Industry news and Institute of Building insights

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!

Member Spotlight: Yu Li

Posted on Tuesday 29 October, 2024

This year our Resene Next Gen Supreme Award was taken out by Yu Li, a Civil Engineering PhD candidate studying at the University of Canterbury. 

To enter the Next Gen Awards nominees had to submit their 'big idea' to shake up the industry. Yu Li's idea submitted for this award is taken from the work she is completing towards her PhD thesis. Her study focuses on collecting data on how and where roads are used by using a newly developed and cost-effective Internet of Things (IoT) proptotype. The data collected can be used to automatically predict traffic positioning in difference scenarios.

Since being presented with the Award at the NZ Building People Awards on 30 August Yu Li has gotten more involved with the Institute and is now an enthusiastic member of the Young Professional Advisors group. 

She's also currently on the lookout for work which makes the most of her considerable expertise so get in touch with her to snap her up!

We asked her a few questions to get to know Yu Li a little better. 

Member Spotlight: Isaac Kett

Posted on Tuesday 01 October, 2024

On 30 August at the 2024 NZ Building People Awards Isaac Kett was named as the GIB Supreme Winner! Earlier in the evening Isaac had won the Keystone Trust Consultants | Matanga Award category.

He was nominated for his work as Delivery, Interface and Design Manager on the Pukekohe to Papakura (P2P) Project in Tāmaki | Auckland. Isaac is a Senior Associate at Frequency.

While we heard about Issac’s project on the night and in his citation we asked him a few questions to get to know the person behind the project.

Read on to find out more about Isaac including what he’d like to see change in the industry, who inspires him, and his Salsa habit.

Honouring our Institute Members

Posted on Tuesday 03 September, 2024

On Friday 30 August we celebrated excellence in the construction industry at the 2024 NZ Building People Awards. Along with honouring our fantastic finalists and winners we also took the opportunity to honour some of our outstanding Institute volunteers with Member Honour Awards.

The NZ Institute of Building relies heavily on the generosity of time, energy and care from its members. There are so many fantastic people giving their dedication and passion to the Institute – four of those people were honoured at the Awards.

Terry Buchan, Hayley Groves and Guy Marriage received Regional Member Honour Awards and Graeme Birkhead was awarded an Institute Service Medal. 

NZ Building People Awards 2024 Winners Announced

Posted on Monday 02 September, 2024

More than 600 construction industry professionals came together on Friday 30 August to celebrate the winners of the 2024 NZ Building People Awards. The gala dinner celebrating the excellence of the people behind the projects took place at the Viaduct Events Centre in Tāmaki | Auckland.

Winners and highly commended finalists, along with a couple of special mentions, were announced across ten categories with a Supreme Winner named to top the evening off. The Resene Next Gen Awards were also announced as part of the evening with three winners and one supreme winner named.

 Congratulations to all the finalists, special mentions, highly commended and winners of the 2024 NZ Building People Awards.

Pamela Bell - new Chair of NZCIC  

Posted on Tuesday 30 July, 2024

 At a recent NZ Construction Industry Council (NZCIC) AGM, the Institute of Building’s CE Pamela Bell was accepted as the incoming Chair.

The NZCIC is an industry association of associations in the building and construction, design and property sectors. The membership associations who are part of the council represent about 200,000 workers of the 300,000 total workers in Aotearoa.

“I follow in the footsteps of Malcolm Fleming who chaired the Council through a period of great turbulence with Covid and other changes. I’m grateful to Malcolm and the other members of the Council leadership for their support.”

Pamela is looking forward to continuing to build strong relationships with other associations, and to leading more conversations about the future of associations and preparing for a resilient future.

Construction Career Pathways Project (Pathways Project).

Posted on Friday 05 July, 2024

The Institute is pleased to announce that it is undertaking a Construction Career Pathways Project (Pathways Project). This is in the early stages of establishment and more information will be shared as it is developed.

This is an early call for members who may be aligned with Career Pathway work to please get in touch with us. 

Member Spotlight: Morgan Poi

Posted on Thursday 06 June, 2024

Morgan Poi won the Projects under $ 10 Million Award category at the 2023 NZ Building People Awards. He was nominated for his work as Site Manager for Hawkins on the Hawke’s Bay Prison Staff Facilities project.

What made Morgan stand out amongst a strong field was his humility, empathetic leadership, positivity, and his commitment to people. These qualities became particularly important in responding to Hawke’s Bay’s flooding in February 2023 where Morgan went above and beyond to support his colleagues.

The judges said “It is an absolute privilege to have Morgan Poi as the winner in this category. Morgan has had a clear impact on all stakeholders on the project, he leads from the trenches with empathy and understanding.”

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