Dunedin’s second generation district plan (2GP) —notes on Natural Hazards

Received from Neil Johnstone
Wed, 3 May 2017 at 7:19 p.m.

Message: Last Thursday (27 April) I presented the remainder of my submission on Natural Hazards. Notes attached in case they might help anybody’s further efforts.

{The notes from Mr Johnstone are public domain by virtue of the consultative 2GP hearing process. -Eds}

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2GP PRESENTATION NOTES: LANDSLIDES
Neil Johnstone

I have no property interest in any landslide hazard area (although I did previously), nor in the Water of Leith catchment, nor in South Dunedin. My main purpose in appearing at this stage is to bring to the panel’s attention that the expert (so-called) opinions received from Otago Regional Council’s (ORC) natural hazard analysts are often deficient to the detriment of the 2GP process and the city’s residents.

I am a long-term resident of Dunedin and am highly experienced in flood control issues and solutions. I am appearing here on my own behalf, therefore not strictly as an Expert Witness in this instance, although I have done so in past years both in both the High Court and the Environment Court. I also acted as lead technical advisor to the NZ Govt investigation into the massive 1999 Clutha flood. My detailed investigations have ranged from simple issues such as the Water of Leith (as Investigations Engineer at Otago Catchment Board and ORC) to the entire Clutha catchment (in varying roles). These investigations have often incorporated the construction and operation of accurate, properly verified models.

I am now semi-retired MIPENZ, but still running my own consultancy on a reduced basis. I am a highly experienced expert in flood issues, I am much less so wrt landslide identification and mitigation (but I know a nonsensical report when I read one). ORC hazard analysts responsible for the landslide buffer zones originally imposed across my former property (and many others) need to accept that their approach was seriously flawed, and far from expert. Paul Freeland has mentioned to me in a recent phone conversation that Dunedin City Council (DCC) should be able to have confidence that ORC hazard analysts are expert. I have no strong criticism of Mr Freeland, but those days have passed – in this region at least – when expertise was based on proven performance, and not on a position’s title. A property previously owned by my wife and me in Porterfield Street, Macandrew Bay was quite ridiculously misrepresented in ORC’s landslide report of September 2015. The landslide hazard zone on that property has apparently now been removed, but uncaring damage has been done to us, and no doubt to many others. The Hazard 2 zone was reportedly imposed without site inspection, or without anybody properly reviewing output or checking accuracy of references.

[Reason for submitting: Natural Hazards section of 2GP dominated (undermined) by ORC hazards staff input and DCC failure to verify/review; DCC presumption that ORC “experts” do/should have appropriate expertise. We appear to be witnessing a proliferation of Hazard Analysts in NZ Local Government with little relevant experience or skill.]

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2GP PRESENTATION NOTES: SOUTH DUNEDIN
Neil Johnstone

The comments re South Dunedin flood hazard contained in my original written submission were written prior to DCC’s producing its inaccurate flood reports in respect of the South Dunedin flooding of early June 2015 in which high groundwater levels were held to blame. These DCC reports were eventually released in late November 2015 and April 2016 respectively. My analyses (well after my original submission) demonstrated that the prime cause of widespread flooding in South Dunedin was DCC’s failure (in order of probable significance) to utilise the bypass facility at Tahuna Wastewater Treatment Plant, to fully utilise its stormwater pumping capacity at Portobello Road, and to maintain its stormwater infrastructure (mudtanks etc). Inflow of “foreign” water from the St Clair catchment added to the depth of inundation in some areas. All these can be remedied by a diligent Council. Some have already been remedied, as positively demonstrated in the admittedly rather over-hyped rain event of the subtropical cyclone remnant around this past Easter.

ORC natural hazard analysts were probably responsible for the origin of the groundwater myth as a cause of the South Dunedin flooding in their Coastal Otago Flood Event 3 June 2015 report. Reference was made there to “elevated” ground water levels. They followed up with a contentious report (The Natural Hazards of South Dunedin, July 2016). This opens by stating that the June 2015 flooding was caused by heavy rainfall and high groundwater levels, with no mention of mudtanks, or pumping failures (plural). Such reporting cannot be treated as balanced, nor its authors credible. Elsewhere, ORC essentially conceded the groundwater myth in Rebecca Macfie’s excellent NZ Listener article entitled Flood Fiasco (June 11, 2016).

Shortly after, however, ORC produced the aforementioned South Dunedin Hazards report (backed up by an embarrassingly inaccurate video presentation) that seems to reflect a desire to preach doom rather than convey a balanced defendable scientific analysis of South Dunedin realities and solutions where needed.

