Slow news

That said, Syd Adie is to be commended.

### ODT Online Wed, 11 Nov 2009
‘More militant’ call prompts Adie walk-out
By Chris Morris

Syd Adie says calls for the Dunedin Ratepayers and Householders Association to become “more militant” were a personal attack on his leadership style after 20 years’ involvement in the organisation.

Mr Adie said yesterday it was the call – by Stop the Stadium member Peter Attwooll – that prompted him to walk out part-way through the association’s public meeting on Monday night.
Read more

University building at stadium

Channel 9 News: tomorrow ODT runs a story about the University of Otago’s proposed building at the stadium.

Word is it’ll cost more than originally thought.
By how much, we wonder.

### ODT Online Wed, 11 Nov 2009
University reviews stadium building
By Allison Rudd
The University of Otago is re-evaluating the design of its building at the Forsyth Barr Stadium site after a preliminary concept report said the building would need to be larger and more expensive than first anticipated.
Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin public library services

UPDATED

### ODT Online Tue, 10 Nov 2009
Post office plans revealed
By Mark Price
Dunedin City Council staff and consultants have done “most of the homework” required to convert three floors of the former chief post office, in Princes St, into a new library. Project management company Octa Associates was employed midway through the year to develop the proposal in the building owned by South Canterbury Finance.
Read more + photos

****

The former CPO gets further mention…

### ORC Wed, 11 Nov 2009
ORC office plans little advanced, Cairns says
By Rebecca Fox
The Otago Regional Council had not advanced its plans for new office premises much since it shelved its $31 million waterfront proposal in June, chairman Stephen Cairns said. It was unlikely the issue would come before the council “this side of Christmas”.
Read more

### ODT Online Wed, 11 Nov 2009
‘Skeleton’ development urged
By Mark Price
Grant McLauchlan, the Dunedin businessman turning the former RSA clubrooms in the central city into office space yesterday urged the Dunedin City Council to follow suit with the former chief post office, in Princes St. Council staff are investigating using the basement and two floors of the old post office for a new public library, with five higher floors potentially available as office space.

• Council property manager Robert Clark said the investigation into the library proposal, being carried out by Octa Associates, was a joint venture between the council and the building’s owner, South Canterbury Finance. It had yet to be determined who would own the building if the library went ahead.

• Mr Clark said he had received “another memo” yesterday from “some people up north” who were coming to Dunedin next week to “discuss the possibility of a hotel in the existing library”.

Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

NZRU idea – selling off Super 14 franchises

### RNZ National Monday, 09 November 2009 07:53
Morning Report with Geoff Robinson & Sean Plunket
NZRU floats idea of selling off Super 14 rugby franchises

The New Zealand Rugby Union has floated the idea of selling off Super 14 rugby franchises to private interests in a move reminiscent of the ownership structures of English premier league football clubs.
Audio Ogg Vorbis MP3 (5:07)

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Own your own

“This took me approx 33 hours solid to build for my sons 6th birthday. It’s a great looking model but I am very dissapointed with how stable the finished model is. The grey square blocks on the outside if the stadium fall off if you just look at them! So i think i am going to use superglue on the model which i didnt want to do. Also its a little to big. You will struggle to find a shelf or cabinet to fit this on in the average home.”
carl fenlon – telford, 21st January ‘08

****

Stadico Stadium Building Kits
How many times have you dreamed of being the owner of your very own football stadium? This superb model kit contains around 2500 pieces, and once built you will be able to cherish your favourite football stadium!
Read more

Thanks to tweet by AxlVanGok

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium – serious work for the pay

Will this role end in tears…

### ODT Online Mon, 9 Nov 2009
Salary of stadium boss revealed
By Chris Morris

The Welshman head-hunted to manage the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin is set to become the Dunedin City Council’s second highest-paid employee. David Davies (50) has negotiated an annual salary of up to $250,000 for his role as chief executive of Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (DVML), the company formed by the council to run the stadium and other ratepayer-owned venues.
Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Ad hoc planning, the malaise

Not solely the province of Auckland, Dunedin has its own problems…

### sstlive.co.nz Last updated 05:00 08/11/2009
Ad hoc planning makes us architects of our downfall
By Finlay Macdonald – Sunday Star Times

Party central? Try party pooper central. Seasoned urban planning watchers in Auckland could have predicted the current fiasco around revamping Queens Wharf for the Rugby World Cup.

