EG Issue 5/2018

How now, brown cow?

GPS for cow moods and movement

Issue 5/2018 Worth writing home about Tiny? Timber? Prefab?

Creative ways to address the housing crisis

Something in the air Overhauling airports while keeping the customer satisfied

From great idea to start-up Tips from an engineer who’s made it happen

Awarded Highly Commended in Best Magazine – Trade 2018 by the Magazine Publishers Association

Built on a foundation of team work.

We’re no stranger to collaborating with clients and industry partners on large scale custom projects. Delivering a great outcome through careful planning, collaboration and communication led to us being awarded an ACENZ 2017 Gold Award, alongside our project partners Beca and Inovo for our Skellerup client.

Seeking a construction partner that listens and cooperates? Let’s talk. calderstewart.co.nz

Contents

In this issue

10

16

46 22

10 Worth writing home about Tiny houses, timber solutions and prefab homes are helping address the country’s housing shortage.

16 How now, brown cow? How and why GPS collars are tracking the movements – and moods – of herds.

22 Something in the air The engineering challenges behind large-scale upgrades to fully-functioning airports.

46 Socialising and social conscience: 50 years of Femineers While the social and fundraising group is disbanding, their legacy lives on in scholarship winners.

Features Engineering New Zealand Te Ao Rangahau PO Box 12 241, Wellington 6144 New Zealand P 04 473 9444 hello@engineeringnz.org www.engineeringnz.org GENERAL MANAGER – MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Bridgit Sissons bridgit.sissons@ engineeringnz.org 04 474 8943 EDITOR Jennifer Black editor@engineeringnz.org DESIGN MANAGER Angeli Winthrop ADVERTISING SALES advertising@engineeringnz.org 04 473 9444 SUBSCRIPTIONS hello@engineeringnz.org CIRCULATION ABC audited net circulation for the six months ended 30 September 2018.

New Zealand 13,011 Print ISSN 2537-9097 Online ISSN 2537-9100 EG ONLINE PDF versions of EG are available for members on our website, under My Membership.

PRINTING Your cover is printed on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) approved and elemental chlorine free (ECF) paper.

The inside pages are Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) approved and elemental chlorine free (ECF). EG is printed using vegetable-based inks made from renewable sources. Printing and fulfilment by Printlink.

10 Worth writing home about Tiny houses, timber solutions and prefab homes are helping address the country’s housing shortage.

16 How now, brown cow? How and why GPS collars are tracking the movements – and moods – of stock.

Best practice 36 From great idea to start-up Tips from an engineer who has made it happen.

38 Getting (geo)technical Geotechnical engineering covers a broad spectrum within the overall discipline, but it can be compared to cricket.

40 Engineering expertise for claims resolution Engineering New Zealand is helping strengthen the engineering response to enable Canterbury quakerelated insurance claims resolution.

42 Gas offers solid career options While the number of gas engineers is dwindling, there are still good career options in the industry.

44 Thinking inside the BOKS How will Bodies of Knowledge and Skills be integrated with the assessment process?

Shorts

DISCLAIMER Advertising statements and editorial opinions expressed in EG do not reflect the views of Engineering New Zealand, its members, staff, or affiliated organisations unless expressly stated.

46 Socialising and social conscience: 50 years of Femineers While the social and fundraising group is disbanding, their legacy lives on in scholarship winners.

51 Day in the life A Water Resources Engineer who lives in Auckland but works in Wellington as stormwater design lead on a major expressway.

52 The secret life of engineers By day she’s responsible for the University of Canterbury’s College of Engineering's leadership. But after hours and

This issue of EG was published in December 2018.

weekends, all her hard work has gone to the dogs.

Please recycle your plastic wrap – it’s New Zealand made and 100% biodegradable.

22 Something in the air The engineering challenges behind large-scale upgrades to fully-functioning airports.

28 Next stop: Canterbury A region’s resilience.

55 C-Suite EG talks to Peter Geddes FEngNZ CPEng IntPE(NZ), Structural Director at Whangarei’s Hawthorn Geddes Engineers and Architects.

56 Bedside table With 25 years’ experience on local and international construction projects, Tyrone Newson CMEngNZ IntPE(NZ) reveals the “must reads” that help him succeed at work and beyond.

57 Preview 59 Obituaries 60 Engineering Genius

03

Engineering Envy #3

The Great Wall of China is a series of walls, fortifications, horse tracks and shelters designed to protect against attacks and invasions. The longest structure ever built by humans, it runs from Shanhaiguan in Hebei province in the east and ends at Jiayuguan in Gansu province in the west.

In December 1987, it was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Great Wall of China

Length

Average height

Age

Number of daily visitors

More than 21,000km More than 2,000 years old

Around 8 metres 37,000+ at peak

LET’S DO AMAZING THINGS TOGETHER.

Stand for the Engineering New Zealand Board and help influence the direction of your professional body.

Nominations are open from 6 December until 8 February.

Find out more at www.engineeringnz.org

What they said

Editorial

05

Keep innovation at the core

“It was a civil engineering triumph to get the transport networks reopened by last Christmas. This award is recognition of all that effort.”

NZTA Regional Director Steve Mutton after Kaikoura road and rail rebuild wins Institution of Civil Engineers 2018 People's Choice Award in London.

“EG is a vibrant, welldesigned magazine with wide appeal that’s a great example of what can be achieved with a professional title.”

Judges’ comments at the 2018 Webstar Magazine Media Awards when awarding EG Highly Commended in the Best Magazine – Trade category.

“… a garment that the judges thought was unusual and unique; a wonderful concept, delightfully executed.”

WOW founder and head judge Dame Suzie Moncrieff on mechanical engineer David Kirkpatrick’s winning Bizarre Bra, “Uplifting”.

“New Zealand engineers are world leaders in innovation and invention, at looking at problems and generating solutions.”

Chemical engineer David Platts of PDV Consultants, winner of the 2018 Chemeca Medal.

Nau mai koutou katoa.

Innovation is at the heart of our profession.

I love the focus, and the underlying restlessness, that comes with innovation.

It’s a willingness to change, challenge and disrupt, spurred on by dissatisfaction with the present and a hunger for a better future.

While innovation is central to what we do, it’s not an end in itself. The end, or the why, just happens to be my passion – engineering a better life for New Zealanders. As a profession, and as individuals, everything we do needs to have the “customer” at its core. Whether that customer is one person, communities or cities, engineers have a kaitiakitanga or stewardship role.

With this in mind, housing and its supply, affordability, and choice of style and material remains a huge challenge for New Zealand. Innovation in this sector is incredibly welcome and overdue. We won’t deliver the pace and volume that’s needed if we keep going about it the same way.

Let’s keep the customer in mind as we address this challenge. As a profession, we not only design the house and its elements, we design the communities they’re built or placed in, and how those

people and communities connect. We need to consider the wealthy and the homeless, individuals and families, and differing ethnicities. How will people interact, get to work and leisure activities, plus our impact on the environment.

The initiatives taking place in farming and aviation are also astounding. We’re a trading nation and we need outstanding global connectivity. New Zealand’s commitment to carbon-reduction targets is also driving innovation in both sectors.

This is welcome and has the customers of future generations in mind as well as those of today.

I recently presented at the Global Engineering Conference in London, on “The role of the professional engineer: trusted partner and source of hope”.

Unless our profession partners with the communities it serves, we’re an arm’slength advisor. While source of hope sounds existential, my point is directly linked to innovation. We can do more than mitigate against disruption: we can bounce forward and create better futures.

That’s why innovation must remain at the core of everything we do.

Dean Kimpton FEngNZ President, Engineering New Zealand

06

EG 5/2018

No stranger to seizing opportunities

07

WRITER ALEXANDRA JOHNSON

What we say to strangers has the potential to influence their lives, and for Rebecca Marx CMEngNZ CPEng IntPE(NZ), a chance meeting on a flight 10 years ago has had a

(HVDC) inter-island link,” she says.

“There are so many stages to the project and we need to liaise directly with the contractors quite regularly. Construction

keep in touch with most of the members.

I spoke at a Women in CIGRE conference in China in 2015 and last year we hosted an international CIGRE conference in

significant impact on her career.

should start later this year, with the first transformer commissioned early 2019.”

Rebecca says with engineering, there’s an opportunity to make a change in the world and improve processes.

“I get to help improve the reliability of power throughout the country, I think that’s pretty exciting.”

Other career highlights include being founding Chair of a young members' group of the International Council on Large Electric Systems and the liaison officer on the executive council of CIGRE, a forum for developing and sharing electrical power engineering knowledge.

“It has a reputation for being a bit of an old man’s club,” she says, “but they welcomed me with open arms. It was an amazing experience just two years out from graduating.”

Rebecca became Chair of CIGRE New Zealand, holding the position for four years. She says the networking

Auckland.”

While Rebecca emanates enthusiasm for engineering, she believes additional work is needed to attract and retain more women.

At her all-girls college, students weren’t told about engineering, she says.

“I was the only girl from my year who went on to engineering, and that’s mainly because of Dad. He is a mechanical engineer, so that’s how I even knew it was a possibility.”

As for her recent win, Rebecca was ecstatic.

“It was again one of those moments where I had the gumption to give it a go.

I received lots of comments about my acceptance speech, that I had managed to influence and excite lots of people in the room about engineering, encouraged them to keep following their dreams and challenge the norm.”

As part of her win, in October she travelled to South Korea for the 2018 International Electrotechnical Commission’s IEC Young Professionals Workshop.

Rebecca admits she gives a lot of thought to career progression.

“I want to be the best that I can, keep pushing those barriers.”

She recently opened Mitton ElectroNet’s new Auckland office, built her team and is strengthening client relationships.

“I’m excited to see where that may lead – senior management perhaps – but I’m still keen to keep my technical abilities on

opportunities have been invaluable.

“I received a lot of support and I still

board. I don’t know where it’s going to take me, but I know it’s going to be great.”

“I do not know who he was,” says Rebecca Marx, who recently won the EEA 2018 Young Engineer of the Year Award.

“But I was sitting next to an electrical engineer on a trip from Christchurch to Wellington during university, and he said if he could give me one piece of advice it would be to have gumption. To seize every opportunity that comes along."

Rebecca took his advice.

“I've benefited from so many exciting experiences just because I have gumption.

When opportunities come up at work, I put my hand up. And if I am turned down, that’s fine, at least I asked. But if it is a yes, then there is a new, exciting opportunity and challenge.”

Since graduating from the University of Canterbury, Rebecca’s been involved in a number of electric power transmission projects. After her first job at Beca as a graduate in 2009, she joined Mitton ElectroNet in 2014 and is now a Senior Engineer and Market Leader at their Auckland office. She also heads a segment of the Haywards transformer replacement project.

“It’s an exciting and complicated project that involves every single discipline – primary, protection, secondary, structural, civil. I’m managing it and have a great team of engineers, including a fantastic young engineer who is designing the secondary systems portion.

“The project is a great high-profile opportunity as Haywards substation is part of the high-voltage-direct-current

I've benefited from so many exciting experiences just because I have gumption.

Anything else is just a ‘Channel‘ H

ALFEN N ANCHOR CHANNELS provide safety, reliability and efficiency. They are recognised and trusted worldwide.

Accelerate construction Concrete connections are made rapidly, using a torque wrench only.

No on-site welding or drilling required.

High buildability Accommodate the large tolerances associated with concrete construction.

Maximum safety and reliability Safely used in the tension zone of concrete and will not work loose over time.

Reduced design risk Load tables available for standard conditions. Full engineering support provided for non-standard situations.

Mechanical load transmission Interlocking teeth on channel and T-bolt provide positive transmission of loads in all three planes, including the longitudinal direction.