One of the worst features of the report and subsequent video was the depiction of projected permanently inundated areas of South Dunedin based on ORC modelling of rising sea level effects. These depictions made front page news in the Otago Daily Times with flow-on reporting nationally. The mapped areas of inundation are actually taken from an earlier ORC report entitled The South Dunedin Coastal Aquifer and Effect of Sea Level Fluctuations (October 2012). The modelling was based on limited information, and the findings would therefore be expected to be of limited reliability. The 2012 report essentially confirms this, noting that modelling of existing conditions overestimates actual groundwater levels (by the order of half a metre in places). Figure 2 (Scenario 0) of that report shows significant permanent ponding for current conditions. None exists in reality. Almost lost (in Section 3.8) are the following (abbreviated, and amongst other) concessions:

• Uncertainty of input data
• Potential inaccuracy of model predictions
• High level of uncertainty
• Groundwater system is poorly to moderately well characterised
• Aquifer properties are poorly understood or quantified
• Each of these uncertainties could have the effect of overestimating the groundwater ponding in the current setting.

The reader is advised to read the full Section 3.8 to ensure contextual accuracy. In my view (as an experienced modeller), a study that cannot even replicate known existing relationships is imperfectly calibrated and unverified. It cannot therefore be relied on. Strictly speaking, it does not qualify as a model. The relationship between possible sea level rise and consequent groundwater impact remains highly uncertain.

Unfortunately, the 2016 ORC South Dunedin Hazards report (and video) chose to reproduce the 2012 ponding predictions using more recent data (but without any better appreciation of aquifer characteristics), but the predictions are similar. It is noted that no Scenario 0 mapping is included in the latter report, nor are the model’s inherent weaknesses described. No admission of the potential modelling inaccuracies is presented other than the following note in Section 4.1: “Further discussion of the original model parameters, model calibration and potential pitfalls is included in the ORC (2012a) report, which can be accessed on the ORC website”. I believe that all parties were entitled to know unequivocally that the modelling was unreliable and unverified.

The 2016 report also makes reference to the fact that dry-weather ground water levels at the Culling Park recorder are at or below mean sea level. This is attributed by the authors to leakage of ground water into the stormwater and wastewater sewers. If that is correct (I would reserve judgement as to whether there may be other factors), then we are witnessing just one example of how an engineered solution could be utilised to dissipate increasing depth of groundwater. Such solutions are canvassed in the BECA report commissioned by DCC several years back.

To summarise, South Dunedin’s exposure to flood (current or future) is poorly described by ORC hazard analysts. The 2GP process seems to have seen these analysts “adopted” by DCC planners as their experts. I consider that to be an inappropriate approach to the detriment of our citizens.

The proposal to require relocatable housing in South Dunedin seems premature, and based on highly questionable information. The proposal for relocatable housing in South Dunedin also rather pre-empts the currently-planned DCC study of overseas approaches to sea level rise solutions.

Requiring relocatable houses will likely simply mean that aged houses that should in time be replaced will be repaired instead. Who is going to build a new relocatable house if they have nowhere to relocate to and probably insufficient money to acquire the requisite land? The proposal to require relocatable housing is ill-considered and premature in my opinion.

With respect to ground water issues across South Dunedin, the 2016 Hazard Report presents –

The reason for my pointing out these facts is to encourage Commissioners to take a step back from the current hysteria surrounding South Dunedin. Had the 2015 flooding extent been restricted (as it should have been) to that which occurred in a slightly larger rainfall event in March 1968, the event would have already been forgotten. Seemingly, at least partly as a result of that hysteria, the proposal to require relocatable housing in South Dunedin seems premature, and based on highly questionable information. Just as ORC floodplain mapping contradicts its in-place flood protection philosophy, so does the proposal for relocatable housing in South Dunedin also rather pre-empt the currently planned DCC study of overseas approaches to sea level rise.

Requiring relocatable houses will simply mean that aged houses that should in time be replaced will be repaired instead. Who is going to build a new relocatable house if they have nowhere to relocate to and probably no money to acquire the requisite land? The proposal for relocatable housing is ill-considered and premature in my opinion.

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2GP PRESENTATION: URBAN STREAM HAZARDS
Neil Johnstone

Urban Stream Comment re Leith and Lindsay Streams:

ORC’s mapping is said to be of residual flooding (post-flood protection works of the past 80-plus years), but actually represents what might have been envisaged many decades back in something considerably greater than the record 1929 flood with none of the very significant channel works of the 1930s, 1940s and 1960s; or even those lesser improvement of the 2010s in place. The ORC 2GP mapping includes areas that didn’t get flooded in 1923 or 1929. I agree with some potential dangers of stream blockage (especially in Lindsay Creek, and to a lesser extent at Clyde Street and Rockside Road), but one can only consider locations of feasible blockage in today’s conditions. Furthermore, accepted professional practice for flood plain mapping requires detailed hydrology, probability analyses, climate change allowance, hydrograph routing, in-channel modelling (allowing for stream capacity variability), and overland flow modelling. ORC’s flood mapping incorporates none of these fundamentals; instead, it reads as little more than a colouring-in exercise, when a professionally researched technical document is required. In short, ORC’s hazard analysts have carried out no fit-for-purpose analysis for a District Plan process.

