ecological area protects the Ecology
+ Permeable paving used throughout to enhance the new native species and to manage the stormwater runoff -
+ Driven by the ahha impact framework, these holistic credentials are the best for both the site and the users, thus being the best for both people and the planet. A by-product of the ahha method is that our homes are aiming be third-party certified as being 10-Star Homestar v5 rated. Selected banks offer mortgage interest rate discounts for homestar-rated houses.
+ Passive House high-performance building envelope
Yearly Operating Costs.
The same sized house built to NZ Building Code minimums costs approximately $5,222.57 per year to operate.⁵ The Zero Energy (Negative operational energy) self-sufficient model anticipates that each of Tūī Glen’s houses could have zero costs associated with operating it per year. Owners can be paid for the energy fed back to the national grid. In fact, the payback of water harvesting & recycling, smart recycling, composting & waste management initiatives and the excess solar power generated has the potential to give back approximately $249.02 per year.⁵
Thermal modelling based on NZGBC ECCHO Tool. The baseline house is a digital twin assuming NZBC minimums with the same footprint, glazing ratios and occupancy rate. Baseline House costs based on power companies' industry average pricing obtained from Power Compare May 2024. Tūī Glen costs are based on power companies' industry average buyback pricing at 15c per kW obtained in May 2024. Assumes the house has no electric vehicle to charge.
Water data is based on a 4-person house. Baseline houses data obtained from Auckland Council’s Watercare calculator. Tūī Glen House data from Watersmarts Hydraloop calculations and the base network charges for a mains and wastewater connection.
Waste data based on the North Shore rubbish, recycling & foodscraps rates obtained May 2024 from Auckland Council.
Thermal modelling based on NZGBC ECCHO Tool. The baseline house is a digital twin assuming 2024 NZBC minimums with the same footprint, glazing ratios and occupancy rate.
Operational costs include power, water, rubbish and recycling bills from a retailer or council. It does not include house cleaning, maintenance, gardening, etc.
05 Materials
Material Pallette
Natural, considered and refined.
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At the heart of every home lies a commitment to regeneration through material selection, where carbon-sequestering materials mix with craft and beauty. We've carefully curated materials that uphold our planet's health and actively contribute to its restoration. From the natural warmth of cork to the reclaimed charm of recycled brick, the textured grain of plywood linings to the alluring byproduct of Marmoleum, and the natural texture of Abodo cladding to the enduring beauty of Macrocarpa decking, each element goes beyond mere sustainability — it participates in the regeneration of our environment.
Exteriors
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Recycled Brick Courtyard Walls / Macrocarpa Decking / Cobblestone Paving / Abodo Vulcan Lapped Shingle Cladding / TrueOak Roofing.
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Abodo Vulcan Timber Cladding with colours varying between each house.
Interiors
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First Floor Material Palette – Plywood Wall and Ceiling Linings / Marmoleum Stair Coverings / Wool Carpets / Linen Curtains
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Bathroom Palette – Green Pencil Tiles Floors and Walls / White Pencil Tiled Walls / Ceramic Basins
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Ground Floor Material Palette – Cork Flooring / Plywood Ceiling and Wall Linings / Pencil Tile Splashbacks
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Paired with passive solar design, PV solar collection/storage, rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling, and the ecological restoration of the native planting surrounding, these materials form the foundation of a community dedicated to nurturing the Earth and creating harmony between living and the ecology.
06 Plans & Specification
House Plans, Specifications & Info Pack
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The project brochure provides a succinct and tactile overview of the project, its plans and the specifications. Click the button above to register your interest and receive further information or contact one of our Bayleys agents below.
07 Partners
Our Partners
Sharing our vision for better.
Working in partnership our team combines ahha's collaborative, progressive and socially-driven approach to architecture with Good Good's empathetic, rigorous and innovative approach to property development. The result is a development that represents a new approach to housing.
Our Team
Our Consultants
Our team of architects, designers, financial advisors, planners, engineers, ecologists, designers, consultants, lawyers and visualisers are the best in the business and their insight and specialism makes projects strive for better.
Pillar /
Xanthe White Design /
Lateral Partners /
SLR /
Initia /
Everest /
KWC /
Trish Love Consultants /
BQH /
Perks Design /
Zico O'Neill-Rutene /
Zone Law /
Common Ground PR /
Pillar / Xanthe White Design / Lateral Partners / SLR / Initia / Everest / KWC / Trish Love Consultants / BQH / Perks Design / Zico O'Neill-Rutene / Zone Law / Common Ground PR /
08 Contact Us
Get in touch
Seeking something better? Enquire with our fantastic sales team on the details below.
Kirsten Bishop
kirsten.bishop@bayleys.co.nz
027 660 6446
Chris Bell
chris.bell@bayleys.co.nz
027 498 8640
Bayleys Real Estate Limited
Bayleys Central Auckland
Licensed under the REA Act 2008