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…
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…
The global welder shortage is a growing and well-known phenomenon. A recent article – Global welder shortage – viewpoints from three continents asked for the opinions of specialists in three continents on this topic. Their insight on welder shortages were as follows: Welders are more in demand than ever, The manufacturing industry will continue being…
When presented with a challenge or we find ourselves lacking the skills to complete a task – we often develop an uncanny knack of adapting or creating work arounds. Ensuring that if nothing else, the outside world is fooled into thinking we’ve got this under control. We divert attention away from our inadequacies with a…
HERA has just gone through an independent review of its carbon footprint. We’re sharing our experience, the resultant report and accounting spreadsheet in the hope that this will help you to do the same! As we increasingly see and experience the tangible impacts of climate change and the visible impacts of business activity (or lack…
Motivational Speaker Simon Sinek set the business world alight years ago when he first floated the golden circle concept. The notion that at the heart of successful business was an overwhelming articulation of their why. Jump forward seven or so years and add in a healthy dose of technological advancement – the resulting shift in…
Our current state of play has created a massive disruption to business as usual – but are there any positives to come out from the Covid-19 pandemic? Covid-19 has dramatically impacted us all in many different ways. Of course, most discussions have been on the negatives of Covid-19, but here are five silver linings that…
HERA recently commissioned an external market research company to figure out what NZ society thinks of our metals industry. The outcome was nothing short of interesting. Why? Because when asked if the steel industry was prepared for future technologies and innovation – only 47% felt we were. And of that, 79% responded that future-proofing the…
Sustainability has many facets. But it looks like climate change is the hands-down winner for the holiday sustainability hot topic (pardon the pun). So, how do we respond as an industry to this growing global concern? And what is HERA doing to assist? The catastrophic Australian fires and recent smoke impacts on New Zealand have…
Over the holidays a recent discovery got me to thinking about what data leads designers to imagine the future. As per the status quo of any extended holiday (once the eating, spending time with whanau (family), lounging about and doing things one tenth the speed we usually do), we generally turn our attention to tidying…