The master bedroom's bathroom of a very luxury home
The construction of the mansion was greatly influenced by the Palace of Versailles and some other palaces and castles across the world. It consisted of 11-bedroom and 17-bathroom. Reuters

In a rare gesture, a Russian billionaire in New Zealand has extended help to local Maoris to rebuild a new Northland meeting house after it was destroyed in a devastating fire. The Oligarch, Alexander Abramov, is providing assistance to rebuild Ngatiwai's Te Uri o Hikihiki wharenui at Mokau Marae, north of Whangarei.

According to Clive Stone, resource consent manager of the tangata whenua, he had been working in a team to plan the new building since the fire on November 8, 2013, reported New Zealand Herald. The Marae is 5km north from the coast where Abramov's $50 million-plus Helena Bay luxury lodge is coming up.

Resort Venture

To be opened in 2016, the resort will be one of New Zealand's most expensive residential projects. The project has a main house and three separate beachfront residences, two of which can be further subdivided to provide accommodation for a number of guests. "The assistance from Helena Bay Holdings has made our job easier, with machinery, expert advice to clean up the site and tip on future projects," Stone said. The help also involved drafting tender documents in preparing paperwork so that suppliers could bid for the work and seek the best bid, he said. Hayden Edmonds , chairman of Ngatiwai Trust Board, said Helena Bay's help had been invaluable.,

Logistics Support

Managing Director Christopher Seel explained that no questions were asked when realised that Ngatiwai needed expertise in terms of equipment and skills from the Russian-owned big building site, where a number of tower cranes were working for months. "We are glad to help. The key thing was getting all cleaned up as a constant reminder of the negative and allowing everyone to focus on the future and the new wharenui and wharekai which was a shell. Now the plan is immediate completion," he said.

The fire, believed to have been started by children playing with a lighter, led to the blaze that caused damage of several thousand dollars though there was no loss of life. Seel said work is underway to run Helena Bay as a luxury lodge and to include staff of Ngatiwai iwi descent. New Zealand's tourism attractions are always accentuated by luxury lodges in outstanding locations. The lodges, owned by domestic and foreign owners, do showcase exclusive and luxurious properties that meet exacting standards, according to portal, lodgesofnz.

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