Interestingly, the concerns expressed by ORC hazard analysts re channel blockage are entirely inconsistent with ORC’s own design philosophy and consent application evidence for the recent Flood protection scheme (so called). Design Philosophy minimises the issue.

Very briefly, the mapping is challenged for the following reasons (inter alia):

No descriptions of the effective flood protection initiatives (OHB -1920s and 1930s, DCC -1940s, OCB -1960s) are included. These works have ensured that overtopping is practically impossible in the George Street to Cumberland Street reach, the Clock Tower reach and Forth Street to Harbour reaches. Flood protection in these areas are all built to a much higher hydraulic standard than the so-called ORC scheme of the past decade, and to a far, far higher standard than existed pre-1929.

It is further noted that ORC’s own Design Philosophy Report (OPUS for ORC, 2005) for the proposed Leith/Lindsay flood protection scheme is adamant that debris traps recently (then) constructed at Malvern Street and Bethunes Gully would further mitigate any debris problems. Refer paras 7.7 and 10.6 of that document.

Ponding is mapped where water couldn’t even reach in 1929 (peak flood currently estimated at 220 cumecs, and predating flood protection measures) in the wider CBD area. Flows along George Street in the 1920s only occurred south as far as about Howe Street, then re-entered the river. Nowadays, the accelerating weir above George Street and the structural high velocity channel immediately downstream provide much more clearance than existed in 1929. [Most outflow then from the river occurred much further downstream.] In those downstream reaches, many of the bridges have been replaced or upgraded. Possible remaining points of interest are the hydraulically insignificant extension (circa 2015) of the St David Street footbridge, the historic Union Street arch footbridge, and the widened (circa 2012) Clyde Street road bridge. The flimsy St David Street bridge would not survive any hydraulic heading up so there would likely be of little flood consequence, and backing up upstream of Union St would be largely inconsequential because of the height of the Clock Tower reach banks immediately upstream. The Clyde Street bridge is acknowledged as being lower than optimum, but it has not created any issues in its half century existence. Any overtopping there could only impact on a limited area between the bridge and the railway line.

Overland lows beyond (east of) the rail line remain highly improbable because of the ongoing blocking effect of road and rail embankments. Flows as far as the railway station to the west of the rail line are also highly improbable nowadays as only the Clyde Street area could conceivably contribute.

The 1923 photograph showing ponding along Harrow Street is presented by ORC with an unfortunate caption stating that the water is sourced from the Leith. Some undoubtedly was, but the whole of the city was subject to “internal” stormwater flooding from Caversham tunnel, across South Dunedin to the CBD and beyond. To illustrate further, a NIWA April 1923 flood summary (accessible online) provides a summary of some of the information more fully described in technical reports and newspaper accounts, including:

• Portions of Caversham, South Dunedin, St Kilda, the lower portions of central and northern areas of the City and North East Valley were completely inundated.
• Water in South Dunedin was waist deep.
• The Water of Leith rose considerably and burst its banks in many places, causing extensive damage along its banks and flooding low-lying areas.

Today’s stormwater infrastructure is rather more extensive and effective (when maintained), and DCC has a continuing legal obligation to provide to maintain that service.

The levels plotted across Lindsay Creek seem highly pessimistic. Levels are shown to be of the order of 2 metres above North Road in some locations at least. I have [no] knowledge of any such levels ever having been approached. Care must be taken not to include unfloodable areas in the mapping. I don’t however discount localised channel blockage, and the channel capacity is substandard in many areas. The valley slope ensures that overland flow will achieve damaging velocities. Such velocities are noted in the NIWA summary.

Of greater concern to me, however, is that ORC’s mapping appears to have seriously underestimated the significance of potential Woodhaugh flood issues:-

The river channel through here is both steep and confined. The influences of Pine Hill Creek (immediately upstream) and Ross Creek (immediately downstream) add to turbulence and bank attack. The area was ravaged in 1923 and 1929, and there have been evacuations in some much lesser events in later decades. These areas are at considerable risk in a 50- to 100-year plus event. Hardin Street, Malvern Street had houses evacuated in the 1960s flood. High velocity, rock laden flows and mudslides can all be anticipated, and difficult to counter. Area below camping ground / Woodhaugh was overwhelmed in floods of the 1920s – a focus for flooding depth and velocity.

