Recent work · Grey Lynn
Builders in Grey Lynn.
Our Grey Lynn villa renovation kept the street frontage and completely reworked the rear, opening it to the sun and the garden.
Grey Lynn · Villa
Grey Lynn
An early-1900s villa: the character stayed at the front, while the rear became open-plan living under a skylight, with a glassed outdoor room and a built-in bar.
Building in Grey Lynn
Villas that have to stay villas, and work like new homes.
Grey Lynn is heritage-overlay country: pre-1940s villas and bungalows where the parts worth keeping have to be kept, and the rest brought up to a standard the street never had. That is careful work, and it is the work we like.
Also building in
At a glance
- Based in
- Mount Albert, Auckland
- What we do
- New builds and major renovations in Grey Lynn
- Service area
- Kohimarama, Remuera, Grey Lynn, Mt Eden, Mt Albert, Pt Chevalier and across Auckland
- Experience
- Building since 1994. House of the Year across five competition years, including the 2023 National Supreme.
Common questions
Building in Grey Lynn: what people ask.
Have you renovated a villa in Grey Lynn?
Yes. The Grey Lynn villa is an early-1900s house that kept its character at the front and was completely reworked at the rear. It took Regional Gold and a place in the national Top 100 at House of the Year 2018, and was designed by EMA Architects.
What are the special character rules in Grey Lynn?
Grey Lynn sits largely inside the Auckland Unitary Plan's Special Character Areas Overlay for residential areas, with pre-1944 demolition controls over much of it. That means the villa frontages are effectively protected, and the change has to happen behind them.
Can you open up the back of a villa?
Yes, and it is the standard move for a good reason. On the Grey Lynn villa the original bedrooms and hall stayed, then three steps drop to open-plan living under a multi-faceted skylight, a black kitchen and a sweeping deck, with a fully glassed outdoor room beyond it.
Do you deal with the problems old villas hide?
That is most of the work. Pre-1940s houses hide their condition in the piles, the framing, the wiring and the drainage. Glenbuild opens up early and prices the real scope rather than pricing an assumption and repricing it later.
Will the house still look like a villa from the street?
Yes, and in a special character area that is generally required. The Grey Lynn house is still unmistakably a villa from the footpath, and unrecognisable from the back.
Can you do outdoor living and pools on a Grey Lynn site?
Yes. The Grey Lynn project included a glassed outdoor room with a built-in bar and a sunken conversation pit, and stacker doors connecting through to a landscaped pool.
How long does consent take in a special character area?
The building consent itself is a 20 working day decision under the Building Act 2004, pausing on any request for further information. Work affecting a character frontage can also need resource consent, which runs on its own track, so the sequencing is worth sorting out at design stage.
Who runs a Grey Lynn job day to day?
Finn, with a project manager and the crew. He takes the first call, prices the job, and is on site through the build, alongside subtrades who have worked with him for years.
Building or renovating in Grey Lynn?
Tell us about the house, or call Finn directly.