On Friday 1 November 2024 we were hosted by The University of Waikato, Tauranga Campus.
Thank you to our sponsors Tonkin + Taylor for the venue and a lovely lunch for attendees, and our Branch Chair Darren de Klerk for being MC and stepping in to do a presentation.
We had over 40 attendees come along to the event which had a focus of the Evolution of the Bay of Plenty.
Our presentations were:
Ben Drake from Tauranga City Council talked about Opal Drive Pump Station Upgrade, and the significance in enabling growth in Papamoa. We often forget about the role Council has to play in creating the infrastructure our communities require to grow, and the challenges in funding these at the right time. Ben shared some insights into the community engagement and the extensive discussion with tangata whenua and how early, meaningful, and frequent communication helped.
Wioletta Gilfoyle and David Wyllie from Tonkin + Taylor shared their Network Capacity Assessment tool they developed for Hamilton City Council. With over 70 enquiries coming in a month, Council needed a tool to respond to growth enquiries and understand whether the network could handle additional connections in different areas, a really nimble way to make more informed decisions. They didn’t try and replace any existing models but use the available information to help make better, faster decisions.
Unfortunately, we had a one of our speakers not able to attend. Darren de Klerk, our East Coast/BOP Branch Chair jumped in at short notice and shared some reflections from Cyclone Gabrielle and shared discussed with the audience what things they could be doing to prepare their assets for our changing climate. The scale of this event never fails to shock (for example there was an estimated 10 million cubic meters of silt deposited) and its not surprising the cleanup work is still continuing today.
Te Pio Kawe joined us to share the generational work and future planning that SmartGrowth is doing for the region. A couple decades into their mahi, and still guiding the regions growth aspirations with the recent adoption of a 30 Year Strategy setting the direction for a number of regionally significant projects and investments.
Daren Riley squeezed in a quick update on the mahi being done by Āpōpō across digital badges, industry event, the Āpōpō Guide, international partnerships and much more.
