NZ Local Government Magazine 1504 by Contrafed Publishing

NZ LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE VOL 52 • APRIL 2015 • $8.95

Seeing our cities in

A WHOLE

NEW LIGHT The bare bones for smart cities p16

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY Great consultation documents p14

EATING AWAY AT OUR ASSETS The corrosively high cost of failing water infrastructure p34

A BROAD BAND OF OPPORTUNITY Government’s $350 million pledge p28

LEST WE FORGET

Wellington City Council marks 100 years since Gallipoli p36

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IN THIS ISSUE NZ LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

CONTENTS P36 IN THIS ISSUE

P16

REGULARS

FEATURES

2 Editor’s Letter 4 In Brief 10 Around the Councils 12 Events 13 Innovations 45 LGNZ

14 THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY The OAG on what makes a great consultation document 16 A WHOLE NEW LIGHT How street lights are being deployed in the drive towards intelligent cities 28 A BROAD BAND OF OPPORTUNITY Government’s $350 million pledge for more broadband 31 C LICKING ON Can ratepayers find your senior staff online? 32 T HE PROBLEM WITH DATA How data science can help local authorities manage their infrastructure 34 E ATING AWAY AT OUR ASSETS The corrosively high cost of failing water infrastructure 36 L EST WE FORGET Wellington City Council marks 100 years since Gallipoli 38 P LUG IN THE CUSTOMER Why it’s vital to add user experience to your digital project

COLUMNISTS 40 John Pfahlert: On Standards 41 Jeremy Elwood: On the Funny Stuff 42 Frana Divich: On Legal Issues 43 M alcolm Abernethy: From Civil Contractors New Zealand 44 Lawrence Yule: From LGNZ

PHOTO BY CHR IS TSE

P38

P14 ON THE COVER

Seeing our cities in a whole new light. See page 16.

Cover image: © Aurelko | Dreamstime.com - Blue City Reflect Photo

MY VIEW 24 McCONNELL DOWELL’S ROGER McRAE A legacy in the making APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

EDITOR’S LETTER NZ LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

A world of positive difference LGNZ president Lawrence Yule quipped at a recent event that he remembers how local government used to spend six months arguing about dog licences. Those days are long gone. Local government is now awash with initiatives that demonstrably move us all forward. Right now local authorities are knee-deep consulting with their constituents over long-term plans for 2015-25. So in this issue assistant auditor-general local government Bruce Robertson is sharing some of his thoughts on how to create the best-possible consultation documents. Elsewhere in the magazine we look at how after years of talk about the benefits of LED road lighting, we’re seeing funding options and real-life initiatives coming to market. Significantly, the conversation is turning to the connected-up systems that open up possibilities for creating those long-awaited intelligent cities of the future. All of this dovetails neatly with recent announcements that the government wants councils at the centre of decision-making on how to spend an extra $350 million or so on broadband. And to round it off we’re giving the emerging new world of data science a look-see on page 32. On an altogether different scale but just as importantly, we’re launching a small but significant new section in the magazine. As the name suggests, the ‘Extra Milers’ is a celebration of those people who go the extra distance to help others. (See the story on page five of this issue.) They’re the often unsung heroes in every council who, working at the operational level, don’t get press-released and noted as others might. So please let me know who in your organisation has done some extraordinary work worthy of note. I’ve been prompted to do this by comments from a growing number of mayors and chief executives who say how much they appreciate the incremental efforts of council staff. This was all brought home to me recently by two small but significant acts of thoughtful kindness by council staff. So thanks to the Wellington City Council person who found my boarding pass and left it at reception for me to intercept. And to the Auckland Council parks guy who tried so hard to get some water for my dog on a blistering hot day. In a big-picture world, that’s not earth-shattering, I know. But each tiny incident makes a world of positive difference to one person’s small daily life. And isn’t that, ultimately, what local government is all about?

Ruth Le Pla, editor ruth@localgovernmentmag.co.nz

PUBLISHER Contrafed Publishing Co. Ltd, Suite 2.1, 93 Dominion Rd, Mount Eden, Auckland 1024 PO Box 112 357, Penrose, Auckland 1642 Phone: 09 636 5715, Fax: 09 636 5716 www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz GENERAL MANAGER Kevin Lawrence DDI: 09 636 5710 Mobile: 021 512 800 kevin@contrafed.co.nz EDITOR Ruth Le Pla Mobile: 021 266 3978 ruth@localgovernmentmag.co.nz BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Peter Corcoran DDI: 07 825 7557 Mobile: 021 272 7227 peter@localgovernmentmag.co.nz CONTRIBUTORS Malcolm Abernethy, Frana Divich, Jeremy Elwood, Andy Foster, Gareth Parry, Pamela Peters, John Pfahlert, Bruce Robertson, Lawrence Yule ADMINISTRATION/SUBSCRIPTIONS admin@contrafed.co.nz DDI: 09 636 5715 PRODUCTION Design: Jonathan Whittaker design@localgovernmentmag.co.nz Printing: PMP MAXUM CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOME Please contact the editor before sending them in. Articles in Local Government Magazine are copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the permission of the publisher. DISCLAIMER Local Government Magazine is an independent publication owned and produced by Contrafed Publishing. The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of any of its shareholding organisations.

@nzlgmagazine ISSN 0028-8403

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WATER & WASTEWATER

Water management is critical to the health, wealth and growth of every community. McConnell Dowell builds better communities through safe, smart, efficient water infrastructure. Christchurch Ocean Outfall

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IN BRIEF Auckland signals future of customer service A new service centre in Auckland’s city centre is pulling in 45 percent more visitors with a new state-of-the-art approach to customer service. Auckland Council’s new Bledisloe Lane service centre was opened in December, and represents a refreshing change in the council’s approach to customer service. It is the result of extensive research on both accessibility and lessons from the retail sector. The new décor is a far cry from what many may have been used to from Auckland Council – with bright colours and themes which reflect Auckland’s diverse communities and lifestyle. “The change in décor and layout were key in generating a positive atmosphere where

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customers were comfortable and a leap away from the old ‘us and them’ environment,” says Nigel King, manager of Auckland Council Customer Services. “The idea is to be customer focused. So we identified the key stages of the customer’s experience and developed the centre around those,” he says. “After only a few months, we are getting positive feedback from customers and our team,” says Nigel. With a focus on making it easier to do business with council, the centre also features the latest technology and services not previously available, and enhanced face-to-face interaction. Customers are greeted by a concierge who can direct

them to the service they require or they can be coached to do it themselves at one of the easy to use self-service kiosks. They can also use the free wifi, order property information and be connected by phone to other council departments for further assistance, or talk to staff in comfortable seated areas. This is council’s flagship service centre. With an estimated 90,000 people employed in the central city, the centre serves not just central city residents and ratepayers but thousands across the region who visit the city daily for work or recreation. Learnings from the new centre will be incorporated into future upgrades of other council service centres.

Infrastructure: ideas please Share your ideas on the roles and responsibilities of central and local government on infrastructure and its funding. At Local Government Magazine we want to get a sense of the range of ideas out there. We’re interested in everything from minor incremental improvements through to the outright wacky paradigm-changing stuff. Then we’ll sift through it and write a piece for you to enjoy. One approach: start from first principles. Imagine you’ve just arrived in a new land with no government and no civil infrastructure. You have to build the ideal model for local and central government infrastructure development and management. You might consider who the communities of interest really are and the interdependencies between regions and the nation from a social and NZ Inc economic viewpoint. Imagine what New Zealand could be if we got all that lined up. All contributions will remain anonymous unless you indicate otherwise. A good starting place might be to consider the community and economic benefits released from a well-integrated and mutually-supportive local and central government. Please send your thoughts to ruth@localgovernmentmag.co.nz

Wally Jacobs

The Extra Milers We’re launching a new section in the magazine celebrating the work of local authorities’ many operational staff who go above and beyond the call of duty. So here’s a big shout out to our first Extra Miler Wally Jacobs who’s been looking after the gardens and sports fields of Rotorua for the past 50 years with the Rotorua Contracting business unit. (It used to be Castlecorp.) We reckon Wally’s half a decade of service for a council deserves recognition. Drop us a line at the magazine and tell us about your Extra Milers. We’ll publish some of the best examples in upcoming issues of the magazine. ruth@localgovernmentmag.co.nz

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APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

IN BRIEF Wasted food The regional, city and district councils in the Waikato are banding together to curb food waste in their area. The “Love Food, Hate Waste” campaign follows a survey showing some $85 million worth of food is being thrown away unnecessarily throughout the region. That’s about a tenth of the total amount of food chucked while still good to eat throughout the whole of New Zealand. Together the councils will help coordinate publicity and make information and resources available to communities in their area. Waikato Regional Council’s waste minimisation facilitator Marianna Tyler says many householders are spending way more than required on food and also sending a lot more waste to landfills than they should. “The figures from the research also don’t take into account the water and energy resources that are used in the production, transport and distribution of the food that is being dumped.” She says a surprising amount of food is being thrown away even though it’s still edible. “Whole loaves of bread, unopened yoghurts, uneaten apples are just some of the foods that have been found in audits across the country.” Marianna urges households to reduce food wastage by: • better planning their food purchases and meals; • better managing food storage and checking expiry dates; and • ensuring waste foods are composted where appropriate for use in the garden or fed to domestic animals such as chickens, rather than just being dumped in the rubbish.

“There are also options for businesses in the region including donating surplus food to places like food banks and other agencies that distribute supplies to those in need,” she says. The Waikato Environment Centre, for example, coordinates the Kaivolution food rescue programme which since October last year has rescued over 5.2 tonnes of food from reaching landfill and redistributed it to where it’s needed most in the Waikato community. More details on www.facebook.com/lovefoodhatewastenz

Money talks

because your river is worth it

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LGNZ has been rolling out further discussions on how local government could best be funded. An open seminar in Wellington featured addresses from New Zealand Initiative executive director Dr Oliver Hartwich, Christchurch City Council councillor Raf Manji and Federated Farmers national president Dr William Rolleston. A similar session in Auckland included Auckland councillor Penny Webster, who chaired the Funding Review Working Group, Adam Feeley, chief executive of Queenstown Lakes District Council and Basil Chamberlain, chief executive of Taranaki Regional Council. LGNZ will collate responses to its earlier Local Government Funding Review discussion paper into a final report proposing a long-term strategy and sustainable funding model for the sector. The final report will be released later this year.

Whanganui gets even smarter Whanganui has been chosen for a pilot programme to help New Zealand businesses increase their online presence and be more easily found when their customers are searching for them. Created by digital agency Socialize, About Us is a free toolbox which lists contact details, maps and photos as well as linking to existing business websites and social media. Business owners can create a free About Us page in minutes and establish an online presence so their customers can find them more easily. Chair of the Whanganui Digital Leaders Forum mayor Annette Main says the About Us programme is a great fit for Whanganui. “Our willingness to encourage businesses to increase their online presence and to be the first place in New Zealand to do so is an example of why our community has been recognised as a Smart21 Intelligent Community for three years running.” The Forum is also working with UCOL Whanganui and the Whanganui Chamber of Commerce to support local business to use the site. Annette says About Us is part of the district’s journey towards being 100 percent connected. “The ultrafast broadband build in our urban area is almost complete, which means any business can use ultrafast broadband to maximise its output. Having a business easily accessible online is one of the biggest things a business can do to increase its customer base.” About Us also provides free information to business owners about how they can use various tools such as social media, online accounting

and blogging to improve visibility, productivity and sales, and to establish stronger relationships with customers in the digital era. Socialize CEO Steve Adams says New Zealand has a low percentage of businesses online. “We’re trying to solve the problem of why hundreds of thousands of businesses aren’t online in New Zealand. The tools are out there but too many businesses aren’t engaging with the internet. In fact, up to 60 percent are not searchable.” A recent Innovation Partnership study estimated this is costing the New Zealand economy as much as $34 billion. Whanganui District Council and the digital leaders forum share a vision for everyone in the community to have broadband connectivity regardless of their socioeconomic status, age or physical location. More details on aboutus.co.nz/

We’re always looking to make savings where we can. We can assign shared vehicle costs to the different departments, and eliminate running sheets. EROAD has definitely helped us improve the utilisation of our vehicles. Kevin King Fleet Manager Hutt City Council RUC STAR: INDUSTRY:

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APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

IN BRIEF DATES FOR YOUR DIARY APRIL 14 – 17 New Zealand Planning Institute 2015 Conference. Aotea Centre, Auckland www.nzpiconference2015.org.nz/

18 – 19 2015 ALGIM Web & Digital Symposium. Rydges Latimer Square, Christchurch www.algim.org.nz/algim-events/

16 2015 McGredy Winder SOLGM Local Government Excellence Awards. The InterContinental, Wellington www.solgm.org.nz/

20 – 22 Asia Pacific International Stormwater Conference. Pullman Auckland www.waternz.org.nz/

16 – 17 Local Government Chief Executives Forum and Masterclass. Wellington www.solgm.org.nz/

25 – 26 Acting Global – Energy Management Association Conference 2015. Mac’s Function Centre, Wellington www.emanz.org.nz/emanz-conference-2015

JUNE

19 – 22 Building Officials Institute of New Zealand Annual Conference & Expo. SkyCity Convention Centre, Auckland www.boinz.org.nz/Site/annual-events/

7 – 10 IFME World Congress on Municipal Engineering & IPWEA International Conference. Rotorua Energy Events Centre www.conferenceteam.co.nz/ipweanz2015/

20 Legal Update on Earthquake-prone Buildings. Auckland www.conferenz.co.nz/training

16 Who’s afraid of the RMA? James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor, Wellington www.solgm.org.nz/

JULY

22 – 23 2015 ALGIM GIS Symposium. Rendezvous Grand Hotel, Auckland www.algim.org.nz/algim-events/

19 – 21 LGNZ Conference 2015. Rotorua Energy Events Centre www.lgnz.co.nz

MAY 14 – 16 New Zealand Community Boards Conference 2015. Copthorne Hotel and Resort, Waitangi, Bay of Islands www.nzcbc2015.co.nz/

27 – 28 2015 ALGIM Information Management / Records Symposium. Venue TBC www.algim.org.nz/algim-events/

Would you like us to include your event in this calendar? Please email details to ruth@localgovernment.co.nz

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Councils fly in to the rescue Councils have secured regular flights for their communities after Air New Zealand announced late last year it was cutting services to some airports. The airline said in November it was stopping its flights to Kaitaia, Whakatane and Westport as low customer demand could not sustain its 50-seat aircraft. Now, Far North District Council has arranged with Great Barrier Airlines for daily flights between Kaitaia and Auckland. Whakatane District Council has worked with Air Chathams to arrange a locallybranded service between Whakatane and Auckland. And Buller District Council has done a deal with Sounds Air to secure new flights between Westport and Wellington.

