Industry news and Institute of Building insights

MentorMIX: Call for Mentors

Posted on Wednesday 05 March, 2025

After a highly successful pilot, MentorMIX is back for 2025, thanks to the support of GIB!

To start things off we are calling for anyone who is keen to participate as a mentor for this year’s programme.

The NZ Institute of Building is a pan-industry organization, meaning our members come from diverse backgrounds and roles. With the MentorMIX program, our mentees (Next Gen members who sign up) will have the opportunity to connect with a variety of mentors through both online and in-person sessions (location-dependent).

The idea behind MentorMIX is that we want people to be involved from across the sector to give our mentees an understanding of the range of roles and opportunities out there.

You don’t have to have all the answers to act as a mentor – just a perspective and your own experiences to share.

Member Spotlight: Emily Hall

Posted on Wednesday 05 March, 2025

Emily Hall is a Master of Architecture (Professional) student at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington and works part time as an Architectural Assistant at Designgroup Stapleton Elliott.

Emily was one of our Next Gen Winners in the 2024 Next Gen Awards. To enter the Next Gen Awards nominees had to submit their 'big idea' to shake up the industry.

Emily’s idea centred around designing and building modular living pods made from sustainable bio-based materials. She suggested these should be adaptable over time depending on the users needs, for example modules could be added when more space was needed and sold back to downsize. Her concept promotes circular processes and could be used to fix other problems such as potential disaster relief accommodation. She is exploring this idea further in her Master’s studies this year.

We asked Emily a few questions to get to know her better.

Welcome Back Bowls 2025 - Gordy's version

Posted on Friday 21 February, 2025

This February we held seven Welcome Back Bowls events around the motu with the support of CARTERS. 

According to all account this year's events were once again a great success and the teams had a fantastic time with the weather amazingly holding out for all seven!

Our Regional Committee members around the country worked to organise the events and keep things running smoothly for all those attending.

We had to share one particularly thorough and compellingly written report back from our Tāhuna | Queenstown event by our man on the ground: Gordy McGregor. 

Read Gordy's report.

News Sauce Pēpuere | February 2025

Posted on Thursday 13 February, 2025

Read our latest News Sauce Monthly newsletter

What's in the Sauce?

• DigiComm25 team deal closing
• Read about team changes in the Institute's Home Team & meet the team over Light Lunch
• Listen to our latest Tall Stories Podcast
• Read about Nick Clements
• Register for our annual Fishing Competition in Auckland
• Seeking participants to contribute to our Career Pathways project
• + more events, opportunities and resources

Member Spotlight: Nick Clements

Posted on Wednesday 05 February, 2025

Over 20 years ago, driven by frustration with existing technology and its integration challenges, Nick Clements embarked on creating a groundbreaking digital solution tailored to industry needs.

Despite facing setbacks, such as the challenges of his previous business, BISCO, Nick demonstrated resilience by pivoting to a service model as Managing Director of YourQS. This shift has enabled the company to grow from a one-person operation to a team of 12, serving over 300 builders nationwide and expanding into Australia.

Nick was recognised for his years of dedication and innovation by winning the Revizto Digital Technology | Matihiko Award at the 2024 NZ Building People Awards.

We asked Nick a few questions to get to know him better.

Home Team ChChChCh Changes

Posted on Tuesday 04 February, 2025

Things are looking different around the Institute’s Home Team office with a couple of new faces having joined us and a familiar one returning.

Welcome to Kelly Dawson, who joins us as Administration Lead and Hayden Blucher our new Engagement Lead. 

Chloe Stephen has also returned to her role as Regional Events Lead, and we farewell Floriana Medina who has been keeping our Regional Events running while Chloe was on parental leave. 

Haere mai Kelly, Hayden, and Chloe and haere rā Floriana!

Read a bit more about them and what they do at the Institute. 

Member Spotlight: Michaela Murray

Posted on Monday 13 January, 2025

Michaela Murray is the National Health, Safety, Sustainability & Quality Manager at Cook Brothers Construction, based in Ōtautahi | Christchurch.

Michaela won the Health, Safety and Wellbeing | Wairuatanga category at the 2024 NZ Building People Awards. She was awarded for her successful implementation of the ‘RESET’ programme at Cook Brothers which engaged workers with health and safety in a fun, game show style.

Michaela is a former nurse and has brought those skills over to help improve health and safety outcomes in the Construction Industry.

We wanted to get to know Michaela better, so we asked her some questions about her life a work.

Member spotlight: Joe Burke

Posted on Wednesday 04 December, 2024

Joe Burke is a Project Manager at Hawkins based in Tāmaki | Auckland. At this year’s NZ Building People Awards Joe took out the BCITO Emerging Leader Award and received a grant from the Institute’s Charitable Education Trust.

In his awards citation we heard about Joe’s thoughtful and collaborative leadership style, his enthusiasm and willingness to get his hands dirty, and his exception crisis management skills.

As his referee said, “Joe is one of the brightest young talents in the construction industry.”

We wanted to get to know this talented Institute member a little better, so we asked him a few questions.

Access to New Zealand’s public buildings for people with disability

Posted on Friday 29 November, 2024

A quarter of all New Zealanders have some type of disability that affects their mobility, vision, hearing and/or awareness. Nearly two-thirds of people with disability are aged 65 or older, so many of us will become a “person with disability”, or PWD, as we age.

New Zealand signed up to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability which states that PWDs should be able to live independently and be included in the community.

Dr Claire Flemmer explains what this means for us in the construction industry, and some simple ways we can make our public buildings more inclusive. 

Farewell and thank you to Hannah Keir-Smith

Posted on Monday 25 November, 2024

The Institute is announcing that this Friday 29 November will be the last day for long-time Home Team member Hannah Nansett nee. Keir-Smith. We are sad to see Hannah go but also happy for her to be moving on to a new work challenge. Given Hannah’s nine years of mahi at the Institute we wanted to make sure we recognise her and thank her for all she’s done. It’s hard to sum up a person’s contribution in a few words but we’ve had a go.

Hannah has been at the Institute for nine years and in that time has performed just about every role in the organisation. Her contribution to the Institute, and in turn the construction industry, has been huge.

Tēnā rawa atu koe. Waimaria!
Thank you so much. Good luck!