BOINZ - Life Membership Award

We recently held our annual Conference in Rotorua and at our Gala Dinner and Awards night, Kerry Walsh was awarded the Life Membership Award. This award reflects a member who has continually given to the Institute for the betterment of his peers. Kerry was schooled in Rangiora, before attending Christchurch Polytechnic, he started work at the Waimakariri District Council as a Plumbing and Draining Inspectors assistant, before taking on a Building Technician’s Cadetship and being appointed a Building Control Officer.

His career then followed several appointments in other councils including Queenstown as a Building Consents Officer, before moving north again to Christchurch City Council. He then spent some time in private building inspection with Prime Building Compliance, and then back to Waimakariri District Council. He is now the Property and Building Manager for Hurunui District Council.

Kerry is a passionate Building Officer with his main focus is around the customer experience. This was and is a personal hallmark. “I am forever pushing toward a more positive customer experience in relation to building in the Hurunui District and NZ wide”. This push is focused on each and every interaction with our customers from applying for consents, booking inspections, carrying out an inspection, issuing a CCC to the long-term customer experience with durability and satisfaction of building owners and their houses.

Kerry joined the Institute in 1993 and remembers going to BOINZ meetings back then. In 2007 he took the reins of the Canterbury-Westland Branch as chair before another big leap onto the Institute’s Board in 2009. As a Board Member, he was extremely active across several areas including: • the Board’s Complaint

Committee, • numerous training advisory roles, • the Accredited Building

Surveyors Technical panel, • the Audit Committee and

• Constitution Review Committee

In 2016, Kerry was elected by his Board peers as President of the Institute and held that role for two terms until he chose to stand down in 2020.

Regarding the Institute Kerry says “They are my second family and are my people. They are not for profit - everything they make comes back to us and the industry. The training BOINZ provides is of the highest quality which greatly benefit my team members. The networking between members is also very important to me and for me to carry out my role”. Kerry believes if you are a Building Officer you should be a BOINZ member. How would you operate if you weren’t, he questions. You would not have all the information, tools, contacts, training, representation, and the support. When Kerry is not at work, he enjoys spending time at home on the land doing jobs as well as spending time with my wife and boys. I love to have a project on the go. Kerry is also passionate about Rowing and is the chairman of the St Bedes Rowing Club. He is really looking forward to the rowing regatta season including Maadi Cup in 2023. “I love being part of a team that all get along, does well and get good results”. With Kerry’s awards, he has now joined a special group of 15. The last time this award was given out was four years ago in 2018. The institute is honoured to have the support of Kerry Walsh and welcomes him into the Life Membership Club.