Let there be light ...at height

Oclyte

Lighting Columns About to extract a shopping trolley from the waterway: Aurecon senior civil engineer Campbell McGregor (left) and civil engineer John Gottler.

Aurecon cleans up Some 50 members from engineering consultancy Aurecon, the Tamaki Redevelopment Company and other likeminded people recently spent several hours cleaning up rubbish along Auckland’s Point England Reserve coastline and Omaru Creek. Aurecon senior civil engineer Campbell McGregor says the company’s land infrastructure team is already working with the Tamaki Redevelopment Company to support the regeneration of the Tamaki estuary. “This is a further chance for us to support the community. We’re aware the condition of the estuary has been a community concern for some time now.”

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APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

COUNCILS

Around the councils The Local Government Commission holds public hearings on its draft proposal for reorganisation of councils in the WELLINGTON REGION. The hearings are held before the three commissioners Basil Morrison (chair), Anne Carter and Janie Annear. A regional survey commissioned by WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL finds strong opposition to the Local Government Commission’s (LGC) proposed ‘two-tier’ amalgamated local authority across the Wellington region. The LGC has proposed to amalgamate nine councils into a vast twotier council covering the lower North Island from Wairarapa and Kapiti Coast through to metropolitan Wellington. Conducted by independent research company Nielsen, the survey shows support for the LGC’s proposal is ‘very weak’ at 26 percent. Support for the proposal is weakest in the Wairarapa and the Hutt Valley (17 and 18 percent respectively). It is higher in Porirua and Kapiti (both 29 percent) and Wellington (30 percent). Wellington Mayor

Celia Wade-Brown says there still exists an opportunity to rethink governance in the Wellington region. The survey shows that an alternative model, which had a separate Wairarapa council and one or more metro councils, would have support in the region at 50 percent.

Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown

AUCKLAND COUNCIL receives over 15,000 submissions on its consultation document to its Long-term Plan 2015-25. The plan suggests rates rise by 3.5 percent this year and either a basic transport plan or a much larger programme funded by raising an extra $300 million a year from motorway tolls or

a mix of a regional fuel tax and higher rates. Submissions closed on March 16. The CHATHAM ISLANDS COUNCIL, Thames-Coromandel District Council, Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Gisborne District Council and many others activate their emergency action plans as tropical cyclone Pam bears down on their regions. Damaging gales, heavy rain, large swells and high tides take their toll. SOUTH WAIRARAPA DISTRICT COUNCIL bans sprinklers and other irrigation devices due to low water flow in the Ruamahanga and Waiohine Rivers, and asks people to help conserve the “precious resource”. Householders are allowed to use handheld hoses on alternate days.

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elections. Mayor John Carter says the council is committed to working more closely with Māori but it doesn’t have a view on the question of dedicated Māori wards. To date, only the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regional councils have Māori wards.

business case report presented to council’s infrastructure, transport and environment committee. DUNEDIN CITY COUNCIL is considering banning sugary drinks at its venues and events. Nelson City Council and Marlborough District Council have already enacted such bans in their areas.

NELSON CITY COUNCIL uses fake blood, speeding cars and polystyrene model pedestrians to show the effect of speeding on a driver’s ability to stop for a pedestrian. The models are pushed in front of cars travelling at 40kph, 50kph, 60kph and 70kph at different places around Nelson as part of a council road safety initiative. Residents are invited to bring a picnic tea and watch the displays. The FAR NORTH DISTRICT COUNCIL polls residents on whether or not to create Māori council wards for the 2016 and 2019 local

The major cycle routes network being built by CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL will return up to $8 for every dollar invested, or $1.2 billion over 40 years, according to a

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EVENTS Road Lighting 2015: Smart City Investment

4 1. Will Gibson (Telensa) & Graham Mawer (Next Energy). 2. Nigel Parry (Institution of Lighting Professionals UK) & Crystal Beavis (Strategic Lighting Partners). 3. Mauro Feresini & Blair Spencer (both from Globelink) & Meng Foon (Gisborne District Council). 4. Dean McErlean (Orangetek) & Crystal Beavis (Strategic Lighting Partners). 5. Andrew Vlachiotis (Silver Spring Networks), Ian Dryden (City of Melbourne) & CJ Boguszewski (Silver Spring Networks). 6. Grant Stevenson (Tararua District Council) & Marcus Brandrick (Windsorurban). 7. Godfrey Bridger (Strategic Lighting Partners), John Milton (Washington State Department of Transportation) & Bryan King (Strategic Lighting Partners). 8. Bryan King (Strategic Lighting Partners) & John Fox (Lucy Zodian).

9. Jeff Richardson (Betacom) & Terry Collins (EECA).

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INNOVATIONS

GoDaaS goes live Fujitsu has launched GoDaaS – a new user-centric managed desktop service for New Zealand local and central government. GoDaaS is based on Fujitsu’s Workplace Anywhere service, which currently supports over 200,000 users. It aims to help organisations improve their business flexibility and simplify their IT environment. GoDaaS provides traditional and virtual desktops, remote and onsite support, application packaging and hardware devices. It enables consistent user experience regardless of device or location, and reduces administration costs via a fully-automated self-service and administration portal. Fujitsu is a member of the Government ICT Common Capability DaaS panel managed by the Department of Internal Affairs, the government’s ICT functional lead.

Connected cars Volvo Cars Group is pushing ahead with its connected car programme with a pilot fleet of 1000 cars set to run on Swedish and Norwegian roads this year. The car firm sees a future in which road status data collected by cars is shared with other road users and with local authorities through a connected car cloud such as the Volvo Cloud. Such data would be made anonymous for privacy reasons while still allowing information on road conditions, accidents or traffic flows, for example, to be shared. It’s all part of a smart city future in which smart car technology could improve traffic flow management by optimising traffic lights and speed limits, and by suggesting drivers take different routes based on real-time traffic jam alerts. Real-time warnings of dangerous weather and emergency road conditions or of emergency braking by other drivers could also be provided. In the future, smart cities could use connected street-lights to illuminate slippery road-sections in another colour when detected by a connected car to alert other road users to dangerous road conditions.

Keeping tabs on new builds TransportBlog and RCG have launched the RCG Development Tracker, an online resource which they say is the most comprehensive source of public data on development projects in New Zealand. The tracker covers apartments and terraces, as well as hotel, retail, office and retirement village projects.

The RCG Development Tracker web page will be updated every month. RCG specialises in property consulting and development, architecture and design. The development tracker is hosted at www.transportblog.co.nz/our-analysis/rcg-development-tracker

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APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

CONSULTATION

The good, the bad & the ugly What makes a great consultation document? Assistant auditor-general, local government Bruce Robertson emerges from a pile of reports to share his feedback.

PHO TO B

he triennial refreshing of long-term plans is where local authorities and the public get together and determine their region’s objectives, projects and budget plans for the next 10 years. Effectively communicating these plans to the public is a challenge for local authorities. That is where the consultation document is helping. Consultation documents are as new to local authorities as they are to us. A product of the 2014 amendment to the Local Government Act 2002, they are designed to inform the public, simply and concisely, of the key issues and financial assumptions that make up the heart of the long-term plan. The goal is to encourage greater public participation in long-term decision-making. The consultation document is an acknowledgement that many people lack the time to wade through a draft long-term plan and pick out the important bits. These shorter, simplified documents will be more widely read, better understood, and – hopefully – lead to more public submissions.

Y CH RIS TS E

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FIVE MUST-HAVES So what makes a good consultation document? Simply, it needs to satisfy the requirements in section 93 of the Local Government Act. But how? The theory says that, for starters, the consultation document must set out the overall objectives of the long-term plan, and explain to the reader how it might affect rates, debt and levels of service. Secondly, it must outline any significant issues facing the region, the options for addressing them, and the consequences of accepting – or rejecting – these options. Thirdly, graphs and charts are encouraged but only if they clearly illustrate how changes to the long-term plan will affect rates, debt and service levels. Councils cannot include a full set of financial statements, or a full draft of any policy, but they can provide these elsewhere, such as on their website. Fourthly, the consultation document does not have to be available in hard copy, so long as it is accessible; it can live on the council website. Finally, it must include an audit report from the auditorgeneral, stating whether the consultation document fulfils all the above criteria. So what have we seen so far? By the time of going to print, we had seen about half of the sector’s consultation documents. On the whole, there has been really good engagement by councils. The good examples outshine those where internal engagement by senior levels is lower. The best consultation documents we’ve seen to date are clear and concise. There is always a risk in signalling any one as a favourite. However, we think Tasman District Council has done a good job. If you want a regional example, look at Horizons Regional Council.

GOOD BONES This leads me to comment on the most effectively structured consultation documents we’ve seen. Put simply, they are the ones that clearly set out the key bits of the council’s financial and infrastructure strategy. These provide much-needed context and often introduce significant issues – especially rating impacts. They also discuss the issues that elected members consider significant and invite community feedback on them. The issues

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are stated in plain English, the options are described concisely, and the necessary information about the implications is clearly laid out. Good consultation documents have been written with ratepayers and the broader community in mind. They contain very little, if any, jargon. A note about the phrase “unfunded infrastructure” – it may be technically correct, but from the ratepayers’ perspective it’s meaningless. The test of a good consultation document is whether it is effective in engaging the community. We have heard promising comments from the early developers, such as Auckland Council.

HMMM... However, the flip side of an effective document is one that isn’t! And what do they look like? They are dominated by one of, or a combination of, the following two factors: • councils (and we will not name any!) that try to use the consultation document as a summarised draft long-term plan – we call this a “mini LTP”; and • a lack of clarity about the issues, options and implications. The worst examples combine the two points – a mini LTP and a generalised question for ratepayers to “tell us what you think”. The ratepayers and community have been left with little to engage on meaningfully, other than to say whether or not they like what the council is doing. To be effective, a council needs to tell its community how they can engage. Even for those who say their future plans are about “business as usual”, and that they have no issues, we have invariably found this short-changes their community. Consultation documents, due to their targeted, succinct nature, represent an opportunity to improve communications with the public on the issues that count. They should also result in more – and improved – public feedback, leading to more inclusive long-term planning. All in all, the new process is good news for efficient and quality decision-making. LG The Office of the Auditor-General is keen to debrief the sector once it has completed all the consultation document audits. It will be providing its observations to Parliament and the sector later this year.

Contacts: AUCKLAND Ph: 09 379 9350 Melinda Dickey Andrew Green Linda O’Reilly John Young

WELLINGTON Ph: 04 499 9824 Andrew Cameron

APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

ROAD LIGHTING

Seeing our cities in

A WHOLE

NEW LIGHT The bare bones for smart cities.

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How street lights are being deployed in the drive towards intelligent cities.

rom lower costs, to better safety and smaller environmental footprints, the benefits of new street lights are well understood. Network them all together, however, and you’ve got a backbone for intelligent cities that can talk with the public, manage traffic flows and respond to emergencies. But wait there’s more... maybe you’d like your street lights to keep an eye on pedestrians, carry photocells or digital street signs, or run advertising and generate some dollars for the city’s coffers. It could all be happening from a street light pole near you. What’s it all mean for local authorities? A raft of international and local experts debated this, and much more, at the recent Road Lighting 2015 conference in Auckland.

