By Clare Hamilton

IPWEA NZ and the Land Development Engineering Group (LDEG) committee were pleased to host the Strategic Focus Workshop on subdivision standards on the 22nd of October in Wellington. The workshop was a result of our standards survey issued in July which indicated an appetite to come together as an industry and collaborate on ideas. Around 30 industry experts attended and provided lively and passionate discussion with an aim to produce focused outcomes and actions for the LDEG committee.

Challenges of the job

Land development engineers play an integral part in ensuring development of land is appropriate and constructed to standard. As an industry we must juggle a variety of challenges in our day to day role including:

  • Planning for the future while constructing infrastructure in the here and now.
  • Ensuring the ratepayer gets the best value for money while also ensuring development is feasible.
  • Responding to social, economic and political changes while also aligning with local policies and plans.

These were some of the topics that were discussed at the workshop which helped inform our plan of action.

Priority setting

As a group we identified 3 priorities to focus on:

  1. Quality – Providing high quality, sustainable infrastructure that meets current and future needs
  1. Integration – Taking a more integrated sector approach to regional and national issues
  1. Collaboration – Being easy to work with, creating strong relationships with developers and other stakeholders

The LDEG committee would like to thank those who gave up their time to attend the workshop. The priorities identified have given us direction on where we go from here.

As a committee, we look forward to taking action on your behalf.

Are you keen to hear more or be part of these discussions? Sign up to our LDEG Forum on the 19th and 20th March 2020 in Palmerston North. We will be presenting our outcomes from the workshop and opening the floor to discussion. Come along to get involved. Alternatively, you can email LDEG Chairperson Tony McGlynn at tony.mcglynn@pncc.govt.nz, if you would like to learn more.