Parnell Site History
Page 27
For over 100 years the RNZFB has owned a valuable 2.6 ha block of land in Parnell, Auckland. This has been the 'home' of many Foundation services since the Foundation was established in 1891. It has been a school for blind and vision-impaired students, sheltered workshops, male and female hostels, offices and residential accommodation.
As the nature of services changed, shifting from institutional care to rehabilitation and life skills, the opportunity was taken 15 years ago to start redeveloping the entire property to provide revenue for present and future services for blind, deafblind and vision-impaired New Zealanders.
The Foundation's property development subsidiary, Bledisloe Estate Trust, has nearly finished the redevelopment of the site with the signing of an agreement with Academic Colleges Group who will build a private school on part of the site. This will complement the high-quality medical centre, retail shops, restaurant, café, public library, language school and offices that have been built or developed since 1990, including the Foundation's Auckland office, Awhina House, built in 1995.
Awhina House is the base from which we deliver most of the rehabilitation and support services for members in the Auckland area. It also houses the Foundation's talking book and braille library, Equipment Services and the Accessible Information Consultancy along with national Fundraising and Administration.
Other than the proposed Academic Colleges Group's school buildings, the entire property is owned by the Foundation and Bledisloe Estate Trust. It is now worth in excess of $50 million and net returns are used to fund member services throughout the country and to repay debt.