EQUIP CAN HELP COUNCILS LGNZ president Lawrence Yule says the benefits of LED lighting for local authorities are a “no-brainer”. And he challenges those councils that have plumped for a business as usual replacement programme to rethink their approach. “We [local authorities] have taken a while to catch on,” he says, “but it is the way of the future and the benefits are clear on environmental, social and economic grounds.” Despite all these plus-points, the uptake by the local government sector is still slow. Only two percent of New Zealand’s 370,000 street lights are LED. Auckland Council has seen the light and is rolling out 40,000 LEDs over a four-year period. Lawrence says many other councils are exploring funding options for LED road lighting. Help is at hand, he says. “LGNZ supports LED uptake because it is the smart thing to do. EquiP, LGNZ’s centre of excellence, can advise and help councils on the steps to test the business case, the technology, funding and delivery options working in partnership with NZTA.” Lawrence says LED lighting represents a good spending decision with benefits for the community, councils and the individual citizen. Environmental benefits can be “significant”, he says, with a reduced carbon footprint and energy use profile, lower levels of lighting pollution and less use of toxic material. Social benefits include opportunities to increase residents’ safety. Around a third of road accidents currently occur in darkness at a total cost of $1.2 billion per year, he says, and LED lights can provide motorists with high illumination of pedestrians at a distance. “The most significant value, though, is in economic benefits. With mature technology, whole-of-life cost savings of around 20 percent are now achievable. On an annual basis this represents a huge opportunity for efficiencies for councils. We are advised that maintenance savings of more than 50 percent are possible. “And energy savings of between 50 to 75 percent based on Wellington City Council’s 2014 data are possible. Assuming adaptive dimmable technology is in full use, Wellington City Council’s tests show that 90 percent savings are possible in certain streets. That’s a massive saving.”

APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

ROAD LIGHTING ADD THE ADD-ONS

Bryan King

NZ HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION Strategic Lighting Partners director Bryan King says councils throughout New Zealand face a common set of challenges. They need to work out how to harness newly-available road lighting technologies and techniques, and how to make procurement and financing decisions they can indemnify against the risks. Bryan, whose organisation is the driving force behind the Road Lighting 2015 conference, says international experience shows internet-based lighting control systems are now providing a platform for an “exciting” glimpse of the potential efficiencies, economies, and lifestyle and safety advantages for smart cities of the future. “Infrastructure progress can sometimes seem slow,” he says. “So we need to remind ourselves that much of significance has happened over the past year.” For starters, NZTA has released its M30 technical specification and funding criteria for advanced lighting solutions. And the Australia / New Zealand luminaire standard has opened up to wider international competition. Procurement activity is now underway in several major New Zealand cities. Auckland became the first city in New Zealand to undertake a large-scale LED replacement programme when in October last year CCO Auckland Transport announced it would switch 40,000 high-pressure sodium lights to light-emitting diodes (LED). Meanwhile in Wellington smaller-scale initiatives such as the Courtenay Place, Allen and Blair Street conversions to LED are already helping reduce the city’s power and maintenance bills. Transport Minister Simon Bridges announced at the conference that NZTA is fast-tracking its investment in LED street lighting. A rule change means existing road lights can now be replaced with more cost-effective and safer LED lighting immediately rather than at the end of their useful life. (See story “New NZTA rules could save $millions”.) And LGNZ centre of excellence EquiP is stepping up to help road controlling authorities (RCAs) make their business case to access the local funding share.

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Jesse Foote, a senior research analyst with Navigant Research in the US, urges local authorities not to stop at simply installing LED lights. He calls on them to think through to the next stage by setting up networked street lighting controls. He warns, however, that cities face some significant challenges in moving from simply having LED road lighting to become fullyconnected smart cities. Jesse leads Navigant’s advisory service on energy-efficient lighting, and produces syndicated and customised research reports on clean-tech topics including lighting and lighting control. He says networked street lighting controls will help cities cut energy use and save costs from obvious direct measures such as trimming and dimming the lights at certain times, or in certain weather or traffic conditions. They will also enable cities to remotely monitor any outages rather than have staff drive around to discover burnt out or malfunctioning lights. But it’s when cities start to look at the add-ons that they really start to reap the benefits and leap ahead into the next stage of transitioning into a smart city. Jesse says presenting such a case to councils will be one of the biggest challenges for the lighting industry in the future. “How can councils use street lighting assets as a way to improve services to residents and eventually, hopefully, generate revenue? ... There’s that concept of the street lighting pole as real estate that you can use as a cost centre to generate revenue.” According to Jesse, the four key challenges for the next phase of evolution to smart cities will be: 1. Moving from pilots to city-scale deployments • Identifying commercially-viable projects; and • Engaging with all citizens. 2. Establishing proven and repeatable financial models. • Which projects are showing a real return on investment? • How can these be more easily adopted by other cities? 3. Improving access to, and exploitation of, data resources. • Where is better information management making a real difference? • What are the barriers to integration and exploitation of big data? 4. Determining the role for standards and interoperability frameworks. • Are smart city standards compatible and what form should they take?

Jesse Foote

NEW NZTA RULES COULD SAVE $M ILLIONS cities are upgraded to LED lighting within five years. All are likely to have been switched over within a decade. LGNZ centre of excellence EquiP can help RCAs make their business case to access the local funding share. The minister’s announcement was widely greeted at the conference as a significant step

forward in improving New Zealand’s network of road lights. Bridges says LED lights will be the default option for any new roads being built. And the government’s Roads of National Significance and Accelerate Regional Roads upgrades will all be fitted with LED lighting where lighting is required.

Transport Minister Simon Bridges

EW TES

NZTA is fast-tracking its investment in LED street lighting. A rule change means existing road lights can now be replaced with more cost-effective and safer LED lighting immediately rather than at the end of their useful life. Transport Minister Simon Bridges announced the move at the Strategic Lighting Partners’ Road Lighting 2015 conference. Expect to see programmes getting underway from July 1 this year under the next three-year National Land Transport Programme (NLTP). NZTA is ready to receive applications to coinvest with local authorities and will be able to fund conversions to LED street lighting as ‘improvements’ rather than ‘renewals’. Minister Bridges – whose portfolios also span energy and resources, and climate change – says that depending on the road controlling authorities (RCAs) themselves, it could mean the majority of New Zealand’s

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ROAD LIGHTING

LESSONS FROM ONTARIO In 2013, fewer than five municipalities in Ontario, Canada, had upgraded their street lights to LED. Today there are more than 100. Scott Vokey, energy services manager for non-profit group LAS (Local Authorities Services), says many of the province’s municipalities are so small and remote that many organisations refuse to provide services to them. Sixty-one percent of the province’s population lives in communities of fewer than 10,000 people. LAS – the service entity of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) which plays a very similar role in Canada to that of LGNZ in this country – aggregates demand from groups of municipalities and goes to market to get better prices for them. LAS (www.las. on.ca/) helps provide a range of competitivelypriced and sustainable business services, including street lighting, fuel, natural gas and risk management, to Ontario municipalities.

Scott says it has learnt the following lessons on smart ways to help procure street lighting services. 1. Procurement can be painful We spent several months last year going through a procurement exercise. We entertain [the idea] of going to market every two years to make sure we can offer the best quality products at the best price to the municipal sector. No matter how you do this there will always be critics of your process. 2. Choose good partners Through the procurement process I have found five different manufacturers that I would recommend to any community. They offer quality product, have a robust balance sheet and can back up their warranties. Select a service provider that can quickly adopt new ideas, roll with the punches and continuously improve. 3. Look for full service – not just a product We’ve worked with some municipalities in Ontario

who have put out a request for purchase for a product then have to go back to the market to select for project management and installation. Often it’s above their skill set to be able to do this so they hire consultants and the cost starts to balloon quickly. 4. Small is beautiful Start working with a small community at first so you can quickly improve your processes, work out the kinks and roll out to larger communities later. 5. Trust is paramount You start off with trust but it takes just a moment to break it and forever to get it back. Work with partners you trust completely. 6. Word of mouth and peer pressure count They can be very effective in getting people to change their minds and act differently. 7. Election cycles matter A four-year payback on lighting projects is very convenient for us because we have a four-year

‘‘Infrastructure is anything that can be destroyed in an action movie.’’ Almis Udrys, City of San Diego director performance and analytics department, quoting comedian John Oliver

‘‘Lack of trust in lighting sales reps is a big factor. Public works staff in southwestern Ontario once said to me: ‘it’s as if they took their ethical handbook from Al-Qaeda’.’’ Scott Vokey, energy services manager, Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s Local Authorities Services, Canada

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Ed Ebrahimian

LEARNING FROM LOS ANGELES Six years ago, the City of Los Angeles launched the largest municipal LED retrofit programme in the world. Now responsible for 215,000 streetlights, 250 employees and an operating budget of US$25 million, the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting director Ed Ebrahimian says Los Angeles may do some things differently if it were starting to convert to LED now. He shares 11 pieces of advice: • convert local and major roads at the same time • replace all maintenance requests / single light outages to LED • consider warmer Kelvin temperature if desired by communities

• reduce lighting levels on local streets by mesopic / scotopic factor • make sure all fixtures have dimming capability • install GPS-enabled controls with sensors (for temperature, CO2, humidity etc) • start with the modern cobra head style in the first phase • convert decorative fixtures in the second phase • require a minimum of 10 years fixture warranty (up to 15 years) and 70 percent energy efficiency • include a target sticker denoting lumen output • conduct testing and evaluation in a controlled site instead of using travelled roadways.

election cycle in Ontario. That way the same councillors who push for a new lighting measure can see its benefits. 8. Utility relationships are crucial Select thoughtfully. 9. Things change rapidly New developments in lighting controls will continue to happen fast. So you have to keep evaluating, implementing and testing new control systems. 10. Expect strong reactions We disrupted the lighting industry in Ontario. There were manufacturers who worked through distributors who processed purchase orders and worked through agents who were basically the sales firms. We cut out the middle-men who, as a result, are not very happy with us. Almost every second day we get attacked quite aggressively in the media or by email or phone. If you’re going to go down this road you’ll certainly break some eggs.

Scott Vokey

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APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

ROAD LIGHTING ‘‘Our future is an opportunity and an obligation.’’ Alan Wallace, regional road transport corridor delivery manager, Auckland Transport

Florida’s endangered turtles nest on the beaches for six months of the year. Florida Power & Light can now set lighting at levels conducive for reproduction. It’s good for turtles. It’s good for you. It’s good for me. CJ Boguszewski, global commercial director for smart lights and cities, Silver Spring Networks, USA

WASHINGTON STATE EXPERT QUESTIONS LIGHTING / SAFETY LINKS There is no evidence that standard street lighting solutions lead to fewer crashes. And a lot of notions about lighting must be challenged. So says Dr John Milton, director of enterprise risk and safety management at the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) in the US, whose area covers seven million people, 11,200 kilometres of highways and 600,000 roadway lighting fixtures. John calls on people involved in street lighting to rethink their assumptions on links between lighting and safety. By lumping together risk management and safety, he says, the department is able to look at things “a bit differently”. WSDOT has a zero goal for serious or fatal crashes across the whole state. Frequently asked why the department would have such an ambitious goal, John says, “Because if I were to ask you how many fatal or serious crashes you are willing to accept for your family the answer

would be zero. We can’t accept any less for the taxpayers of the State of Washington.” For some time now, WSDOT has been going back to first principles in an attempt to pinpoint the link between street lighting and safety. “We ask ourselves what we should focus on,” says John. “What does lighting address? That’s a simple question but not one that’s often answered. Where can you get greater benefit by installing LED or some other type of lighting? And what should we do to maximise our investment?” WSDOT is transitioning from a standards-based approach to using quantitative, substantive assessment in which it doesn’t just accept current lighting standards but challenges their underlying assumptions. “I’m going to propose something to you today that most of you won’t like hearing – particularly in the lighting community – but we’re thinking about removing street lighting in certain places.” He says while well-designed road lighting can

WHITE LIGHTS AROUND THE WORLD

In Copenhagen, the Danish Outdoor Lighting Lab (DOLL) is conducting a bold living experiment to demonstrate how LED lighting and sensors installed on 9.2 kilometres of suburban streets can tie into urban IT infrastructure and assist public services such as police, fire, emergency, health and others. The sensors can also detect traffic density, air quality, noise, weather conditions and UV radiation. DOLL also has test facilities at the Technical University of Denmark. In the UK, about a quarter of the country’s street lights are now being turned off or dimmed during the night. Around five percent of the UK’s road lights

are now LED. Hertfordshire County Council has already starting deploying some 130,000 LED lights with controls to cover the whole of its area. This year, Kent County Council is procuring 120,000 LED lights with associated controls.

lower maintenance costs by keeping track of light failures.

In the US, Florida Power and Light is expanding its networking programme from 75,000 street lights to nearly 500,000 across its territory statewide.

In a move set to slice its electricity bill in half, the City of Melbourne decided last year to upgrade all its street lights to LED. The programme is expected to take five years.

In Saudi Arabia, Mecca and Riyadh have 25,750 and 27,000 LED street lights respectively.

