Construction Contract Awarded For First 16 Houses
23 Dec 2025
Wairarapa-based Community Housing Provider Trust House Limited has appointed local construction company Holmes Construction to build 16 new houses. Holmes is a family business established in the Wairarapa in the 1950s.
Construction will begin in late January of the 16 new houses across three sites, on Matai Street, Kaka Street and Short Street in Masterton. This is the first stage of Trust House’s $130m investment in the redevelopment and refurbishment of its social housing stock over the next five years, which will see the construction of 300 new houses and the refurbishment of 120 existing houses.
Trust House Chief Executive John Prendergast says: “We’re delighted to be able to award Holmes Construction this first contract. After a rigorous procurement process Holmes came through as our preferred builder, selected from a strong field of tenderers both local and from outside of the Wairarapa. Our assessment criteria included an additional weighting favouring local main contractors, but Holmes came through as the preferred contractor even without that additional local weighting.
Our ideal outcome was that a local contractor would come through our procurement process, and that’s exactly what’s happened, so we couldn’t be happier.”
Mena Antonio, Chair of Trust House Limited, says: “The appointment of Holmes Construction as the main contractor is great news for the Wairarapa, and for our tenants. Trust House Housing was established in December 1998 when we purchased the government’s local state housing portfolio of 541 houses – 27 years on the awarding of this contract marks the beginning of the transformation of that portfolio from dated, often cold homes on large sections that are near the end of their useful life, to new, warm dry and efficient homes. They might be Trust House Ltd’s houses, but they’re our tenant’s homes, and today’s announcement confirms Trust House’s long term commitment to providing housing for the people in our community who need it the most.”
Managing Director of Holmes Construction Ben Holmes says:
“This project has been on our radar for some time, and the opportunity to partner with Trust House to bring these new homes to life is very exciting for everyone involved. We look forward to breaking ground in the new year and further strengthening our partnership with Trust House and the Masterton community.”
