The big breakaway happened – with a slim 48/52 vote in favour of exiting the European Union (EU). The positives and negatives of the decision have been covered in much detail since it was made – and it seems the immediate effects of the UK’s withdrawal have been limited when it comes to New Zealand.…
New Zealand Steel and Pacific Steel’s flat and long steel products manufactured at the Glenbrook facilities south of Auckland and in Otahuhu have become the latest products to receive independent environmental endorsement from Environmental Choice. According to New Zealand Ecolabelling Trust General Manager Francesca Lipscombe, companies put their products forward for an ecolabel to both…
Started in 2014, in collaboration with our member company Opus, we’re pleased to confirm the draft NZ Transport Agency Research Report TAR 14/07 – Evaluation of Shear Connectors in Composite Bridges passed through public reviews this June and is now submitted with NZTA for publication. It’s the culmination of extensive research, historic data collection and preparation of…
A regular enquiry received by HERA has been the application of fatigue design in steel bridges. On one hand, some designers have had trouble interpreting the current design rules; whilst on the other, many fabricators have expressed concerns on more expensive butt welds being specified for fatigue details where this might not be entirely necessary.…
During the last month, HERA asked members to endorse or reject a draft policy statement that “all critical building work independent of building material should be required to have reliable third party verification enforced by the MBIE-driven regulatory framework”. With the support of SCNZ, HERA described a pathway for a joint journey to get to…
The Steel Fabricator Certification (SFC) scheme continues to go from strength to strength with the latest group of five structural steel fabricators to achieve certification recognised at our recent SCNZ 10th anniversary event in Queenstown. A total of 21 New Zealand fabricators have now achieved SFC certification ensuring that 70% of the local industry output…
In response to recent media coverage involving allegations that some building products are unfit for purpose or non-compliant with the Building Code, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has established a dedicated email address to collect product complaints for analysis and investigation. Even though a number of concerns have been raised in the…
Over 80 IPENZ members took the opportunity at the April 2016 Auckland Branch Meeting to get up-to-date with current best practice in managing the quality of welding. Our Senior Welding Engineer Alan McClintock gave a presentation outlining what engineers need to be aware of when designing, specifying and managing the fabrication of welded steel structures.…
Responding to the reinforcing steel mesh conformance issue recently highlighted in the media, HERA is driving a policy change that allows our members to deliver better value and remain competitive. With the rapid adoption of the Steel Fabrication Certification (SFC) scheme, our New Zealand steel construction industry has significantly progressed on its way to verifiable…
New Zealand’s structural steel fabricators are showing strong support for the industry’s recently launched quality assurance scheme, the Steel Fabricator Certification (SFC), an initiative designed to ensure safety of fabricated structural steelwork. Developed jointly by industry bodies HERA and Steel Construction NZ (SCNZ), the SFC scheme is based on the European system, which is part…
A SFC fabricator has demonstrated that all their welding and related activities are managed under a quality management system that fully complies with the requirements of AS/NZS ISO 3834; specifically for NZS 3404.1 Steel Structures Standard, and AS/NZS 1554 Structural Steel Welding. A quality management system relies on competent people: the fabricators welding co-ordination team. A key…
The Sustainable Steel Council (SSC) was formed in 2009 to promote the use of steel as a sustainable building material to the various stakeholders within New Zealand’s building and property industries. Following the formation of Metals New Zealand (MNZ) in 2011, SSC supports the wider MNZ activity on the sustainability of metal products. Since 2011,…