A drone can survey a roof in minutes, but flying it legally over a live site is a job for a certificated operator, not whoever owns the gear On 22 December 2025 the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) updated its rules for drones and advanced aviation, and it has signalled the rules will keep moving. For […]

The most dangerous thing on a construction site is not the fall or the machine. In Australia, construction workers take their own lives at a rate of 25.7 per 100,000, against 14.3 per 100,000 for other employed men, and suicide is by a clear margin the leading cause of death in the trade. New Zealand’s […]

New Zealand has a new largest solar farm, and it took just over a year to knock the last one off the top spot. The Tauhei Solar Farm near Te Aroha in the Waikato was energised in late June and is now exporting into the national grid, with commercial operations expected around September or October. […]

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 […]