News and updates

Amanda Stanes - Zoomers & Boomers - working across generations

Posted on Wednesday 03 April, 2024

Amanda Stanes is the General Manager at Keystone Trust. Amanda joined the Keystone Trust in 2020, bringing more than 30 years’ experience in fundraising and relationship management to the role. 

Amanda spoke at BuildUP24 in the Next Gen Quick-fire showcase about understanding and getting the best out of the next generation. Her presentation went down so well we wanted to share her thoughts with you here. The following is taken from Amanda’s notes for her presentation and slides that went with it. 

Internal Hui - getting on the same page

Posted on Monday 25 March, 2024

On 15 March 2024, following an awesome day at BuildUP24, the Institute held our first Internal Hui.

This was a half-day event for all those in the Home Team, National Board, Regional Committees, and Young Professional Advisors to get together in person. The Institute is made up of many passionate volunteers across the motu. Each region focuses on their own patch, so this was an opportunity to get to know those from other regions and understand the big picture strategy too. The plan is for this Internal Hui to be repeated every two years alongside the BuildUP event.

The Internal Hui was a chance to get to know others better by putting faces to names along with getting on the same page with where the Institute is strategically heading.

Transforming the construction industry at BuildUP24

Posted on Friday 08 March, 2024

BuildUP24 is a practical and hands on one-day conference taking place on 14 March at Aotea Centre in Tāmaki | Auckland. The day will be a mix of keynote speakers to inspire and provoke thoughts, panel discussions to dive into themes of people, productivity and performance – focusing on practical solutions; and roundtable sessions to get into detail and put ideas into practice.

Read about who will be there and why you should be paying attention.

Member spotlight: Anni Zhou

Posted on Thursday 29 February, 2024

Anni Zhou was the Northern Region winner and National winner of the Next Gen Award in 2023. Since winning Anni has gotten more involved with the Institute and has joined the Young Professional Advisors committee. 

Anni is passionate about the use of digital construction methods. Her Master’s research project is entitled “Digital approach to track embodied carbon in building through life cycle assessment.” Anni works as a Professional Quantity Surveyor for Rider Levett Bucknall while she completes her studies at Massey University in Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland part-time.

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

Member Spotlight: Jeremy Earle

Posted on Thursday 01 February, 2024

Jeremy Earle won the Projects over $50 Million category at the 2023 NZ Building People Awards. Jeremy is a Construction Manager at Southbase Construction, he was awarded for his work on the build at Wakatipu High School, Tahuna | Queenstown. 

The judges said of Jeremy, “What impressed us most about Jeremy was his empathy for people, especially his team, his encouragement for diversity and making sure he selected a team that worked well with the client, and then appreciating that being a younger team he need to look after their wellness and ensure they did not feel isolated.”

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

New guidance for ‘digital first’ in the built environment

Posted on Wednesday 17 January, 2024

The ‘Digital Guidance Suite’, or DigiGuide, which includes a Value Case for digital first strategies and the New Zealand Handbook for Building Information Management (BIM) processes, has been released and is available to download.

The documents in the DigiGuide suite will help those working in the built environment to get on the same page when comes to digital. The documents have come out of the ‘Digital BIM Guidance Project’ led by the New Zealand Institute of Building and the BIMinNZ Steering Group with input from a broad range of construction and infrastructure industry subject matter experts. This project was funded by the Construction Sector Accord through its Innovation workstream.

Digital Triplets: Construction Industry collaboration improving productivity through clarity and consistency  

Posted on Thursday 30 November, 2023

We commonly hear that the construction sector is fragmented and suffering from a lack of collaboration, however collaborating organisations are working hard to change that.

The New Zealand Construction Industry Council (NZCIC), the NZ Institute of Building (NZIOB), and Te Waihanga | NZ Infrastructure Commission are all leaders of change responding to the Construction Sector Accord’s Transformation Plan.

This month sees the launch of three guidelines that have all been revised and better digitised to improve productivity, mitigate and fairly allocate risk, and future proofing the built environment. These projects are the culmination of years of effort from across the sector, representing strong collaboration between Government and Industry groups.

Member spotlight: Jane Jujnovich

Posted on Thursday 30 November, 2023

Jane Jujnovich won the James Hardie Innovation Award at the 2023 NZ Building People Awards. Jane is a Project Director at Kāinga Ora, she was awarded for her transformative work on Te Mātāwai project in Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland.

Jane’s glass half full approach has driven change right through her organisation to focus on the greater social outcomes in everything they do, leading her to be described by her colleagues at Kāinga Ora as the “True North.”

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

Peter McGuinness Honorary FNZIOB 1947-2023

Posted on Tuesday 28 November, 2023

We are sorry to share the news that Peter McGuinness died on Sunday 26 November 2023.

In 2020 Peter was made an Honorary Fellow of the Institute, an honour only five others currently hold. Honorary Fellow’s are given out to people who hold positions of distinction in the building and construction industry to acknowledge the significant contribution they have made. Peter certainly met these criteria and was held in a very high regard in the industry and by the Institute.

We are thinking of Peter’s family and all those at LT McGuinness. We wanted to share a few things about Peter to help honour his life and contribution to the industry.

Unveiling an Engineering Marvel: A Site Visit to Kate Valley Landfill Facility

Posted on Thursday 23 November, 2023

On Friday 10 November 2023 a Site Visit for our Next Gen members from Ara - Te Pukenga took place to the Kate Valley Landfill Facility. 

This was organised by Heather Huckle and the Institute's Young Professional Advisors (YPA). Adam Baxter, who is on the Institute's Southern Region Committee went along on the visit and made a few notes about the visit. 

Read Adam's summary.