Fy

Fx

Fx

Fy Fz

HALFEN HZA DYNAGRIP® Toothed anchor channel used with toothed HALFEN T-bolts.

Provides safe three dimensional load capacity and superior dynamic performance.

If you want HALFEN ANCHOR CHANNELS, ensure you get HALFEN ANCHOR CHANNELS. In New Zealand, HALFEN ANCHOR CHANNELS are exclusively available from

North Island: 09 276 2236 South Island: 03 376 5205 Email: info@ancon.co.nz www.ancon.co.nz/halfen

16 How now, brown cow?

22 Something in the air

28 Next stop: Canterbury

Features

10 Worth writing home about

EG 5/2018

Engineering innovations in the residential housing sector are creating new options to help overcome our housing shortage.

WRITER ALEXANDRA JOHNSON

Worth writing home about

10

Feature

11

Cube Cabins' tiny houses come in a range of sizes – the Ohau is the smallest at 20m2.

Photo Š Paul Wheeler

>>

EG 5/2018

12

It’s in the headlines of every national news platform, on the lips of our politicians, and illustrated by the swarms of hopeful tenants and buyers showing up at prospective homes up and down the country. New Zealand has a major housing shortage.

How the shortage can be rectified is the subject of many debates between everyone from policy makers to plumbers, and engineers are playing a key role in the scramble to prompt change in the traditionally conservative residential building sector.

Despite significant challenges, including increasing construction costs, a skills shortage and land scarcity in the main centres, the 2018 National Construction Pipeline Report predicts the number of dwellings consented will increase by 39 percent to a high of 43,000 in 2023.

“It’s a zero-cost, solar-heated slab,” says Matt.

“The super-insulated roof space contains water pipes that capture the natural heat in the rafter cavity, which is then circulated through a series of pipes cast into the insulated concrete floor slab. A solar panel charges a battery that runs the pump and temperature control panel.”

The system maintains the building at an ambient temperature and during summer cooler temperatures are pulled out of the ground into the ceiling space.

While all other components of Cube Cabins are transportable, the solar-heated floor is poured on site.

“We haven’t worked out how to safely transport the solar concrete slab yet,” says Matt, “but we’re working on it.”

While the cabins are constructed using conventional building materials, the company has a zero-waste policy.

It’s a small world

“We have looked into wall panels but they are not yet cost effective and while there is definitely potential for new building materials, right now we find there is a bit of distrust around those new products.”

Matt says local governments are finally coming around to a different way of thinking.

“The new Auckland Unitary Plan is a dream for people like Cube, permitting secondary dwellings and the ability to put transportable structures on site. Smaller multi-use buildings are the way to solve our housing issues and that’s what we are pushing really hard for.”

Tiny homes are one option that have recently gained traction. They’re cute, quick to erect and, if there is land available, affordable.

Christchurch-based Cube Cabins cannot keep up with the demand for their innovative tiny homes, says Managing Director Matt Gorinski.

The homes range in size from a 2.4m by 4.2m cabin, through to the 45-square-metre tiny home, the Dunstan.

Prices range from $12,500 for a basic cabin, through to $105,000, with costs increasing along with size and facilities. The dwellings are prefabricated in a controlled factory environment. If services are accessible, people can move in within just two hours of delivery.

What’s more, unlike many of the country’s chilly homes, they’re warm. Assisted by engineers at Cook Costello, the company has developed an innovative solar heating upgrade that eliminates the need for external heating and cooling systems.

Knock on wood Rotorua-based mechanical engineer John Stulen is passionate about all things timber. Managing Director of Innovatek, an organisation that runs conferences in the forest and wood products industries in New Zealand and Australia, he was also Director of the Forest Industry Engineering Association for 20 years.

John says that unlike in Australia and the USA, New Zealand developers have been slow to adopt engineered timber structures. He is a strong proponent for cross laminated timber (CLT), large structural building panels made from solid pine boards glued together. Because the planed boards are pressed in layers of alternating direction, the product has a high strength-to-weight ratio.

CLT and other engineered wood products can harness the power of Building Information Modelling (BIM), a 3D model-based design and management process.

This brings much of the work into a controlled factory environment, providing solid floor, wall, ceiling and roof elements.

“Coupled with the computer-generated machining used to finish it, it provides accuracy for the fitting of all subsequent building components including windows, plumbing and electrical.

“The main benefits of CLT are its stability and low weight, while being easy to work into earthquake-resistant structures for multi-residential and commercial building

>>

Feature

13

1

2

4

3

1. Cube Cabins' tiny homes range in size from 20m2 to 45m2.

2. Cube Cabins are insulated with natural Earthwool and exceed Building Code standards.

3. Gas supply for water heating and cooking.

4. Floor plan for Cube Cabins' two-bedroom Dunstan model.

>>

EG 5/2018

14

structures. There is also a reduced requirement for on-site fabrication, which reduces build times on congested and busy sites in crowded city environments.”

John regrets CLT has not been used to assist in the Christchurch rebuild, as he says it’s ideal for the rapid erection of fast, safe and quality construction of emergency housing on a range of challenging sites.

“Despite the knowledge and experience available in the timber design and engineering communities, owners of large buildings in the region have been conservative in their use of insurance funding to build in traditional concrete and steel.”

He disagrees with concerns about CLT’s fire resistance, sound transmission through floors, and potential for water damage, which have sometimes held back its use.

John says CLT can be cost effective for single residential

Provided the right quality systems are in place, the building has the potential to not only be built faster, but also better.

dwellings where access to the building site is difficult or expensive.

“It offers the chance to manufacture structures offsite and use a crane to quickly install finished building components.”

Also, where a residential unit is added on top of an existing city building and the cost of pouring concrete and erecting steel would close the local streets for too long, he believes CLT is a better and lower cost option.

“For an average house, CLT is more expensive than light timber framing but it can be effective for flooring on steep sites in conjunction with traditional wood framing.”

In the past three years, CLT use has grown considerably and Housing New Zealand has been adopting it to help deliver its ambitious housing plan.

“They have now constructed six projects of 10–12 unit apartment blocks where CLT has delivered the speed, accuracy and capacity they needed in a tight labour market.”

An award-winning, 231-bedroom Otago Polytechnic building in Dunedin is the first student accommodation complex of its size to use prefabricated CLT panels. The material has also been used in the construction of the new Nelson-Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) and Bealey Lodge Backpackers Hostel in Christchurch.

John says there are now several teams of professionals experienced in CLT, including architects and structural engineers, working in a few regions around the country.

“These alliances have been built on successful smaller projects where shared trust has been built. They do not shout their successes from the rooftops, but their reputations are growing. These successes are in stark contrast to the traditional, design-bid-build model used for steel and concrete projects that has forced too much risk into one part of the supply chain.”

Off-site construction

and testing new systems. He is co-Chair of PrefabNZ, which advocates for off-site design and construction.

Tim says the construction sector has experienced flat productivity for the past 60 years and the industry cannot meet the housing demand unless the delivery model is changed.

“By shifting the workforce off-site, we can increase the productivity of each worker. And with sensible use of automation and machinery, we can achieve further gains," he says.

"We also know that when buildings are built in controlled conditions using a systemised approach, the quality of the building can be much higher.

“Provided the right quality systems are in place, the building has the potential to not only be built faster, but also better.”

Despite being an advocate for change, he is not convinced wholesale disruption is the right answer.

“But an integrated approach that draws on the wisdom of the past and integrates that with modern thinking and capabilities will lead to the changes we need.”

He says with prefabricated building, engineering innovations involve integrating a mechanical design philosophy with civil engineering thinking.

“Prefabrication is not traditional civil construction. The integration of manufacturing principles means there is a lot that can be borrowed from mechanical designers.”

Tim says Holmes Solutions is using cross-disciplinary teams, coupled with testing, to develop new construction technologies aimed at reducing costs and accelerating construction times.

He says talking about prefabrication as a future solution is no longer relevant as it is already mainstream in many developed economies.

“In the likes of Scandinavia, Europe and Japan, prefabrication is just how it’s done. When we also start taking the better quality, lower cost and greater efficiency

Civil engineer Tim Porter leads Holmes Solutions’ construction team, focusing on inventing, designing

it offers as a given, New Zealand’s housing situation will be in a much better place.”

– Tim Porter

>>

Feature

15

1

2

1. The new NMIT Arts and Media building with advanced damageavoidance earthquake design in the form of rocking timber walls. Photo: Aurecon

2. University Hall in Auckland.

"Pods" were fabricated off-site and slotted into the building’s frame.

Photo: Holmes Solutions

Wood makes you feel good Homes, workplaces and even medical centres with wooden interiors provide multiple physiological and psychological benefits, according to PlanetArk’s report Wood – Nature Inspired Design. The report says wooden interiors help reconnect people with nature, and health benefits include: —— reduced blood pressure, heart rate and stress levels —— improved emotional state and level of self-expression —— improved air quality through humidity moderation.

16

EG 5/2018

Feature

17

How now, brown cow?

WRITER MATT WINTHROP

In Waikato dairy country, an algorithm is changing how farming is done. It’s where the paddock meets coding – and Silicon Valley’s interested.

>>

18

EG 5/2018

New Zealand has a strong legacy in farming innovations.

The milk meter, the automated milk system and electric fencing for livestock control were all dreamt up by Kiwis and helped revolutionise farming.

The innovations continue and are being increasingly recognised. San Francisco-based Startup Genome, an organisation that benchmarks start-up communities globally, says New Zealand is one of four places to watch for agritech solutions in 2018, alongside Silicon Valley, Boston and Amsterdam.

One company providing these innovative solutions is Halter, whose technology allows dairy farmers to remotely control and track their herds. The agritech invention, dubbed the “cowgorithm”, is a GPS-enabled collar that fits around a cow’s neck. It uses artificial intelligence to selfherd stock around the farm while gathering data about a

When you train an animal, you need to be patient, very repeatable and consistent – these are all things software is really good at, and humans are bad at.

– Craig Piggott

cow’s behaviour, emotional state and health. And it’s all linked up to a farmer’s phone.

The idea behind the technology is “fenceless farming”, explains Halter’s Chief Executive and founder, Craig Piggott.

“It’s about making a farmer’s life easier. If you can somehow remove the need for a post, a wire, a gate or a dog to control cows, you can really start to change things.

“When you train an animal, you need to be patient, very repeatable and consistent – these are all things software is really good at, and humans are bad at.”

In much the same way as cows respond to a human voice, or a dog’s bark, the device works by sending cues, such as warning sounds or vibrations, to control an animal’s movements. It means farmers can manage their herd from their phone or tablet, doing everything from guiding stock between paddocks, detecting cows showing signs of poor health, or moving individual animals out of harm’s way.

“If you’re a farmer with 1,000 cows, it’s really hard to know what’s happening with each of them. Putting a device on every cow, we know straight away whether one’s acting strangely.”

Craig says the technology can even help prevent the spread of Mycoplasma bovis by not allowing animals within a couple of meters of a boundary fence, stopping cow-to-cow contact between farms.

Craig came up with the idea while studying mechanical engineering at the University of Auckland and working part-time at Rocket Lab. He’d grown up on a Waikato dairy farm, so had a fair understanding of the sector.

“The biggest single problem on any dairy farm today is labour,” Craig says, adding it’s a really tough job and the pathway from coming in as a farm worker to farm ownership is bigger than ever.

“To a lot of people, when you start out working 80-hour weeks on a farm, that pathway almost looks impossible

Because so much of dairy farming centres on controlling or guiding the location of a cow, Craig saw the enormous potential for software to solve the problem.