If the 2GP process is to include urban flood maps, these should be diligently derived, based on historical record and appropriate modelling. The mapping should reflect the real flood risks (including likelihood, velocity and depth). The decreasing flood risk from Woodhaugh (potentially high impact) through North East Valley (moderate impact) through to the main urban area south of the Leith waterway (localised and of little-to-zero impact) should be reflected in the mapping.

[ends]

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█ 2GP Hearing Topic: Natural Hazards
https://2gp.dunedin.govt.nz/2gp/hearings-schedule/natural-hazards.html

█ For more, enter the terms *johnstone*, *flood* and *south dunedin* in the search box at right.

Related Posts and Comments
6.6.16 Listener June 11-17 2016 : Revisiting distress and mismanagement #SouthDunedinFlood
10.6.16 “Civic administration” reacts to hard hitting Listener article

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[DCC Map differs from what was notified]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Why would DCC shaft its own company instead of investing in its change and development ?!

ODT 20.4.17 (page 28)

At Facebook:

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Related Post and Comments:
11.3.17 How Safe Are We/Our Businesses with the Corporate Disaster that’s Aurora, owned by DCC ? #reliability

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *grady*, *aurora*, *poles*, *asset management plan*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *epicpolefail* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Waste Management NZ Ltd is Chinese owned

Ian Athfield dies #architecture

Updated post Thu, 23 Jan 2014 at 5:28 p.m.
Public Memorial Service (1 February) details below.

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█ Sir Ian Charles Athfield KNZM (15 July 1940 – 16 January 2015) was a New Zealand architect. He was born in Christchurch and graduated from the University of Auckland in 1963 with a Diploma of Architecture. That same year he joined Structon Group Architects, and he became a partner in 1965. In 1968 he was a principal partner in setting up Athfield Architects with Ian Dickson and Graeme John Boucher (Manson). Link to profile

Sir Ian had recently been made a knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to architecture. Photo: NZ Herald

Athfield made a knight (2014) | Wellingtonian Interview Q&A (2009)
Review of Athfield’s biography (2012)

Website: Athfield Architects | Google Images: Ian Athfield

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 17:51, January 16 2015
The Dominion Post
Renowned architect Sir Ian Athfield dies, aged 74
By Simon Bradwell and Tom Hunt
Renowned Wellington-based architect Sir Ian Athfield has died. He was 74.
Athfield Architects associate Rachel Griffiths said Sir Ian died in Wellington Hospital early this morning surrounded by family. His death was the result of “unexpected complications” during a procedure to treat his colon cancer.
“Ath had been dealing with cancer for some time with his usual stoicism and inappropriate humour,” Griffiths said. “There is … no-one else like Ath and we are devastated by his passing.” The Athfield family had asked for time to deal with their grief, she said. No date had been set for the funeral or memorial service at this stage.

A statement released this morning by the New Zealand Institute of Architects announced his death. “It is with great sadness that we inform Members that Sir Ian Athfield, one of New Zealand’s finest architects, has passed away in Wellington,” it said. “Our deepest condolences go out to Ath’s family, friends and colleagues. There are few details to share at this stage, but we will notify members of any funeral or memorial service arrangements as soon as they arise.”

Athfield, who was knighted in the most recent New Year Honours for his work in architecture, won more than 60 awards for his work. In a professional career spanning half a century, his stamp was imprinted across Wellington, and with Roger Walker, he was probably New Zealand’s leading exponent of modernist architecture. His most well-known works included the City Library and its nikau palm columns, built as part of the Civic Square redevelopment in the 1980s, and his own sprawling Khandallah house. He also designed Jade Stadium in Christchurch, which was damaged in the February 2011 earthquake.
Walker said he was “still in shock” on getting the news of Athfield’s death.
Read more

● 3 News: Kiwi architect Sir Ian Athfield dies [+ newsclip]
● New Zealand Herald: His designs offended and inspired: Architect Sir Ian Athfield dies [+ tweets with photos]
● ONE News: ‘Heavy hearts’ as renowned architect Sir Ian Athfield mourned
● Yahoo.com: ‘Rebellious’ architect Ian Athfield dies
● Wellington.scoop: Death of architect Ian Athfield
● NBR: Sir Ian Athfield, one of NZ’s most influential architects, has died

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ODT 20.1.15 (page 21)

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Death Notice – The Dominion Post [online]