In a project to support Mayor Boris Johnson’s goal to cut carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2025, London's transit authority, Transport for London, is spending £11 million (around NZ$22.10 million) to upgrade 35,000 lights to LEDs by 2016. They will be controlled through a central management system. The move is projected to reduce annual energy costs by 40 percent and annual carbon emissions by 9700 tonnes. The controls system will be aligned with traffic flow and road usage, and will

Road Lighting 2015 is an initiative of specialist consultancy Strategic Lighting Partners (SLP) which delivers strategic advice and business case analysis for new-generation New Zealand and Australian road lighting projects. SLP is experienced in facilitating the collation and analysis of information on LED road lighting applications for councils and road controlling authorities. www.strategiclightingpartners.com

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reduce road crashes, poorly-designed lighting may increase accidents, for example by causing reflective glare that makes road markings invisible in wet weather conditions. Location of lighting is also important, he says. Lighting is likely to be of greater benefit on roads where there are lots of intersections and road access points, such as driveways, and to be of less benefit on stretches of double-lane highways without intersections. He says the old methodology of placing lights at standard spaces apart from each other may not have produced the greatest amount of return on investment. “We’ve just been installing lights because the standards told us to do so.” He says a lot of road lighting technology is now 40 years old and so is a lot of understanding of lighting and road crash potential. “New adaptive lighting technologies will enable us to optimise road lighting cost-effectively to create conditions that result in the fewest crashes, but we need to understand how to do that.” LG

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Helping Councils succeed through the performance of people

APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

MY VIEW

ROGER M c RAE A legacy in the making McConnell Dowell Constructors MD Roger McRae has spent his career helping build the infrastructure that shapes our lives and connects our communities. He tells Ruth Le Pla about the power of creative construction.

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t McConnell Dowell Constructors even the bananas are laid out creatively. I’m not suggesting MD Roger McRae does this himself, of course. But on my way through the offices I can’t help noticing a spectacular fruit construction in the staff kitchen where the bananas loop so securely around the edge of the bowl they’d make a retaining wall expert giddy with pride. The nice banana-laying-out-cumreceptionist lady looks a bit surprised when I comment on her fruit-construction expertise. But she’s happy enough to chat about the names of inspirational people etched on the glass office partitions. And she volunteers that the design helps people actually see the glass walls instead of blindly bumping into them. Picasso, Beethoven and Wordsworth have reached new heights of usefulness. Which is very uplifting and functional, and somehow very fitting for a company whose brand is all about creative construction. All this before I even get to sit down with Roger McRae who, after a brief discussion on the futility of us sitting in a row next to each other at the humungous boardroom table, ends up in front of a wall painted with the company’s values statements. So we launch into our chat while snatches of wisdom about teamwork, loyalty and trust dance on the wall behind him. There’s one values statement on the wall asking how people can know where they’re going if they don’t know where they came from. It seems especially apt given Roger’s fondness for the “difficult and challenging” projects the company

likes to take on and his pride that McConnell Dowell has been doing this kind of work ever since he first joined it over 30 years ago. He says McConnell Dowell’s willingness to front up to the hard stuff was one of the things that first attracted him to the company. To be fair, he also admits he liked the company just because it offered him a job, which makes a lot of sense when you’re young and looking for good employment. For apart from a few short early stints elsewhere, Roger has spent most of his working life with McConnell Dowell. So he’s known it as a company that thrived through the heady days of Marsden Point, the NZ Steel development, Motunui Synthetic Fuels plant and Tiwai Point. He was there when it listed on the NZ Stock Exchange, did a reverse takeover of Hawkins and grew like topsy through the ’80s branching out to own everything from mechanical companies to electrical firms and reinforcing steel ones. “We were,” he says, “extremely broad.” And he was there when the focus changed in ’91, the head office shifted over the Tasman and the company started morphing into its current form as what he describes as an “Australia-based international construction company”. “Unfortunately, they tend not to take you quite so seriously if your head office is in New Zealand,” he says, “so the company is now headquartered in Melbourne.” There are also now regional offices in the Middle East, Asia and, of course, New Zealand which, with responsibility for work in the Pacific as well, alone employs some 1000 to 1100 people. South

APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

MY VIEW BEING ROGER McRAE • MANAGING DIRECTOR of McConnell Dowell Constructors • CHAIR of the Waterview Connection Project Alliance Board in Auckland • A FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER of the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) alliance • SCIRT board WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION CHAMPION • A MEMBER AND FELLOW of the Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand • The McConnell Dowell SIGNATORY for the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles

African company Aveng Group, which is McConnell Dowell’s ultimate and 100 percent parent, operates solely on the African continent. From modest Kiwi beginnings 53 years ago, McConnell Dowell has sprouted into a major international engineering, construction, building and maintenance company renowned for its tunnelling and marine expertise and for the construction of transport network infrastructure. Over half of the firm’s New Zealand revenue now comes from local government work: with a hefty focus on the larger councils with correspondingly larger budgets such as Auckland and Christchurch City. Not surprisingly, NZTA is a close working partner too.

GAINING TRACTION Roger’s first job with the company was as a site engineer on a tunnel project in the backblocks of central Otago. It was a “really challenging” job, he says, which makes me think it

played right into his practical background as a member of a Southland farming family. He was the first “escapee”, he says, not to follow in the family’s farming footsteps. “Yes, there’s always one,” he laughs, “and I’ve still got a small block of land and a few sheep to remind me of why I didn’t go farming.” Roger says there was no one single mentor who pointed him towards engineering, but he “guesses” he was always “quite good” at physics and maths “and so really the opportunities were mainly in engineering”. Construction was just something he fell into and loved. “And I’m still doing it and still loving it.” He’s disappointed it’s taken so long for engineering to develop traction as a career option. “Many people in the teaching industry, whether it’s secondary or even tertiary training, tend to steer people towards what are regarded as the more sexy careers – such as law or commerce – and not so much into the sciences.” He’s especially concerned at the small number of women in the profession and has been upping his support of women in the industry for some time now. It’s no coincidence that the inspirational names etched into the office walls include a healthy dollop of inspirational women. Frances Hodgkins, Ingmar Bergman, Greta Garbo and Janet Frame adorn the strip design around the building and meeting room names include Jean Batten, Kate Sheppard and Katherine Mansfield. Roger’s a founding board member of the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) alliance – the major driving force in rebuilding the city’s earthquakedamaged roads, freshwater, wastewater and stormwater networks. Significantly, he’s also the board’s champion for women in construction. And in this role he recently nipped down to Christchurch to support the launch of new personal protective equipment especially designed for women. Besides all the practicalities of now having safe stuff that fits them, Roger says the initiative also helps contribute to the picture that women are welcome in the industry. (See box story “Good for business”.)

GOOD FOR BUSINESS At McConnell Dowell’s signature Waterview, Auckland, tunnelling project, one of the senior project managers is a woman. Why ever, in 2015, would this be worth mentioning? Because the construction industry remains one of the most gender-imbalanced industries in the New Zealand economy. When a New Zealand Census of Women’s Participation report was published in 2012, less than one percent of trade apprentices and only 13 percent of engineers at the time were women. McConnell Dowell MD Roger McRae is set on spearheading some change. He’s pleased to see, and supportive of, a growing number of women in construction. In Christchurch, he says, their numbers have grown from about nine percent of the construction industry workforce in 2009 to 16 percent last year. These women are working in all sorts of roles: from being out in the field, through to engineers and managers. Even so, these figures are well above the national average and show there’s still plenty of room for further improvement.

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“It’s just something we see as positive for our industry,” says Roger. “Women bring a balance to our industry: a balance in thinking and behaviour. And we see that as good for the business.” At a recent Women in Construction event in Christchurch, he called on other industry leaders to collaborate to make a difference in areas where women are under-represented. Roger is the designated champion for women in construction on the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) alliance board. The board supports the seven United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles which provide a framework by which companies can develop gender-based policies, align existing policies and gain guidance on reporting. While some 40 organisations in New Zealand have signed up to these principles, Roger is keen to encourage more to follow suit. “I would like myself and other leaders in our industry to be able to proudly stand at future events such as this and claim that we are leaders in one of the most gender-balanced industries in our economy.”

Pushed to pick just one of his own career highs he manages to slip two examples past me. The first is Auckland’s Waterview Connection Project. Once opened in early 2017, it will connect the city’s southwestern and northwestern motorways by carrying six lanes of traffic through twin tunnels up to 40 metres below Avondale and Waterview in west Auckland. For Roger this is “the Everest of construction”. Alice the tunnel boring machine is creating the 10th largest diameter tunnel in the world and the longest road tunnel in New Zealand. “It’s a $1.4 billion project of immense size, scale and complexity, with a lot of interaction with the community,” he says. “To build a tunnel of that size and scale... it just hasn’t been done in New Zealand before.” He’s genuinely proud of the work and right from the getgo has chaired the board of the Well-Connected Alliance group which teams McConnell Dowell Constructors with a who’s who of sector heavyweights including the Transport Agency, Fletcher Construction, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Beca Infrastructure, Tonkin and Taylor, and the Japanese construction company Obayashi Corporation. For me, the community aspect isn’t just rhetoric. The park at the Owairaka end of the 4.2 kilometre tunnel is where I used to pick mushrooms on my early morning runs. It’s where, for months, at a high point overlooking the construction site, local people would show off their wonky knowledge of diggers, explosives and gantries. It was our new game of oneupmanship. I expect most of what we said was tosh. But it was fascinating tosh and did, in an unexpected way, forge closer community bonds. We’ve grown to think of it as our project.

REBUILDING

photo taken at the 2015 Wings Over Wairarapa over Masterton

The people component similarly underpins Roger’s other project pick. For down in Christchurch, McConnell Dowell continues to play its part in the long post-earthquake rebuild of the garden city. It’s working alongside the Transport Agency, Christchurch City Council and CERA, and with other SCIRT partners City Care, Downer, Fletcher Construction and Fulton Hogan. In essence, Roger says, the extreme situation was a huge catalyst for the different organisations to work closely together. The key lies in focusing on the overall objectives. “You keep testing your thinking about what’s best for the project – not what’s best for McConnell Dowell or Fletcher or Downer, for example.” It is, he agrees, quite refreshing. Add to that, feedback which suggests something like 85 percent of the public support what SCIRT is doing. “Given the disruption that has been caused to people’s lives through the earthquakes and everything following,” says Roger, “it’s really quite outstanding to get that level of support from a community.” To Roger, creative construction is about being prepared to take on the difficult jobs, working out new ways to do them, and thriving on the complexities and challenges they throw your way. “As an engineer that’s what gets you excited,” says Roger. “That’s what gets you out of bed early in the morning and keeps you awake at night.” LG

APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

BROADBAND

A OF

BROAD BAND

OPPORTUNITY Councils take centre stage in connectivity funds.

he government wants councils at the centre of decisions on how it will spend up to $350 million in extra funding pledged for urban and rural broadband expansion. During last year’s election campaign, the National-led government promised to lift ultrafast broadband (UFB) uptake from 75 percent to at least 80 percent of the country (costing up to $200 million) and invest a further $150 million in the rural broadband initiative (RBI). In March, communications minister Amy Adams outlined a registration of interest process for councils. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment says local authorities will need to indicate how they would support having towns or areas within their district selected for deployment of one or more programmes. Digital plans to achieve the social and economic objectives of better digital infrastructure in their communities are required. Councils including Timaru District Council and Porirua City Council are among those local authorities starting to consider how the extra government funding would assist the digital agendas they are developing for their communities. Both Timaru and Porirua councils were active in supporting bids for their cities to become the Chorus ‘Gigatown’ in last year’s competition which Dunedin eventually won. Timaru mayor Damon Odey says every city has to become a ‘Gigatown’. “Last year we picked up our thinking about how we can ensure Timaru and south Canterbury get the best possible broadband infrastructure. “We want everyone in our region, not just Timaru City, to be able to benefit from the fast-emerging digital economy.’’ Damon says the potential for considerable government

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funding could ensure almost universal high-speed connectivity in his region. Wellington-based Digital Development Associates (DD.A) is contributing to Timaru’s development of a digital agenda. DD.A’s Chris O’Connell says the company recently surveyed rural broadband coverage. (See www.hillsholesandpoles.nz) “Not far from Timaru we found what we believe is the world’s best rural fibre connectivity. Ashburton’s lines company EA [Electricity Ashburton] has quietly connected several hundred farms to fibre.” Benefits include fully-automated milking sheds, remotelycontrolled irrigation systems, seamless home connectivity and better staff recruitment / retention. EA is almost wholly owned by the Ashburton District Council. Chris says alliances between councils and lines companies will be important in developing proposals for the second-round government broadband funding. “In many parts of the country, lines companies are now laying broadband fibre. The big cost is digging the trenches. Councils can keep costs down by allowing empty duct to be laid every time a stretch of road or footpath is dug up.” Chris says wireless broadband companies are also important players in ensuring wider and better connectivity in rural New Zealand. “Local wireless providers are putting up a telephone pole on a hill for around $8000 – a fraction of earlier pylon costs. That means a small community can get high-speed broadband and only have to pay dial-up prices.” The government’s indication of a competitive process suggested it wants real engagement with councils and communities, says Chris.

1. Alliances between councils and lines companies may be important in securing second-round broadband funding. 2. To better serve rural communities, councils may look to locally provided wireless broadband, such as this site on Mt Hikurangi operated by Gisborne.net.