“The value proposition is we can give back hours of a farmer’s day so they don’t have to walk behind the cow. We can do a huge amount of their day-to-day work for them.

They can wake up in the morning and the cows are already at the milking shed.”

Craig did his research, talking to farmers around the North Island and using his family's farming contacts before raising the capital to develop the technology.

Relatively early in the piece, his boss at Rocket Lab, Peter Beck, came on board as an investor.

Peter sits on Halter’s board and Craig describes him as an invaluable mentor who has taught him so much.

Halter has been growing exponentially in two short years. There are around 25 staff and counting, including engineers, scientists and animal behaviour experts.

The company operates out of headquarters in central Auckland and has a development farm near Morrinsville where technology is tested.

Still in his early 20s, Craig and the rest of his mostly young staff are keen to invest a large chunk of their careers into the venture with the hope it becomes a massive, global company.

“We’d all be pretty disappointed if we become a Waikato success story but that’s it.”

This year, Halter raised $8 million from Silicon Valleybased Data Collective. The money will be used to commercialise the devices.

“We’ve proven the tech could work. Now the priority is taking everything we know that works, and we’ve seen it work on our development farm every day, and scaling it. We’ve been taking pre-orders for sign-ups of pilots

and the incentive to work really hard drops off. Farmers also find it hard to recruit good labour.”

on other people’s farms, so we’re just arranging the manufacturing of these devices.”

>>

Feature

1

19

2

3

4

1. "Cowgorithm", Halter's central control algorithm allows farmers to remotely manage their herd from a smart device.

2. Halter's development base, located on their pilot farm in Waikato. Photo: Halter

3. Integration of AgBox and Halter technology, with dashboard showing stock movement.

Image: GPS-it

4. The Halter bands emit sensory cues to guide cows around the farm.

Photo: Halter

>>

EG 5/2018

20

>> GPS-it's field set-up uses ground control points and drone imagery for farm mapping. Photo: GPS-it

The devices need to be easy to manufacture and able to last for several years out in the open on the farm. This means classic engineering challenges: durability and reliability. Craig says the company has recently started building the devices in China. The next step is real life usage.

“The expectation is we’ll be rolling this out on a bunch of farms early next year.”

have worked in isolation, today it’s all about collaboration.

“Historically, there’s always been multiple offerings of different software applications that all work independently. Now, there’s a real appetite within the agritech community to be more open and work together to provide better information sharing, complementary products and a common platform – which can only benefit the farming sector.”

“The rebirth of agriculture”

What do farmers think?

It’s not just dairy farms benefiting from agritech innovations. With a bachelor’s degree in natural resource engineering and a master’s in agricultural engineering, Matt Flowerday founded GPS-it 17 years ago. The Tauranga-based GPS mapping company’s first clients were kiwifruit orchards but it has since grown into a major software development provider that services the agricultural and horticultural industries in New Zealand and internationally.

It’s now forming partnerships with a major player in Silicon Valley and looking to tailor its technology for the United States.

Matt says these are exciting times for agritech.

“We’re seeing the rebirth of agriculture.”

He says there are many ways new technology is continuing to improve farming practice, along with the big opportunities that exist for Kiwi innovators who want to expand into much larger markets like the United States.

However, as technology continues to evolve, there is a need for common platforms.

“With the likes of Halter, what they’re doing is mapcentric, so how do we provide the ability to share the

Vice-President of Federated Farmers Andrew Hoggard farms around 560 cows in the Manawatu and says he sees many farmers taking advantage of the efficiencies technology is creating.

“Most farmers, particularly those of the next generation, are open to using new technology and see its usefulness in terms of cost and time savings.

Take a water system on the farm, for example.

“If you’ve got a broken trough, the first thing you’ll notice is you’ve got no water because the tank’s empty. Then you rush around trying to fix it, followed by several days trying to play catchup.

“But if you’ve got technology that’s monitoring water flow, you can diagnose the problem and get onto it before something breaks, saving you a huge amount of time.”

A big challenge for farmers is connectivity, he says.

Much of what’s on offer relies on cellular coverage, posing problems for farms that are out of range.

He reiterates Matt Flowerday’s point about needing common platforms.

“We all run various computer programmes and it feels like you put the same data into half-a-dozen different

various information on other applications?”

He says whereas in the past, agritech companies would

platforms. If you’re going to invest in hardware on your farm, you want it to all be able to work together.”

Our commitment At MAS, we’re committed to doing what we can to make a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of future generations of New Zealanders, and to a more sustainable country.

It’s why we’ve implemented a socially responsible investing approach across $1.4 billion of superannuation funds and insurance reserves and do not invest in the manufacture and sale of armaments, tobacco, or the exploration, extraction, refining and processing fossil fuels.

Talk to us about our socially responsible Retirement Savings and KiwiSaver plans today by calling 0800 800 627 or visit mas.co.nz

WIRELESS CONCRETE SENSORS Monitor (early real time) development of concrete temperature and strength with SmartRock2TM wireless concrete sensors.

0800 422 692 | www.canzac.com

22

Time flies: the proposed vision of Auckland Airport 2040. Image: Auckland Airport

EG 5/2018

Feature

23

Something in the air

WRITER MATT PHILP

Large-scale airport upgrades are underway in New Zealand to help meet an increasing demand in air travel. These pose massive engineering challenges, not just because passengers still have places to go while work's being done.

>>

EG 5/2018

24

Around the world, airport companies, airlines and governments are getting to grips with a boom in the number of people flying. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects 7.2 billion passengers to travel in 2035, near doubling the 3.8 billion air travellers in 2016.

This explains the profusion of airport upgrades underway in various countries, including New Zealand, where Wellington and particularly Auckland stand out for sheer scale. Airport redevelopments are inherently demanding because of the nature of the sites. As the following accounts make clear, they can also pose some unique engineering and project-management challenges.

City of… Wings Auckland Airport’s huge upgrade is expected to top $2 billion over the next five years. It’ll involve the

“There have been a lot of challenges that have revealed themselves as latent issues in the existing building,” he says.

“There are discrepancies in floor levels, and in structural, fire protection and building services systems.

We have the as-built materials, drawings and documents, which theoretically describe the conditions, but often there are discrepancies between those and the actual situation. In those cases, it’s a matter of the team responding to surprises as they arise.”

Some legacy features such as disused stairs have already been removed. In some instances, that involved cutting up concrete features and taking them out through the roof.

“There’s a lot of very clever thinking here in terms of the challenges that you have to respond to in existing

construction of a new domestic jet terminal integrated with its international counterpart, new piers and roads, a revamped international departures area and security areas. There’ll also be a general refresh of almost every possible feature of the airport experience. It is a massive vote of confidence in the future, premised on the need to accommodate 40 million passengers and 260,000 flights a year by 2040.

But with a project of such scale come significant challenges – not least, the demands on an alreadystressed Auckland construction sector.

“We’re very mindful of the market’s capacity to respond to the size of our programme, so we’re looking carefully at how we stage and size our work packages,” says André Lovatt, General Manager Airport Development & Delivery at Auckland Airport.

Equally demanding is how you pull off a project like this while also maintaining a fully operational airport – a bit like having to make your bed while lying in it. Every day, 55,000 travellers move through the airport’s two terminals.

“Auckland Airport takes very seriously the impact of the construction work on the passenger experience, and planning for that is an explicit consideration in the design process,” André says.

“What we’ve tried to do wherever possible is to segregate work areas from public areas, by physical separation, and by managing noise and dust. We also try to make sure certain sequences of work occur at periods when traffic is lower. For example, managing crane lifts is a function of what aircraft movements are happening on the airfield, how many passengers are going to be in the terminal and how much traffic we have on the forecourt.

It’s a very integrated process.”

In his previous position as Chief Executive of the Christchurch Arts Centre, André led the restoration of that quake-struck complex. Auckland’s 1977 international terminal may not have the heritage cachet, but it comes

buildings. We’ve done some incredibly significant lifts with cranes, including lifting 32-tonne steel trusses over the international terminal roof. When you consider the fact that it’s a ‘live’ terminal, with people and planes moving in and out, those tasks are pretty mind-boggling.”

with its own legacy issues that further complicate the upgrade.

new 10-storey structure at Wellington Airport however, straightforward is the last word you’d use.

When you consider the fact that it’s a ‘live’ terminal, with people and planes moving in and out, those tasks are pretty mind-boggling.

– André Lovatt

A big, difficult job then, but a vital one for the airport.

“This upgrade will fundamentally change the quality of the experience of a traveller,” he says.

“It’s about better and faster journeys, about providing a much more relaxing environment for people when they travel and enabling airlines to serve New Zealand in a far more efficient and connected way.”

Planes and automobiles More travellers means more cars, and the issue of where to put them. On the face of it, a carpark should be relatively straightforward to build. In the case of the

>>

Feature

25

1

2

1. Construction of Auckland Airport's Pier B extension.

Photo: Auckland Airport 2. Artist's impression of the passenger lounge and retail hub at Auckland Airport's international departures lounge. Image: Auckland Airport

>>

26

EG 5/2018

>> The refreshed Emirates A380 lounge and bar, engineered to create more social seating arrangements and inspired by private yacht cabins.

Photo: AIM Altitude

It’s what’s inside that counts AIM Altitude is an aircraft cabin specialist headquartered in the United Kingdom, with busy Auckland and Christchurch offices. In a previous incarnation it played a key role in Air New Zealand’s world-first development of an economy seat that converts into a bed for two, among other innovations.

Michael Pervan FEngNZ, Managing

cabin design. For example, the advent of ultra long-haul flights.

“Technology is going to be pushed as we work to create more space and an environment conducive to such long flights,” Michael says.

“And as planes fly further, people will also need more functionality in cabins.

We’re working on that in collaboration with the airlines and aircraft manufacturers.”

It’s a highly specialised field with onerous regulations.

“A cabin interior is an integral part of the whole aircraft safety system,” says Michael.

“Take something like a closet for example, which you wouldn’t think is a particularly challenging thing to design and put in an aeroplane. Yet it has to be able to take enormous crash loads. It’s not

to harm a passenger in any way, which means it can’t have any sharp edges. It can’t break and it can’t have any elements that would prevent a passenger escaping a plane – and that’s just a closet.”

It also has to be lightweight, a fundamental requirement of aircraft interiors, while being built from a limited palette of acceptable materials. Most cabin panels have a honeycomb core beneath a skin of either fibreglass or carbon fibre, impregnated with resin. It’s a combination that is stiff, light and capable of resisting high temperatures and abuse.

So, what’s next in cabin interior design?

New technologies such as 3D printing, for a start. And, in the long term, new challenges, as super-sonic and nearspace travel become increasingly feasible.

“The challenges that will bring to

Director of the New Zealand division, says developments in air travel are driving

allowed to deflect more than an inch and it’s not allowed to burn. It’s not allowed

interiors, and to passengers’ bodies… well, it’s exciting for us.”

Airports are growing larger and more sophisticated, and aircraft faster. But what about aircraft interiors?

Feature

Part of a larger airport redevelopment that also includes a new concourse and a 134-room hotel, soon to be followed by a major upgrade of the main terminal building, the project arrived on the drawing board not long after the Canterbury earthquakes. As a result, questions about the seismic performance of reinforced concrete buildings in Christchurch were very much in the air when WSP Opus was commissioned in 2014.

“The simple solution to some of the complications from Christchurch would have been just to build in structural steel, but that didn’t provide the client a good long-term maintenance outcome,” says Carl Ashby FEngNZ CPEng IntPE(NZ), Manager of Structural Engineering for WSP Opus in Wellington. He describes the site as unforgiving, prey to intense and salt-laden winds off the harbour and Cook Strait.

