August 2011 Issue

Articles

Reporting for hazardous work goes online

The Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995 define hazardous work as being “more than usually dangerous”. This includes any restricted work involving asbestos, and […]

Hawkins achieves practical completion on Forsyth Barr Stadium

Hawkins were the main contractors for the $190m state-of-the-art stadium, and were awarded the contract to build it in April 2009. In reaching practical completion […]

Minister opens new Unitec Albany Campus

Demand is likely to increase noticeably in the future as the population of Auckland north of the harbour bridge is expected to grow from 329,000 […]

DoL launches new literacy assessment tool

Take the Test is a leaflet designed to help employers work out, in just five minutes, if a business is affected by poor workplace literacy […]

Showcase timber building attracting international interest

When completed next year, the building will become the world’s first multi-storey wooden building to use pre-stressed timber as a structural building material. The building […]

Experienced industry man elected chairman of the Board

Mr Bickers is a chartered professional engineer working in Tauranga in management, governance, alternative dispute resolution and as an independent resource consent commissioner. He spent […]

Forklift owners and operators — ‘tell us your story’

The Centra Mitsubishi Forklift “Tell us your story” competition invites Mitsubishi Forklift owners and operators across New Zealand businesses and industries to submit their stories […]

NZ team triumphs in bridge building competition

This is the first time Auckland high schools have entered the competition, with this entry beating hundreds of high school entrants across Australia and New […]

LBP update for Canterbury earthquake recovery effort

This priority processing is for applications from building practitioners intending to work in Canterbury, as well as for those already based there. As at July […]

Office building wins sustainability award

The award, presented at the ninth International Symposium on High Performance Concrete Design in Rotorua, recognised the “reuse – reduce” strategies adopted by the project […]

Removal applications in the Weathertight Homes Tribunal — an uphill battle?

While it is up to the party seeking to be removed to prove that it is fair and appropriate that they be removed, it begs […]

Christchurch’s Cardboard Cathedral

Japanese-born Shigeru Ban is a remarkable designer. In the media he is sometimes known as The Emergency Architect. He studied in the early 1980s under […]

Industry figures show positive signs

“Employers who are upskilling staff and hiring apprentices want to make sure their employees have all the fundamentals in place before things start to pick […]

Australian builders blazing a trail

The two main industry organisations — Master Builders Australia and the Housing Industry Association — recently agreed to make all new homes compliant with “Universal […]

Competition begins for carpentry apprentices

Registered Master Builders Federation (RMBF) chief executive Warwick Quinn believes the Canterbury earthquakes have generated an incredibly high demand for skilled builders, many of whom […]

Commercial Project Award a powerful selling tool

“We’ve gone from the depths of recession into a very rapid growth phase. There’s a new city to be built down here, and it’s phenomenally […]

Quakes have had profound affect on Platinum winner

The award was presented to Canterbury’s Design Construction Ltd for its achievement of six national titles across the course of the competition. As we approach […]

Industry event deemed a ‘great success’

“It was wonderful to see so much positive activity,” according to Building Recruitment Ltd managing director Kevin Everett, who was one of the many exhibitors […]

House of the Year 2011 — the bar raised yet again!

I have been involved in RMBF House of the Year competitions since 1994. During that time, my own company has won numerous awards, many of […]

What is the actual Licensed Building Practitioner scheme?

This was done to ensure there was consistency of approach across government, and that the “intervention logic” would be consistently applied. Generally, governments don’t like […]