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APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

BROADBAND 1

GET CONNECTED

1. Porirua's mayor Nick Leggett. 2. Timaru’s mayor Damon Odey: every New Zealand city needs to become a Gigatown.

InternetNZ CEO Jordan Carter says it looks like a positive step forward to involve local government in the UFB and RBI as councils are closer to the end-user. “Councils could play a role in fostering applications from their communities, and / or actually be bidders themselves. After all, councils are quintessential infrastructure providers – internet is the new infrastructure.” Porirua’s mayor Nick Leggett is keen to explore how best to create a digitally-enabled and aware city. “Porirua has a fantastic young community and holds enormous potential for those interested in technology careers. We have an impressive spectrum of high-tech businesses here already, so mixing that with young talent makes sense.” But, just as importantly, he sees this new round of government funding as an opportunity to bridge the digital divide across communities. “Let’s be brutally honest, we have many families who

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There’s nothing new about councils leveraging government funds to get better broadband for their regions. In the mid-2000s, the Nelson inforegion, NMi, brought together the Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough councils. The then Labour government’s Broadband Challenge fund assisted the Nelson region lines company, Network Tasman, to lay fibre from Motueka through to Picton. Wellington-based Digital Development Associates’ Chris O’Connell, who was involved in the NMi project, says such legacy infrastructure will assist regions engaging with government on the new UFB and RBI funding. “Often, useful infrastructure is already in place including existing fibre, wireless providers, installed ducts, schools and tertiary providers, hospitals and councils themselves.” Government will initially ask councils for a registration of interest in the second-round broadband funding opportunity by the end of July. Chris expects a request for proposal process to unfold later this year.

cannot afford any form of internet connection, let alone UFB. “If we start by gearing up our kids for learning and success in a digital world, they’ll be best-placed for the highskilled jobs of the future. Ultimately this will shift our whole economy. Our existing businesses can improve productivity and expand. We can attract more high-tech firms and, of course, produce future entrepreneurs right here. “Seamless learning between school and home is needed. Getting families access to fast internet is one of the fundamental building blocks to making this shift happen. We could make big advances with further infrastructure investment in this area.” Nick says that expanding broadband access may be through a variety of projects, such as partnerships with businesses, investors and government agencies to provide city-wide WiFi in public places and spaces. More information on: bit.ly/1EnOpOR LG

WEBSITES

Clicking on E asy access and an introduction to key personnel make councils more personable, communities more connected, and elected members and staff more accountable. So how come so few local authorities make it easy for members of the public to at least know the names of their senior managers? By focusing on the people, councils can become more engaged with the community and services more userfriendly. It’s reasonably easy for members of the public to identify and contact a mayor or councillor via their local authority’s

Can ratepayers find your senior staff online? Pamela Peters outlines the benefits.

website. But it’s often much harder for them to discover online the name of the chief executive, senior leadership team members or who, exactly, is responsible for specific council operations. I recently completed a quick desktop survey to see how many clicks from the home page were required to find the names and photos of senior managers in each council. The logical path through to “management team” names was usually a separate heading under a “council” tab. But sometimes the path was a little obscure or not there at all. By failing to share such simple information, local authorities play into

the hands of people who like to accuse them of being run by faceless bureaucrats. So brief your web designers on the importance of including information on key officers. It doesn’t mean they should all be available on direct dial. It’s possible to put in place appropriate channels for access. Just bear in mind that if staff members are a valued part of your council and community it’s appropriate to at least introduce them. What have you got to lose? LG • Pamela Peters is director of strategic HR and organisational change company WatsonPeters. pamela@watsonpeters.co.nz

CHIEF EXECUTIVES & SENIOR MANAGERS: ARE YOURS EASY TO FIND? COUNCIL

NUMBER OF CLICKS TO PAGE

COUNCIL

NUMBER OF CLICKS TO PAGE

COUNCIL

NUMBER OF CLICKS TO PAGE

Ashburton District

Invercargill City

South Wairarapa District

Auckland

Kaikoura District

Southland District

Bay of Plenty Regional

Kaipara District

Stratford District

Buller District

Kapiti Coast District

Taranaki Regional

Carterton District

Kawerau District

Tararua District

Central Hawke's Bay District

Mackenzie District

Tasman District

Central Otago District

Manawatu District

Chatham Islands

Marlborough District

Christchurch City

Clutha District Dunedin City Environment Canterbury

Taupo District

Tauranga City

Masterton District

Thames-Coromandel District

3 3

Matamata-Piako District

Timaru District

Napier City

Upper Hutt City

Nelson City

Waikato District

Environment Southland

New Plymouth District

Waikato Regional

Far North District

Northland Regional

Waimakariri District

Gisborne District

Opotiki District

Waimate District

2 NF 2

Gore District

Otago Regional

Waipa District

Greater Wellington Regional

Otorohanga District

Wairoa District

Grey District

Palmerston North City

Waitaki District

Hamilton City

Porirua City

Hastings District

Queenstown Lakes District

Hauraki District

Rangitikei District

Hawke's Bay Regional Horizons Regional Horowhenua District

Waitomo District

Wanganui District

Wellington City

Rotorua Lakes

West Coast Regional

Ruapehu District

Western Bay of Plenty District

Selwyn District

Westland District

2 NF 1

Hurunui District

South Taranaki District

Whakatane District

Hutt City

South Waikato District

Whangarei District

NF: Not Found. Found via Google directory search: Chatham Islands, Gore District, Waimate District, Waipa District.

Information correct at time of survey.

APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

DATA SCIENCE

THE PROBLEM WITH

DATA

How data science can help local authorities manage their infrastructure.

ocal authorities rely on their ability to make evidence-based decisions in order to effectively manage their infrastructure. This means decisionmakers require access to the right information, at the right time and need to interpret it in the right way. Useful information disconnected from the decision-making process can result in lost opportunities, reduced performance or erroneous actions. Too much data, on the other hand, or data that is not presented in an easilyinterpreted format, can significantly impede the decision-making process. The exploding volume of raw data is a pressing issue for many organisations. According to the McKinsey Institute, 90 percent of the world’s data has been created in the past two years. As the volume of data continues to grow exponentially, organisations need access to increasingly specialised skills in order to extract operational insights. And this has led to the emergence of data science. Unlocking insights hidden within data, big or small, is the focus of the relatively new discipline of data science. Data scientists require a blend

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of skills and experience that ranges across software engineering, statistics, business analytics and domain-specific knowledge. These skills are used to design and operate data analysis ‘pipelines’ that transform raw input and extract actionable results. At international infrastructure engineering company MWH a team of data scientists uses four main insight ‘extraction’ techniques. These comprise: • Visualisation – Graphical display of information to convey results clearly and effectively. • Simulation – Modelling of real-world processes to examine the behaviour of a system. • Prediction – Forecasts about the likelihood of events under any given scenarios. • Optimisation – Identification of the best course of action from a range of alternatives, after consideration of operational criteria. These techniques can be used individually, or in combination, to inform infrastructure management, or any other evidence-based business operation.

For most organisations, it is far easier to collect data than it is to appropriately examine, interrogate and interpret it. New Zealand local authorities are no exception. According to the Office of the Auditor-General’s recent report Water and Roads – Funding and Management Challenges, most are not using the full functionality of their asset management information systems. Moreover, the auditor-general’s report highlighted the need for local authorities to lift their game when it comes to: • having good information about the condition and performance of their assets; • integrating that information with financial and service delivery decisions and risk management; and • linking their spending on maintenance and renewals to an optimised decisionmaking approach. Consequently, better integration and analysis of these data sets is required. This challenge falls directly under the remit of data science, meaning that the skills of data scientists will be increasingly utilised by local authorities in the future.

GETTING REAL WEB-BASED VISUALISATION AND REPORTING New Zealand’s Crash Analysis System (CAS) is a specialised system maintained by the Ministry of Transport. Extensive training is required to fully utilise and extract data from within it. Consequently, few people are able to use CAS to its full potential. Additionally, the CAS data does not include information about the local road conditions that may contribute to each crash. Initially for internal use, MWH has developed an interactive web-based mapping tool to more easily query CAS data. This allows users to interactively drill down and explore crashes in an intuitive and widely-accessible manner. Users can also merge road surface condition data from another database. Problem – How to unlock information contained in large related crash and road assets databases. Solution – An interactive reporting tool that shows crash information spatially and allows results to be filtered against selected criteria. Benefit – Improved efficiency. Easier access to – and interpretation of – ‘buried’ inter-related data sets.

PREDICTING ROAD SEAL REPLACEMENT RATES There comes a time when assets such as roads need to be repaired or replaced. Consequently many organisations want to forecast their future replacement and repair costs based on historic failure rates. MWH determined survival profiles of different road surface materials for 11,000 kilometres of New Zealand’s state highway network. The longevity of each material was established after considering factors such as traffic volume, proportion of heavy vehicles and region. With accurate survival curves to hand, it was straightforward to estimate how many times a particular surface material would need to be replaced over a five to 15 year planning horizon. This in turn allowed the cost-effectiveness of each material to be assessed against the others, given the differences in cost and anticipated replacement rates. Problem – How to estimate future road surface replacement rates on the state highway network across a range of surface types and conditions. Solution – Create statistical survival and replacement rate profiles by surface type and condition from a large dataset. Benefit – Improved accuracy of asset life cycle estimates and increased confidence in replacement decisions. This work received very positive feedback when presented to the National Surfacing Steering Group – a group comprising representatives from local authorities, NZTA, consultants and contractors across the country. This method is being considered for use as the standard means of calculating road surface survival. LG

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APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

CORROSION

EATINGAT OURAWAY

ASSETS

The corrosively high cost of urban water infrastructure failure

orrosion, and its degradation of infrastructure and assets, is estimated to eat away three to five percent of New Zealand’s GDP each year. The effects on water distribution and sewerage collection pipework and infrastructure impact many areas of the economy and cover a wide list of assets owned and operated by urban and rural water utilities, industrial, agricultural and domestic communities. Making matters worse, additional intangible costs during a pipeline failure can have a significant effect on the wider community. These can include disruptions due to flooding, road closures and loss of trade. These costs have been estimated at millions of dollars per annum to the urban water industry. The total estimated annual cost of corrosion to the industry and the wider community is many millions of dollars. Such figures are contained in a recent report by Greg Moore, director and senior consultant at Moore Materials Technology and commissioned by the Australasian Corrosion Association (ACA). The report, Corrosion Challenges – Urban Water Industry, estimates the corrosion failure costs and identifies which might be attributable to industry practices, industry skilling and regulatory frameworks. The report also looks at some potential cost reduction strategies that could be implemented. The main infrastructure assets owned and operated by water authorities are the pipelines and treatment plants. Moore’s report shows that the water industry faces many challenges, particularly in the areas of asset management of aging infrastructure and the required training to support the prevention and remediation of corrosion. The cost attributable to the maintenance and repair of sewage treatment plants is also considerable. The failure of a major pipeline or reservoir could have farreaching consequences. Not only could such an event have immediate catastrophic impacts on the surrounding area, there would also be long-term economic impact on water, and possibly power, supplies to cities and towns. Repair and rebuilding costs would also be high. As most pipelines are buried “out of sight and mind”, the water industry has had a reactive approach to maintenance 1. whereby the pipes are run to failure, with individual pipe

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failures repaired until the failure rate reaches a predetermined level, at which point the entire section of pipeline is replaced. For smaller pipes this is still considered “best practice” for the industry, but for larger critical pipelines a more proactive approach is being adopted.

CONDITION ASSESSMENT Moore’s report recommends water authorities increase pipeline condition assessment to predict when failures might occur. Pipe materials such as grey cast iron and asbestos cement make up a large proportion of reticulation pipes and many of these are reaching a stage when they will need to be replaced. In some cases, where the consequence of failure is very high, condition assessment is used to evaluate replacing the pipeline before any failures occur. However, there will always be difficulties in any proactive approach to manage buried assets where there is limited technology to carry out condition assessments. Most water utilities have active CCTV inspection programmes where internal corrosion of non-pressure sewer pipes can be assessed and repairs, renovations or replacements of these sewers implemented before major collapses occur. Pipelines are the largest group of assets and consist of pressure pipes used for the conveyance of water and sewage, and nonpressure pipes for the conveyance of sewage. Pipelines are made of a variety of materials. Plastic pipes are not subjected to corrosion but the other pressure pipe materials such as cast iron, ductile iron, steel, concrete and asbestos cement, are all susceptible to both internal and external corrosion to varying degrees. The performance of all pressure pipes is important, and the number of water main breaks per 100 kilometres per year is an enormous problem for water companies, even though a reported 'break' might be anything from a major pipe failure to a minor leak. Major urban water utilities also operate water treatment plants and sewage treatment plants. While some water supplies are only disinfected, the majority of supplies are also filtered and treated to remove impurities to ensure the water quality meets the required standards. The consequences of failure of

1. Corrosion in a settlement tank of a water treatment plant. 2. Water outfall pipes from a reservoir. 3. Highly corroded water pipeline.

a water treatment plant are usually not as serious as a pipeline failure, but the facilities still require ongoing maintenance and repair. Sewage treatment plants deal with raw sewage and are subjected in most cases to more aggressive environments than water treatment plants, primarily due to the presence and corrosive effects of hydrogen sulphide. In addition to the pipelines and treatment facilities, there are many other assets such as manholes, sewer vents, tanks, reservoirs and pumping stations associated with water and sewerage systems which also have costs associated with corrosion. These costs can be high, especially where repairs and recoating of steel water tanks and other complex steel structures are required. Civil assets comprised approximately 87 percent of reported depreciation costs for the water treatment plants discussed in Mooreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s study. In all treatment facilities there is an ongoing programme of replacement and repair to the infrastructure of the plant. It can be assumed, therefore, that this figure, or a proportion of it, could be used as a representative annual cost of corrosion. Sewage treatment plants are considered to be exposed to a more corrosive environment than water treatment plants due to the presence of hydrogen sulphide gas. Many sewage treatment

plants are also coastal, or close to the coast, so the marine environment adds to the increased corrosiveness of the sewage treatment plant environment. Both these factors are aggressive to concrete structures.