This city exemplifies a wider national malaise when it comes to civic and aesthetic vision – a shortsighted, narrow-minded parsimoniousness that dooms even a blessed natural environment such as the Waitemata harbour front to dull mediocrity.
Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

STS website apology

### ODT Online Sat, 7 Nov 2009
Stop the Stadium apologises
By David Loughrey and Chris Morris

Stadium opposition group Stop the Stadium has apologised publicly on its website, admitting there was no factual basis to attacks published on the website and directed at the Otago Daily Times. The apology follows allegations that appeared on the site early this week.
Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium: RNZ National

### RNZ National 8.55AM Friday, 06 November 2009
Morning Report with Geoff Robinson & Sean Plunket
Dunedin’s new stadium takes shape
Dunedin’s new roofed stadium is beginning to take shape, five months after demolition work began on the harbourside site.
Audio Ogg Vorbis MP3 (3:33)

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Sustainable Building Symposium – registrations close Friday

SHAC 2009 – Invitation

All welcome

Registrations are open for the Sustainable Habitat Challenge 09 Symposium in Dunedin, 19-21 November.

Hear insights from leading practitioners and learn how SHAC teams rose to their challenge to create “simple, adaptable, efficient, affordable” – that is – more sustainable homes.

Open lectures with sustainable housing visionary Lawrence McIntyre, energy and environmental systems engineer Susan Krumdieck, designer/maker David Trubridge and architect David Strachan.

SHAC team presentations, with guest lectures from Department of Building and Housing chief architect Duncan Joiner, and Beacon Pathway manager Nick Collins.

DINNER AND AWARDS CEREMONY, then Taking it Forward. SHAC participants and others share their learnings and consider the next steps for sustainable building. Join this diverse group of builders, architects, engineers, designers and others as they come together to share ideas and experiences.

Register now by signing up to at www.shac.org.nz or email tim@shac.org.nz for more information.

REGISTER BY FRIDAY 6 November 2009, for catering purposes.

Only $90 for conference and Friday dinner and awards. See www.shac.org.nz

The Symposium qualifies for NZIA CPD points:
Keynote Lecture 10 points [Thursday evening]
Team Presentations 30 points [Friday]
Workshop 25 points [Saturday]

What is more sustainable building?
The teams have their ideas:

TEAM CANTERBURY – New timber-framed home. Less glass, ceiling-height doorways and smart lighting – engineers and builders join forces to make better use of conventional building techniques. Affordability is key.

WHAREUKU – New 3-bedroom earthen house. Embracing the philosophies of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and “sweat equity”, Whareuku has created a low-cost, flax-fibre reinforced earthen housing solution for rural Māori communities.

TE HIRA WHANAU BACH 101 – Retrofit bach. This modern refit of a classic bach emphasises recycling and a low-energy, do-it-yourself lifestyle to recapture the simple beauty of Kiwi holidays.

TEAM CENTRAL OTAGO – New straw bale home. High-spec straw bale eco home for Finnish client. Maximizing the use of natural, renewable and salvaged materials.

TEAM HOUSEWISE – Retrofit state house. Demonstrates a sustainable renovations package for upgrading Housing New Zealand properties. Includes family-friendly ideas designed by the home’s tenant. To be monitored over the following year.

UNITEC ECOCRIB – New build bach and interiors (design only). From cladding to furniture and light fittings – product designers and builders collaborate to design an efficient, healthy bach-style home.

