This coming Friday will be Aotearoa New Zealand’s first ever Matariki celebrated nationwide. Although I am totally here for it, for many in our industry Matariki probably just means another ‘day off’ from work. If that is you, l’d like to challenge that thinking, because in my opinion, what Matariki should represent to you is…
A healthy sustainability solution for structural engineers: nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is reused. Traditionally, structural engineers have followed optimisation procedures to reduce material usage, increase the efficiency of designed systems, and consequently reduce negative environmental impacts. Recently, a new procedure, termed ‘healthy sustainability’ has emerged, aimed at creating positive rather than reducing…
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…
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…
While critical technical aspects associated with treated timber in construction remain unsolved, the ‘wood first policy’ is the wrong decision at the wrong time. There needs to be better science based understanding of fire safety and health and environment issues. We need only look at treated timber data in New Zealand, issues associated with treated…
A recent technical study has come to HERA’s attention as it highlights our stance that you should choose infrastructure material based on design parameters. The technical study that we refer to was performed by the structural engineering firm Cary Kopczynski & Company in Seattle, WA. It compared the affordability of a hypothetical 10-story residential building…
A recent John Hopkins University Report validates our concerns at HERA around the lack of data and baseless assumptions relating to mass timber performance in high rise buildings. This is not a new conversation for HERA. We have previously raised concern about the lack of research relating to the fire performance of building materials generally…
The global welder shortage is a growing and well-known phenomenon. A recent article – Global welder shortage – viewpoints from three continents asked for the opinions of specialists in three continents on this topic. Their insight on welder shortages were as follows: Welders are more in demand than ever, The manufacturing industry will continue being…
When presented with a challenge or we find ourselves lacking the skills to complete a task – we often develop an uncanny knack of adapting or creating work arounds. Ensuring that if nothing else, the outside world is fooled into thinking we’ve got this under control. We divert attention away from our inadequacies with a…
HERA has just gone through an independent review of its carbon footprint. We’re sharing our experience, the resultant report and accounting spreadsheet in the hope that this will help you to do the same! As we increasingly see and experience the tangible impacts of climate change and the visible impacts of business activity (or lack…
Motivational Speaker Simon Sinek set the business world alight years ago when he first floated the golden circle concept. The notion that at the heart of successful business was an overwhelming articulation of their why. Jump forward seven or so years and add in a healthy dose of technological advancement – the resulting shift in…
Our current state of play has created a massive disruption to business as usual – but are there any positives to come out from the Covid-19 pandemic? Covid-19 has dramatically impacted us all in many different ways. Of course, most discussions have been on the negatives of Covid-19, but here are five silver linings that…