█ Public Figure: Ian Athfield https://www.facebook.com/Ian-Athfield

Sir Ian Athfield – Public Memorial Service
The New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) have organised a public memorial service to celebrate the life and work of Sir Ian Athfield, to be held at 3pm, Sunday 1 February, in Civic Square, Wellington.
Details of the service are yet to be finalised, but it is envisaged that it will include eulogies from people who knew Ath well. The service will very much be a memorial to Ath the Architect, and many Members will wish to attend. https://www.nzia.co.nz/

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archivesnz Published on May 5, 2013

Architect Athfield (1979)
New Zealand National Film Unit presents Architect Athfield (1979)
‘Architect Athfield’ examines the frustrations and achievements of one of New Zealand’s most lively and innovative architects. In 1975 Ian Athfield won an international competition directed towards providing housing for 140,000 squatters from the Tondo area in Manila. Ironically, Athfield had jumped to international prominence before any wide-ranging acceptance in his own country. This film examines Athfield’s practical philosophy of architecture, and culminates in his trip to the Philippines, where he hopes to make his prize-winning design a reality.

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wclchannel Uploaded on Nov 30, 2011
Ian Athfield – Central Library architect

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[YouTube] Julia Gatley’s interview with Sir Miles Warren and Ian Athfield on the 23rd of June 2012 at City Gallery Wellington.
Ian Athfield Interview 23 June 2012 Part 1 of 4 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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Phil O’Brien Published on Apr 14, 2013
Ian Athfield at the 2009 Gold Awards

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Related Posts and Comments:
24.4.13 Ian Athfield at Dunedin | Open Lecture Friday 26 April
3.3.13 RNZ Sunday Morning | Ideas: Re-imagining the Urban House
9.11.12 New Zealand Urban Design Awards
25.6.12 New Zealand Architects: Pete Bossley, and Ian and Clare Athfield
7.12.11 Ian Athfield on post-earthquake Christchurch #eqnz
19.9.11 NZIA members on Christchurch City Plan
13.7.08 Some thoughts

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Samples from What if? Comments

### rnz.co.nz Sunday 11 August 2013
Arts on Sunday
1:43 New Arts Icon Ian Athfield
Ian Athfield on his new honour and he talks about this weekend’s forum on how architects and designers can help out following natural disasters.
Audio Ogg MP3 (6′59″)

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### ODT Online Sat, 27 Apr 2013
‘Look at heritage differently,’ Athfield says
By John Gibb
Leading New Zealand architect Ian Athfield yesterday praised Dunedin’s wealth of heritage buildings but urged a rethink of aspects of the city’s one-way-street system. Mr Athfield, of Wellington, was in the city yesterday to give the annual New Zealand Historic Places Trust R.A. Lawson Lecture, as part of the Dunedin Heritage Festival. Addressing about 200 people at the University of Otago’s St David lecture theatre, he said “we have to look at heritage differently”. One-way street systems, in Dunedin and elsewhere, could sometimes separate important heritage buildings from their communities, and could make it difficult for people to approach such buildings on foot because of traffic volumes. Mr Athfield […] urged people to take a more flexible and holistic approach to heritage, treasuring the wider context of historic buildings, including their landscape settings, rather than seeing them only in isolation.
Read more

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Photo: City Gallery Wellington

Aalto Books profiles Portrait of a House by Simon Devitt
Published by Balasoglou Books May 2013
Only 1,000 copies printed with 100 special edition copies that include one of five photographic prints. At 140 pages, a true collector’s item for those interested in New Zealand history, architecture, design and photography.
Portrait of a House is a photo book by photographer Simon Devitt in collaboration with graphic designer Arch MacDonnell (Inhouse Design). This is Devitt’s first foray in the photo book genre. His book explores the Athfield House – the ‘village on the hill’ – an architectural experiment that Ian Athfield started in 1965 on the Khandallah hillside in Wellington, and which he is still altering and extending today.
The house is renowned in bohemian and academic circles for its many colourful dinner parties and occasions, and is infamous with neighbours past and present for the antics of its free-range livestock and frequent run-ins with Council. Roosters have been shot, construction shut down and architectural pilgrimages made.
This is an extraordinary story told through Devitt’s sensitive eye, blended with historic photographs, paintings and drawings from the Athfield archive. Clare Athfield’s contribution of her own recipes (dating from the 1960s until now) complements a selection of personal letters by family, friends, colleagues and clients which are insightful and often very funny – memories that make Simon’s photographs all the more potent in their beauty and silence.
The idea for the book came from Devitt’s admiration of Robin Morrison’s work and in particular Morrison’s 1978 photo book Images of a House about a William Gummer-designed house built in 1916. “A house is a pretty refined subject to make a book about,” explains Devitt. “It is not market driven, it is content driven and born out of passion. Life has happened there like in no other house, and the ‘living’ leaves its evidence, time has played out on its surface. There is a lot to be said about sitting still and how that looks. The Athfield house is a wonderful example of this. An accessible counterpoint to a largely asset based living that pervades New Zealand.”