TRAINING The water industry utilises the skills of a wide range of staff to manage, operate and design water and sewerage systems but there are very few training courses available to teach corrosion and its impact on the water industry. A not-for-profit membership organisation, the ACAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remit includes educational activities such as seminars and training courses to inform and guide organisations and practitioners about topics including the latest protective technologies and processes. Mooreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s report recommends setting up accredited training courses designed for water industry personnel. Such courses would cover topics such as corrosion basics for the water industry; materials and corrosion control for use in conjunction with the relevant regulations; and identification and assessment of pipeline failures in the water industry. In particular, there should also be increased training in cathodic protection technologies, especially as applied to aging steel water mains, tanks and other structures. LG APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

WORLD WAR ONE

LEST WE

FORGET Wellington City Council marks 100 years since Gallipoli. By councillor Andy Foster.

ne hundred years on, it is almost impossible to imagine a repetition of the fervour around the British Empire that greeted the outbreak of World War I. Redmer Yska’s excellent book Wellington: Biography of a City paints a vivid picture of the period and the impact of the Great War on Wellington City Council. I hardly need to mention that this was the impact on the city, nation and empire in microcosm. “When war broke out in August 1914, Mayor John Luke, fresh from a briefing in Prime Minister William Massey’s office, urged citizens to support the British flag. “Councillors rose and sang the national anthem, ‘God Save the King’. The Mayor vowed to keep open the jobs of staff who joined the Expeditionary Force.” Wellington was the country’s main point of departure for troop convoys – so the city council was regularly involved in farewell ceremonies at the Basin Reserve. By September 1915, Wellington Town Hall had been turned into a recruiting station. Free use of the hall was granted “for patriotic purposes”. The Municipal Officers’ Association was granted permission to turn part of the basement into a rifle range. So many council staff were joining up that by February 1916 the Fire Brigade was asking the government to exempt

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the urban-based fire services. So great was the general manpower problem that councillors took the unprecedented step of training women as gardeners. The aim was to give them “the privilege of being taught such gardening work as the Superintendent of Reserves deems suitable”, although the council “was not to be placed under any obligation, moral or otherwise, to give them employment after the expiration of their training period”. The women later had the audacity to ask to be paid. With the contentious introduction of conscription in 1916, the council resolved to do everything possible to forward the objectives of the Recruiting Board. It refused to allow the AntiConscription League (with future Prime Minister Peter Fraser among its supporters) to hire the Town Hall. Lady Stout, wife of the Chief Justice, was however “allowed to use the Concert Chamber for her lecture to the AntiGerman League”. As the war neared its end, a captured Turkish machine gun was mounted on the first-floor landing of the Town Hall. In September 1918, Mayor Luke, now an MP in Massey’s government, led the councillors in three cheers to express “thankfulness and joy at the glorious part taken by the New Zealand soldiers in this Great War”. Yska wrote: “As news filtered

through that Germany was about to capitulate, Luke outlined plans for bells, bunting and civic festivities to mark ‘a unique historical occasion that would not be repeated in the lifetime of anyone now living’. History would, of course, prove him wrong.” Among a total of 10,000 men from the Wellington province, some 232 council staff went to war. Of those, 22 died in the war and another 24 were wounded “or gassed”. This is truly horrifying stuff – perhaps we can all be thankful that, 100 years since, people arguably have access to better information that allows them to make informed decisions about participation in foreign conflict. But that is, of course, a matter for intense and serious debate. As the capital city, Wellington will this month rightfully have a central role in the commemoration of the Gallipoli centenary. The new National Memorial Park, Te Pukeahu, will be the fitting centrepiece of Anzac Day. The Australian government has generously contributed to the construction of this memorial. The city council itself is organising an Anzac Day Eve parade from Parliament to the new park. This parade will be solemn but spectacular. It will be a chance to remember the brave men from the city and province who died or were maimed in World War I. Lest we forget. LG

1. Soldiers on ship – circa 1914. 2. Elevated view of Lambton Quay and the Cenotaph War Memorial. 3. Soldiers on parade – circa 1914. 4. Captain S A Atkinson. Killed in action – circa 1917.

Photos supplied by Wellington City Council City Archives.

APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

CUSTOMER FOCUS

PLUG IN

THE CUSTOMER

Why it’s vital to add user experience to your digital project. By PwC director Gareth Parry.

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ur website isn’t working well. It’s old, hard to find anything on it, difficult to use, broken in places, and generally a frustrating experience. It’s been on our agenda to fix it for the last five years, but has missed out on funding each year. It’s now causing real frustration – forcing people to use less preferred channels, hitting our customer satisfaction scores hard, and impeding our ability to transform council. We need to replace it, now.” Sound familiar? Substitute ‘website’ for your choice of app, online self-service, portal, CRM or CMS – and you have how most organisations, including councils,

treat existing digital channels. Here’s how the above scenario usually plays out (see visual A). A problem statement is readied and high-level investigation conducted. An indicative business case (IBC) is prepared outlining the problem, options, how options will be assessed, commercials and an approach to managing the project. After approving the IBC, a request for information (RFI) is issued seeking solutions and indicative pricing from the market. A detailed business case (DBC) is prepared based on RFI responses, adding commentary to which options are selected or rejected, risks and mitigations stated,

and the project planned from there. A request for proposal (RFP) process ensues, specifying a solution based on RFI feedback and subsequent DBC analysis. The market responds with solutions and pricing. A vendor is selected, and work commences following a tightly defined scope, timing and pricing. In an ideal world, delivering that scope as specified ought to remedy the sorts of problems outlined above. However, the problem with how that scenario usually plays out – whether upgrading or replacing an existing system or creating something new – is how it often ends. Many times, the solution doesn’t fix the problem (and sometimes even adds to it), it costs too much, takes longer to deliver than planned, is poorly adopted, and / or delivers a sub-par experience to users. The traditional digital project scenario described above focuses on the problem, solutions and costs – and can overlook two key considerations: what organisational outcomes (as distinct from outputs) will the project deliver, and what

C..

sort of experience do users – be they citizens, customers, or staff – need or want from the solution. When it comes to making decisions about which options to select, these two considerations form the apex of a triangle of desirability (do we want / need this?), feasibility (technically, can we build it?), and viability (can we afford it?). (See visual B.) They help to avoid system-centric solutions that don’t deliver outcomes for organisations or useful, usable, satisfying experiences for users. Understanding how outputs (like a website or CRM) deliver council outcomes (how different the council organisation will be after implementation) is a crucial ingredient in making choices about outputs. Invest time early on to define desired outcomes. Understanding the current and desired user experience is more often than not at the root of these problem scenarios (see visual C). If good experiences drive preference, adoption, use and advocacy; while bad experiences drive people to other

channels, complaints and disadvocacy – then experience must be a critical success factor in any digital project. The earlier in a digital project that user experience is considered, the more options are available to deliver that experience and the lower the cost to change between options if needed. Unfortunately, the converse is also true. In the scenario we described earlier the user experience isn’t understood until it’s late in the project, the options available are far fewer, and the cost to change between options is much greater. If your digital project affects users – whether an internal audience, citizens, or end customers – you must understand your users, the jobs or tasks they’re trying to complete using your system, their context when completing those jobs, and what’s important to them in their experience of completing those jobs – before making decisions about technology, process changes or channels. LG • Gareth Parry is a director at PwC. gareth.x.parry@nz.pwc.com

IT ’S A

LL FR

APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

JOHN PFAHLERT / STANDARDS CH I E F EXECUTIVE, WATE R NZ ceo@waternz.org.nz

On a slippery slope? Changes to standards are on the way.

I NEW ZEALAND WILL INCREASINGLY BE A STANDARDS TAKER FROM AUSTRALIA.

n the coming months it is expected the government will pass the Standards and Accreditation Bill, disestablishing Standards New Zealand as the body responsible for the development and maintenance of standards. Established following the Napier earthquake of 1931, Standards New Zealand was originally created to ensure a similar loss of life did not occur again from such widespread destruction of buildings. Over the years some 650 buildingrelated standards were developed. Today the Standards New Zealand catalogue contains some 2500 standards covering a wide range of topics from building to health to water – 82 percent of which are joint standards with Australia. The bill will transfer standards development obligations to a new independent statutory board and statutory officer within the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). Numerous submissions to government during the three years this bill has been developed have expressed concern about the proposed arrangements. There is unease within the wider building and engineering industry in New Zealand that locating standards development within a government department comes with certain risks. Historically, standards have been developed in an independent, impartial environment where the resulting intellectual property (the standard) was not subject to regulatory capture or for the primary use of government. Going forward will we have the assurance that standards will be developed in such a manner? The Standards Approval Board to be established will be able to introduce standards development processes that suit its own needs. There can be no assurance that there will be openness and access for all stakeholder groups with an interest in the subject being discussed, since the board also decides who goes on standards committees. I’d be the first to acknowledge that there are failings with the current standards development process both here and overseas. Standards can be time-consuming to produce and can reflect a “lowest common denominator” outcome where the document produced reflects only what the parties to the process could agree upon, not necessarily best practice. Funding shortages have been an ongoing

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problem for Standards New Zealand and its counterpart organisation in Australia. While the New Zealand government has funded the review and development of some standards under the current arrangements, there is little likelihood that bringing the process in house will result in a higher level of investment. The current catalogue will inevitably be drastically reduced in size, or similar documents developed in house by officials as “compliance documents” which can be referenced in the Building Code without the requirement for the rigour of the standards development process. As the International Standards Organisation said in its submission on the above bill: “Incorporating standards development activity carried out by the Standards Council into MBIE is not a solution in itself to the problem facing standards development in New Zealand. That problem is funding for relevant standards activities in a small economy and having government acknowledge and financially support the benefit such activity brings to the whole economy and the citizens of the country.” Successive governments over the past 20 years have refused to adequately recognise the public good benefit of standards to the economy. That isn’t likely to change. New Zealand will increasingly be a standards taker from Australia. Voluntary trade groups do not routinely have the resources to send people to international meetings of standards bodies, however deserving the topic up for debate. The process of developing standards inevitably leaves some around the table dissatisfied that they weren’t listened to, or that insufficient weight was given to their point of view. There have been gripes about the time it takes, and, always, complaints that because of the public good nature of these documents – that government should be playing a greater role. The bill is crafted in a way which could lead to better outcomes at a lower cost. Time will tell whether this review was simply a cost-saving measure. A couple of useful metrics to gauge success might be how many standards remain on the standards catalogue in 10 years’ time, and how many of the existing joint standards with Australia have disappeared. LG

JEREMY ELWOOD / ON THE FUNNY STUFF COM E DIAN, ACTOR AN D WR ITE R. jeremy@jeremyelwood.com

The buck stops where? Sort your flora and fauna policy.

IT’S TIME TO DRAW A LINE IN THE NATIVE BUSH AND STATE WHAT COUNCILS SHOULD, AND SHOULD NOT, TAKE THE FALL FOR.

hen tempers recently flared over the planned felling of centuries-old trees for a development in West Auckland, one of the issues which came up was who was ultimately responsible for the decision. To fell or not to fell, that was the question. And as I’m presuming the issue will have been resolved one way or the other by the time you read this, I won’t debate it except to say that personally, I believe we have so few things in this country that are 300-500 years old, that we should keep as many of them as we possibly can. At the very least, forcing planners to think about building around a 500-year-old kauri would lead to a marked improvement in the quality of our architecture. The responsibility argument, however, is an interesting one. How much of our flora and fauna should, or can, local government agencies be responsible for? In the US, where appetite for frivolous litigation seems boundless, city and federal agencies are routinely sued by people who have come into what we might consider to be normal, unavoidable contact with wildlife. A famous case in New York saw a woman, whose son had been stung by a bee in Central Park, sue the city for “failing to keep its wildlife under control”. Thankfully, that sort of thing doesn’t happen here (I mean the lawsuit rather than the bee sting.) But just to be safe, perhaps it’s time to draw a line in the native bush and state for the record what councils should, and should not, take the fall for – tree felling pun completely intended. Dogs – In the case of dangerous animals,

yes, professional animal control is a necessity. In the case of a neighbour’s mutt who has trouble differentiating between a toileting area and your precious rose garden, no. Build a fence. Cats – No, unless Gareth Morgan suddenly decides to run for mayor, in which case all bets are off. Birds – No. We can hand that off to the airforce. It’ll give them something to do. Poisonous animals – A moot point, as we don’t have any, apart from the katipo. But considering no one I have ever met has ever seen one, ever, I have my doubts. The Queensland fruit fly – If your bailiwick includes Grey Lynn, then maybe. The rest of you are off the hook. For now. Non-native trees – This will depend on where they are. If they’re growing around power lines, for example, then yes, council will need to stay vigilant. If they’re growing on One Tree Hill, on the other hand, you can probably just wait for a concerned member of the public to take care of the issue for you. Marine life – Beached whales, sure. Commercially-trawled fish, yes in terms of policing limits. Sharks? Absolutely. We should have council-funded patrol boats at every beach, 24 hours a day, making sure all sharks are safely encouraged to turn around and leave us alone. (Have I mentioned that I saw Jaws when I was seven and have never recovered?) That’s a start. There will obviously be case-by-case incidents from time to time. But, at least for now, this might clarify how much legal documentation the next protester has to drag up into the tree they’re trying to save. LG

APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

FRANA DIVICH / ON LEGAL ISSUES PARTN E R, H EAN EY & PARTN E R S frana.divich@heaneypartners.com

Don’t give up the fight The benefits of tactical plays with solvent builders.

