Leaving school at just 16 to help support her family could easily have marked the end of Lexiga (Lexi) Pritchard’s education. Instead, it became the beginning of a remarkable learning journey that has seen the 25-year-old recognised as one of just six recipients nationwide of the 2026 Bunnings Women in Apprenticeships Award. Now a Production […]

New Zealand will keep making its own cement. On 20 July the Government committed up to $60 million to Golden Bay Cement, securing the Portland works near Whangārei and pulling the country back from a future in which every bag and bulk load of cement arrived by ship. The distinction that matters is what the […]

Wellington faces the biggest shake-up to its earthquake rules in a decade, and it lands squarely on the capital’s builders, engineers and building owners. The Building (Earthquake-prone Building System Reform) Amendment Bill is expected to pass before the 2026 election, rewriting how New Zealand handles earthquake-prone buildings. The headline change is time. Councils will be […]

Dunedin’s property market outperforms expectations with numbers catching people off-guard. Fresh data puts the city’s home values up 3.3% over the last year, driven in part by a recovering student population. Christchurch, long seen as the affordable alternative to Auckland and Wellington, has now been overtaken, with its median sale price edging above Dunedin’s for […]

Air New Zealand’s Hangar 4, designed by Studio Pacific Architecture, has claimed the Resene Supreme Award, the highest honour at this year’s Timber Design Awards, at the 51st Gala Dinner hosted by Timber Unlimited. The judging panel called the project a benchmark achievement, praising its blend of innovation and engineering elegance. Built using a combination […]

Dumping construction waste just got more expensive. From July 1, the levy on construction and demolition waste sent to landfill rose from $35 to $40 a tonne, a 14% jump in a single step. Construction and demolition waste makes up 40 to 50% of everything New Zealand sends to landfill, and timber is the single […]