Grand Designs New Zealand

Tasman-raised Mark Ahearn and his Australian restaurateur wife Liz are taking time out from their hectic lives in Perth to build a legacy family holiday home in Abel Tasman.

When Matthew and Rosemarie Dunning decide to put down some permanent roots in Mangawhai, they throw convention out the window and embrace their son’s concept of a brick house in a sand dune.

Eternal globetrotter Tessa Kingsbury’s dream is to convert an old Dunedin Sunday school into her forever home, but it comes with a twist – she’s incorporating a glasshouse into the heart of it.

Josh and Esther have always wanted to build their family home on New Brighton’s beachfront but, with a limited budget and on just a slip of land, will the design live up to their long-held dream?

On a steep site in Mahurangi, just north of Auckland, architect Felicity Brenchly is prepared to do whatever it takes to get their family home built...even if it means moving into a caravan.

An hour - and seven river crossings - inland from Geraldine is where arborist Li Tane and his landscaper wife Michelle are building their rammed earth, off-grid, sustainable mountain home.