PROCEEDING IN THIS WAY... SHOULD ALWAYS BE CONSIDERED IF A SOLVENT BUILDER IS HOLDING THE COUNCIL TO RANSOM.

ouncils often find themselves in the difficult position of being forced to go to trial because a solvent builder, or other construction party, refuses to settle at a level commensurate with their liability. This is particularly awkward if there is no credible defence for the council to run at trial. When forced into a corner it can be best for the council to settle at a discount with the claimant and proceed to trial against the stubborn builder to collect a worthwhile contribution. This is exactly the result we achieved for the council in Wellington City Council v Dallas [2014 NZCA 631]. The council admitted liability and settled with the claimants, paying them $670,000. It collected $124,000 from some of the other construction parties then went to court to collect the remaining $546,000 from the director of a building company (the director). The council lost at trial but won on appeal. The facts were unusual. At the final inspection the council identified a number of issues with the house. The council then wrote to the building company listing 14 items where “remedial work and documentation will be required”. The director responded to the council’s letter, saying work had been completed, when in fact it had not. The council argued that the director’s letter amounted to misleading and deceptive conduct in trade and was a breach of the Fair Trading Act 1986. The court considered whether a reasonable person with the characteristics of the council would be likely to have been misled by the letter. The court found that a reasonable person would. The court went on to consider whether the council relied upon a statement made in the

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letter and whether the statement in the letter was a cause of the loss. The director had said that kick outs flashings were installed. They were not. The lack of kick outs would have been visible to the council on inspection – that is why the council admitted liability. The court was of the view that the council did not inspect for the presence of kick outs and was only left with the director’s assurance that it had been done. Accordingly it was satisfied that the council had relied on the director when it issued the code compliance certificate. The council conceded that it was at fault for not noticing the lack of kick outs. It argued that it took comfort from the director’s statement that the remedial work had been done. The court found that the director had breached the Fair Trading Act 1986 and doing justice between the parties required some contribution from him. The court of appeal has asked for further submissions on apportionment. We have argued that it should be 50/50 because if the lack of kick outs was the only defect, it would have triggered the need to reclad the house. We expect a judgment from the court of appeal shortly on the amount the director has to pay. The director has subsequently applied for leave to take his case to the Supreme Court. If we can maintain the status quo, whatever the director ends up being ordered to pay will be an improvement on his pre trial position. The council will also be entitled to court costs (for the trial and the appeal) from him. What we do know is that the tactical decision to proceed in this way has so far paid off for the council and should always be considered if a solvent builder is holding the council to ransom. LG

MALCOLM ABERNETHY / FROM CIVIL CONTRACTORS NZ EXECUTIVE OFFICE R, CIVI L CONTRACTOR S N EW Z EALAN D malcolm@civilcontractors.co.nz

Pathways for future talent Better ways to help build careers in civil infrastructure.

WE NEED A WAY TO SHOW CLEAR PROGRESSION FROM SCHOOL STUDIES THROUGH TO CAREER PATHWAYS WITHIN THE INDUSTRY.

ince my last column, Civil Contractors NZ has held a very successful National Excavator Operator Competition final. This competition has been an event in the contractors’ calendar for the past 21 years and is a way of displaying the skills required by operators and of promoting the industry. In the early days it was a straightforward competition where the best operator from each branch of Civil Contractors New Zealand would complete relatively simple excavator-related tasks. Now, each competition consists of tasks that demonstrate the use of many of the machine’s functions simultaneously while making it interesting to the public. The competition requires simultaneous control of the machine’s 12 main functions and some auxiliary functions that demonstrate real operator skill. At the recent Central Districts Field Days in Feilding, 10 of the best operators from around the country competed for the title of best excavator operator nationwide. The competition included slam dunking a ball through the top of a manhole stack, painting, excavating, auguring holes for posts, pouring cups of tea, manoeuvring a hoop along a wire and peeling a water melon. You really need to attend such an event to understand the complexities of the competition and the skills that are demonstrated. The Hitachi excavators supplied by CablePrice met the challenge and displayed the machines’ versatility. CablePrice’s national sales manager – equipment Alex Kelly says he continues to be amazed and impressed with what the organisers and competitors can do with the machines. The competition also includes the Contractor magazine One Day Job where competitors are required to demonstrate their pricing skills, plan a job and complete it to the high quality the industry demands while meeting strict environmental and safety compliance requirements. The competition is just one way of promoting both the industry and, more widely, civil construction and engineering-related careers. The issue is that there are similar programmes – albeit at different levels – being promoted with apparently no coherent structure or body to tie them together. Last year at the Civil Contractors

New Zealand national conference, a Civil Trades apprenticeship scheme was announced and work is currently well advanced to have the apprenticeship qualifications in place by late this year. That is a step toward greater recognition of the contribution civil infrastructure workers make to the country. In July last year Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Steven Joyce promoted New Zealand’s need for more engineering related people in the workforce through the Engineering e2e (Education to Employment) programme. The programme is specifically targeted at increasing enrolments and completions at institutes of technology to complement the university graduate pathway for engineers. At the time, Minister Joyce said Engineering e2e is about industry, schools, our metropolitan institutes of technology and polytechnics, and the Tertiary Education Commission working together to increase the number of students choosing this option for training for a career as an engineer. “Engineering makes a critical and exciting contribution to our society, and allows our industries to compete on the world stage,” he said. “The challenge is that we need to be producing significantly more of them to meet industry demand today and in the future.” The Ministry of Education is also promoting construction and infrastructure as career options to secondary schools through the Vocational Pathways programme. This programme will see many students able to complete relevant unit standards that contribute, and are complementary, to further tertiary studies and qualifications. Each of these programmes currently appears to be operating independently and has some duplication of effort. We need a way of tying these programmes together and being able to show clear progression from school studies, which provide assistance when entering employment, through to career pathways within the industry. For the record, James Lux representing Bay of Plenty won both the 2015 National Excavator Operator Competition and the Contractor magazine One Day Job. Second place in the competition went to Carl Hollands representing Otago and third to Michael Smith from Northland. LG APRIL 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

LAWRENCE YULE / FROM LGNZ PR ESI DE NT, LOCAL G OVE R N M E NT N EW Z EALAN D (LG NZ). lawrence.yule@hdc.govt.nz

Be the real thing A good reputation requires real good work.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT REPUTATION NEEDS TO BE BASED ON REAL QUALITY WORK WITH LOCAL DEMOCRACY POWERING COMMUNITY AND NATIONAL SUCCESS.

eputation is defined in the MerriamWebster dictionary as ‘the common opinion that people have about someone or something... the way in which people think of someone or something’. For local government, reputation is what our communities think of our work. What do communities measure their council’s reputation against? What influences their thinking process when they form their opinion of their council? A successful reputation comes from meeting or exceeding needs and expectations, while a poor reputation comes from failing to do so. For local government, a good reputation comes from doing our job well. And in order to do that, we need to deliver strong local government across New Zealand. Clear communication with residents is key. Communities want to know what action their council is taking and why. When a matter is open for submissions, people need to know about all the factors under consideration and how they can contribute – the submission process needs to be easy. The same goes for building consents. One of the most common ways the average member of a community encounters their council is when seeking a building consent, paying rates or otherwise dealing with property-related matters. The process for getting these things done needs to be clear and easily understood. Operational efficiencies should always be top of mind. As well as the day-to-day core business of delivering first-world services and amenities for communities, we need to ensure we also address the bigger-picture long-term aspects that make our sector successful. This includes raising standards of governance and performance, which many in the sector are doing.

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Our success factors also include a shared national approach to regional development and growth across all of New Zealand, developing a sustainable funding model for local government. Leading effective infrastructure development and funding policies is important, as is setting an agenda of regulatory reform and the development of more effective policy-setting in areas impacting the sector. The sector needs to lead policy on important environmental issues for effective management of natural capital, and strengthen local democracy and the value of local government. You might recognise that these points are also the policy priorities of LGNZ. I believe these priorities are all important for a strong local government. By continuing to work together to achieve them we will exceed community expectations, to ensure a strong reputation. Abraham Lincoln once said that character is like a tree and reputation is like a shadow; the tree is the real thing, the shadow is what we think of it. Perception, or what people think of us, is only one part of what matters in reputation. Local government reputation is not static. Reputations can change, shift, improve or decrease during an organisation’s lifetime depending on performance. For a good reputation – a topic we will be working with the sector on this year – councils need to strive daily to deliver the best outcomes for communities. Doing genuinely good work – having Lincoln’s ‘real thing’ be strong sector performance – is vital. Local government reputation needs to be based on real quality work with local democracy powering community and national success. LG

Councils secure regular flight services for regional communities Councils have worked with air transport providers to secure regular flights for their communities, after Air New Zealand cut services to some airports. The airline announced in November that its flights to Kaitaia, Whakatane and Westport would cease because customer demand could not sustain its 50 seat aircraft. However, the local government sector has successfully and proactively worked together to find alternative solutions for each of these communities. The Far North District Council arranged with Great Barrier Airlines for daily flights between Kaitaia and Auckland. Whakatane District Council worked with Air Chathams to arrange a locally branded service between Whakatane and Auckland. And Buller District Council negotiated with Sounds Air to secure new flights between Westport and Wellington. LGNZ President Lawrence Yule says this is a strong example of the sector collaborating, which highlights the good work that councils do for communities. “Ease of travel between regional New Zealand and our cities helps to enable regional business people to successfully conduct business,” Mr Yule says.

“Mayors of districts where air transport services are under threat have been communicating with each other about these challenges and have held joint discussion with Air New Zealand and the Prime Minister. The flights that councils have secured for these regions will be very beneficial to their communities.” Far North District Council has the advantage of owning the company that operates Kaitaia and Bay of Islands Airports, so it was able to negotiate directly with airlines to ensure any services offered met the needs of the Kaitaia community. “People these days need to be able to travel nationally and internationally for a range of social and economic reasons. Having daily flights between Kaitaia and Auckland means locals can be anywhere in New Zealand in a matter of hours,” Far North Mayor John Carter says. “Not having adequate air services would make Kaitaia and the Far North less accessible and therefore less competitive with other centres.” Air Chathams is providing a locally-branded service to Whakatane, utilising its fleet of 50-seat Convair 580 airliners and 19-seat Metroliner aircraft.

“I’m delighted to announce that a replacement service has been offered, which could provide significant potential for growth and a genuine opportunity for the Eastern Bay of Plenty to build a partnership with an airline which is committed to attractively-priced fares and developing travel, accommodation and activity packages which will boost the region’s profile as a short-stay domestic tourism destination,” Whakatane Mayor Tony Bonne says. Buller District Council, through its Airport Chief Executive Sonia Cresswell, sought alternatives when Air New Zealand announced its exit. The proposal from Sounds Air, using a nine seater Pilatus PC12 plane, was accepted. “The key to enable the company to have confidence to proceed and purchase the two planes required, to ensure continuity of service, was to have a mutually beneficial agreement,” Buller Mayor Garry Howard says. “It is essential in supporting local business and attracting new business that a regular air service is available to the West Coast. We have a considerable number of professional service people come for one or two days. These people range from medical, engineering, audit and a host of specialists that cannot be maintained on the Coast.”

< The local government sector has successfully and proactively worked together to find alternative flight solutions for each of these communities. > APRIL 2015

EDITOR

Equipping councils for excellence This month, LGNZ celebrates one year since the launch of EquiP, the Centre of Excellence. It was established to deliver tailored services, best practice guidance, business solutions, governance and management support to strengthen the local government sector. EquiP works directly with council staff and elected members to provide customised guidance and tools to drive better efficiency. “The intention is for the services and guidance provided by EquiP to improve strength, capability and excellence across the local government sector,” LGNZ President Lawrence Yule says. “In order to deliver a strong local government in New Zealand, we need to have high standards of governance and performance. One year ago I said that while there are many strong performers, we need to lift the bar higher and there is real appetite among our members to up-skill. Now, a number of councils have engaged EquiP and it is pleasing to see the strong sector appetite for improvement and demand for these services.” The suite of EquiP services has been extended during its first year of operation. The Executive Recruitment Service is dedicated to working with mayors, chairs, councils and employment committees. The complete end-to-end employment search and selection service is backed by LGNZ’s extensive local government experience and intimate knowledge of the sector. The first step is to fully assess your needs by doing an environment scan and seeking input from key stakeholders about the attributes, skills and prior experience required from an ideal candidate. This is followed by the development of a job description and candidate profile that reflects the councils’ strategic intent. EquiP then fully supports council through the search and selection process, providing assessment methodology, interview guides, and due diligence and advice at each step, right through to the provision of the CEO’s employment agreement. The most recent appointment was the CEO of Stratford District Council.

