
Auckland ‘below average’ international study finds
While it may score well on paper, Auckland is behind the curve compared to other cities with better urban planning policies, The Lancet Global Health finds
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New research, published by The Lancet Global Health in a series on Urban Design, Transport, and Health, aims to inform policy directions and planning for more healthy, sustainable cities worldwide. Continue →

New caretaker for communications infrastructure
Chorus has appointed Programmed to manage and maintain the integrity of buildings and infrastructure services that support New Zealand’s critical communications network
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Programmed has won a competitive bid to maintain Chorus’ property portfolio across 2,600 sites in a potential eight year, multi-million-dollar contract. Continue →

AR would attract new talent to construction but a third will not invest
Giving construction workers access to technology such as augmented reality (AR) will not only combat soaring resource costs, but help attract young people to construction roles, says GlobalData. Continue →

Are ‘Crystal Battery’ cells an EV breakthrough?
German battery technology manufacturer Theion’s innovation is based on sulphur — which as a by-product of industrial processes, is available in abundance without harmful mining, making it 99% cheaper to source than nickel and cobalt, Movemnt reports
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According to Theion, its battery cells requires 90% less energy to produce, “from raw material to finished cell”. Continue →

What a plastics treaty means for our water
Nearly 200 countries have passed a resolution at the United Nations to address the full lifecycle of plastic, including production, design and disposal
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Water New Zealand has welcomed the global agreement to develop a legally-binding treaty by 2024 to tackle plastic pollution. Continue →

Wellington council steps in to support businesses
A $2.3m Pandemic Response Plan aims to help Wellington businesses struggling under Covid restrictions and ongoing protests – should other councils follow suit? Continue →

Infrastructure strategy cannot wait
While the Government is not obliged to formally respond to the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission’s 30-year Strategy until September, it would be negligent not to act now with urgency, Civil Contractors Chief Executive Alan Pollard says
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New Zealand’s civil contractors have welcomed Rautaki Hanganga o Aotearoa – New Zealand Infrastructure Strategy 2022–2052 as ‘a new beginning’ and look forward to working to address the country’s massive infrastructure deficit with increased support, better planning, and targeted investment from government. Continue →

New Zealand roading project wins top engineering prize
Infrastructure Decision Support (IDS), WSP and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s Strategic Maintenance Investment Justification Project won big at the 2022 Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) Excellence Awards on Wednesday night in Adelaide
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It won the ‘IPWEA Australasia 2022 Excellence in Asset Management’ category and the prestigious ‘IPWEA Australasia 2022 Public Works Medal for Project of the Year.’
Waka Kotahi engaged IDS in May 2019 to answer the “billion-dollar” question around how much investment is needed to maintain the roads and road surfaces within the New Zealand State Highway network over a three-year funding period. Continue →

Wood waste could replace aluminium crisp packets
echo adrotate_group(33, 0, 0, 0);Aluminium plays an important protective role in food packaging, however it requires a lot of energy to produce and it can be difficult to recycle
The crucial discovery has been made by Jiaying Li, who is working with the Dutch Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium (ARC CBBC), in collaboration with the University of Twente, Wageningen University, BASF and AkzoNobel. Continue →

Country still divided on three waters reforms
Some have praised the Government for running with the majority of recommendations made by the Three Waters Working Group while others are demanding the co-governance scheme is stopped now before it is too late
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The Government has ruled out other solutions to New Zealand’s water issues and is dead set on creating four publicly owned water entities. Continue →