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### radionz.co.nz 3 March 2013
Radio New Zealand National
Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw
Listen on 101 FM or online at radionz.co.nz

10:06 Ideas: Re-imagining the Urban House
Arguments for intensifying the density of housing tend to fall into two categories: Affordability and putting a halt to urban sprawl.
Ideas talks to two architects who advocate higher density housing not just for those reasons but because they believe, if done right, it will result in more liveable houses and communities.

Robert Dalziel, the co-author of A House in the City: Home Truths in Urban Architecture, has travelled the world looking at traditional models of high density housing and come to some interesting conclusions; and Ian Athfield, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated architects, talks about the lessons he’s learnt from building his own house which now combines living quarters for 25 people with office space for another 40.
Audio Ogg Vorbis MP3 (49′59″)

“Get rid of those traffic engineers, which is another bloody thing, y’know, they’re singularly minded, quite stupid, y’know, they don’t think of anything else other than how long it takes to move a car from one space to another – that can’t happen in our cities in future.”

“The word “urban design” is now an abused profession – just like planning was in the sixties, y’know, and I said in the sixties if we knew as much about planning as we thought we knew about apartheid, we’d be demonstrating against planning, before we demonstrated against apartheid, because it is really really important. We had zoning at the time, absolutely ridiculous…”

Athfield House, Wellington. Photo: Grant Sheehan

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 07:46 23/03/2011
Architect Athfield not softening
Source: The Press
Architect Ian Athfield is refusing to back down from his ultimatum about Christchurch’s development. Today he defended his comments, saying it was “absolutely the best time ever” to have the debate about how the city would look in the future. He was backed by former Christchurch Mayor Garry Moore who said the city now had a “clean slate” that presented opportunities like never before. NZPA
Read more + Comments

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### radionz.co.nz Monday, 07 March 2011 at 8:22
Morning Report with Geoff Robinson & Simon Mercep
Architectural ambassador joins rebuild debate
The rebuilding of Christchurch is clearly an emotive issue. Wellington architect Ian Athfield and Christchurch planning and resource management consultant Dean Crystal join us to discuss the rebuild debate.
Audio Ogg Vorbis MP3 (6′22″)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC: New chief executive

The choice of an in-house candidate with some spendthrift tendencies —none other than Sue Bidrose, aka Rosebud.

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Dunedin City Council – Media Release
New DCC Chief Executive Announced

This item was published on 18 Nov 2013.

Dunedin City Council senior manager Sue Bidrose is the DCC’s new Chief Executive. Bidrose, currently DCC General Manager Services and Development, will take up the position on Saturday, 23 November. Announcing the appointment today, Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull says the Council made a clear decision in favour of Bidrose, from a strong field of 31 applicants, including overseas applicants.

“[Ms] Bidrose has been performing at a very high level for the three years she has been with the DCC. She continues the tradition of a Chief Executive with a highly developed sense of the responsibilities of public service. I am very confident she is not only extremely competent, but is of the utmost integrity.”

As a member of the DCC’s senior executive team Bidrose helped drive far-reaching changes in the past three years to limit debt and reduce staff and spending, while not reducing levels of service to the community. “It was important for us that the changes put in place by the current Chief Executive were seamlessly progressed and Sue is in the ideal position to do that,” Cull says. Bidrose, who is the DCC’s first female chief executive, says she is delighted to have been selected for the role.

“I am very much looking forward to the challenges of the Chief Executive’s position. I am committed to this organisation and to continuing to have a successful working relationship with elected representatives, staff and the community.”

Bidrose replaces Paul Orders who leaves on Saturday to take up the post of Chief Executive of Cardiff Council in Wales. Bidrose started with the DCC in November 2010 as General Manager Strategy and Development. She came from the Waitakere City Council where she had spent five years in a range of leadership positions, including Director: Community Wellbeing. Bidrose’s previous experience includes senior policy and managerial roles with the Ministry of Social Development. Trusteeships, directorships and board positions held by Bidrose include her current role as Director of Workwise, an agency which assists people with mental illness into work. Bidrose has a PhD in psychology from the University of Otago.

Bidrose’s base annual salary is $325,000. If Kiwisaver contributions are made, total remuneration would be $334,750.

Contact Mayor of Dunedin on 03 477 4000.