WSP Opus looked at the pros and cons of a steelbraced building versus concrete, determining that reinforced concrete was considerably more costeffective. Concrete also allowed the big spans required for the bus terminal planned for underneath the carpark building. Having settled on concrete, the question then became how to deal with the damage issues seen in Christchurch.

The answer was a hybrid building in which reinforced concrete moment-resisting frames are coupled with replaceable steel buckling-restrained braces (BRBs), which help withstand earthquake-induced loading.

Designed using the direct displacement method, the building is a New Zealand-first, says Carl.

The raft foundation chosen by WSP Opus over more conventional – and expensive – 30-metre deep-drilled piles is also innovative.

“It’s a beast,” Carl says of the 4050-square-metreraft, which spans areas of potential liquefaction. In addition, the building was constructed using outsized precast units, including some double cruciform units weighing 24 tonnes.

That strategy was coined in response to the difficulties of the location. Larger units means fewer units to move, a handy advantage when you’ re building beside a busy airport accessed by a state highway.

“In terms of the movement of people and traffic management, this would rate as the most complex project I’ve ever worked on. Every single critical transport flow goes through that northern end,” says Carl. He adds that the adjacent concourse redevelopment had its own headaches involving navigating existing underground services, plus staging challenges.

“The innovation there was how we put it all together: everything was done in 3D BIM modelling, every in situ stitch and precast element was modelled.”

27

1

2

1. Buckling-restrained brace on mezzanine floor of Wellington Airport's new carpark.

2. Construction of the ground floor of Wellington Airport carpark. Photos: Stanley Chung/WSP Opus

EG 5/2018

28

Next stop: Canterbury

A region’s resilience

Canterbury population

539,436 Canterbury land area

25,252 km

2

Engineering New Zealand Branch membership

4,361 Did you know…

Canterbury’s first school was opened in Lyttelton in January 1851 by the Reverend Henry Jacobs with just 12 pupils – all boys. The following year it moved over to Christchurch and is today known as Christ’s College.

Feature

29

WRITER JENNIE CLARKE With Canterbury commemorating the eighth anniversary of the February 22 earthquake in 2019, the region has been in rebuild mode for a long time. But with the rebuild comes the opportunity for innovation and engineering firsts aimed at enhancing resilience and facilities.

Engineering an electricity network Located two kilometres south east of Christchurch’s CBD, Lancaster Zone Substation is a key link in the city’s electricity network. Its resilience was sorely tested in Canterbury’s 2010 and 2011 earthquake sequence when the structural integrity of the 66kV switchyard raft pad was compromised by ground movement. But its electrical connections remained intact and continued to supply power to parts of the city.

However, while the substation performed as designed, it was unlikely to do so in another quake without a major fix.

During remedial works, it was paramount to keep the electricity supply going. An innovative, fast-tracked, design-and-build solution saw the existing outdoor 66kV switchyard converted to a 450-square-metre indoor facility over a 12-month period.

This two-stage rebuild meant demolishing and rebuilding half the site while keeping the other half operational. It enabled the substation to continue to support the sub-transmission interconnection across the city, while the indoor substation improved asset security and aesthetics and brought greater operational benefits.

These included more equipment protection and an allweather maintenance capability.

Challenging ground conditions demanded an innovative remediation solution in the form of deep soil mixing, with almost 600 grout-injected columns installed over the building site in a matter of weeks. This was quicker and more cost-effective than deep piling or excavation-and-fill options. The columns’ clay-like consistency also future-proofed the site in terms of ease of additional underground cable installation.

An innovative cable annex allowed connection of one of the site’s 66kV cables to the now-indoor switchgear without expensive cable extensions and incorporates a lifting beam to assist with otherwise unwieldly cable terminations. >>

EG 5/2018

30

Engineering a library Tūranga is Christchurch’s new $102 million, five-storey central library, standing pride of place on the corner of Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square. It opened in October and the striking, 10,000-square-metre building is already a landmark. Its novel structural design was recently acknowledged with an Engineering New Zealand Innovation in Canterbury Award.

It’s the largest public library in the South Island, engineered to exacting performance criteria. The building has been designed to IL3-plus structural integrity.

From the beginning, this project was about thinking differently. It was about combining diverse structural systems, some developed after the earthquakes, to provide cost-effective and robust solutions.

For example, there’s the dual seismic load resisting system. This is a perimeter moment-resisting steel frame combined with post-tensioned low-damage “rocking” shear walls, providing 30 percent and 70 percent of seismic load resistance, respectively.

The 25-metre-high tilt panel concrete walls were cast on site. Weighing 140 tonnes and precise to 20 millimetres of vertical tolerance, these are some of the largest engineered pre-fabricated panels in the world.

Post-tensioning steel strands, anchored off the foundations to the top of each panel, each exert a clamping force of around 1,000 tonnes. Essentially, if that force is overcome in an earthquake the building is “allowed” to rock. The force, or the strands, will return the wall to its original position during and after the quake.

Structural damage is minimised, avoiding levels of damage that would result in potential injury and prevent future use of the building.

Additional state-of-the-art energy dissipation is provided by replaceable u-shaped flexural plates in column-wall-column cores and, uniquely, high-forceto-volume dampers attached to the base of each wall.

surface liquefaction ejecta and overall settlement effects under buildings will be suppressed or “blanketed out” by the columns, with a resulting simplified foundation design.

Formal design began in April 2017 with building consents for foundations, and for the structures and envelope issued in July and September, respectively.

QEII park is already home to the new $38.6 million QEII Park Recreation and Sport Centre. By term two of 2019, it will also accommodate more than 2,000 high school students in a state-of-the-art learning environment.

This includes a two-theatre performing arts centre, four full-size sports fields with a 400-metre running track and three full-size gymnasiums. There's also a café, a fullyequipped commercial teaching kitchen and an outdoor "hard technology" space for large projects such as building garden sheds or decks.

Engineering tourism

An 11.5-hectare education boost for Christchurch’s eastern suburbs has been dubbed a “super-campus”.

The project will see two of the city’s most quake-affected secondary schools, Avonside Girls’ High School and Shirley Boys’ High School, co-located at QEII Park. That’s the former site of the now-demolished, 1973-built, QEII sports stadium.

The first step was resolving the below-ground challenges. Christchurch’s eastern suburbs were badly affected in the February 2011 earthquake. Liquefaction in that area alone produced around 400,000 tonnes of silt – the equivalent of 1,200 jumbo jets each fully laden for take-off.

A tight grid of aggregate stone columns compact and

Lyttelton Port's getting ready to welcome some of the world’s largest passenger ships, with construction of its replacement cruise ship wharf underway. It has been unable to accommodate cruise ships since the Canterbury earthquake sequence, with mid-sized vessels travelling to Akaroa to berth.

The anticipated cruise ships are huge. They’re known as Oasis-class vessels, 360 metres long, 72 metres high, 60 metres wide, and with 100,000 tonnes displacement.

Three 26,800 horsepower stern thrusters drive six-metre diameter propellers, while four 7,380 horsepower bow thrusters assist with docking.

Locating a state-of-the-art, 21st-century berth adjacent to the mole presents a very real risk to that 100-year-old, hand-built, horse-and-cart hauled structure. When it was constructed it's likely nobody would have imagined it needing to withstand the forces of a modern-day vessel. Extensive investigations and researching the port company’s site knowledge were key to unravelling this geotechnical and structural conundrum.

Harbour ground conditions required 900-millimetre diameter tubular steel piles driven to depths of 60 to 70 metres, creating a significantly seismically resilient wharf.

Taking berthing and mooring loadings into account, scour protection features high as an engineering design priority. This is provided by rock and possibly an interlocking nylon mesh rock bag system.

Then there will be 150-tonne bollards to secure foothold, even in the strongest nor’wester.

Another aspect of this project is a comprehensive marine-mammal monitoring programme.

There's also the logistics of disembarking up to 6,000 passengers into a busy, working port to consider.

The project is set to be completed in November 2020,

consolidate the ground, rammed to about six metres over the entire building footprint. In future earthquakes,

anchoring Christchurch as a cruise destination well into the future.

Engineering education opportunities

>>

Feature

1

3

Thanks to these contributing engineers: Lancaster Zone Substation Rebuild: David Solloway CMEngNZ, Technical Director and Colin Pearson, Senior Associate, both of Beca; Tūranga Christchurch Central Library: Tim Shannon CMEngNZ, Technical Director, Lewis Bradford Consulting Engineers; Avonside Girls’ Shirley Boys’ High Schools’ Co-location: Robert Lane, Associate, Lewis Bradford Consulting Engineers; New cruise ship berth, Lyttelton: Letitia Drury MEngNZ, Southern Regional Manager, Beca.

31

2

4

1. Blended view of the Lancaster Zone Substation, combining the 3D design model and the final outcome. Image: Beca 2. Tūranga, Christchurch’s new central library. Photo: Christchurch City Council 3. 3D render of the relocated Avonside Girls’ High School and Shirley Boys’ High School campuses at QEII Park. Image: ASC Architects 4. Construction of Lyttelton Port's new cruise ship wharf.

Photo: Johnny Sutherland, Vector Charlie Charlie

Snapshot Holmes Solutions are the engineers behind AJ Hackett’s catapult bungy that recently launched in Queenstown’s Nevis Valley. The engineering consultancy led the design, development, testing and protection of the system, from the customised harness to the catapult trolley. Photo: AJ Hackett/Holmes Solutions

10

YEAR

warranty available

JOINT FREE SLABS An innovative method for large areas of slab on grade.

• Save on materials and construction cost • Save on time and labour • Prevent additional maintenance

0800 422 692 | www.canzac.com

38 Getting (geo)technical

40 Engineering expertise for claims resolution

42 Gas offers solid career options

44 Thinking inside the BOKS

Best practice

36 From great idea to start-up

36

EG 5/2018

From great idea to start-up Engineers are known for their great ideas, and great ideas can turn into great businesses. But how do you make that happen? Co-founder and Lead Engineer of online investment platform Sharesies, Martyn Smith, shares his story.

What is Sharesies?

It’s an online investment platform that aims to break down some of the barriers to investing, giving people with $5 the same investment opportunities as someone with $500,000.

How did the idea come about?

In 2016, one of the co-founders, Sonya Williams, had $50 in her wallet that she was keen to invest, but most investing required a minimum deposit of $500. She wanted something that gave people with a small amount of money the same access to investments as those with a lot, and the idea for Sharesies was born.

How did the seven co-founders meet and get involved?

Most of us didn’t really know each other before Sharesies started, but we had various connections from working at Kiwibank and Xero. I knew Leighton Roberts through playing in the Wellington Brass Band. We all got in a room together and Sonya explained the concept and we were hooked.

What are the benefits of having so many co-founders?

It’s unusual but it’s been one of the best things about starting Sharesies. We all have very clearly defined roles and we’re all in it together. I can concentrate on my area of expertise – development – while another person is looking after marketing

and someone else is negotiating with fund managers.

What is the leadership structure at Sharesies?

As we grow, it's inevitable we're going to need more of a hierarchical structure.

With our current staff numbers though, the feel is still very democratic and we want a culture where everyone will feel comfortable challenging anything they feel needs it.

Did you invest your own money in the start-up?

We were part of the inaugural Kiwibank Fintech Accelerator Programme, which provided us a bit of money to get started.

While we didn’t invest our own money, we invested significant chunks of our time, initially working for free.

What were some of the biggest challenges establishing Sharesies?

We were looking to disrupt the financial services industry, which has been traditionally dominated by large, slowmoving companies with some quite fixed ideas about how things should be. Initially, we had quite a hard time convincing people it was even possible, let alone viable as a business.

