We welcomed over 40 asset managers to the recently renovated Hawke’s Bay Regional Economic Development Agency Te Rae building on Friday 2 August to learn from each other, share lessons learnt and network. A huge thank you goes out to the event sponsor, Beca, who sponsored the catering for the event, allowing it to be free for attendees.
The new Āpōpō Bay of Plenty/East Coast Branch Chair, Darren de Klerk, lined up a series of interesting presentations and welcomed everyone to his first event as Branch Chair.
Queen of Infrastructure – Sandra Hazlehurst
The self-appointed “Queen of Infrastructure” herself, Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst was the first presenter. The region has improved its infrastructure from the drinking water crisis in Havelock North to having an award winning drinking water facility and discovery centre. The water discovery Centre – an idea which was brewed-up over a beer, is now built and being experienced by thousands of people, sharing the precious taonga of water with the community. This type of facility and investment is critical to the wellbeing of the community as well as the business community.
A cities assets should include a central business district to be proud of. Hastings District Council has continued to shape and focus the cbd to attract investment.
To read more about their strategy, click here.
The Mayor also shared the recovery efforts and the recent quarterly report on the recovery to date.
Building Resilient Assets: Stop bank rebuild, learnings, and reflections
Next Jon Kingsford from Hawke’s Bay Regional Council talked us through building resilient assets: the stop bank rebuild, learnings and reflections following Cyclone Gabrielle.
The focus in flooding has moved from “control” of water to “mitigation”. Jon shared some invaluable lessons learnt from their experience of this cyclone which was a 1:1,000 year event at certain locations.
The initial response to the 80 stop-bank breaches was 3 months of working 7 days a week, 24/7 intensity in the initial phase working to repair the breach sites.
To manage this huge volume of work a semi-autonomous Pod structure was stood up. Each Pod had a technical lead and contractor and was tasked with site repair. At the peak in work there were 20 Pods in action. In this phase there were also no consents or consulting to speed the protection of life in this recovery.
Jon’s philosophy in this crisis recovery was KISS = keep it strategically simple!
Voluntary Buy-out Scheme
Our next presenter was Gus Charteris, Recovery and Special Projects Manager, Hastings District Council who was involved with the voluntary buy-out program. This was only the second managed retreat program in New Zealand, with the first being in Christchurch after the earthquakes there.
The buy-out office opened on 26th October 2023, and will be closed at the end of 2024. The first step was developing a Category 3 buy out policy, incorporating the lessons learnt from the Christchurch experience. They were lucky enough to have the former Waimakariri CE involved, bringing his lessons from the Canterbury process.
They built their own valuation team – but this was a separate role and not influenced by council in any way. There was a gap in expectation with the team imagining they might get some gratitude from home owners due to the scheme being voluntary, but they had to reset expectations as landowners went through their own process to make peace with the situation they had been dealt.
Lessons Learnt
- The connectors (personal contact with the volunteers and the office) were critical to this process running smoothly.
- Funding was the biggest hurdle, only likely to be available after major events such as a cyclone. This poses the question of whose responsibility managed retreat will be longer term?
Recovery and Resilience Planning at Napier’s Wastewater Plant
Tyler Strombom of Beca and Phil Kelsen of Napier City Council talked us through the wastewater treatment plant impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle.
They showed us dramatic photos of the treatment plant in Awatoto with a high tide mark above waist height, meaning critical pumps and electrical equipment were underwater. Untreated sewerage was going straight through the overflow outlet.
Due to industrial operations also being in the flooded area, the clean up had the additional complications of additional hazardous chemicals in the sludge and silt left behind. It took seven weeks to get the plant back up and running. They talked us through some of the plans they have to mitigate the impact of any future floods.
Waiaroha Water Plant and Reservoir site visit
Graeme Hansen was an excellent tour guide of this facility, which is such an exemplary asset for the district, it is amazing to see the work of infrastructure assets being explained and shared with the public in this way. The project has won awards since being opened, and its easy to see why it’s the discovery centre takes visitors on a journey of the valuable role which wai plays in our lives, and the process it goes through to ensure it does not make those who drink it ill. The council has come a long way since the Havelock North water disaster.
Graeme explained the project process to us. The team worked with local stakeholders including local iwi to come up with a solution for drinking water treatment and storage which all involved can be proud of.
Even the water tanks themselves, the main feature of the site which hold a huge volume of water, are innovative. They are steel tanks imported from the UK which were substantially cheaper than the usual material – reinforced concrete. It also meant that they could be decorated. It was the first time that the tanks had been decorated – in this case with coloured aluminium fins, and this has received international interest as well.
All in all the project was an excellent showcase of asset management intertwining community storytelling. You can read more about the project here.