TEAM WAIKATO – New build timber-panel sleepout. Adding on? Add in! A relocatable one-bedroom energy-efficient unit home adds value to backyards.

TEAM DUNEDIN – New timber-framed home. This stylish home is “normal” as possible. Proof that more sustainable living is within everyone’s reach today.

****

Please invite your colleagues and staff.

Tim Bishop
Otago Polytechnic
Dunedin
021 705346

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Lonely Planet. Dunedin rave.

Tourism Dunedin chief executive Hamish Saxton has to be very happy!

Lonely Planet issues a Best in Travel book each year with Trends, Destinations, Journeys and Experiences tipped as being the best for the twelve months ahead.

Dunedin came out on top of other New Zealand destinations for 2010…

Top 10 super cycling routes – Otago Peninsula is considered NUMBER 1 in the world! One of the best rides for its mixture of “scenery and sweat”. (page 156)

Top 10 places to walk your dog – Dunedin makes the cut for its “network of dog-friendly trails” around the city, behind Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo. References DCC website. (pages 186-187)

Top 10 for twitchers (bird watching) – Otago Peninsula singled out as one of New Zealand’s hot attractions because of the region’s birdlife, behind Papua New Guinea, Kruger National Park and Rift Valley Kenya. (pages 193-194)

****

### TVNZ News 6:21PM Tues 3 Nov 2009
Otago cycle route amongst best in world
Source: ONE News
Otago’s peninsula has been named one of the best bird watching, dog walking and cycling routes in the world.
Video (1:45)

****

### NZ Herald 02 Nov 2009
New Zealand in Lonely Planet Top 10
New Zealand has made the cut to be named in Lonely Planet’s prestigious Best in Travel publication for 2010. New Zealand was picked by Lonely Planet authors, staff and travellers as one of the Top 10 Countries to visit in 2010. Also featured on the list are El Salvador, Germany, Greece, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Portugal, Suriname and the USA.

Lonely Planet pokes fun at itself for recommending New Zealand as “too obvious, right?”

“But there’s wisdom in the old saying, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, and last time we checked the land of Māori and hobbits it certainly didn’t need repairing,” the guide says. NZPA
Read more

Writer of the New Zealand section, Nigel Wallis moved to soothe the concerns of long-distance travellers worried about their carbon footprint.

He said New Zealand was spearheading the eco-travel revolution and winning international accolades for its ethos towards responsible travel. This included minimising visitor impact and involving locals in sustainable tourism practices.

“When you’re gawping at the spine-tingling vistas, it’s good to know they’ll still be there for future generations.” – Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel (2010)

Oh yeah, Queenstown gets special mention…

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

D Scene – entrepreneurship skirts the stadium

### D Scene 4-11-09

Feast for workers (page 15)
By Michelle Sutton
A feast of burgers, bacon sandwiches, jobs and business opportunities are being served up and devoured at Dunedin’s stadium.
Otago Chamber of Commerce president John Christie said the stadium was a catalyst for private sector innovation, and people had seized entrepreneurial opportunities around its development.
{continues}

Council to talk about parking (page 5)
By Wilma McCorkindale
Parking recommendations to the Dunedin City Council are in, and an extraordinary meeting of the council will discuss them tomorrow.
The working party has released a nine-page report and map, and included two pages of recommendations for council to consider.
{continues}

Register to read D Scene online at http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

Talk: Dunedin on Dunedin (page 10)
Your say: Stadium stance

Letter by Bev Butler, Former President, Stop The Stadium Inc
Malcolm Farry states in D Scene (28/10/09), “Stadium – Game On”, that his one regret in the stadium debate has been the “personal attacks”.
{continues}

Letter by Bill Allen, Dunedin
Why is it that pro-stadium supporters state that the extra rates for the new stadium will only be on average $66 when they know, or should know in the positions that most of them hold, that this does not reflect the true additional rates increase.
{continues}

