Industry has a role to protect ESOL workers Building Today 1/07/2008 12:47:00 PM Posted by: Jenny Baker New Zealand’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China is a win-win situation for the cooling construction sector. It adds few skilled workers to the industry, while more migrants will stimulate the economy in general, and demand for new housing in particular. But what are the issues facing our ESOL migrant workers, and how do we address them? Jenny Baker reports. [Read the rest of this article...]
'Long stop' provisions: Making sense of the 10-year limitation period in leaky building claims Tim Bates 1/07/2008 12:43:00 PM Written By: Tim Bates and Francesca Collins Tim Bates and Francesca Collins of Auckland law firm Legal Vision focus on the recent case involving limitation periods in a leaky homes proceeding. [Read the rest of this article...]
Future-Proof Building — the consumer story Building Today 1/07/2008 12:41:00 PM Future-Proof Building is designed to educate consumers about how to create a better end result in their building project. Over the next few months Building Today will go into detail about each of the eight icons that make up the Future-Proof Building programme. As a professional in the construction industry, it is important to understand how the programme reaches customers, and how important education is to achieving the required results. Buildings are complicated and, for most people, the b... [Read the rest of this article...]
Web site to become a one-stop shop for information on wood Building Today 1/07/2008 12:37:00 PM Wood generally regarded as one of the most sustainable raw materials [Read the rest of this article...]
Safety plan includes one-on-one safety advisor support Building Today 1/07/2008 12:34:00 PM Identifying a safety system that works for you is not always easy. Businesses have individual needs so it’s fair to say that one system does not suit all. And some systems can bog you down by their overwhelming complexity which can sometimes result in a safety plan gathering dust on the bookshelf or acting as a good doorstop. Site Safe’s Safety by Steps Building Safer Systems is exactly what it says — a system that allows you to work through it step-by-step — a safety... [Read the rest of this article...]
Paralysed former builder backing scaffold safety campaign Building Today 1/07/2008 12:32:00 PM A former builder’s labourer who became a tetraplegic after falling from a building site is helping promote a Department of Labour scaffold safety campaign in Northland and Auckland. Rhett Brown was a hammer-hand on a home construction site in Omaha in 2004 when he broke his neck after falling just 2.2 metres from a makeshift platform. He spent six months in the Otara spinal unit and is now confined to a wheelchair, unable to sit up unsupported. His employers were prosecuted by t... [Read the rest of this article...]
Leaky buildings and legal battles: Is statutory insurance the answer? Building Today 1/07/2008 12:28:00 PM Open Polytechnic law tutor Leigh Thomson takes a look at the statutory insurance scheme that operates in Queensland that covers building defects — including what we refer to as ‘leaky buildings’. [Read the rest of this article...]
Training beats caning Building Today 1/07/2008 12:25:00 PM Mike Anticich, marketing manager of Flashman Flashing Systems Ltd, wonders how respected work ethics have been lost in an industry that has turned down an ‘unsealed, pot-holed track’. [Read the rest of this article...]
Client involvement — the key to satisfaction Building Today 1/07/2008 12:22:00 PM The clients of this Urbo Homes property hit the jackpot with their Whangarei family home, which has all the benefits of living close to town and the luxurious serenity of rural life. Urbo Homes was the national winner of the New Homes $450,000-$600,000 category in the Registered Master Builders 2007 House of the Year, in association with PlaceMakers. The contemporary design of this expansive home satisfied the client’s request for a strong sense of indoor-outdoor flow. The home incorpo... [Read the rest of this article...]
Design Construction delivers excellence Building Today 1/07/2008 12:11:00 PM A seamless marriage of durability and style made this home, designed by Michael Idiens and built by Design Construction, the national award winner for New Homes $600,000 - $1 million in the Registered Master Builders 2007 House of the Year, in association with PlaceMakers. The architecturally-designed contemporary home was built to deliver everything required for inner-city family living, and provide a functional working environment for the owners, who work from home. Design Construction d... [Read the rest of this article...]