We’d like to advise industry that a Heavy Engineering Research Levy Act Amendment Order 2021 was signed by the Governer-General on 5 July and published 8 July. This has been something that we have been working on with the MBIE innovation policy team and Customs for quite some time. MBIE’s role has been to coordinate…
Data on the cool down phase for timber structures is something designers and regulators need to consider when it comes to load carrying capacity of CLT structures. This thinking comes about after noting an interesting paper in the recent issue of Fire Safety Journal highlighting the critical aspect of the cool down phase for timber…
While critical technical aspects associated with treated timber in construction remain unsolved, the ‘wood first policy’ is the wrong decision at the wrong time. There needs to be better science based understanding of fire safety and health and environment issues. We need only look at treated timber data in New Zealand, issues associated with treated…
HERA is pleased to report the release of our updated Living Standards Framework assessment and supporting resources. This comes following our work which started in 2018 when we commissioned BERL to assess the metal industry’s contribution to the NZ economy using the Living Standards Framework (LSF). That was a pivotal publication as it was the…
Our recently commissioned HERA Report R5-89 shows steel plays a key role in the circular economy. The study was undertaken by thinkstepANZ and showed an impressive 72% of steel scrap in New Zealand is recycled, and that recycling steel scrap produced in Aotearoa New Zealand provides significant environmental benefits – despite the need for transport…
Aotearoa New Zealand’s construction industry reached over $15 billion in 2019, making it a major contributor to GDP and employment, as well as developer of critical national infrastructure. Despite this, it’s an industry that requires radical transformation and has long been criticised for its low productivity, inefficiencies, and contribution to New Zealand’s carbon emissions. It requires…
A recent technical study has come to HERA’s attention as it highlights our stance that you should choose infrastructure material based on design parameters. The technical study that we refer to was performed by the structural engineering firm Cary Kopczynski & Company in Seattle, WA. It compared the affordability of a hypothetical 10-story residential building…
A recent John Hopkins University Report validates our concerns at HERA around the lack of data and baseless assumptions relating to mass timber performance in high rise buildings. This is not a new conversation for HERA. We have previously raised concern about the lack of research relating to the fire performance of building materials generally…
Mar312021 Listen on Spotify Listen on iTunes Listen on PodBean 31 March 2021 | Ep.42 – The intersection between Mātauranga Māori and Construction 4.0 In this episode of Stirring the Pot we invite University of Auckland Engineering & Law Student John Cole from Episode 41, back into the studio. This time exploring the intersection between…
We want your ideas – because our HERA sustainability fund is now open for ideas from our members! 2021 is going to be an exciting year for us at HERA in the space of sustainability. Even more so, because we’re so very excited to announce a $80K research fund for projects aimed at improving steel’s…
Have you introduced robotics into your business to improve productivity? HERA has an opportunity to help you enhance this offering! Spot welding of car bodies was the first welding operation performed by automated robots in a production scenario. That was back in 1962, some 58 years ago. Since then, robots have become commonplace in the…
We’re excited to bring to light a New Zealand case study on the use of 3D scanning as a new digital tool by one of our members. Those of you at HERA’s Future Forum: 2020 VISION in February would have heard Des Watkins from Watkins Steel promote the use of digital technologies, including 3D scanning,…