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Buses in Dunedin CBD

UPDATED

### ODT Online Fri, 6 Nov 2009
Electric buses, transfer stations mooted for central city
By David Loughrey
Dunedin’s bus system could be in for some major changes as the focus moves from parking to the public transport system.
Read more

### ODT Online Wed, 4 Nov 2009
DCC considers bus station in Octagon
By Mark Price
Turning the central carriageway of the Octagon into a bus station is one of six options the Dunedin City Council is being asked to investigate. The council working party set up to review the city’s parking policies also examined the issue of bus stops in the central business district and the six options are part of its report to tomorrow’s extraordinary council meeting.
Read more

BUS STOP OPTIONS
Options suggested by the Dunedin City Council’s parking review working party.-

1. Relocate Princes St bus stops to the central carriageway of the Octagon.

2. Relocate the northbound bus stop to the Octagon central carriageway.

3. Construct a bus transfer station north of the Octagon in the Moray Pl-Great King St area.

4. Consider a “high-frequency core route” through the main street with transfer points at either end.

5. Remove all bus stops between Frederick St and Moray Pl south and have the bus stop in the “through lane”.

6. Have a high-quality and high-frequency core route through the main street, with all other routes using a transfer centre in Great King St between Moray Pl and the Centre City Mall.

Extraordinary Council Meeting
The Extraordinary Council Meeting to consider Parking Issues, will be held on 5 Nov 2009 2:pm

When: Thursday 5 Nov 2009 -
Where: Council Chambers

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Jaywalking and the urban pedestrian

For those of us choosing to be carless…

### Slate Posted Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, at 4:01 PM ET
In Defense of Jaywalking
Banning the practice won’t make pedestrians safer.
By Tom Vanderbilt

Looking at any number of big-city dailies over the last few weeks, one might reasonably surmise that we are in the middle of a new public-health epidemic with an old name: jaywalking.

The very word jaywalk is an interesting—and not historically neutral—one. Originally an insult against bumptious “jays” from the country who ineptly gamboled on city sidewalks, it was taken up by a coalition of pro-automobile interests in the 1920s, notes historian Peter D. Norton in his book Fighting Traffic. “Before the American city could be physically reconstructed to accommodate automobiles, its streets had to be socially reconstructed as places where cars belong,” he writes. “Until then, streets were regarded as public spaces, where practices that endangered or obstructed others (including pedestrians) were disreputable. Motorists’ claim to street space was therefore fragile, subject to restrictions that threatened to negate the advantages of car ownership.” And so, where newspapers like the New York Times once condemned the “slaughter of pedestrians” by cars and defended the right to midblock crossings—and where cities like Cincinnati weighed imposing speed “governors” for cars—after a few decades, the focus of attention had shifted from marauding motorists onto the reckless “jaywalker.”

Read more

- Tom Vanderbilt is author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do, now available in paperback. He is contributing editor to Artforum, Print, and I.D.; contributing writer to Design Observer; and has written for many publications, including Wired, the Wilson Quarterly, the New York Times Magazine, and the London Review of Books. He blogs at howwedrive.com and lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Councillors! BMX track needed, south

David says @ http://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/city-parking-issues-not-abating/#comment-8931

“A BMX track is needed out south. Kids in St Clair have to cycle a 28km return trip through the centre of the city if they want to go to Forrester Park BMX track. Not a particularly appropriate commute for kids on bikes. Otematata has a population of just 200 and they have one.

“They’re cheap to build, and there’s a perfect unused piece of council land opposite Forbury Park, below Little Kettle Park beside the tennis courts. It even has a natural start ramp.

“We’ve got Marlow Park for little kids who are learning to ride, and there’s Signal Hill and Forrester / Bethunes / Mt Cargill tracks for experts, but there’s not much for most children in the 5-15 age group.

“NZ recently had 220 riders compete overseas in the age groups BMX world champs (what other overseas world champs would get 220 Kiwis competing?) and we currently have several world champs, including in age groups 5-6 years old, 12 years old, and of course Sarah Walker.