< In order to deliver strong local government in New Zealand, we need to have high standards of governance and performance. > The Road Transportation Unit that EquiP launched working with proven roading engineers and economic modelling professionals has offered real value to the sector. It assists with readiness to implement the One Network Road Classification, infrastructure planning and activity, developing a fit for purpose roading network and providing economic development modelling to improve the network.

EquiP’s Audit and Risk Service provides mayors, chairs, chief executives, chief financial officers and senior management with the peace of mind that the right people and processes are in place to effectively monitor and report on audit and risk. “Achieving and maintaining excellence requires diligence, expertise and significant work on a continuing basis,” Mr Yule says. “EquiP’s Audit and Risk Service provides the tools that enable councils to effectively implement and oversee best practice to strengthen governance, audit and risk performance and financial reporting, including how to effectively communicate financial performance.” The EquiP Executive Performance Programme is designed to lift executive performance by providing chief executives and senior management with the practical guidance tools necessary to confidently deliver effective results for New Zealand communities. EquiP can also work directly with local government leaders in an ongoing mentoring capacity to provide executive support, and assist to identify and resolve any emerging issues before they escalate. The Executive Performance Programme delivers services that promote capability, better decision-making, effective management and strong leadership skills in participants. The services are backed by in-depth insight into what makes effective professional leaders in the public and private sectors, supported by LGNZ’s extensive local government experience and knowledge of the sector.

INNOVATIONS EquiP’s Functional Review Programme provides mayors, chairs and councillors with an external health check that their council is operating to standards of best practice in critical areas of activity, and that opportunities for development and improvement are being fully realised. Working with proven principles, processes and methods, EquiP commissions experts to assess how well councils are serving your internal and external stakeholders in areas such as executive and leadership team, financial (including audit and risk), regulatory and building control, engineering including roading and other infrastructure planning and activity. It also looks at corporate services, HR and organisational development, strategic intent, vision and values, performance and general management systems, culture and approach to customer service and economic development. “I have been heartened to see the appetite for strengthening across the sector, evident in the uptake of and interest in EquiP programmes,” Mr Yule says. “We look forward to working closely with more members and rolling out additional services throughout the year ahead.” EquiP LP is a limited partnership wholly owned by LGNZ that operates as a commercially sustainable venture for the benefit of members to up-skill the sector through a collaborative knowledge sharing approach. For more information, please visit www.lgnz.co.nz/equip-and-knowhow/

Institute of Directors The Institute of Directors (IoD) is the professional body for directors in New Zealand, representing more than 6,800 individuals from across the spectrum of New Zealand enterprise. Recognising the unique challenges faced in local government, LGNZ and the IoD have formed a strategic joint venture to develop a tailored programme of workshops to build governance capability across our local authorities. The KnowHow governance workshop series is designed to provide mayors, chairs, and councillors with a strong grounding in governance, leadership and strategy. Through this joint venture, the IoD are also offering councils access to ‘betterBoards’ services and ‘boardWide’ memberships.

FairWay FairWay Resolution Limited is an independent, Crown-owned company providing specialist complaint management and dispute resolution services. FairWay and EquiP have formed a strategic joint venture to help councils better manage conflict that is slowing down productivity, achievement of outcomes and damaging public trust. FairWay is confident that more frequent use of conflict management services will result in an overall improvement in the performance and reputation of local government.

Upcoming KnowHow workshops 27 May: Audit & Risk Committees / Wellington Audit and risk management are essential functions of any governing body. This workshop begins with an overview of risk management and what is governance role in risk management. A cornerstone of transparent and successful local government is solid financial reporting. We discuss the role of the audit and risk committee in the functions of external financial reporting and engagement with external and internal auditors. 17 June: Chairing Meetings/Conflicts of Interest/ Standing Orders / Dunedin There is an art to chairing a successful meeting. From meeting management techniques to Standing Orders, we’ll examine styles and approaches that help meetings run smoothly, generate decisions, translate the jargon, cover the protocol and discuss what makes an effective meeting and constructive participation. We then move onto identifying and managing conflicts of interest. We discuss different types of conflicts, behaviour styles, legal and ethical obligations and how best to manage them. 26 June: Understanding and Maximising Relationships with China / Wellington This workshop is for anyone involved with the organisation of delegation visits – prior to, during or post – both to and from China; who advises their local community of business opportunities in China or has existing business relationships with China and who wants to build on these. On completion of this workshop you will understand Chinese engagement business practices, have the tools and skills regarding appropriate cultural protocols enabling strong business relationships and feel more confident and knowledgeable about the political differences between New Zealand and China. To register for KnowHow workshops please visit www.lgnz.co.nz/equip-and-knowhow/

< The KnowHow workshops offer new insights into key areas of local government and will help you make the right decisions for your community. >

APRIL 2015

EDITOR

The Final Word Enter EXCELLENCE Awards to celebrate and recognise achievements Applications for the 2015 LGNZ EXCELLENCE Awards are now open.

MartinJenkins EXCELLENCE Award for Local Economic Contribution

The 2015 LGNZ EXCELLENCE Awards recognise and celebrate outstanding leadership and impact across community, infrastructure, environment and economic development within local government.

The winner of this award will have led an external or internal project or programme that has enhanced the economic wellbeing or the value proposition to ratepayers to parts or all of their city, town, district or region.

Finalists and award winners will have the opportunity to showcase their work and be formally recognised for their achievements by sector colleagues at the conference and awards dinner during the LGNZ conference taking place from 19-21 July 2015. These awards are an important opportunity for the sector to celebrate its successes and recognise the efforts of councils who have gone the extra mile to achieve a result for their community. The award categories are as follows: • • • • •

Fulton Hogan EXCELLENCE Award for Community Impact MartinJenkins EXCELLENCE Award for Local Economic Contribution EXCELLENCE Award for Infrastructure Project of the Year EXCELLENCE Award for Local Environmental Impact (new award) EXCELLENCE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Local Government

Details of the awards and last year’s winners are below. Fulton Hogan EXCELLENCE Award for Community Impact This award recognises a council who has delivered a project, programme or event that has created a more culturally-connected, technically informed, safe or vibrant community in their city, town, district or region – demonstrating significant improvements to the way local government has engaged with their community. The 2014 winner was Kawerau District Council’s Kawerau Adopt a Nation – 2013 World Rafting Champs.

< For further details on both the conference and Awards visit www.lgnz2015.co.nz/lgnz15 >

The 2014 winner was Hauraki District Council’s Hauraki Rail Trail. EXCELLENCE Award for Infrastructure Project of the Year This title will be awarded to the council whose infrastructure project has led to improved efficiencies and effectiveness for local businesses, residents and visitors, and has contributed to an economic or environmental benefit for their region. The 2014 Beca Infrastructure Project of the Year Award went to Kapiti Coast District Council for its Kapiti Water Supply project. EXCELLENCE Award for Local Environmental Impact The winning council will have developed a project or initiative that has made a positive contribution to the quality of their environment. This is a new award. EXCELLENCE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Local Government This award will be presented to one or more individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to local government. In 2014 The Skills Organisation EXCELLENCE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Local Government went to former Southland Mayor Frana Cardno. Mrs Cardno was one of New Zealand’s longest serving mayors during her run leading Southland District from 1992 to 2013 and is the longest serving female mayor the country has ever had. Awards winners are announced at a gala dinner on 20 July in Rotorua as part of the 2015 LGNZ Conference. Hosted by Rotorua Lakes Council, the conference will take place from 19 – 21 July at the Rotorua Energy Events Centre. It will focus on leading the charge for our communities and will have a strong focus on leadership and raising the value provided by local government for all communities in New Zealand.

Healthy energy systems make robust savings.

Energy savings at Wellington Regional Hospital are reducing costs, and improving the quality of care for patients.

Rob Bishop identified many similar efficiencies, and the DHB was proactive in implementing them.

A few years ago it was a different story, the hospital’s energy systems were old and sickly. Capital & Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) operations manager for facilities and engineering Leon Clews explains, “We were concerned about our ability to maintain energy supply after an earthquake, so improvements in energy security were a priority, and we knew we could save money through efficiencies too.”

CCDHB’s interim Chief Executive Debbie Chin was right behind the energy management programme. “Sustainability is a key consideration for any large organisation but it is particularly relevant in the healthcare sector.”

CCDHB started investigating better energy management. They hired consultant Rob Bishop from Energy Solutions, and together they approached the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) for guidance and funding. As a government agency, CCDHB was eligible for EECA Crown Loans. It accessed a total of $1.6 million – it will have recouped the cost of these loans within five years. So far CCDHB is making around 10% energy savings annually. A new building management system is saving $30,000 a month, and a simple job - recalibrating ventilation controls in the car park - cost less than $1,000 and delivered savings of $10,000. EEC3412_LG_1

“It was so great for me as a technical person to come up with ideas and have them accepted. They were prepared to make the capital investment and they knew what they were doing. Often you can demonstrate the savings and everyone says ‘wow’, but they aren’t prepared to spend the money upfront.”

The improved lighting and air quality create a safer, more pleasant environment for staff and patients. Efficient air conditioning has been shown to reduce transmission of airborne diseases, and better lighting reduces patient falls. CCDHB is now aligning its energy management programme with ISO 50-0001 (world’s best practice) and aims to reduce its overall energy usage by 40% by 2021. This will include rolling out the lessons learned at Wellington Regional Hospital to Kenepuru and other healthcare providers in the region, including the Wairarapa.

www.eecabusiness.govt.nz

ADVERTORIAL

What are Crown Loans? Low interest Crown Loans are available for publicly funded organisations. The loans fund energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. All applications are evaluated against one another according to the following criteria:

• Payback period • CO2 emission reductions • How much energy the project saves or is displaced by renewable energy • Ability of the project to be a demonstration site for other government bodies, communities, and within the private sector • Co-benefits, such as improving air quality or industry development.

Visit www.eecabusiness.govt.nz/ crownloans for further details.

CONTRAFED EDITOR

DECEMBER 2014

NEW ZEALAND’S CIVIL CONTRACTING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

THE VOICE OF NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRY FEBRUARY 2015

Dedicated to CAT

ENERGY NZ PERSPECTIVES 2015

NEW ZEALAND’S CIVIL CONTRACTING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

PUBLISHING CO. LTD AUTOMATION & TRAINING SPRING VOL.8 NO.4 2014

PERSPECTIVES

Trends in industrial automation

2015

Energy efficient and labour saving systems

Electrifying Auckland’s rail Renewing a whole city’s rail signalling system

Automated drilling on Maui A Improved safety, operational flexibility and better overall efficiency

The changing face of training New educational trends

THE RIGHT GEAR FOR THE JOB QRS has taken delivery of three new Hyundai excavators from Porter Equipment.

INSIDE:

Fixing the leaky Tekapo Canal was complex but a great success Suicide in construction – international stats make for sobering reading Health and Safety Reform Bill – proposed new duties and obligations In praise of roundabouts – a light-hearted look at one-way gyratories

Auckland Transport’s Dr Lester Levy talks about himself and his job Comprehensive coverage of the ever-expanding bauma China Margo Connell on small businesses and working families A Mt Maunganui company’s international award for road maintenance

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NEW ZEALAND QUARRYING & MINING

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Volume 12 - No 1 | February - March 2015 | $8.95

TAPPING INTO THE SCIENCE Water NZ’s new fluoridation code of practice p20

GOING BACK FOR VALUE Amuri Lime “couldn’t be happier” with its second Hitachi wheeled loader from CablePrice

THE WAY WE WORK

Stephen Town talks employment relations p22

ON TRACK

DUNEDIN’S SUE BIDROSE

Geospatial experts map out walking paths & cycleways p16

On developing a fraud-resistant council p26

GORE’S STEVE PARRY

On making every minute count p20

IN PRAISE OF GOOD WORK

INTELLIGENT CITIES

Local government’s fantastic EAs & PAs p24

How to move differently p34

PRIME MOVER LARGEST YET

GOING DIGITAL

New Plymouth District Council turns mobile-first p30

LONG ROAD AHEAD

DOLLARS & SENSE

Shaping future roads & water services p14

Hyundai debuted its largest excavator yet, the R1200-9, at ConExpo this year, and now Stevensons is using one at its Drury Quarry

CATCHING UP WITH PAUL TIDMARSH

CHATTING WITH SAM AARONS

Reviewing the decision to leave the fatal mine sealed

Bathurst Resources’ corporate manager talks about her job and the industry.

QUARRY MANAGEMENT REGULATION

TODD’S AUSSIE MINE INVESTMENT

Will the new requirements be too onerous for small quarries?

How should local government be funded? p12

Todd Corporation sets up a minerals arm to invest in Pilbara iron ore.

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Stevenson Resources is redeveloping its Drury Quarry to get at new resources.

PIKE RIVER – THE FINAL CHAPTER

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LOOKING 150 YEARS AHEAD

The industry veteran has got into unique minerals – big time

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