What was the biggest engineering challenge establishing Sharesies?

When we decided to become a Pie Investor Proxy (PIP) and manage tax on our customers’ behalf. I not only needed to build a rock solid technical solution to track everything down to fractions of a cent, I also needed to learn a lot about how tax worked, in a very short space of time.

This involved a lot of talking with domain experts and translating some legacy

Best practice

processes into something that could scale to processing tax for our customers automatically.

critical parts of the platform and making sure they were bulletproof, both from a security and a data-loss perspective. With that in place, we were quite comfortable

What is your point of difference from your competitors?

A combination of accessibility and engagement. We’ve worked hard on making it easy to sign up to Sharesies and make your first investment. We then continue to engage customers to help them learn new concepts and keep up the motivation for investing.

as the roll-out progressed. We definitely had glitches, but because we were in beta, or testing phase, our customers were prepared to cut us a bit of slack while we got them sorted.

Was there a “template” you followed to set up the business?

Most people advise having two or three founders, so we were going against the norm right from the start. No two start-ups are the same so I’m not sure a template could really exist. We took plenty of advice from a wide variety of people then had to decide which pieces to follow and which to challenge.

Did you have any mentors or business advisors?

All the founders came from established careers and were highly skilled at what they did. That said, there were countless things we had to do that we’d never done before (I know more about tax now than I’d care to admit). Advisors and mentors were crucial and they’ve played a significant part in getting us where we are.

What’s your biggest challenge now?

Trying to find that optimum balance of maintaining everything we’ve already built while trying to keep a healthy focus on growth and new features. It’s important we maintain focus on security as BAU. Creating investor confidence is really important as we’re looking after a lot of their money.

What workload can people expect establishing a start-up?

We worked hard at maintaining a good work/life balance. You hear about some start-ups where everyone works 80-hour weeks just to get through their tasks.

That was never us. I think it’s one of the advantages of having seven founders.

I had one focus and that was to build a secure platform.

How long was it from idea to first customer?

We worked on the project for around six months before we started accepting customers onto the platform. The Chief

How do you stay ahead of the curve and continue to grow?

We all read, talk to people and experiment with new technologies. Decisions I make as an engineer are often a compromise with many competing factors. The secret to continuing to grow is always being aware of what compromises you’re making, then acknowledging that next week those compromises will be

Technology Officer and I spent a lot of time before launch deciding on the most

different. In short, always be prepared to be flexible.

37

Along the way…

Best decision...

Basing our model on a “write-only” mentality, ie if we detect an error or anomaly we never change historical records, we always write new records with the correction.

I wish I’d known...

What I know now about investment and finance. I feel like I’ve spent my life earning money and not really understanding the power of what it could be doing for me.

Biggest surprise...

After being head-down building the minimum product for launch, we finally surfaced, and the team said: “Great, here’s a few thousand people ready to give it a whirl.”

Top tip…

Find some other passionate people to flesh out your team. There’s no way Sharesies could have become what it is today with engineering alone.

EG 5/2018

38

Getting (geo)technical

Opinion Camilla Gibbons is the newest recruit of the New Zealand Geotechnical Society management committee. A Chartered Geologist through the Geological Society of London, she is Aurecon’s Ground Engineering Leader in Christchurch.

Camilla has been heavily focused on geohazards risk mitigation and remediation in the Christchurch Port Hills since the 2011 earthquakes.

Best practice

39

CAMILLA GIBBONS

Like many other engineering disciplines, geotechnical engineering covers a broad spectrum within the overall discipline. So, what does it cover, what do practitioners do and why is it a bit like cricket?

– call it the 100m sprint with random hurdles thrown in!

With the geotechnical engineering discipline encompassing such a broad spectrum of engineering, the New

I am often asked about the difference between a geotechnical engineer and an engineering geologist. The answer is quite simple: the two sit at opposite ends of a continuous spectrum and come together to make up geotechnical engineering. Geotechnical engineers have generally done a civil engineering degree at university and generally work on the design side of the spectrum – having an understanding of structural engineering to ensure the foundations will support the building, for example. Engineering geologists, on the other hand, typically have a geology and/or engineering geology degree and work on the other side of the spectrum, interpreting the underlying geology and the geohazards affecting the site and characterising the ground. Like a cricket team, they all know how to play but some are on the team primarily to bat, others are there primarily to bowl, and then there are the all-rounders in the middle.

The development of a new site starts with engineering geologists determining the geological structural make-up of the ground. Material parameters are then interpreted by both the engineering geologists and geotechnical engineers, and geotechnical engineers then take over to carry out design. It’s a bit like an Olympic relay race. The engineering geologists run the first leg, the geotechnical engineers the next leg and (depending on the project) the structural

Zealand Geotechnical Society (NZGS) has worked with Engineering New Zealand over a number of years to develop professional accreditation for engineering geologists, culminating in the Professional Engineering Geologist qualification, PEngGeol, first awarded in 2012. The society has also recently developed bodies of knowledge and skills (BOKS) that define the minimum technical capabilities that Chartered professionals in each discipline are expected to have in order to carry out their duties competently. These help clarify the scopes of each discipline (see p44 for more on BOKS).

September 2018 marked the eighth anniversary of the first of the Canterbury earthquakes. Over these past eight years, the engineering industry as a whole, and the geotechnical and structural industries in particular, have had to rethink much of what we took as a basis for design.

The NZGS has worked hard to review, update and create new guidelines for practitioners in the sector. Recognition of the broad spectrum of specialities within the overall discipline is more important now than it has ever been. The reality is that New Zealand may have entered a prolonged phase of heightened seismic activity that might put those design case events to the test.

There has been a phenomenal amount of research and technical progress in the industry in recent years and suitable guidance is required for practitioners to keep their knowledge

engineers the third leg. In reality, we know that it is rather more of a relay “in parallel”

and skills current. To date, NZGS and MBIE have together developed and

New Zealand may have entered a prolonged phase of heightened seismic activity that might put those design case events to the test. published seven modules of a series of Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering Practice Guidelines. These modules cover topics ranging from liquefaction hazards and ground improvement design to earthquake resistant design of foundations and retaining walls. These topics fall at the “engineering” end of the “geotechnical engineering – engineering geology” spectrum. Other modules that address more of the geological end of the spectrum are the module relating to ground investigations for earthquake engineering, which has already been published, and the next module that is currently under development covering slope stability. Future design guides currently in the planning stage will include such topics as ground anchor design.

I strongly believe that the work NZGS is doing now is setting up the industry for a successful future and I want to take the opportunity to thank the professionals across the country who have put in hundreds of voluntary hours to help us achieve what we have.

40

EG 5/2018

Engineering expertise for claims resolution HELEN DAVIDSON AND MADISON DOBIE

Engineering disputes sit at the heart of many of the complex and currently unresolved insurance claims in the greater Christchurch region related to the earthquake sequence. Engineering New Zealand responded to the Government’s call for help to strengthen the engineering response to enable claims resolution.

Engineering practice The first is engineering practice. High quality engineering practice can reduce the chance of disputes arising and better enable resolution when they do arise.

Through the complaints we see and the conversations we have with engineers, homeowners, insurers and lawyers, we know there are areas where engineering

In the immediate term, our work aims for greater consistency in engagements and reporting between engineers engaged by the different parties to an insurance claim, and clear guidance to engineers on their roles and expected forms of output.

We believe the greatest opportunity for efficient engineering input into insurance claim resolution is for insurers and homeowners to agree a joint instruction and jointly engage an engineer to carry out an assessment of damage and make reinstatement recommendations. We’ve created an instruction that both parties can use, separately or together, that we hope will enable more consistency and clarity in engineering reports.

As well as providing a definition of damage and required standard, the instruction provides guidance on some of the professional aspects of providing an engineering assessment of earthquake damage, where we often see confusion. This includes clarity about an engineer’s role as an independent advisor, uninfluenced by a client's interests. It includes flags for ensuring the engineer has the appropriate experience and competence for the assessment and is not conflicted, checks that all the relevant information has been received, and a

a professional service, regardless of the client, where engineers can take care to ensure a smoother road to resolution for their client.

When we don’t get this right, public trust in the profession is undermined. For example, in a recent case an engineer signed a report that implied he had been to a site when he had not. His report was being relied on in a court process, which found his statement to be misleading.

A Disciplinary Committee found that the engineer had not acted in accordance with accepted standards and acted dishonestly in breach of his ethical obligations. The Committee noted that the public is entitled to rely on engineers to issue documentation that is accurate and not misleading. They held that if such actions were condoned, the reputation of the profession would be lowered in the eyes of the public. We hope that our work on the instruction will help prevent these issues arising.

Along with our instruction, we’ve created a reporting framework that pulls together some common headings with guidance on the types of matters that will usually be considered and addressed in an engineering assessment of earthquake damage and reinstatement

practice stands in the way of claims moving forward.

reminder to obtain the homeowner’s views. These are all aspects of providing

recommendations. We want engineers to use this framework because it is easier

In October, the Government announced a new service, the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service, to support the resolution of outstanding insurance claims related to the Canterbury earthquake sequence.

For Engineering New Zealand, it's about ensuring the right engineering input at the right time. We identified three initial streams of work where we thought we could make the most immediate difference.

Best practice

Madison Dobie

for parties to an insurance claim to compare differing engineering assessments if those assessments are set out in a similar way and cover similar questions. The framework and instruction are accompanied by explanatory notes that address common issues we see arising.

One example where guidance is helpful is in the use and application of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) guidance. We often see issues arising where engineers apply this guidance incorrectly. The MBIE guidance contains criteria and information that can help engineers work through earthquake assessments and reinstatements. It still requires the application of engineering judgement as to how the criteria are applied and the solutions are selected. If an engineer relies on the MBIE guidance, they should cite the guidance and explain why they consider that solution to be appropriate in the circumstances. The framework and instruction explanatory notes make this clear.

Reconciling differences of opinion The second piece of our work is about reconciling differences of engineering opinion when they do arise through a facilitation service. The service allows engineers engaged by homeowners

41

Helen Davidson

and engineers engaged by insurers who have different damage assessments and reinstatement recommendations to have a conversation in a structured, facilitated way. This will help the engineers better understand any differences in their professional opinions, and provide clarity and understanding for clients. Even if the engineers’ professional opinions are not aligned, at the end of the meeting the clients have a statement of the areas of agreement and disagreement that they can use to better understand the differences and inform the next steps toward resolution of their claim. The facilitators will be engineers drawn from an expert panel who have been trained in facilitation techniques.

Independent, expert technical advice We’ve also set up an independent expert panel of experienced engineers that the Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service can draw on to provide technical advice for resolving insurance claims.

These engineers have been independently appointed by an evaluation panel involving engineers, lawyers, insurers and homeowners, to ensure all stakeholders can have confidence in the credibility, competence and experience of those engineers.

Be part of the solution There is a lot of work to do in this area and we are committed to driving progress. We launched our service to support the Government’s initiative in November. But we see our involvement in lifting engineering practice in this area as a continuing and evolving piece of work.

We’re asking engineers practising in this space to work with us and use our documents and service as part of a profession-wide commitment to working better, cohesively as a profession, to help the people of Canterbury resolve their outstanding insurance claims.

Check out www.engineeringnz.org for updates.

Helen Davidson is General Manager – Legal and Policy and Madison Dobie is Legal Advisor at Engineering New Zealand.

42

EG 5/2018

Gas offers solid career options

Opinion David Whitfield started working in the gas industry in 1977 as a gas distribution assistant. He then moved into gas transmission and became a governor craftsman, working on high-pressure regulator stations, pipeline maintenance and main line valve operation. He has been in New Zealand for the past 21 years and is Service Delivery Manager for Genesis Energy. David is President of NZIGE and Junior Vice President of the Waikato Master Plumbers.

