Prefabrication in focus, with calls for change and collaboration: 2019 New Zealand International Building Expo and Summit concludes successfully

One of New Zealand's largest property and construction industry gatherings, 2019 NZIBES was organised by the New Zealand Chinese Building Industry Association (NZCBIA), with MultiMarketing, 3A and Skykiwi as co-organisers.

NZCBIA, a non-profit professional organisation, launched the event's earliest version in 2015. The association united its members around the spirit of “Collaboration, Innovation, Productivity” and a vision of promoting sound industry standards and enhancing the overall image of the Chinese community's construction sector in New Zealand.

 

In just five years, it developed the event from an internal association meeting into a major gathering open to audiences across New Zealand and internationally.

 

The annual gathering can be described as a barometer of New Zealand construction industry trends, a bridge for mutually beneficial collaboration among industry professionals, and a platform where consumers can obtain first-hand industry information and the best solutions.

This year's event reached unprecedented heights, embarking on a fresh chapter under the new slogan “Collaboration UP” with strong support from across New Zealand's property and construction industries, particularly the Chinese business community.

 

It is precisely this spirit of working together through challenges that has enabled the Chinese community's property and construction businesses to achieve sustained growth despite the overall weakness of the New Zealand market.

 

The three-day event attracted nearly ten thousand participants, creating an impressive turnout.

 

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Summit forum: prefabrication in focus, with calls for change and collaboration

The NZIBES summit has always attracted considerable attention from both within and outside the industry.

 

This year's summit focused squarely on one of the industry's most closely watched topics: “Off-site, Off Shore” construction and prefabrication.

As is widely recognised, poor productivity and an acute shortage of skilled workers have long been persistent problems for New Zealand's construction industry. Rising costs in recent years, including government taxes, land infrastructure, project delays and budget overruns, have further intensified both the industry's challenges and New Zealand's housing crisis. Prefabricated construction is widely considered within the industry to offer a potentially effective way out of the current predicament. This summit explored how to introduce prefabricated products into New Zealand.

Opening the summit, prominent New Zealand economist Shamubeel Eaqub went straight to the heart of the issue: “New Zealand house prices are unaffordable and out of proportion to incomes. Home ownership rates have fallen sharply in recent years, while too few new homes are being built, and their poor quality does not meet actual needs.

 

What we really need is higher-density housing closer to amenities. Based on current demand, we need to build 30,000 new homes every year over the next decade, yet New Zealand's construction industry is still not ready.

 

We need to learn from successful overseas examples, adopt standardised and prefabricated construction methods, and build homes of different tenures and types. We also need patient capital and partners such as China, with both knowledge and practical experience.”

 

The summit provided an excellent platform for sharing and learning from valuable experience and fostering mutually beneficial collaboration. Mr Liu Gang from the China Architecture Design and Research Group gave a presentation entitled “Practice and reflections on prefabricated construction in China” in which he shared China's research findings and practical experience in prefabricated construction. He also offered recommendations for its development in New Zealand: “New Zealand should make improving labour productivity its foundation, introduce prefabricated construction suited to local conditions, combine technology and management effectively, integrate the industry supply chain and strengthen international collaboration.”

At the afternoon summit forum, Mr John Dalzell, who has facilitated numerous property and infrastructure projects and attracted 1,500,000,000 in funding for Auckland waterfront projects,

 

joined Hamish Davies and Nicholas Caulton, experts from leading global engineering services company GHD, Scott Fisher of Prefab NZ, and Jeff Fahrensohn, responsible for quality inspections at Auckland Council, for an in-depth discussion on how to implement prefabricated products in New Zealand.

 

They offered perspectives on architectural design, laws and regulations, funding and other areas, seeking a scalable, standardised solution for a construction method capable of addressing the roots of New Zealand's housing crisis. Ultimately, bringing such a solution to fruition comes down to collaboration, echoing the event's “Collaboration UP” slogan. Only by working together across the property and construction industries can we build a liveable New Zealand.

 

Chris Dibble of Colliers International also explored the challenges and opportunities of China–New Zealand collaboration from a commercial property perspective. Lisa Gerrad of REINZ offered distinctive insights into housing market trends, while David Kelly of leading construction industry body RMBA provided an in-depth analysis of the far-reaching significance of The Construction Accord. The speakers' outstanding presentations gave everyone in attendance valuable insights and fresh inspiration.

 

As the Chinese construction community's largest celebration, the NZIBES gala dinner has always been eagerly anticipated and closely watched.

 

This year's dinner lived up to expectations, bringing together more than 700 influential industry figures and leading people from across New Zealand to celebrate the sector's achievements.

