Tai Tokerau Hemp Building Collective

Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi

With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive

We are a community initiative who want to work with the people of Tai Tokerau on an opportunity to really shake up the building industry and drive change through innovative and sustainable building practices. Practices that uphold the mana of whānau, while growing and building their own healthy whare.

As said in the whakatauki above, we believe that by working as a collective we will be able to achieve so much more than working in isolation.

Our goal is to develop a thriving and sustainable hemp building industry in Te Tai Tokerau by whānau for whānau.

We aim to tautoko whānau who want to grow hemp in the rohe and build hemp cabins and full-sized whare on papakāinga whenua and urban areas in Tai Tokerau.

This may also include trade training for rangatahi who wish to develop skills in horticulture, building, plumbing and electrical work.

Some of the collective skills needed for this initiative include:

• Advice and guidance from kaumātua and kuia on the kaupapa of the initiative

• Whānau who want to participate and join the initiative

• Architects to design cabins and whare that support a sustainable future for whānau as kaitiaki on their whenua

• Licensed builders to supervise the framing and construction

• Electricians to install wiring and solar power for those whānau who wish to be off-grid

• Plumbers to install plumbing

• Kaiako to support akonga who may be learning as part of an apprenticeship