Best practice

43

DAVID WHITFIELD

Gas engineers have been helping keep New Zealand running for decades. But while their numbers are dwindling, there are good career options for those who do

that half of the NZIGE members, then around 145 people, would not be in the industry in five to 10 years’ time.

According to this, in 2022 NZIGE will have

help petrol heads keep driving the car they love. I know of a 72-year-old motor engineer in Hamilton who still runs a motor engineering business. His employee is

join the industry.

approximately 75 members. So, what can we do about this – how can we encourage people to join our industry? How can we provide a clear pathway for employees who want to gain higher qualifications such as becoming an engineer? Perhaps there could be a similar pathway to that of other trades.

According to Master Plumbers NZ, New Zealand requires an extra 50,000 to 60,000 tradespeople over the next five years to meet the demands of the country’s projected growth.

“Apprentice plumbers and gasfitters earn while they learn. They often start on the training minimum wage. But as they progress through their apprenticeship and gain skills their wages increase,” says Master Plumbers Chief Executive Officer, Greg Wallace.

He says a registered plumber can expect to start out at around $55,000.

Experienced, certifying plumbers are likely to earn more than $75,000, while experienced self-employed plumbers earn between $80,000 and $100,000 a year, or even more.

68. I asked him if he ever considered an apprentice as a succession plan to keep his business going and his response reflected the fact that a lot of people don’t want to do that type of work anymore.

That’s the crux of the problem. There seems to be an apathy towards embarking on a gas engineering qualification because there is no clear pathway to pursue.

However, there is a significant amount of work going on around the world looking at hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas and LPG. Biogas is also high on the agenda as a replacement feedstock.

This paints an exciting future for gas engineers. There are still people joining the gas industry at an asset management and engineering level – these people are mostly university graduates with engineering or other tertiary qualifications and some are members of Engineering New Zealand and other professional organisations. The industry needs more support, though we’re working through exactly where that might come from. And NZIGE welcomes new members in our quest to share knowledge and expertise to enhance technical competency across all aspects of the gas industry.

Nearly 100 years ago, a group of individuals working in New Zealand’s fledgling gas industry spent years corresponding, then came together to form what we now know as the New Zealand Institute of Gas Engineers (NZIGE).

These were ordinary people brought together by simple human factors. They loved their work and they loved their country. They shared the view that what they did mattered to their fellow citizens.

They expressed a commitment to do what they did to the best of their combined abilities, for the benefit of their chosen country, and the betterment of its people.

These workers literally brought light, heat, security and prosperity to New Zealand. As with most industries, building a career in the gas industry means starting at the bottom, and many NZIGE members recall their days of making tea and sweeping up when they were apprentices. But the facts are that, as with other countries, New Zealand’s gas industry has an aging workforce where somewhere down the line school leavers, graduates and job seekers have given a career in the gas industry a miss.

Reflecting the gas industry, NZIGE has an aging membership of around 127 people and there’s no formal succession plan. Most of our members all started somewhere in the industry and worked their way up to the engineering positions that they are in today. However, statistics taken at a forum five years ago showed

Looking to the future One wonders if there is a similar group to NZIGE, for instance motor engineers.

Unless you own a classic or vintage car, today’s vehicles don’t need crank shaft grinding and balancing done, engines don’t get re-bored and if the cylinder head warps, insurers scrap the vehicle rather than repair. All those skilled people have moved onto something else, while only a handful keep businesses running to

44

EG 5/2018

Thinking inside the BOKS Engineering New Zealand’s working to strengthen the CPEng quality mark by integrating Bodies of Knowledge and Skills (BOKS) with the assessment process. Registrar Peter Lourié gives an

How have the BOKS been developed?

The structural and geotechnical BOKS have been developed by the Structural Engineering Society (SESOC) and the NZ Geotechnical Society (NZGS) following

looking at how they were approached and whether they meet current good practice standards. Training our assessors how to apply the BOKS will be key to benchmarking the level and maintaining

overview of what’s in store.

a process that has included wide consultation with members. The societies will be responsible for maintaining the currency of the BOKS. We’re now developing the process for incorporating the BOKS in our assessment process within the current CPEng Rules.

a fair, valid and consistent approach.

Ultimately, the criteria for assessment are still those set in the CPEng Rules but the BOKS will provide context or interpretation in particular fields.

What are BOKS? A compilation of the knowledge and skills required in a particular field or industry.

So far, BOKS have been developed for structural and geotechnical engineering, but BOKS are also under development in other fields, including fire engineering and areas of mechanical plant/ equipment certification. As well as defining core knowledge and skills, a BOKS provides an indication of the range of contexts where a candidate might be expected to demonstrate application of knowledge and skills.

Why do we need BOKS? CPEng has been criticised for not providing sufficient assurance of the competence of registrants in certain areas. Also, the CPEng register doesn’t provide sufficient information to help the public select an engineer for a project.

The Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission recommended we publish more information on the register to assist the public in this regard. BOKS provide a clearer, more consistent interpretation of the knowledge and skills required by engineers practicing in a particular field.

For example, CPEng-qualified engineers identified on the register as practising in the structural field will have been assessed against the structural BOKS, which will mean demonstrating depth and breadth of structural engineering knowledge and skill.

How will BOKS strengthen assessments?

We expect BOKS to provide greater clarity for candidates and assessors about what they are being assessed against. This will lead to more consistency of assessment for candidates in a particular field.

How will people be assessed differently under BOKS? We don’t expect the assessment process to change significantly and we must continue to be consistent with the CPEng Rules. Work samples and an interactive interview will continue to be key parts of the process, but we do expect to use written assignments more regularly and consistently to test a candidate’s ability to apply key knowledge and skills. We’re aiming to start assessing new candidates using the structural and geotechnical BOKS during the second quarter of 2019.

How will you benchmark the level of work required?

We need to define the level of work required of a licensed engineer then we can look through a body of knowledge and say “an engineer needs to know this if they’re going to undertake this work”. An assessor will take into account safety-critical elements of a work sample,

What's occupational regulation and how’s our work on this with MBIE going?

The Minister for Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa, has advised she’s committed to progressing with work to develop options for occupational licensing of safety-critical engineering. MBIE has been getting stakeholder feedback on the building process and the current engineering landscape. We’re working closely with MBIE to explore options for change and we'll be seeking members' feedback.

While her initial focus is the building and construction sector, there's a commitment that any change will be extendable across other areas of safety-critical engineering work.

We support an occupational licensing regime for all engineers involved in the most safety critical work. This would entail a system of licensing for safety-critical work that puts protection of the public first. It means an engineer would need a licence in order to perform specific work.

Occupational licensing could either sit alongside CPEng or replace it.

51 Day in the life

52 The secret life of engineers

55 C-Suite

56 Bedside table

57 Preview

59 Obituaries

60 Engineering Genius

Shorts

46 Socialising and social conscience: 50 years of Femineers

46

EG 5/2018

Socialising and social conscience: 50 years of Femineers WRITER JENNIFER BLACK

A group of engineers’ wives who established scholarships to help increase the number of female engineers is disbanding after 50 years, but their legacy lives on.

EG talks to three scholarship recipients about how the win impacted on their careers.

Shorts

47

Fifty years ago, a group of Wellington women whose husbands were engineers in government departments started a group called the Femineers. Originally, it provided an opportunity to get to know other women and their families through social events. After almost a decade, the group established a scholarship for a woman studying undergraduate engineering at the University of Canterbury to help increase the number of female engineers. The first scholarship, worth $300, was awarded in 1977.

Dianne Small joined the Femineers

A snapshot of Femineers scholarship recipients

in 1980 when her husband was Chair of Engineering New Zealand’s Wellington Branch. She says the group fundraised and donated money to achieve the annual sum, with activities over the years including dessert and coffee evenings and a fashion parade. Over time, the scholarship prize money increased, with this year’s final scholarship reaching $5,000.

In the early years, the University of Canterbury sent the applications to the Femineers, who selected a recipient.

“This was always a difficult job as the applicants were so bright and talented with amazing exam marks,” Dianne says.

Over the years the process changed and the university recommended three applicants, then more recently, selected the winner.

At its peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Femineers had around 150 members, but numbers have recently dwindled to 30. Dianne says it became difficult to recruit new members as women developed their own careers and became involved in associated professional organisations, rather than those of their husbands.

something I felt entitled to aspire toward.”

Her first trip to the South Island was when she arrived at the University of Canterbury to start her Bachelor of Engineering degree, aged 17.

“My parents waved me off at Hawke's Bay airport with a couple of suitcases and I arrived in Christchurch a couple of days before term started, knowing no one.”

She soon realised that what was normal for her was not normal for her peers.

“One of the main struggles for me during my undergraduate degree was a feeling of inferiority. Everyone around me seemed far more confident in their abilities, and the number of students who had been educated in private schools or benefited from structured tutoring was very intimidating.”

Kaley paid for her own education, having worked up to 20 hours a week in a fish and chip shop while at high school.

She also earned scholarships during her undergraduate degree, including the Femineers scholarship in 2005.

Financially, the Femineers scholarship reduced a lot of stress, while also providing a mental boost.

“I saw this scholarship as a vote of confidence in my abilities and it affirmed the notion that I might actually just succeed at engineering, despite feeling different from my peers.”

Kaley says many people don’t realise how difficult tertiary education can be for those from less socially privileged backgrounds.

Carol Wright and Cynthia Rutherford at the preliminary Femineers meeting, 18 June 1968. Photo: Femineers archives

Growing up in Hastings, Kaley attended decile 1 and 2 schools. Neither of her parents had completed high school or gone to university.

“A life or career as a professional was not directly modelled to me as a child or teenager, and unlike many of my future peers, a university degree was not

“Getting good grades is one aspect, but it can be very hard to integrate in a totally

1

Kaley Crawford-Flett

Role: Project Lead/Research Engineer, University of Canterbury Quake Centre Based in: Christchurch Education: Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), (Civil), University of Canterbury, 2008; PhD (Civil Engineering), University of British Columbia, Canada, 2014

new environment, with no established support network, when money is such a stressor.”

She worked part time for the final three years of her degree at RILEY Consultants in Christchurch, later becoming full time.

She then moved to Canada to complete a PhD in geotechnical dam engineering, receiving a number of fellowships and scholarships, including the then-IPENZ Hume Fellowship.

Kaley is a now a Geotechnical Water Resource Engineer and researcher whose work focuses on long-term erosion potential of earth dam materials. She is an elected member of the New Zealand Society on Large Dams Management Committee.

48

EG 5/2018

2

Jennifer Dickson won scholarships throughout her tertiary education and didn’t need to work part time during the term, just during summer breaks.

“I was able to concentrate on my studies. I was a bit of a nerd and worked really hard,” she says.

“What spare time I had was often devoted to church activities and maintaining wider relationships in my various communities.”

For Jennifer, scholarships, including that from the Femineers in 2009, did more than reduce financial pressure.

“Scholarships open doors to new places you never thought you’d go, or new

Nobel Laureates in Japan.

People often ask her how her research is mechanical engineering.

“There’s loads of technology and innovation involved in medicine, and some of the cutting-edge medicine involves people skilled in mathematics, modelling how the body works to better understand it and treat people in a more individualcentred way.”

Since starting her post-doctoral position, Jennifer has begun research into modelling lungs to be used for mechanical ventilation in intensive care.

“I'm also currently looking at how proteins such as insulin stick to the

degrees and knowledge you never thought you would learn. They encourage as well as enable – ‘somebody thought I was worth investing money in’,” she says.