Political leaders addressing the dinner included Minister for Building and Construction and Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, National Party MP and Building and Construction spokesperson Andrew Bayly, and New Zealand China Council Chairman Sir Don McKinnon. They recognised the Chinese community's longstanding contribution to the development of New Zealand's construction industry.

 

Speaking for the Chinese community, Labour MP and chair of Parliament's Justice Committee Raymond Huo and National Party list MP Dr Jian Yang also took the stage to express their strong support for the community's property and construction industries. Leading businesses including PlaceMakers, Barfoot & Thompson and the SugarTree apartment development also spoke in support of the event and expressed their hopes for China–New Zealand collaboration.

 

This year's dinner also introduced the NZCBIA Excellence Awards, recognising projects with outstanding achievements in development, design, construction, collaboration and innovation.

 

Outstanding projects were shortlisted and awarded in every category following several rounds of selection by industry authorities. The panel included NZCBIA President Xu Li, Vice-Presidents Zhan Feng and Pan Xin, board member Man Zhongzhi, BECA Building Director Mike Quirk, Unitec Head of Architecture Paul Jeurissen, and Mike Casey, a director of Kingstons, Auckland's largest project management and quantity surveying consultancy.

Industry leaders and professionals at the dinner also witnessed the ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand launch of the New Zealand International Building Expo.

 

The event, which draws more than ten thousand visitors to the Vodafone Events Centre each year, is designed and organised to meet the needs of both professionals and the public.

 

For professionals, it brings together more than a hundred leading industry businesses and brands, providing an ideal opportunity to expand networks and develop partnerships.

 

For the public, whether looking to buy, build or renovate a home, or simply seeking fresh ideas and inspiration for interior design, it offers a one-stop solution—

 

Expo: a vibrant gathering of a hundred quality brands

Bringing together New Zealand suppliers and contractors in property, construction, home renovation, building materials and related services, the NZIBES expo has become one of the country's largest property and construction exhibitions.

The 2019 NZIBES expo featured more than a hundred highly regarded local and international developers, builders, building materials suppliers and related businesses, including PlaceMakers, SugarTree, Fisher & Paykel, Oriental Construction Group, CIMC, Kohler and Anson Construction.

 

Exhibitors arrived ready for action, and visitors were equally enthusiastic: nearly ten thousand people attended, generating an enthusiastic response.

Exhibitors presented a diverse array of the latest and most comprehensive products, services and solutions. To encourage interaction and help visitors experience product features more fully, manufacturers came up with some highly imaginative ideas:

Have you ever tried playing golf with a leaf blower and sending the ball into the hole? Visitors could try their hand at the PlaceMakers experience area. Portable and manoeuvrable, with three airflow settings, the leaf blower made it easy even for children to take a “swing” and master the technique of getting the ball in.

asBuilt, one of the largest and most experienced independent building information modelling (BIM) specialist consultancies in Australasia, brought a 360-degree panoramic screen to the exhibition. Now used to visualise architectural designs, the technology gave visitors a stunning immersive experience.

Real estate agency Barfoot & Thompson, with its 96-year history, and SugarTree, New Zealand's largest apartment development, also brought the latest project and sales information, giving visitors first-hand market insights;

 

while New Zealand household appliance brand Fisher & Paykel made a striking appearance with its new 60-centimetre built-in all-black oven. Combining advanced technology with contemporary design, it proved irresistible to consumers at the event.

At this expo, NZCBIA also brought its member businesses together for the first time to form a service centre supporting the local introduction of Chinese building materials. Members included Noah Standards, which provides international standards, testing and certification services for industrial products, Archiland, MEC engineering consultancy, Shangda construction and development group, and Prostone consultancy. The centre provides advice and support for introducing building materials imported from China.

The varied and engaging seminar programme also generated enthusiastic audience participation. Topics ranged from feng shui, Chinese birth-chart analysis and property investment for the public to urban regeneration case studies and construction processes for professionals. Packed with practical information, the presentations and question-and-answer sessions repeatedly drew visitors to stop and listen.

On 18 August, the expo's grand closing marked the successful conclusion of the 2019 New Zealand International Building Expo and Summit.

 

Speaking to a YIJU New Zealand reporter, event organiser and NZCBIA President Xu Li said: “Thank you all for your wholehearted support for this event. We will continue to move forward in the spirit of collaboration, innovation and productivity, guided by our vision of promoting sound industry standards and enhancing the overall image of New Zealand's construction industry. Together with all parts of the Chinese community, we will embrace “Collaboration UP” and build a better New Zealand together.”