Weeklong workshop helps build bridges across the Pacific with safer standards
October saw Standards New Zealand host the Building for the Pacific workshop in which we welcomed delegates from Pacific Island nations including Kiribati, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, and Samoa.
This four-day programme expanded on learnings for some attendees to last year’s successful Pacific Islands Standards Week offering a valuable opportunity to connect, share experiences, and deepen understanding of New Zealand’s building code, resilient building practices, and construction contract frameworks. Attendees came from key roles within government and the construction sector.
The workshop was delivered under the three-year Pacific Partnership Programme, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and aims to foster regional collaboration and support capacity-building in sustainable and safe construction across the Pacific. It also supports infrastructure resilience, trade, and economic growth for Pacific nations aligned with New Zealand Government’s Pacific priorities.
Over twenty presenters from across the building and construction sector and regulator ran workshops covering topics related to the sector and wider upskilling including communication and stakeholder engagement, risk analysis, mapping and hazard modelling, construction contracts, climate resilience, co-design and retrofitting, scoping, building consents and regulation – all key aspects of a sound and robust sector.
“The event is a unique opportunity for participants to collaborate with like-minded participants, share insights on challenges and best practices, and build their knowledge and understanding of standards and infrastructure,” said Standards New Zealand’s Commercial and Sectors Manager Danielle Aberdeen.
With the workshops focus on building standards Elvin Pegetti, from Papua New Guinea’s Department of Public Works and Highways, said his country’s building standards hadn’t been reviewed in 35 years.
“We are very focused on the building regulatory framework as the industry here is flooded with different standards, so we are looking to align more with New Zealand and Australia,” said Mr Pegetti.
Virisila Tuimanu, from Fiji’s Department of National Trade Measurement and Standards said they were also looking at reviewing Fiji’s construction standards and the National Building Act, both which have not been reviewed in a long time.
“The building and construction sector in Fiji has a lot of international and nation building happening so we need to update our standards and make them relatable to our people,” said Ms Tuimanu.
Both agreed the workshop was an important and valuable experience as they all had similar problems, so this was a great opportunity to share learnings.
“We are all learning from each other and exchanging stories. It’s also good that we are from diverse backgrounds from engineers, planners, architects and policy. This is a powerful reminder that while our contexts may differ, our challenges and our solutions are often shared,” she said.
