The Influencers: Mason Reed
One of the biggest on-going problems facing engineering consultancy firms is the lack of engineering professionals available. This creates problems with resourcing projects and growing businesses. I heard recently that the average age of engineers is 45 and that a lot of the more senior engineers are fast approaching retirement. The reasons are multi-faceted […]
The Influencers: Dr Megan Woods
It was a pleasure to announce the establishment of the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service (GCCRS). After the release of the report of my Independent Ministerial Advisor into EQC earlier in the year, it was clear that more needed to be done to help people who have been waiting for their claims to be […]
The Influencers: Leeann Watson
The council’s decision to recommend to Government that the Multi-Use Arena be funded as the lion-share of the Capital Acceleration Fund allocation caused comment around priorities for Christchurch in the regeneration of the city. However, this is not an example of sacrificing one priority in favour of another. The new arena is a vital […]
The Influencers Column: Tony Mounce
The relatively flat housing market in Christchurch is fuelling interest from first home buyers keen to capitalise on the largely stagnant prices. But buying your first home is far from easy, although KiwiSaver and HomeStart grants are fantastic tools to help get onto the property ladder. A young couple recently came to us to […]
The Influencers Column: John Bridgman
Ōtākaro recently ran a series of walking tours around the central city as part of Explore Christchurch, a campaign to encourage locals to come and see what’s going on in town. With around 300 people joining us across the eight tours, the level of interest surpassed our expectations. At first glance, Te Pae Christchurch […]
The Influencers Column: Ivan Iafeta
The Christchurch City Council recently announced the development of an action plan to increase the pace of regeneration in Christchurch’s city centre. The stimulus was an assessment by Regenerate Christchurch of progress in the central city and five key recommendations regarding leadership, growth, people, activation and implementation. The council’s action plan was also […]
The Influencers Column: Matt Harris
One of the repeated issues that we see in NZ business is the ongoing difficulty in attracting skilled labour. In the construction sector, an area often in the news lately, we are faced with a continual shortage of trained and experienced engineers, architects, planners etc. If left unchecked, this can impact productivity, quality and […]
The Influencers Column: Dr Megan Woods
Following the release of the Independent Ministerial Advisor’s report in June which found that things weren’t up to scratch at the Earthquake Commission, it is great to see some positive changes being made in progressing claims and communication with claimants. Most of these changes have been really practical and directly addressed some of the […]
The Influencers Column: Leeann Watson
One of the key parts to making Christchurch’s downtown a great place to live, work and play is ensuring strong investment from private developers in residential development within the four avenues. Without great projects catering to all sections of the property market, we won’t deliver on the bold ambition to see 20,000 people living […]
Marian Johnson: The Influencers
Most Cantabrians won’t know that they live in a city that boasts the country’s second largest tech sector, contributing around $2.4 billion of GDP and exporting $1.1 billion annually. Next time you’re driving through central city, you might look out for the EPIC Innovation Campus on Manchester Street where more than 250 ICT / high-tech […]