DCC Link

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Related Posts and Comments:
14.11.13 Jeff Dickie thanks Mr Orders for trying (unabridged)
9.11.13 DCC: Appointing a new chief executive
8.11.13 DCHL, long wait for review (Larsen sighs)
29.10.13 DCC: First meeting, tidy or not
25.10.13 Dunedin: “no-growth city”
24.10.13 DCC in-house catering, pruned like CCC?
14.10.13 DCC: New chief financial officer
7.10.13 DCC councillors, no idea annual cost of owning, operating FB Stadium
29.9.13 Cull’s political party… Lost best chief executive we could find.
24.9.13 DCC chief executive Paul Orders recommended for Cardiff
7.9.13 Stadium: $266 million, more or less?
2.8.13 DCC, Stadium —sorry picture
10.7.13 Stadium: Edgar will honour $1M personal pledge to project
9.7.13 Delta Utility Services Ltd, full investigation needed
25.5.13 Paul Orders: Dunedin or Cardiff ???
7.9.12 Ombudsman assists release of CST file information
24.2.12 ‘The final cost of the stadium is … unknown.’

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: Auckland Motorcycles & Power Sports – Sue Bidrose (Ms)

Cull’s political party caucuses ‘in term’. Lost best chief executive we could find.

Fact.

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ODT 28.9.13 Employment – Chief Executive City of Dunedin (page 59)

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Related Posts and Comments:
29.9.13 Alert: Dunedin voters —Mayors gain more powers
26.9.13 DCC: Council consolidated debt $623 million
24.9.13 Mediocrity and lack of critical awareness at DCC
24.9.13 DCC chief executive Paul Orders recommended for Cardiff
22.9.13 Newspaper errs . . . #Dunedin #Elections
20.9.13 Friday hit parade

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC chief executive Paul Orders recommended for Cardiff

An honour you can’t throw away.

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Dunedin City Council – Media Release
DCC CEO Recommended for Cardiff Post

This item was published on 24 Sep 2013.

Dunedin City Council Chief Executive Paul Orders has been recommended for the position of Chief Executive of Cardiff Council in Wales.
Cardiff Council’s Appointments Committee has recommended that Mr Orders should be appointed to the role. The appointment is subject to formal approval by the full Cardiff Council on 26 September.
Mr Orders has advised the Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull and Dunedin City Councillors of the position. He will be advising staff today.

Mr Orders came to the DCC in September 2011 from the role of Cardiff Council Corporate Director and this appointment would see him return to his home city of Cardiff. Mr Orders says he has enjoyed his time at the DCC and the challenges presented. The role at Cardiff is one of the few positions that could attract him and his family away from Dunedin.

“My time working for the Dunedin City Council has been stimulating and enjoyable, personally and professionally.”

At yesterday’s meeting, the Dunedin City Council discussed in-committee the process and timeframe for appointing a new chief executive. It is expected Mr Orders would remain in his current post until late this year. There will be no further comment on this issue until the Cardiff Council has formally approved the appointment.

Contact Manager, Council Communications and Marketing on 477 4000.
DCC Link

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### ODT Online Tue, 24 Sep 2013
Orders set to quit council
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council has been dealt a body blow with confirmation chief executive Paul Orders is poised to head back to Wales. Mr Orders will this morning be named in Wales as the recommended candidate to take the chief executive’s position at Cardiff Council. The new role would see Mr Orders returning to the organisation he left in 2011, when he came to Dunedin, and assuming responsibility for workforce of 18,000 and an annual budget of nearly $2 billion. Mr Orders is yet to officially tender his resignation in Dunedin but he was the unanimous choice of Cardiff Council’s appointment committee.
Read more

Related Posts and Comments:
25.5.13 Paul Orders: Dunedin or Cardiff ???
22.8.12 Mr Orders, sir! About your staff expertise…
9.11.11 Paul Orders for change!
17.9.11 Paul Orders starts Monday

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Cardiff in 2013: The big issues set to dominate the political agenda at walesonline.co.uk

Cardiff Millennium Centre

The Juice: Cardiff at urbantravelblog

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: (top) Paul Orders (re-imaged by Whatifdunedin), walesonline.co.uk – Cardiff in 2013, theguardian.com – Cardiff Millennium Centre, urbantravelblog.com – Cardiff Millennium Centre by Graham Well

Busted hacks! Media rates Cull and shiny-arsed suit brigade

Comment received.

ODT Watch
Submitted on 2013/08/06 at 2:01 pm

I see Robin Charteris, former ODT editor, has written a letter to today’s ODT concerning the proposal for a regional political party of some description. What a woeful, intellectually light letter it is too. Unbelievable for a man who once was an editor of a city daily.
He would like Ian Taylor to head it and to include Stuart McLauchlan, Dave Cull, Peter McIntyre and Richard Thomson. Talk about a less than subtle plug for the election coming up. Sorry, Robin, you have overplayed this one.

