On Friday 9 August 2024, we had the privilege of using one of the sought-after meeting rooms in Te Kete Aronui – the new community centre in Rototuna, Hamilton. It comprises of not only a spacious comfortable library with café, and busy meeting rooms, but outdoor facilities including a skate park, playground and network of bike and pedestrian walkways and roads to connect the community.
The theme of this event was celebrating our community facilities, parks and open spaces – where our communities connect. We had a bumper presentation line up for this sold-out event.
Helen Paki, GM of Customer and Community for Hamilton City Council opened the event. Northern Branch Chair Parvati Petal was the MC.
Dawie Maritz of AECOM then talked us through the delivery of three key social infrastructure projects with significant impact on the Hamilton community. They were the Victoria on the River, Rotokauri PT Hub and Rototuna Village were we met. AECOM were the civil engineers for project so had an excellent technical knowledge of the challenges and successes as we toured the facility in the afternoon.
View slides: Delivering for communities – AECOM
The Pacific TA Programme which is all about working together for our communities, talking us through some community facility case studies from the Pacific was Sarah Flavall, Senior Asset Management Advisor for the Pacific TA Programme with Taituara If you want to learn more about these projects or get involved though opportunities for short term (1-2 week) visits to support our pacific island neighbours, visit https://taituara.org.nz/pacificta
View slides: Pacific TA Āpōpō Waikato Presentation August 2024
Daren Riley, Āpōpō’s new Sales and Relationship Manager, ran through the learning opportunities available with Āpōpō, as well as the new professional practice programme where asset managers with any training or background can become accredited with Āpōpō as an Asset Management Associate (AMA) or Asset Management Charted Professional (AMCP). Daren also did an overview of the Āpōpō Guide which is included in membership. Email daren.riley@apopo.co.nz with any questions.
Attendees then had the chance to chat and meet others while eating the delicious food provided by the on-site café. Thanks to AECOM for the lunch sponsorship and for keeping this event free to attendees.
Peter Higgs – Āpōpō Life Member
Peter Higgs was recognised as a life member with Āpōpō at this event. He was awarded life membership with the organisation in 2018 following his stint as president of IPWEA NZ, but also held roles of Business Manager and CE. This was a chance to recognise this and hand over his Āpōpō branded pin and certificate surrounded by his peers, as Peter is now the Principal Engineer at the Waipa District Council.
Peter reflected on the significance of the venue for this event – a bike-ride away from his home, his grandkids school over the park, and a facility which he’s frequently visited with the grandkids.
Peter also reflected on the change process which the organisation has been through since he was awarded life membership. When he was involved with the organisation he wanted to get rid of the ‘engineering’ bit as it did not reflect who asset managers are in this day and age. The key change the organisation has been through is embracing te ao Māori. Like the name of the place we were meeting – Rototuna (lake of the eel) – it makes a place unique, connects it with the land and provides a true sense of belonging. The beautiful new name – Āpōpō – and what is means about looking to tomorrow, to our future, and building assets which will stand the test of time and be appreciated by generations to come.
Building a Thriving Community, Te Mana o te Whakehaere Rawa
Abdul Kaggwa of Waikato District Council talked us through his poster which was a finalist in the Āpōpō Congress awards competitions this year. His passionate presentation talked us through the inspiration for the design and the asset management principles it reflects. Plenty of inspiration on how to demonstrate these principles visually. Abdul got everyone standing, participating and wide awake after lunch.
View slides: Building a thriving Community – Abdul Kaggwa
Walkways and cycleways to connect communities through outdoor experiences
Mena Burjony of Danley provided insight into the technical considerations of concrete footpaths. She talked us through how to design and construct walkways and cycleways while providing a safe and appealing environment to encourage communities to connect outdoors and enjoy their park and open spaces experiences. Her fun presentation not only taught us about footpath considerations but also their Instagram equivalents.
View slides: Footpath and Cycleway best practice design and construction methods
There were a network of paths around Te Kete Aronui which we were able to inspect in relation to the points which Mena had presented to us.
Site tour
Rototuna is one of the newest and fastest growing suburbs of Hamilton.
The site tour of Te Kete Aronui with librarian tour guide gave us the user insight into this facility. They were surprised by the volume of bookings they had in the meeting rooms – this is the biggest thing they would change, doubling the number of meeting rooms available.
During the day we saw first-hand the range of demographics using this space: Summerset lifestyle village residents walking on the outdoor tracks and sipping coffee, the toddler and care-giver crew in the morning, then the afterschool rush of skateboards and scooters flowing over the network of tracks on their way home or waiting in the library for their parents. This new space is clearly a much-loved heart of the community already.
Thanks to event hosts Hamilton City Council for their support of this event, and AECOM as the sponsor.
