Back in Time

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20 years ago:

Dr Bill Porteous was appointed chief executive of the Building Industry Authority, a move welcomed by the New Zealand Master Builders Federation.

A senior lecturer in construction at Victoria University in Wellington, Dr Porteous was heavily involved in the Federation’s education and training committee that preceded the establishment of the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO).

He represented the New Zealand Institute of Building on the Standards NZ review committee for the light timber framing standard.

His academic qualifications culminated in a PhD in 1993 which concentrated on building failures in New Zealand. He was especially qualified in the subject of building failures and building pathology.

 

15 years ago:

Major South Island construction company Naylor Love and Auckland’s Akita Group reached an agreement which saw the establishment of a Naylor Love Auckland division and the winding down of Akita Group operations.

Naylor Love has a long history as a prominent contractor in the south. It was established in Dunedin in 1910, and has operations in Dunedin, Queenstown and Christchurch. Akita Group had operated in the Auckland region during the past 30 years.

Naylor Love managing director Trevor Kempton said the move was in line with the company’s strategy of steady sustainable growth.

 

10 years ago:

Increasing section prices had been the major factor in reducing housing affordability over the past decade, according to a BRANZ Group report.

The Changing Housing Need study undertaken by Ian Page, economics manager with BRANZ Ltd, and funded by Building Research, included an analysis of the impact of the key drivers of housing affordability.

The report concluded that the major factor impacting housing affordability had been section prices, which were ahead of interest rates and the cost of new house construction.

“Housing affordability has fallen markedly since 2001 due to a number of factors,” Mr Page said. “The fact that average wages have only increased by an average of 2.2% per year over the past decade has exacerbated this trend. The rising cost of land, with sections increasing by an average of over 14% per year over the past five years, has been the major contributor to the decline in housing affordability.”

 

5 years ago:

The Specialist Trade Contractors’ Federation (STCF), an umbrella group representing the interests of specialist trade contractors in New Zealand, warned that the 400 Mainzeal staff affected by the firm’s collapse was just “the tip of the iceberg”.

The company’s director Richard Yan said Mainzeal, New Zealand’s third largest construction company, could no longer continue trading due to a “series of events that had adversely affected the company’s financial position’’, combined with a general decline in commercial construction activity and lack of shareholder support.

STCF president Graham Burke called for receivers PwC to provide assurances that subcontractors would be treated equitably, and that retentions which had been held by Mainzeal would be paid out.

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