{"id":592063,"date":"2026-09-06T16:08:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T16:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/592063\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T16:08:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T16:08:57","slug":"hes-sold-tiraus-giant-iron-sheep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/592063\/","title":{"rendered":"He\u2019s sold Tirau\u2019s giant iron sheep"},"content":{"rendered":"

– Land and buildings leased to Little River\u2019s SiloStay accommodation complex listed for sale.<\/p>\n

– The nine-unit Banks Peninsula property offers guests the chance to spend the night in converted grain silos.<\/p>\n

– Each two-storey unit combines industrial exteriors, custom interiors, and skylights.<\/p>\n

He just sold two T\u012brau icons, and now he\u2019s looking to offload another unusual Kiwi classic: a boutique accommodation complex built inside working grain silos.<\/p>\n

Bayleys listing agent Murray Madgwick said his client is an older gentleman who\u2019s based overseas and is selling off some of his holdings in New Zealand. \u201cHe has a number of properties and is having a reshuffle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madgwick\u2019s vendor picked up 4243 Christchurch Akaroa Road, in Little River, Banks Peninsula,<\/a> in early 2020 for just over $1m, as Covid sent the country into lockdown.<\/p>\n

The property is home to SiloStay<\/a>, a boutique accommodation that offers nine self-contained units on a 1931sqm site in the Banks Peninsula. Rooms can cost up to $500 a night.<\/p>\n

Up for grabs are the land and buildings only, with the operators of SiloStay on a 30-year lease that ends in 2050.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The buildings and the business were the brainchild of Stuart Wright-Stow, who had the novel idea of turning grain silos into boutique accommodation. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Guests at SiloStay spend the night inside converted grain silos, complete with kitchens, living areas and ensuite bedrooms. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Madgwick\u2019s vendor got $1.53 million<\/a> for Tirau\u2019s corrugated-iron sheep and ram.<\/p>\n

He bought the properties 10 years ago for $1m and sold them at a heated auction for $140,000 above RV.<\/p>\n

Madgwick said he had already received several calls about the silos since bringing them to market at the end of last week. <\/p>\n

Of those calls, one was from someone experienced in visitor accommodation. However, in this case, the site is already leased. \u201cIt\u2019s a passive investment,\u201d Madgwick said. <\/p>\n

The idea for SiloStay began not with the current owner, but with Canterbury businessman Stuart Wright-Stow, who saw something most people didn\u2019t when he looked at the grain silos scattered around the region.<\/p>\n

Discover more:<\/p>\n

– The suburbs knocked out of NZ\u2019s $1m club – and the newest members <\/a><\/p>\n

– Big-name film and music stars ask about buying $20m-plus island<\/a><\/p>\n

Kiwis borrow up to $600K to renovate homes they can’t afford to sell<\/a><\/p>\n

The Wright-Stow wh\u0101nau owned the land at 4243 Christchurch Akaroa Road and is well known in Little River for owning and operating the art gallery next door to SiloStay.<\/p>\n

Stuart\u2019s son Pippin, who was the lead designer on the project, told OneRoof his father was always fascinated with grain silo colonies that were common around Canterbury. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe would muse on the thought of what else could be done with these agricultural structures,\u201d Pippin said. \u201cThey\u2019re throughout Canterbury. Lots of them. He\u2019d say: \u2018That\u2019d make a good accommodation complex. Chop in some doors and windows in there\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The solution would turn out to be far more technical than that. Silos are designed to pack in a large amount of weight, but not for human habitation. <\/p>\n

Turning the new grain silos into luxury accommodation involved designing, testing and building bespoke ceilings, windows, suspended floors, insulation, heating, kitchens, bathrooms, and more. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

T\u012brau\u2019s famous corrugated sheep and ram were sold recently for $1.5m. Photo \/ Supplied.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a discussion with [REL Group], which built those particular silos, about how they could be altered and whether they could have a domestic use,\u201d Pippin said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was quite interesting engineering that went on to ensure that the exoskeleton could be retrofitted to provide accommodation. And then everything is retrofitted around that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pippin\u2019s firm, F3 Design, provided the product design and worked with the engineers to create bespoke interiors and fittings for the silos.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did design as well as prototyping for fixtures in there because all of the kitchen benches and showers are all custom-made,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had a farming background originally, so a lot of [the design] was a pragmatic number-eight-wire design process. It was product design on a big scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each two-storey unit is 8.7m high. The peak has a glazed lid allowing a glimpse of the night sky while relaxing in bed. Upstairs houses a queen-size bed and ensuite, while downstairs has a kitchen and living area. <\/p>\n

Pippin said the interiors were designed to be comfortable, but also to surprise guests. \u201cThe aim was to balance the industrial cool look on the outside with a lovely warm space on the interior. It\u2019s quite a lovely play.\u201d <\/p>\n

The visitors\u2019 book at SiloStay includes many interesting tales. One that really appealed to Pippin was that of a Southland farming couple. \u201cFarmers who\u2019d spent their whole life digging out grain from silos in Southland. His wife dragged him along [saying] \u2018here\u2019s a good weekend trip\u2019, and he was like, \u2018Oh my God, what have you done to me?\u2019.\u201d To his surprise, he absolutely loved the trip.<\/p>\n

– 4243 Christchurch Akaroa Road, Little River, Banks Peninsula<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"– Land and buildings leased to Little River\u2019s SiloStay accommodation complex listed for sale. – The nine-unit Banks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,1258,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-592063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-latest-news","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}