The New Zealand Building Industry Awards are going ahead for 2020, but with changes that reflect pragmatism and innovation.
On a practical level, both the close-off date for the award entries and the awards ceremony have been pushed out by two months. This has allowed the construction industry to stay focused on more immediate concerns across April and May.
The awards ceremony, to be held on its new date of Friday, October 30, 2020, has transitioned from a single venue event to a multiple location event being held simultaneously in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Connected via a virtual platform, the event will be delivered in a format similar to a television network’s election night special, with finalists attending the various venues, and the MC cutting to live feeds from each venue for the presentations of the awards.
“Holding the event across multiple venues provides us with flexibility to deal with any number of restrictions that might be in place in October,” New Zealand Institute of Building (NZIOB) chief executive Malcolm Fleming says, “while acknowledging that the cost for a regional finalist to attend the traditional event in Auckland may have limited appeal for companies in the current environment.”
The Cordis hotel is retained as the primary Auckland venue for 2020, while the addition of Te Papa in Wellington and the Christchurch Town Hall as satellite locations ensures that the awards ceremony will retain the glamour that the New Zealand Building Industry Awards has developed a reputation for.
Event partner Winstone Wallboards Ltd is pleased to see how the NZIOB has repackaged the annual awards programme to reflect market conditions.
“The New Zealand Building Industry Awards is a major event in the construction industry,” Partnership manager Clara Sumner says.
“The move to extend the industry’s ‘big night’ experience to both Wellington and Christchurch, while providing free live streaming to all, will see the event develop a truly national audience.”
For main contractors, the traditional cost-band categories are open to those who have run a construction project with distinction, with eligible projects being those that have been completed in the period November 1, 2018 to May 31, 2020.
Other categories include: Interdisciplinary Collaboration (for builder/consultants/client project teams), Innovation (for new products or processes that change the way we build), Safety Excellence (for those who have demonstrated leadership in safety, including safety in design), and Young Achiever (for those under 30 years of age). Any entry that includes an NZIOB member is free.
The deadline for entries to the 2020 New Zealand Building Industry Awards has been extended to Friday, July 24, 2020.
More information and access to online entry forms can be found at
https://nzbuildingindustryawards.org.nz.