“Unfortunately for many Dunedin kids, a 28km cross town ride or commute means this highly popular sport that NZ is very good at, is not available to them. They have the bikes – they just need some mounds of dirt to ride on.”

****

### Vorb Sun 26th Jul 2009 8:22am
Sarah Walker Wins Uci Bmx World Championship Title
By Melissa_Theuriau
Sarah Walker, who turned 21 this month, definitely came of age when she claimed the UCI BMW World Championship in Adelaide last night. Walker totally dominated the opposition, winning all three qualifying motos, her semifinal and the final in a brilliant display to complete her set of world championship medals.
Read more

### TVNZ News 10:01AM Saturday August 22, 2009
Walker tops World Supercross qualifiers
Source: ONE Sport
BMX world champion Sarah Walker has topped qualifiers at the second round of the UCI World Supercross in South Africa on Saturday.
Read more

sarahwalker96

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Latest on PARKING +OMG tinkering with options for buses

Channel 9 News tonight indicates the council’s working party to address parking woes has settled into a self-congratulatory funk.

Deputy mayor Syd Brown, chair of the working party, says: “We have done our best to untangle the mess that was the city’s parking system.”

At Thursday’s extraordinary meeting of the council it is likely the recommended fixes will be approved, to be followed by an intensive media campaign.

It is expected the changes will be implemented by the end of the month.

Were any changes – or how few – needed to the parking system before council staff launched and totally bungled the exercise.

MESSAGE TO DCC STAFF:
In future, DON’T be the desk-sitting pen&paper-pushers that INTERFERE with established COMMERCE in this town. GOT IT ?!

****

### ODT Online Tue, 3 Nov 2009
`Suite’ of parking changes on table
By Mark Price
The Dunedin City Council’s parking officers may be instructed to look the other way when they encounter delivery vehicles parked illegally on loading zones in Dunedin’s CBD.
Read more

The main changes being recommended to the Dunedin City Council by its parking review working party are:

Parking times

Paid parking in lower Stuart St, from Moray Pl to Castle St; in Cumberland St west side, from St Andrew St to Queens Gardens; in Princes St, from Rattray St to Jetty St: From 4-hour maximum to a 60-min maximum.

Paid parking in George St, from Frederick St to Albany St: from 30-min maximum to 60-min maximum.

Paid parking on Cumberland St east side, from Stuart St to St Andrew St: predominantly 4-hour maximum, with some short-term parking.

Parking charges

George St, from the Octagon to Frederick St, from $2 to $1.50 for 30 mins.

For Moray Pl south of Stuart St, from $3 to $2 an hour.

For Cumberland St, from Stuart St to Queens Gardens, from $1 to $2 an hour.

For Scotland St from $2 to $1 an hour.

For George St, from Albany St to Union St, from $2 to $1 an hour.

For Union St, from George St to Great King St, from $2 to $1 an hour.

For Clark St, from paid parking to free parking.

Parking buildings

Normal charge $2 an hour Monday to Friday from opening until 6pm; then calculated in 15-minute time increments.

Charge for evening parking, Monday to Friday and Saturday parking $1 an hour, calculated in 30-min time increments.

Early bird (before 10am), $1 an hour discount parking in Great King St and Moray Pl YMCA parking buildings while these are under-utilised.

Fringe parking

$5 a day parking in parts of Smith St, Haddon Pl, Union St, St Andrew St, Queens Gardens, Crawford St and Stuart St.

Related posts

11.9.09 City parking issues NOT ABATING
24.9.09 Survey ignores those no longer parking in CBD
26.9.09 Parking changes – we hope!
29.9.09 Parking changes – protest and interim response

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And then, MORE to make Dunedin citizens go STIR FRIGGING CRAZY…

[thanks for the headsup Channel 9]

Tomorrow’s Otago Daily Times has a story about DCC and ORC (joy of joy) looking at bus options in the main street.

