Building Nations 2024 was a fantastic conference organised by Infrastructure New Zealand. A huge shoutout to Nick, Katrina, Martina, Issy, Caitlin, Michelle, Jason and Hannah for their tremendous efforts.
It was great to see diversity being at the heart of Building Nations, & I was personally honoured to facilitate a session. While Angela, Sharon, & I considered shying away from the opportunity, we jointly decided that we couldn't let our networks down & that we had to pave the way for others to follow. Once the nerves subsided after a few minutes on stage, it was truly an incredible experience to be part of the session 6B: Driving Productivity Uplift.
Coincidentally, my first introduction for the session was Rogier Roelvink from Oracle, who, as fate would have it, is also a fellow Limburger from The Netherlands. Listening to him explain how F1 technology could be utilised to drive efficiencies & success in infrastructure projects was both cool & enlightening. I strongly encourage companies to connect with Rogier again to learn more about this technology.
Next I welcomed Damian Pedreschi, Exec GM for Ventia Aotearoa New Zealand, onto the stage with his panel discussing Designing for the Whole of Asset Life. The panel consisting of David Jenkins, Vanessa Browne, Simon Dyne, & Mark Ryall, discussed historical underinvestment in asset maintenance, management, renewals, & the use of modern technology-such as drones-to capture asset information more efficiently. As someone who has worked on construction sites, Simon’s statement, 'build it once and build it right,' resonated deeply with me & would with all contractors, designers, clients & stakeholders. One of my key passions is integrating my contracting experience into design teams to create buildable designs that stand the test of time.
For the final session, INZ Board member Fraser Wyllie, MD at McConnell Dowell, introduced fellow board member Stacey Millar & her panel of Jonathon Doggett & Erica Cumming. They discussed 'Towards an Effective & Productive Workforce', a topic very close to my heart. Questions were raised about whether our current education system is broken, the need for design engineers to work in the field before moving into a design office, & the necessity for pipeline certainty to allow companies to create clearer job opportunities with diversity in mind.
While I’ve focused on the sessions I facilitated, the conference as a whole provided numerous valuable insights from our Government & the Infrastructure sector. Topics included the urgent need for attention to our hospitals and education buildings, the necessity for renewable energy, the fact that out of 321 Waste Water Treatment plants a third are close to having expired consents, the importance of standardising designs, ensuring 30-year pipeline certainty, the establishment of the National Infrastructure Agency, & the importance of designing for what we need rather than what we’d like, among many others.