Scholarships have taken her around the world. During her PhD, while researching the use of insulin to control blood sugar concentrations in premature infants, she was twice a Marie Curie Fellow in Europe and attended the Hope Conference with

syringes and tubes used to deliver the drugs to the patient.”

At high school Jennifer loved biology, maths and science and wanted to do a degree that catered to her interests, while helping people.

“I always intended to do bioengineering, and that was mostly accessible at postgraduate level. This scholarship helped me towards my goal.”

Role: Senior Consultant, Infrastructure Advisory, Aurecon Based in: Wellington Education: Bachelor of Engineering

When Areti Paulson was accepted into the 30-person mechatronic engineering course in her final year of study, she was the only woman. She says having scholarships specifically for women studying engineering showed industry support.

“It says: ‘welcome, we want you here’.”

She describes winning the scholarship in 2006 as “a great vote of confidence”, providing support and encouragement as she entered her first professional year and selected her specialisation.

The Femineers scholarship also helped Areti become more aware of gender diversity.

“I saw the benefit of proactive encouragement and support, and my desire to carry that on and provide that for others led me to be involved in diversity throughout my career.”

Areti’s first role was with engineering consultancy Aurecon in 2009. She

mechanical design teams, then moved into infrastructure advisory. There, she developed investment business cases for submission to Cabinet, Treasury and Ministers, including work on the Ministry of Education’s Greater Christchurch Education Renewal Programme.

Her next move was to London, where she joined start-up the Schools’ Buying Club providing procurement consultancy services to the education sector. Within six months, Areti was promoted to manage the delivery team and projects, freeing up the Managing Director to focus on sales.

Recently back in New Zealand, she has re-joined Aurecon’s infrastructure advisory team.

“While my role has changed over the years I have drawn on the rigour and logical training of my degree in all the work I do. The analytical skills and critical judgement you develop in engineering are invaluable anywhere in any work.”

(Hons) (Mechatronics), University of Canterbury, 2008

joined as an industrial design engineer working in the automation design and

Jennifer Dickson Role: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Canterbury Based in: Christchurch Education: Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) (Mechanical Engineering), University of Canterbury, 2012; PhD (Mechanical Engineering), University of Canterbury, 2015

Areti Paulson

SHOW YOUR CREDIBILITY. Make your commitment to ethics and professional development. It’s what marks you out as a credible engineer and Engineering New Zealand member.

Commit today at www.engineeringnz.org

You might not have seen our work, but you’ll have walked on it!

COMPOSITE STEEL FLOORING SYSTEMS

NELSON STUD WELDING P 09 820 9133 / E info@traydec.co.nz

www.traydec.co.nz

P 09 820 9133 / E sales@nelsonstud.co.nz

www.nelsonstud.co.nz

UNDER SLAB VAPOUR BARRIER Specify with confidence with StegoTM Wrap.

• • • •

Easy and reliable installation Life of the building protection Longevity strength Exceptional tear and puncture resistance

0800 422 692 | www.canzac.com Designated Trademarks are used under license from Stego Industries, LLC

D

Shorts

51

ay in the life

Dewi Knappstein specialises in the design and coordination of multi-disciplinary water infrastructure projects, with a particular interest in dam design and dam safety management. She’s worked on flood management, irrigation, water supply, hydroelectric and road drainage projects in New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia, and spent nine months in the on-site design team for the construction of the Philippines’ Sibulan Hydroelectric Power Project.

they need. I usually give guidance on priorities and frequently we troubleshoot problems as a team.

05:45 Wake up.

11:00 Responding to requests from

07:00 On Mondays, grab breakfast at the airport then fly to Wellington. I’m the stormwater design lead for the Peka Peka to Ōtaki Expressway, though my home is in Auckland. Tuesday to Friday I get an hour's more focused work done, reviewing drawings, writing reports, responding to technical review comments or planning.

08:00 There’s usually a technical question to talk through or a query from the construction team. I might address this myself or “phone a friend”, ie one of our technical specialists, or other disciplines on the project if it’s a crossdiscipline issue. If more work’s involved I’ll confirm the scope and urgency and transform the query into a brief.

10:00

Coffee and raid the stash of team snacks.

10:15 Address actions from the team meeting. It's often re-planning, phone calls to chase up information or update people, or digging out information.

other disciplines to feed into their design.

The structural team could require flood levels to set the level of a bridge, which I would pull out of the results prepared by our flood modellers. Meanwhile, the geometric team developing a 3D representation of the road and earthworks may need guidance on the size, shape and slope of a swale alongside the road or what size a dish drain needs to be to meet hydraulic requirements. In this case, I'd create a brief for someone in the team.

13:00 Lunch. Capital Market, Nam D and Little Penang are favourites.

14:00 Meetings and teleconferences

Every second day we have a project team meeting where I provide an overview of the upcoming deliverables

with reviewers, stakeholders and project partners to provide an update on how the stormwater design is progressing and talk through challenges. One weekly meeting is a “last planner” session with

and wider project changes. We go through what each person's working on and what

the designers, constructors, Principal’s Advisor and the Transport Agency,

09:00

Dewi Knappstein MEngNZ Based in: Auckland and Wellington Role: Water Resources Engineer, Tonkin + Taylor Education: Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) (Civil), University of Auckland, 2004; Bachelor of Arts (English), University of Auckland, 2004

mapping tasks, commitments and deliverables for the next six weeks.

16:00 Reviewing a solution or output to make sure it’s coordinated with other elements of the stormwater and wider project design. For example, providing an interface between the culvert and road design and the flood modelling. I’ll prepare a brief for our flood modellers, passing on the ground and road models to use and the proposed design to represent. I’ll then look at the modelling results that the team produces and consider their implications and significance. Depending on the outcome, I’ll work with the culvert and geometric designers and pass on design changes to be represented in the next flood modelling iteration.

17:30 On Thursdays I fly back to Auckland. On Tuesdays I go rock-climbing at Ferg’s. My other pastime is aerial acrobatics on fabric rigged to a high ceiling.

52

EG 5/2018

The secret life of engineers

Shorts

By day she’s responsible for the University of Canterbury's College of Engineering’s leadership, but outside of work Jan Evans-Freeman is a passionate dog owner and trainer for dog agility competitions. She has one German shepherd and three border collies, one of which is a competitor and one a puppy that’s already in training.

How did you get involved with dog agility competitions?

I’ve always been the “dog trainer” in the family, even as a child, but some years ago I saw a demonstration of dog agility at a local school fair and a light bulb went on. This was the type of activity with my dogs that I had been looking for.

How much time do you spend on this hobby?

Every day I try and train two-year-old Rosie for about 20 minutes. With the baby, Rossi, every interaction is a training opportunity, even if it's play or he’s being rewarded for being quiet on his mat. I also do targeted five-minute-sessions with him throughout the evening. Some Mondays I do a 30-minute class in competitive obedience training with both my young dogs. On Tuesdays I instruct at our club then train Rosie, so that’s two hours. Most Wednesdays I have a private lesson for 30 minutes with a local expert. A few times a year we take part in seminars with international experts and we compete, so that’s usually all weekend once or twice a month.

How have you set up your home for dog training?

I have a full set of agility equipment.

Many people who compete regularly also do, as training once a week at a club is not enough.

What does a typical competition weekend look like for you?

First, I will make sure our specially kitted out ute has everything the dogs need. If we’re travelling we’ll leave late on Friday afternoon, stay in a pet-friendly motel and enjoy our competitive runs on both days.

Each run is only 20–50 seconds, but I spend much more time with the dog than that, warming up their muscles and their brains, then relaxing them after the run.

I will not actually train them formally on those days.

How far do you travel for competitions?

I have stuck to the South Island and declined to join the Nationals this year as they are in Feilding which was too big a journey for the dogs. Having said that, I am considering going to Australia to compete in 2020 in the joint Australia/New Zealand Nationals.

How are competitions judged?

If a dog knocks off a bar or misses something they are supposed to touch, or hesitates when told to do something, they get “faults”. The fastest dogs with clear rounds (no faults) progress to the next level.

What might disqualify a dog?

A range of things such as missing an obstacle, leaving the ring or even biting the judge, which does happen occasionally.

When can a puppy start training and how long before they can compete?

Puppy training starts as soon as they come home, to begin building a relationship. Then we progress to flatwork, learning directional commands and gaining confidence. At about nine months we introduce obstacles such as the tunnel. Dogs are only allowed to

53

Professor Jan Evans-Freeman FEngNZ Role: Pro-Vice-Chancellor Engineering, University of Canterbury Based in: Christchurch Education: Bachelor of Science (Hons), University of Manchester, 1986; PhD, University of Manchester, 1989

jump the prescribed height at 18 months old. They can compete then but might not be mature enough. In total, two years from bringing them home as a puppy to developing them into a confident, skilful dog and team player.

What’s the cleverest trick your dogs can do?

Eight-year-old Ruben can hide behind his paws when I ask: “Are you shy?” and hide his head if I ask him if he is “guilty”. Rossi already knows the difference between left and right and Rosie will jump up into my arms from the floor if I ask.

What has been your highest achievement with one of your dogs?

A podium place and ribbon with Ruben at the 2016 Nationals, where he was placed in the top 10 percent in his category.

What's involved in your role as president of your local dog agility club?

Mostly paperwork, but I am responsible for social media and increasing member numbers.

What do you love most about your hobby?

There is nothing like running a difficult agility course as a team with your dog. It can take years to get to that level but that bond is unbreakable and I love it.

®

Connect steel faster with

www.Lindapter.com

Hollo-Bolt

®

The Hollo-Bolt by Lindapter is a cost-effective expansion bolt for connecting SHS and other structural steel sections without on-site drilling or welding. The convenient fixing requires access to one side only during installation, providing a solution that saves contractors’ time and money. ®

®

Key Benefits

4 Fast, cost saving structural connection 4 High resistance to shear & tensile loads 4 Unique high clamping force design 4 CE marked & full ICC-ES seismic approval 4 A range of architectural head types ICC

HIGH CLAMPING FORCE

Also available

Contact Ancon Building Products, your Approved Lindapter Distributor 03 376 5205 | info@ancon.co.nz | www.ancon.co.nz/Lindapter Offices located in Auckland and Christchurch

Shorts

55

C

–Suite

Peter Geddes FEngNZ CPEng IntPE(NZ) Based in: Whangarei Role: Structural Director, Hawthorn Geddes Engineers and Architects Education: Bachelor of Engineering (Civil), University of Auckland, 1978 Who or what has had the most influence on your career?

My first boss in consulting, Keith Scott from New Plymouth. He cared about how things looked as well as worked and believed engineers should have a broad understanding of the projects they worked on. I’ve developed and encouraged that ethos with my staff.

He also gave me great business advice when I went into practice.

What are the best, and the most challenging, aspects of being a director of a smaller organisation?

In a small, regional practice there are no specialist organisations such as bid teams or HR. You do it all. I like that aspect of it, but it means you are always upskilling in fields you never imagined working in. The role is like a CEO, but with governance added on.

Another big challenge is managing longterm leave for staff to visit their homes overseas or for parental leave. These are talented people who are specialists in their roles. In the regions there is no pool of skilled engineers or technicians available to fill in during the leave period.

In a small company you have family-like relationships with your staff, so you’re thrilled for them when they travel or have a baby, but you can’t replace them in the short term. You adjust your business model around the gaps that are created and look forward to their return.

What are your company’s biggest focuses?