ONE of the six options is a “bus station” in the central carriageway of the Octagon.

Glory be to sick urban design ideas that DESTROY AND ANNIHILATE a critical public place (semi-green space) with DIESEL-EMITTING NOISY LARGE VEHICLES, in the true spirit of NON GREEN interventions to suffocate and kill us all. I’m too scared to THINK what the other options are. See new post, Buses in Dunedin CBD.

Post by Elizabeth

New post

A word missing?
Now added…

### STS website 01/11/2009 at 9:02 am
Debate on StS
We denigrate ourselves when we insult and [attack] each other.
It makes us none the wiser and only reinforces our prejudices.
Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Populous for 2014 Winter Olympics + 2014 Incheon Asian Games

### Arch Daily 03 Oct 2009
2014 Winter Olympic Games Stadium / Populous
By Sebastian J

The global design practice Populous announced this week that they have been selected by the State Corporation ‘Olympstroy’ to design the main stadium for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

Populous has also designed the master plan and overlay plan for competition and non-competition venues and facilities, and now adds designing the main 40,000 seat stadium to their expanding role on the 2014 Games. Populous is joined in the design consortium by Russian contractor Engeocom, and Botta Management.

Its sweeping form responds to both its coastal location and mountainous backdrop, whilst its crystalline skin engages with its surroundings by day, and provides an iconic representation of the colour and spectacle of the games when illuminated at night.
Link + photo

****

### Bustler Thursday, October 01, 2009
2014 Incheon Asian Games, Main Stadium Design by Populous
The competition-winning design of the main stadium for the 17th Asian games in Incheon, in South Korea, illustrates a new level of sustainable design in stadia in Asia.

The stadium will hold 70,000 people for the main event in 2014 and will reduce down to a single sided grandstand for 30,000 afterward as a People’s Park for the city of Incheon. The global architecture firm, Populous, formerly HOK Sport Venue Event, is designing Incheon stadium with local firm Heerim Architects and Planners.
Read more + photos

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

UNStudio – Dalian Football Stadium, Dalian, China, 2009

### Arch Daily 07 Oct 2009
New Dalian Shide FC Stadium / UNStudio
By Karen Cilento

After winning a limited competition, UNStudio will move forward with their design of a 38,500 m2 stadium for the Dalian Shide FC, China’s most successful club in the Chinese Super League. The new stadium will be located in the Shide’s hometown of Dalian, on the southern tip of Liaodong peninsula.

Working with the idea of layering and overlapping, an aesthetic deeply rooted in ancient Chinese cuju football, Ben van Berkel has created a stadium where the articulation of the structure and its openings and overlapping moments serve as “the starting point for visitor experience”.

The stadium will accommodate approximately 40,000 spectators in addition to providing areas for TV broadcasting, administration, VIP lounge, players’ facilities and two training fields. A public concourse in a layered envelope extends on ground level to provide outdoor public areas that rest above the parking facilities.
Read more + photos

www.unstudio.com

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Sustainable building + future proofing

The common theme through all these examples is the buildings’ sustainability rating such as Green Star or equivalent.

### sstlive.co.nz Last updated 05:00 01/11/2009
Green building as good as gold
By Rod Oram – Sunday Star Times

OPINION: DO YOU want to increase your productivity? Begin by improving the physical conditions in which you work.

That’s the core principle businesses such as IAG, BNZ, NZ Post and ICT innovators at Canterbury University are applying. Knowing that where people work determines how they work, they have recently moved into fit-for-purpose buildings. In IAG’s case it wanted to change its business culture by breaking down silos within and between NZI and its other insurance operations. But it couldn’t when they were spread around four buildings in Auckland’s CBD. So it worked with Newcrest, a property developer, and architects Jasmax on the NZI Centre at the corner of Fanshawe St and Market Pl. Some 700 staff have been in the building only a couple of months but they are working more effectively and efficiently, IAG says.
Read more

The Green Building Summit 2009 was held in Auckland last week. The Summit represents the largest green building event on the NZ scene. Rod Oram chaired two panels at the conference and is helping the NZ Green Building Council write a discussion paper on these issues.

