One of the most memorable houses from the 2020 season of Grand Designs New Zealand is back on the market.
After two earlier attempts in 2022 and 2023 to sell, the striking modern house with a pool at 81 Piha Road, Piha, is back on the market with a deadline sale closing April 5.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Angela Smith, who is marketing the four-bedroom house on a 3010sqm section, pitches the property’s Grand Designs credentials upfront, calling it a “modern masterpiece crafted without compromise”.
Smith could not say what the property would likely sell for as it has a deadline sale, but OneRoof figures show that price records set two years ago for the West Coast beach towns have not been bumped recently.
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“This house not only has the high spec build, but also the views are standout. There is nothing like it [in Piha] with the heated infinity pool,” she said.
The property’s $2.5 million CV was set before the build was completed, but the sale price could compete with previous high-ends sales in Piha and nearby Muriwai.
Piha’s highest settled sale price was the $4.595m paid in March two years ago for a 465sqm four-bedroom, eco-luxury house with Passivhaus certification on a 8391sqm site on Seaview Road. In nearby Muriwai, the unbeaten record of $5.8m was set back in 2018 for a six-bedroom 480sqm home on 6.6ha on Oaia Road.
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In the way of almost all Grand Designs projects, the steel, concrete and cedar house took nearly two years to build as the owners Susannah and Joseph Hardie told host Chris Moller how costs ballooned from the initial estimate of $1.3m to well over $2m, and counting.
That did not include the earthworks and ongoing landscaping for the project, which hit pause for 18 months in the middle of filming, before Moller and the crew returned for the grand reveal.
The steel and Brazilian slate kitchen, which cost $70,000, includes a butler's pantry, three dishwashers and a wine fridge. Photo / Supplied
The outdoor kitchen beside the pool and spa has an Argentinian flame cooker, a pizza dome, a smoker and grill, and beer on tap. Photo / Supplied
When the house was last on the market in 2022, Susannah Hardie told OneRoof they were selling to do another project.
“We accomplished something really great, we’re really proud of what we’ve accomplished,” she said.
“We are looking forward to doing something all over again, and someone else loving this house as much as we do.”
The four-bedroom house, designed by architect Hamish Gunns, features dramatic floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors, lighting by German brand Flos, underfloor heating as well as the wood fireplace in the living room.
The media and music room. Photo / Supplied
The living room has breathtaking views. Photo / Supplied
The house has high performance windows, insulation and ventilation systems, built-in speakers for sound and is supplied by 50,000 litres of water tanks, with a new sewage and septic system.
The gourmet kitchen by designer brand IMO cost $70,000 and has Brazilian slate tiles, a butler’s pantry, three dishwashers and a wine fridge, the owners said. Outside there’s an Argentinian barbecue, wood-fired pizza dome and even beer on tap.
The owners used the two years of lockdown to work on landscaping the sloping 3010sqm site, which features a cantilevered swimming pool, and an impressive flight of stairs to the lawns and bush-clad surrounds.
“It was an investment, but we thought let’s invest in where we spend the most time,” Hardie said. “I notice every detail that’s gone in.”
The couple, both of whom are musicians who enjoy entertaining, said the in-ground infinity heated pool and spa, and an outdoor shower, had been a must to make the most of the spectacular views.
But spectacular as the house is, it is dwarfed by the even more spectacular views over Piha beach.
“What you don’t get from the photos is the expansiveness of the view, it takes your breath away. The Tasman Sea, the expanse of sky, wrapping around to the Waitakere Ranges. The storms from the sea, the mist coming up the valley – the West Coast just has energy,” Hardie said earlier.
“I’ll miss lying in bed looking at the stars. The magnetic shifts in light as it moves across art and objects. You just have to breathe it.
“But now it’s new beginnings and new projects.”
- 81 Piha Road, Piha, is for sale by deadline treaty, closing April 5