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SMELL THAT SWEET SUCCESS
The stadium, ORFU, Delta, Hillside, lack of core infrastructure investment, St Clair seawall, +$650M council consolidated debt, storm damage, multimillion-dollar cycleways, ratepayer subsidy to DVML/attraction fund, NZ Post, SH88 realignment, Invermay, centralisation of health board jobs, on it goes . . . Cull drops out of the race to take up L(l)ama farming. [Thanks, Critic]

Ineffectuals like Cull lap up the current job-loss situation, grandstanding in the pre-election period wearing nothing but dull leaden boots. Where are Eion Edgar’s ‘men’? —are they really Sir J’s scrubby old team? The club armchairs have lost their stuffing.

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### ODT Online Tue, 6 Aug 2013
Call to action goes out
By Rebecca Fox
A “call to action” has been issued to southern business, local government, agricultural and tertiary education leaders from Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull as part of the fight against job losses at AgResearch’s Invermay campus. Mr Cull has organised a “summit” meeting on August 14 to discuss the announcement proposing that 85 jobs are to go from Invermay by 2016. Mr Joyce confirmed in Saturday’s Otago Daily Times he was happy to arrange for the board and executives of AgResearch to meet local representatives and said he was prepared to meet a delegation of civic and business leaders to talk about regional development.
Read more

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Other ODT ‘bait’:
5.8.13 Call for South to form own party
3.8.13 Editorial: Time for South to fight

Related Posts and Comments:
2.8.13 DCC, Stadium —sorry picture
8.6.13 DCC electoral candidates 2013
22.5.13 Dunedin mayoralty and the Q-town heavies

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: odt.co.nz – Opinion 6.8.13, critic.co.nz – Critic culls Cull 5.5.13

Nominations, TWO WEEKS to go !!!

Nominations for Dunedin City councillorships and the mayoralty close on Friday 16 August.

So far, VERY POOR turnout —about the same for individual nominees’ expertise and capability.

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Related Posts and Comments:
8.6.13 DCC electoral candidates 2013
22.5.13 Dunedin mayoralty and the Q-town heavies

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: 123rf.com – voting

Dunedin mayoralty and the Q-town heavies

Update 16.8.13
The full nominations list is published today at
DCC nominations —All the mops, brooms and feather dusters

Sir and Friends brought you the stadium and DCC’s MASSIVE consolidated debt.

How much more control do you want to give them ???

### ODT Online Wed, 22 May 2013
Mayoral contest heats up
By Chris Morris
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull faces a political challenge – possibly from all sides – as the race for the city’s robe and chains later this year begins to heat up.
Queenstown businessman and philanthropist Sir Eion Edgar yesterday confirmed he was behind a push to resurrect a Citizens Association-style group that could support candidates in October’s local body elections.
The idea had been raised with potential backers in Dunedin and, if confirmed, could see the group’s mayoral or council candidates offered financial support by the group, including from interested businessmen, he said. Sir Eion said he was prepared to help finance the right candidates’ campaigns himself, saying the city needed ”good leadership”.
Read more

[ODT Graphic]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Mr Orders, sir! About your staff expertise…

“We don’t need consultants to tell us the time.”

### ODT Online Sat, 18 Aug 2012
Consultants cost DCC $32m
By Chris Morris
After spending more than $30 million on consultants in three years, Dunedin City Council staff are under pressure to slash spending on outside help, it has been confirmed. Figures released to the Otago Daily Times this week show the council spent $32.59 million on consultants, within Dunedin and further afield, over the past three years. Annual spending was dropping steadily, down from $13.34 million in 2009-10 to $8.66 million in 2011-12, a trend council chief executive Paul Orders was keen to see continue.
Read more

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Comment at ODT Online:

The skills are there
Submitted by topsy on Tue, 21/08/2012 – 7:09pm.

One of the major weaknesses within the DCC organisation is the lack of a central skills database. All too often, department managers reach out to consultants because the required skill does not exist within their own department. That same skill, meanwhile, is sitting unused within a neighbouring DCC department, usually within the same building.
The DCC currently has qualified project managers, quantity surveyors, valuers, etc. The problem today is that no-one outside of that employee’s department knows that the person exists. Often that person is not employed in a role which uses their specialist skill, making it even more difficult for other department managers to identify that skill from within the DCC ranks.
I would recommend that Mr Orders conduct an in-depth staff skills survey – not amongst the managers, but directly with the staff. He may well find that he already owns the solution.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr