Charlotte McKeon: Building a better future

At One Tree Hill College, the sound of pounding hammers, humming saws and chattering students fills the air.

It’s a sunny Tuesday winter morning and the students are hard at work, tearing down walls and pulling up the flooring of a 1970s ex-state house from Kāinga Ora.

They’ll spend the rest of the year transforming it into a healthy, dry home as part of an initiative to give students hands-on experience that prepares them for trade apprenticeships and future employment.

The completed home will be auctioned in December, with the proceeds supporting the continuation and expansion of the programme, ensuring future students have similar opportunities.

This ambitious project is led by Charlotte McKeon, a trades teacher at the school who is also in the third year of her architecture degree at the University of Auckland.

The students are involved in every step of the renovation, and have been overwhelmingly positive about the project since the house arrived in late May, says Charlotte.

“Students were here early in the morning, even in the rain. They are here before school, and they’re here after school. We can’t keep them away. It’s a wonderful problem to have such enthusiastic students.”

About eight students work on the house at a time, guided by Charlotte and a licensed builder. With only an hour at a time to work on it during the school’s trade class period, many also show up for Saturday classes to spend more time on the project.
 

Charlotte started at the college as a metalwork teacher before heading overseas, then returned about eight years ago. She says the project is a hands-on opportunity to apply her architectural studies and inspire students.

“I looked at becoming a builder, and when I went to BCITO (Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation) to talk to them about it, they said, ‘You’re nearly 50, you might want to think about not climbing on a roof. How about you look at something else?’

“I looked at being a draftsperson, but then someone told me that I’m too bossy and would be better being an architect.”

It wasn’t a career path she had considered before, but it made perfect sense.

“With the help of incredible people at the University, I’ve been able to maintain a full-time job, raise two teenagers and come to university. I feel so grateful for all of that. It’s awesome for my own children to see that someone can go to university and go to work and pull it together.”

She says balancing her many responsibilities can be challenging at times, but it’s also incredibly rewarding.

“The joy of learning and seeing opportunities for improving building practices makes getting up very early every morning worth it. While the scheduling can be frantic, life is busy anyway, and you might as well be frantic doing something you love.”

The house came from Māngere East and was occupied until ten months ago when work on upgrading the area’s housing stock began. Kāinga Ora made the home available to the college for a nominal fee and arranged its transport to the site.

The initiative is part of the social housing agency’s efforts to support trade apprentice training, and contribute to the ongoing development of skilled workers.

With additional backing from BCITO and other sponsors, the project offers students high quality training, preparing them for successful trades careers.

The house will also be upgraded to a certified Homestar level seven home, making it more sustainable, easier to heat and more cost-efficient in terms of running expenses, according to the widely used rating tool for builders and homeowners.

The idea came to Charlotte after she heard about it in one of her university classes.

“Kāinga Ora is interested in understanding how we’re doing it so that information can be shared with our communities, and everyone can have a healthy, dry house.”

The project also involves 17 young women. Women in Trades, a non-profit dedicated to promoting trades as a viable career path for women, is providing support as a programme partner.

“We know that in the industry, women are much more accepted than they were in the past, which is super, and our girls see no barriers to that. They are in more than the boys, which is great.”

After completing her bachelors degree this year, Charlotte plans to pursue a masters, focusing on how state houses can be improved so everyone can live in a warm, comfortable and affordable home.

“The sooner we can do that with our stock in New Zealand, the healthier our people will be – and that will be better for all of us.”

Hussein Moses