If you wish to apologise or register a Leave of Absence Request, please use the links below. Any problems please use contact form and emails will be forwarded. Remember absences need to be submitted before 6 pm on Thursday to be credited. LOA's require board approval
Peter McCawe (Hawkins Construction) - University in Tauranga
Speaker
Roy Lehndorf (Hawkins Construction) - University in Tauranga
Speaker
Save a life – The relaunch is on 21 December with a stand operating at Countdown. Dave called on members to fill in the circulating sheet and volunteer for the two hour slots from 9am-4pm.
Christmas meeting – 15 December. Eric gave a reminder to bring a $10 Secret Santa gift. With brisk efficiency he decided gifts would be given, and not traded as is customary. Some muttering was heard from the traditionalists.
Summer Cricket Fundraiser – Chris has offered a fundraising opportunity at Bay Oval cricket games. Barbara asked members to read Eric’s email send on 29th November calling for volunteers, and get back to him. This is a great opportunity to watch cricket and raise funds.
Predator Free Tauranga – Warren gave advance notice of an opportunity to raise funds through an initiative to place rodent traps in gardens. More details will be forthcoming next week.
Rotary Magazine – Please could all members who wish to receive the magazine either in hard copy or digitally please contact Roberta.
First meeting of 2018 – On 5 January the first meeting will be held at The Raft, Chapel Street. Please look at their menu on line - http://www.theraft.co.nz/menu/breakfast_menu - but email your order to Eric to avoid any confusion. Don’t order from the website.
Guest Speakers - Peter McCawe and Roy Lehndorf from Hawkins Construction gave a fascinating overview of the construction of the University of Waikato Tauranga campus development.
Peter as Regional Manager started by telling members about the range of projects this 70-year-old company has been involved in locally. Projects include the new Zespri Head Office, The Crossing at Tauriko, Grace Hospital, Kingsview Apartments, and many new schools. Hawkins has excellent relations with local Iwi, and employs several young Maori trainees every year.
Roy is the Project Director and he ran through the project which started six months ago, and will be completed in February 2019. He showed an excellent time lapse video depicting the construction of the building. He recommended members view a 3.5 minute online video showing how students and staff will use the campus building - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwYil9gBzto#action=share
This is an large and complex building (8,500 sq.m.) with some tolerances less than 2mm. An important feature is seismic strength, and custom made bracing has been imported from the USA. There are no piles, as the building sits on a concrtete slab.
Most of the components are manufactured off site, and the skill of the project management lies in the co-ordinating of these just in time for construction. The site is very constrained and this is managed by having a north and a south tower, and resources are spilt between the two.
The University has had a strong relationship with local Iwi, and an Atea (arrival area) is a feature, together with art and sculptures to be included. Sustainability principles are also important and there is a focus on using local timber. Whilst not Green Star rated, rain water harvesting and other sustainability features are included.
The best question came from John who asked how how cranes work, and he was given a detailed description, as well as an offer to see the dismantling of the main crane, which costs $28,000 per month to hire.
Sgt Session – Ron fined Pauline Cowens, Greg Brownless (casting vote), Ken White, Don Pilbrow, Eric Happe, Mark Whitworth, Bob Sutton, Pat Taylor, Phil Mangos, Lynda Birch (supervising a robot vacuum cleaner whilst drinking wine), the glass recycling company (for not accepting his wine bottles), the guy who stole a police car, BOP Regional Council, the Tauranga City Council museum and library project, traffic in Tauranga, Ken Boyd (for asking John Key to pay for his meal), Ed Sherren (for being a fellow ginger – who would have guessed?) and the Deputy Prime Minister.
Up to this point the session was moderately clean, but then Ron couldn’t help himself and revealed he had recently had a Kauri tree up his backside and had bought false breasts for his partner Deborah.
Parting thought – Mary quoted Ronald Reagan who said, “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”