Registered Master Builders Association president Johnny Calley says the recovery and rebuild from the recent extreme weather events will require a co-ordinated nationwide approach like that of the Christchurch earthquakes — but will come with some different challenges.
For our members affected by the floods, particularly those in Auckland, Northland, Gisborne and the Hawke’s Bay regions, we know this has not been an easy start to the year.
We are thinking of you and understand this will create some additional challenges while your areas recover.
Unfortunately, it will take a while to understand the full extent of the damage and how to go about reinstating the infrastructure.
Registered Master Builders will be working with Government through the Construction Sector Accord to ensure the recovery happens as rapidly as possible, and that the right support is available.
The recovery and rebuild from these recent weather events will require a co-ordinated nationwide approach like that of the Christchurch earthquakes, but with some different challenges.
Evaluation of updated overland flow paths and flood planes will be critical in the assessment of infrastructure, including housing.
This event has highlighted our reliance on internet and streaming-based communications, so having an emergency communication plan should be included in all the rebuild conversations.
Sector availability a positive
The only positive on this topic is the forecasted industry slowdown has taken hold for some businesses across New Zealand — so there will no doubt be availability within the sector once the recovery process gets underway.
These recent floods and the frequency of other major weather events highlight an obvious environmental topic. The rapidly changing global impacts of climate change are now affecting our lives more than ever and, in some cases, our ability to do business.
We must react to this changing environmental landscape when looking at ways to minimise the impacts, but not make panic decisions.
Trying to conquer the issues with wide-ranging changes that are administered with a blunt edge can achieve little, whereas a slower step change approach that rewards innovation will get higher levels of engagement.
An organic change in industry behaviours will happen faster if there is a production benefit to businesses without increasing cost.
The main barrier to environmentally-friendly and sustainable outcomes in construction has, historically, been the financial burden — the recent H1 reforms are evidence of that, where building code changes significantly increased the cost to build a home.
What we need to find as a sector is a balance between cost versus ambition. Good outcomes are usually achieved when the outcome is fully understood, and the pathway to achieve is mapped out and costed appropriately.
Making changes to how we build in the hope a long-term outcome will be achieved will just add to the problem.
Full consideration to the other impacts, including social, business, efficiency and an unintentional carbon footprint takes time, but we need to be patient and allow the innovation to be tested.
We can take advantage of the many initiatives the construction sector already has at its disposal, such as modular design practices and waste management solutions.
These may seem obvious and small steps in the scheme of things, but if we all apply a little bit now it will assist in a more environmentally-sustainable industry.
If we are honest with ourselves, the biggest hurdle we face on the environmental subject is our attitudes towards integration. Making a deliberate effort to install environmentally-friendly solutions to your day-to-day operations and project objectives needs to become a standard practice.