The Green Building Summit was hosted by Property Council New Zealand and the New Zealand Green Building Council, in partnership with Davis Langdon. “A day filled with innovative ideas and opportunities designed to expand your business, widen your vision, and stimulate your thinking with the latest best practices and key players in building, business and design.”

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

RWC 2011 roll out of legacy ‘icons’

### sstlive.co.nz Last updated 05:00 01/11/2009
Lomu heads 2011 cup promotion
By Marc Hinton in Tokyo – Sunday Star Times

New Zealand is finally set to utilise the global appeal of Jonah Lomu, with the one-time rampaging All Blacks wing lined up in a team of super ambassadors to take on key roles leading into the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

The Sunday Star-Times has learnt that Lomu – along with fellow All Blacks’ icons Sean Fitzpatrick, David Kirk and John Kirwan – has been approached to spearhead a New Zealand government initiative that will see the quartet named as official Rugby World Cup ambassadors.

It’s understood other “iconic” All Blacks may also be asked to take on the roles as the New Zealand government, in association with Martin Snedden’s official tournament organisation, looks to harness the profiles and contacts of the rugby superstars to achieve a legacy for the tournament.
Read more

The article also notes: “It’s understood the International Rugby Board is taking a dim view of the kerfuffle over New Zealand ’s bid for the free-to-air element of the 2011 cup television rights.”

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Architecture ETA 2011

“While architects cannot solve all the world’s ecological problems, we can design energy efficient, socially responsible buildings and we can influence transport patterns through urban planning.”

What else is happening in 2011 besides an ETFE-roofed stadium at Dunedin? This project from Foster + Partners is the first in a series of international building projects What if? will highlight for completion in 2011.

****

Foster + Partners
National Arena Scotland
Glasgow, UK, 2005-2011
Scotland’s National Arena will be an exciting new addition to the expanding cultural and event hub at Glasgow’s Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. The new Arena will provide an outstanding indoor venue for concerts and performances. A highly flexible building, it is designed to accommodate a wide range of events – from pop concerts to grand theatrical shows.
Slideshow

Architecture and Planning
Foster + Partners’ architecture is driven by the pursuit of quality – a belief that our surroundings directly influence the quality of our lives, whether in the work place, at home or the public spaces in between. It is not just buildings but urban design that affects our well-being. We are concerned with the physical context of a project, sensitive to the culture and climate of their place. We have applied the same priorities to public infrastructure world-wide – in our airports, railway stations, metros, bridges, communication towers, regional plans and city centres. The quest for quality embraces the physical performance of buildings. Link

The way we work
To undertake consistently, in a decade, some of the biggest projects in the world, needs depth of resources. In that sense, ‘size matters’. The practice is more than one thousand strong, with offices in twenty-two countries and a highly talented team drawn from more than fifty nations. However, creativity and personal service are best nurtured by the compact group where ‘small is beautiful’. The resolution of these apparently conflicting ideals is mirrored in the practice’s structure. Link

www.fosterandpartners.com

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Local Government Act reforms

UPDATED

### TVNZ News 4:00PM Wednesday October 28, 2009
Proposed changes to Local Govt Act announced
Source: NZPA
Councils will in future have to pay much closer attention to their core functions and produce financial reports that ratepayers can understand, Local Government Minister Rodney Hide announced on Wednesday. He released proposed changes to the Local Government Act which have been signed off by Cabinet.
Read more

****

Do the reforms mean more or less of this:
Garrick Tremain 27 October 2009

****

MMP has a down side in this individual…

### NZ Herald 4:00AM Thursday Oct 29, 2009
Hide opens door to privatised water deals
By Bernard Orsman

The Government is planning to make it easier for private companies to take over water and wastewater services from councils. Local Government Minister and Act leader Rodney Hide yesterday said “flexibility in delivery of water services” was part of changes to the Local Government Act 2002.
Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

D Scene – Game on, stadium

Carisbrook Stadium Trust is 15 months out from the 31 July 2011 deadline.

