Melbourne is the best place in the world to work from home, with Sydney coming in third and Auckland lagging behind at 37th, a study by Nestpick has found The Urban Developer It may have endured four hard lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, but Melbourne has topped a global survey of the best place to work from home. Continue →

A state-of-the-art digital communications network being rolled out in New Zealand will enable industries to reach new levels of safety and productivity The network will be powered by Motorola Solutions’ advanced, MOTOTRBO Capacity Max technology providing highly secure, reliable and professional two-way radio solutions that give users access to feature-rich, next-generation networks and applications. Continue →

echo adrotate_group(33, 0, 0, 0);The Victorian government has announced a two-week shutdown of the construction industry after a protest against mandatory vaccines for workers in the sector became violent The Guardian newspaper says the closure across metropolitan Melbourne, Geelong, the Surf Coast, Ballarat and Mitchell Shire was decided on Monday night after the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) building was damaged and riot police deployed in chaotic scenes in central Melbourne. Continue →

echo adrotate_group(33, 0, 0, 0);Green hydrogen can be the real solution towards lowering carbon emissions, but Kalkine Chief Executive Kunal Sawhney explores whether it has a role to play in New Zealand’s future Hydrogen is increasingly being called ‘the fuel of the future’ and can prove helpful in filling in some of the gaps in the clean-energy jigsaw. Continue →

echo adrotate_group(33, 0, 0, 0);In the past year alone, Canterbury, Westport, Napier, Taranaki and now Auckland have been hit with severe floods, something experts say will only become more common as global warming starts to take effect Over 200mm of rain fell in some areas of Auckland overnight this week, causing fifty homes to be evacuated, with people trapped, and cars being swept away due to flooding. Continue →

echo adrotate_group(33, 0, 0, 0);A 13.5% rates increase has been decided by Wellington City councillors, who met last week to decide the funding options for its Long-Term Plan 2021-2031 The plan addresses water infrastructure, supports a vibrant economy, invests in greater iwi representation, enhances city safety and makes civic buildings more resilient. Continue →

echo adrotate_group(33, 0, 0, 0);The Covid-19 Delta variant is more infectious than previous strains – therefore, some additional controls for businesses are now required At Alert Level 3, work should be done remotely where possible. Continue →

echo adrotate_group(33, 0, 0, 0);The National Land Transport Programme 2021-24 finally gets road maintenance funding at the level it needs to be, but it will not be enough to catch up with years of deferred maintenance, says Civil Contractors New Zealand Chief Executive Peter Silcock The three-year, $24.3b National Land Transport Programme 2021-24 announced this week by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, features a more than 24 per cent increase in State Highway and local road maintenance. Continue →

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 →

echo adrotate_group(33, 0, 0, 0);New studies under Three Waters Reform Programme predict up to $185 billion is required in the next 30 years to get our drinking water, stormwater, and sewage infrastructure up to standard Work is already underway on a proposal to trim the country’s 67 water service providers – owned and managed by councils currently – into a small set of providers. Continue →