In the relatively short term I’ll reach retirement age, so my role needs to be filled or reassessed. The role requires a salesperson, manager, governor and technical leader. Not everyone wants to do all those things and it’s difficult to work out which one you need to be when. For the long term, the role of small- to mid-size practices is under pressure globally. Many are being subsumed into larger practices.

We think there is still a role for this sort of business, but it’s a watching brief.

What are the most challenging aspects of working in a regional practice?

Attracting good staff to the regions.

Once they make the move they usually

How does your location impact the type of work your company carries out?

The type of work we do is determined by the type of clients that operate in our region. We do a significant amount of agricultural work all over the country and work in the sorts of industrial

stay for many years and become an important part of a balanced team.

environments that operate in the regions, such as timber processing.

How is your company addressing technological changes such as increased automation and AI? Technological change and automation have been a feature of engineering throughout my career. It was probably more fundamental in the 1980s than now as then people used typewriters and slide rules.

Adapting useful technology is a big part of an engineer’s life. True AI as applied to design is likely to be further away and will require major thinking about liability and intellectual property.

What advice do you have for engineers wanting to move into leadership roles?

Most engineers who are ready to move into leadership probably have strong technical skills. I would advise them to consider the human side of leadership and how they can develop those skills. If that’s uncomfortable, maybe a different role is more suitable. A practice must have a range of people and the so-called “back room engineer” is still valid. I've seen too many good people in big organisations try to fit into a textbook progression that has destroyed them.

Who is the engineer of the future?

The same enthusiastic, creative person who makes a good engineer today. While the tools will be different, technology won’t change the fundamental engineer.

What do you look for in job seekers?

Enthusiasm to progress and a broad world view. Engineers must be connected to society.

B 56

EG 5/2018

edside table

Tyrone Newson CMEngNZ IntPE(NZ) Based in: Auckland

Role: Development Manager – Sylvia Park Shopping Centre, Kiwi Property Education: Bachelor of Engineering (Civil), University of Auckland, 1995; Executive MBA (Distinction) (M&A), Cass Business School, City University, London, 2011

Tyrone Newson has spent nearly 25 years working on construction projects, including a decade overseas in leadership and management roles on large-scale commercial, retail, hospitality, marine infrastructure and industrial developments in South East Asia and the Middle East.

In 2003, he helped found South Pacific Professional Engineering Excellence (SPPEEx) a professional support network for Maori and Pacific Indigenous engineers to support South Pacific Indigenous Engineering Students (SPIES) during and after completion of their studies. A former winner of Engineering New Zealand’s Young Engineer of the Year Award, Tyrone is involved in the governance of Māori trusts and his iwi's Treaty of Waitangi settlement asset-holding company.

What’s on your bedside table?

My Young Engineer of the Year Award from 2007, automatic watch winder case, glasses, iPhone 6s with charger, my stack of books, and Mahiara (Roadworks Te Reo) by Sally Sutton. The books are Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace by Avi Shlaim; Hotere: Out the Black Window: Ralph Hotere’s work with New Zealand poets by Gregory O’Brien;

son Kahupatiti likes me to read to him most nights. I bought it from my favourite book shop, McLeods booksellers in Rotorua. I bought Essential Eames from the ArtScience Museum in Singapore while viewing the Eames Exhibition there, while Spencer House was bought while visiting it in London.

Let’s focus on those books, why did you choose them?

Firstly, these are the books that I have just unpacked from our 10 boxes of books that we have brought back from Malaysia. It’s an eclectic range as I like to vary what I’m reading depending on whether I want a break from work, or I am inspired to read.

How do they help you in your role?

Essential Eames really helps remind me of what engineering, design and construction is really about – balancing form with function. When you’re designing or implementing a project, especially in retail and food and beverage, you are essentially a host preparing a space to receive guests, anticipating their needs in the most inviting and enjoyable way you can. This aligns quite well with the Māori principle of manaakitanga or hospitality.

Hotere provides inspiration to pursue your dreams – no matter how humble your

However, Mahiara (Roadworks Te Reo) is a children’s book that my four-year-old

beginnings, you can achieve great things and inspire others to go further than you

Essential Eames by Charles Eames; Spencer House: a Short History by John Martin Robinson and Guitar Method by Gary Turner and Brenton White.

Shorts

P

57

review

have physically been and beyond your own lifetime.

What is the top book or publication you’d recommend to recent graduates?

I don’t have one top book that I would recommend, but I do suggest they find books/publications that inspire them to pursue their dreams. They will need to reread or revisit these books to help them endure tough periods in their careers and to push even further when achieving great things.

What book has most influenced the way you work?

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) series has significantly changed the way I work since 2007, while I was pursuing the Project Management Professional qualification. It really forced me to take into account a broader range of inputs beyond technical, when considering “fit for purpose” on any project.

What do you read for fun?

I am currently restarting my reading of Lion of Jordan which I found quite interesting reflecting on my brief time in the UAE and its surrounding countries. I have read other biographies for fun, primarily Kiwis in rugby, business and art or design, but also WWI and WWII books about what soldiers encountered in some very tough environments.

Secret World of Butterflies Exhibition, Auckland Museum On until 26 May 2019

Speed read Ebook/paper copy Library/own Bookmark/turn down page – I bookmark when reading books like biographies. Turn

At Engineering New Zealand, our stylised butterfly logo is a powerful example of innovation, change and brilliance. So we were excited to discover Auckland Museum’s Secret World of Butterflies exhibition that runs until late May 2019.

Thousands of butterflies (pūrerehua) from around the world are on display for the first time in a kaleidoscope of colour and patterns. The family-friendly exhibition reveals butterfly facts aimed to surprise and delight and interactive activities include creating a butterfly and unleashing it into a magical digital garden. Over the course of the exhibition, 6,000 butterflies will be displayed. But this number makes up just part of the late Ray Shannon’s collection. Ray was a war veteran and collector with a passion for exotic butterflies whose entire collection of 13,000 butterflies was donated to the museum in 2008.

down page, tabs and highlighter for workrelated texts.

Find out more at www.aucklandmuseum.com

% 0 5 O T P U G N I D N U F

EQH17

LE FOR NG AVA I L A B NGTHENI E R T S C I SEISM

Get funding for up to 50% of seismic works on heritage buildings.

Grants available for buildings that are: PRIVATELY OWNED EARTHQUAKE-PRONE

OF HERITAGE VALUE

For full criteria visit www.heritageequip.govt.nz Or contact us on 04 499 4229 or email heritage.equip@mch.govt.nz

59

Obituaries

John Robert Fitzmaurice

George William Butcher

Henry (Harry) McCallion

1929–2018

1927–2018

1927–2018

John Fitzmaurice FEngNZ was a leader in public health and sanitary engineering.

After completing his studies in 1952, he worked at Auckland Metropolitan Drainage Board until 1954 when he won a Fulbright Travel Grant. He was accepted at Harvard University and offered a part-time teaching fellowship during his studies. He completed a Master of Science in Sanitary Engineering then worked in San Francisco for consultants responsible for the design of the Mangere Sewage Treatment Plant and pumping stations. With solid experience in the design and construction of sewage treatment systems, John joined Leicester Steven of Christchurch. He established Steven and Fitzmaurice in 1964 (later Steven Fitzmaurice & Partners) and continued in this role until 1989 when the practice merged with what is now Beca Group.

A former Chair of Engineering New Zealand's Auckland Branch, John received a number of awards for his work, including the Furkert Award in 1985, the Fulton-Downer Gold Medal in 1964 and the Fulton-Downer Gold Medal – President’s Award in 2006.

Post-retirement, he was a Deputy Environment Commissioner for the Environment Court from 1995 to 2001 and Deputy Convenor of the Audit Group for Project Manukau.

He was also involved with the Newmarket Rotary Club and the Engineering Heritage Auckland Chapter.

In addition, John had a long involvement

George Butcher FEngNZ graduated in 1951 and for 40 years was an associate and partner at WG Morrison and Associates, also known as Morrison Cooper Ltd. His contribution to the engineering profession includes authoring numerous technical papers and being a member of Standards committees and the HERA board. George was a founding member of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE), a Life member and past President. He authored key foundation pieces from an NZSEE study group on seismic design of steel structures.

George was a member of the steering committee of the pioneering Centre for Advanced Engineering Wellington Lifelines Project from 1987, which set the framework for all future Lifelines work.

He received the ACENZ President’s Award in 2007, and for 14 years was a judge on the ACENZ award panel.

He managed an earthquake reconnaissance programme for many years, leading reconnaissance teams after earthquakes overseas.

While he retired in 1991, he continued to participate in World Bank and FAO project studies. He also established the Wairarapa Engineering Lifelines Association, having moved to the region in the mid-1990s.

George served in the New Zealand Army with a tour in Korea from 1952–1953.

In 1964, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and in 1986 appointed Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Royal New

Emeritus Professor Harry McCallion FEngNZ gained a first-class honours degree in Engineering from the University of London in 1950. After post-graduate study at Imperial College, London, he took up a Research Fellowship at the University of Nottingham. He was awarded a PhD in 1954 and appointed to the academic staff.

He carried out research into the vibration and lubrication of machinery, computerbased production control, and computeraided design. He was awarded a DSc in 1967.

Harry was appointed Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Canterbury in 1971 then became Chair of Production Technology, taking on the challenge of introducing a scientific approach to the teaching of production engineering. In the 1970s his research team successfully designed a passive compliant wrist for robotic assembly of components, beating other international researchers. He was Dean of Engineering from 1974–1977 and Head of Department from 1987–1992. Harry also served on the Engineering Industry Training Board, the Vocational Training Council and the Testing Laboratory Registration Council.

as a Major in the Royal New Zealand Engineers Territorial Army.

Zealand Engineer. He was awarded the Military Cross for acts of bravery in Korea.

EG 4/2018

60

Engineering Genius

Like sands through the… bottle crusher

Kiwi company Expleco designed and developed the GLSand glass bottle crusher to help address the hospitality industry’s glass recycling challenges in isolated places. Customers include a remote fishing lodge in Northern Canada, cruise ships and luxury yachts. It manufactures the product in Christchurch, where it also makes and supplies recycling equipment to 60 countries. At just over a metre tall, the machine turns a bottle into sand in less than five seconds, with 160 beer bottles or 60 wine and spirit bottles filling a 20-litre bucket with sand. The sand is primarily used as cold mix asphalt repair mix and for swimming pool filters.

Rubber safety collar with folded rubber flaps to prevent any small pieces of glass exiting the chute.

Steel chute’s design ensures even the longest arms can’t access the crushing core.

Machine’s core has a three-part mechanism including 12 precision-balanced hammers, a tough, Hardox 500 wear plate and a safety shroud that creates a vacuum to ensure dust is contained within the machine and bucket.

Small filter ensures air pressure is released from the bucket without exposing the user to dust.

Machine is lowered onto a bucket using single action lever and is sealed to the top of bucket. The lever’s designed to clear a bottle in the chute while the machine’s running without hitting the crushing core.

1.5kw dual cycle motor, meaning it can be operated on 50hz or 60hz frequency.

Continuing your professional development.

THE DEVELOPMENT YOUR TEAM NEEDS, TAILORED TO SUIT YOUR GOALS. Polish your team’s skills and stay ahead of industry trends with our bespoke in-house courses, including NZS 3910, Practical Project Management, Technical Writing Skills and many more.

Designed with every engineer in mind, we curate the content, venue and scheduling based on your needs.

Take your professional development to the next level at www.engineeringnz.org/learn

I wonder how we can help the next generation?

Open young eyes to the amazing world of science, technology, engineering and maths as a STEM professional in Engineering New Zealand’s new school programme, the Wonder Project.

Become a Wonder Project Ambassador today at wonderproject.nz

POWERED BY