### D Scene 28-10-09
Stadium – game on (page 10)
Dunedin’s stadium is not yet built, but it is already hosting a fiercely contested, high-stakes game. This game is a race against the clock, spurred on by the 2011 Rugby World Cup, with millions of dollars riding on it. Michelle Sutton talks to the home team, and looks at its opposition.
{continues}

Group weighs in on stadium (page 6)
By Wilma McCorkindale
The Dunedin Ratepayers and Householders Association is in recess until its future is decided. However, in a media statement the association said it had called a meeting because it had heard about unexpected stadium charges on rate demands. Association secretary Neville Poole said the assciation would meet at the Pioneer Women’s Hall on November 9.
{continues}

Register to read D Scene online at http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

Ecosanctuary to open (page 2)
By Wilma McCorkindale
Orokonui Ecosanctuary officially opens Friday night after two decades in the making. Manager Chris Baillie said the $5m facility is officially opening at 6pm with a plaque unveiling by Otago Natural History Trust chairman Dr Ralph Allen and a keynote speech by acclaimed botanist Professor Alan Mark.
{continues}

Landfill considered (page 6)
By Wilma McCorkindale
Dunedin City Council is investigating a regional landfill to replace Green Island tip. The council has consent for its landfill until 2023. Otago councils are looking at a future regional facility in the Otago area.
{continues}

Recycling submissions hearings on (page 6)
By Wilma McCorkindale
Hearing of oral submissions to the Dunedin City Council kerbside recycling collection system begins today. DCC solid waste manager Ian Featherston recommends council’s preferred option known as Option C. It advocates the retention of black rubbish bags and the blue recycling container, which will be used for glass recycling only. It also adds a lidded wheelie bin for other recyclables.
{continues}

****

Talk: Dunedin on Dunedin (page 9)
Your say
Council’s financial bind by Lyndon Weggery, Kew
With all the talk about council finances going into the red, an increasing Dunedin City Holdings Limited debt and proposed cutting of water and wastewater budgets it is surely a case of “I told you so”. The main objection to funding the new stadium by the majority of ratepayers and citizens is that it has effectively taken away valuable funds for the things that really matter in running a city like Dunedin.
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City councillors by Dave Brownlie, Dunedin
I am sick of reading about Dave Witherow moaning about our councillors. Just remember who went to court and lost and didn’t even have the money to cover the court costs, so who misled the people?
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Rubbish plan by Jeff Dickie, Woodhaugh
I have been informed by a Dunedin City Council official that the new rubbish plan, Option C, is to cost about $2.4 million.
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Hydro schemes likely (page 17)
By Wilma McCorkindale
As Contact Energy investigates future hydro schemes on the Clutha, Otago Chamber of Commerce chief John Christie believes Dunedin can step up and be New Zealand’s next hydro city.
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Post by Elizabeth Kerr

North London – new stadium plus supermarket and more

### Architects’ Journal 27 October, 2009
MAKE and KSS submit Spurs stadium plans
By Richard Waite

Tottenham Hotspur’s proposed new 56,250-seat home in North London has taken a major step forward today.

Masterplanners MAKE, together with arena designers KSS and landscape designers Martha Schwartz Partners have submitted a planning application for the massive Northumberland Development Project backed by the Premier League club.

The stadium will replace the club’s existing 36,000-seat White Hart Lane stadium with a new 63-row, single-tier stand, which could open as early as the 2012-13 season.

The scheme, which was lodged with Haringey Council, will also feature a new hotel, housing, club shop and supermarket.

The revised scheme was unveiled earlier this year.
Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr