The new Workplace Health and Safety legislation has been in force for a month and a good level of discussion has been happening within business circles. Certainly directors, owners and managers are far more ‘tuned into’ the requirements of this business critical function than previously as they become more familiar with new accountabilities. This is…
The Steel Fabricator Certification (SFC) scheme continues to go from strength to strength with the latest group of five structural steel fabricators to achieve certification recognised at our recent SCNZ 10th anniversary event in Queenstown. A total of 21 New Zealand fabricators have now achieved SFC certification ensuring that 70% of the local industry output…
In response to recent media coverage involving allegations that some building products are unfit for purpose or non-compliant with the Building Code, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has established a dedicated email address to collect product complaints for analysis and investigation. Even though a number of concerns have been raised in the…
We work in an industry based on well-established and traditional materials. Metals have been fabricated for millennia. Applications have historically ranged from warfare, tooling, building and construction and are now evolving into emerging applications such as geothermal energy extraction and biomedical technologies. Metals, such as steel, are known for their high strength, ductility, and formability.…
SCI has recently released an online based calculator for floor dynamic response prediction. Compared with the manual method proposed in SCI P354, the calculator investigates the floor vibration using finite element analysis of regular grids. For irregular floor grids, existing tools such as the Oasys design software should still be used. The online tool covers…
HERA will be attending the 10th Annual Conference hosted by the Aotearoa Wave and Tidal Energy Association that begins in Wellington, New Zealand this Thursday. This conference brings together professionals and researchers worldwide to exchange ideas and present recent experiences, innovation and best practices in harnessing marine energy. HERA staff will be attending the event representing…
Uber is familiar to most of us and is representative of the new economy where information transforms industries, but it hasn’t been an overnight success. In fact, it was actually founded in 2009, which makes it seven years old and has spawned a whole range of allied and similar services. Emerging technologies all require a…
The Australasian Certification Authority for Reinforcing and Structural Steels was founded as a not-for-profit, voluntary, third party product certification scheme in 2000 and issued its first certificates of compliance in 2003 to AS/NZS 4671 for steel reinforcing materials. ACRS now provides additionally certificates of compliance to prestressing steels and structural steels to AS/NZS Standards 4672,…
Over 80 IPENZ members took the opportunity at the April 2016 Auckland Branch Meeting to get up-to-date with current best practice in managing the quality of welding. Our Senior Welding Engineer Alan McClintock gave a presentation outlining what engineers need to be aware of when designing, specifying and managing the fabrication of welded steel structures.…
A research team in Europe has finally put together what we’ve been waiting for – open access to all the ORC plants installed worldwide! This brilliant piece of work was published online by Thomas Tartiere, Project Manager at Enertime and is a perfect resource for our members who want to know more about this technology…
It is of great pleasure to report that the following structural steel Standards and Technical specification were published in April 2016. HERA is a participating member of the BD-023 Committee, which has been working on the revision of the structural steel standards since 2012 for: AS/NZS 1163-2016 Cold-formed Structural Steel Hollow Sections AS/NZS 3678-2016 Structural…
Responding to the reinforcing steel mesh conformance issue recently highlighted in the media, HERA is driving a policy change that allows our members to deliver better value and remain competitive. With the rapid adoption of the Steel Fabrication Certification (SFC) scheme, our New Zealand steel construction industry has significantly progressed on its way to verifiable…