The McCaw family may have plans to move south.

Richie and Gemma McCaw are building a large riverside home in the Upper Clutha.

It’s not their first foray into local real estate - Richie previously built a holiday home in Wānaka with Versatile Homes, for whom he was an ambassador.

The couple also got engaged in Wānaka in 2016 and they were married here in 2017.

Architectural plans show the new house near Hāwea will have plenty of room for the family of five, whether it becomes their permanent home or holiday house. 

The master, complete with walk-in-wardrobe, office and ensuite, will make the most of the site’s views of the Hāwea River. 

There will also be three bedrooms connected by a shared bathroom, presumably for their three daughters. 

A fifth bedroom on the north side of the house, labelled as a guest room, will feature a private ensuite.

The 325 sqm home will also feature a large open plan kitchen, living and dining room, a library and three large decks, two complete with outdoor fireplaces and the third with an outdoor kitchen. 

A separate 150sqm garage will have a storage room, room for boats and cars, as well as a ‘training room’, fitting for the former All Blacks captain and the Black Sticks team member. 

It will sit on a 12,670m2 site.

The house, designed by award-winning Christchurch architecture firm Sheppard and Rout Architects, will be built to passive house standards. 

“The development is considered to be of high design quality and will maintain and enhance the residential amenity values of the area,” they said. 

PHOTO: QLDC