Steel is a hero of the circular economy: study estimates 85% of Aotearoa’s building and construction steel waste is recycled Earlier this year, HERA published a Steel Recycling Report, which outlined the estimated steel recycling rate in New Zealand. At the time, we indicated that the specific building and construction waste recycling rate was likely…
We’re excited to let industry know that Reza Kordani has joined our Structural Systems team this week. Reza brings to HERA over four years’ of consulting experience in Aotearoa, and we’re very excited to bring this ‘commercial’ understanding to our research at hand so we can better serve our members. Reza studied his Bachelor of…
Recently, I listened to a webinar organised by ACE New Zealand titled “A tikanga Māori approach to creating future-ready and resilient cities.” In this “webinar, speakers included Troy Brockbank ((Te Rarawa, Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi) Pou Ārahi Māori – Māori Advisory Lead (Principal) at Pattle Delamore Partners); Rau Hoskins (Director at Design Tribe); Tyrone Newson (Development…
Industry 4.0 is driving an unprecedented transformation across global industry, as new technologies promise to save time, boost productivity, reduce waste, expand business models, and be more responsive to fast-changing environments and consumer demands. While companies have the opportunity to position themselves at the forefront of this new Industry 4.0 wave, they can struggle to…
HERA has identified a need for greater uptake of Industry 4.0 technologies to improve productivity in the construction industry. At the same time, we are also building our own capabilities in Industry 4.0 focusing on Construction 4.0, in particular in what we have coined “Fabrication 4.0”,”Sustainability 4.0” and “Monitoring 4.0”. We have already previously announced…
We’re excited to let industry know that Fanqin Meng has joined our Structural Systems team to assist with our focus on structural fire performance research. Fanqin is joining the HERA Structural team for a six month period to contribute to two key structural fire projects. These projects will be conducted in collaboration with the University…
Steel structures performed exceptionally well during the February 22, 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Such earthquake performance confirms that steel is the ultimate low-damage solution for modern multi-story buildings and structures. The performance also showed that the applicable New Zealand design and fabrication standards are safe – even though some minor damage in steel structures were reported…
We’re excited to announce that HERA’s long-anticipated Composite Design Software is now available for our members. In 2019, our Steel Research Panel identified it was important to develop electronic tools to support AS/NZS 2327 to allow our membership to better exploit the benefits of this standard. Responding to that feedback, we are pleased to release…
Mental health is something that businesses are needing to think more deeply about when it comes to the health and safety of their teams. Workplace pressures including job insecurity, the stress of deadline pressures and more is leading to dangerous mental health outcomes – which left unchecked is not good for our industry as a…
We’d like to advise industry that a Heavy Engineering Research Levy Act Amendment Order 2021 was signed by the Governer-General on 5 July and published 8 July. This has been something that we have been working on with the MBIE innovation policy team and Customs for quite some time. MBIE’s role has been to coordinate…
Recent media has really increased the need for the sustainability credentials of steel to be shared more widely. This comes following inklings of a wood first policy, as well as statements from Minister Nash saying that: “There is nothing you can do with steel and concrete that can’t be done with timber.” These are concerning…
Data on the cool down phase for timber structures is something designers and regulators need to consider when it comes to load carrying capacity of CLT structures. This thinking comes about after noting an interesting paper in the recent issue of Fire Safety Journal highlighting the critical aspect of the cool down phase for timber…