Welcome

The viability and growth of the NZ built environment sector hinge on the active inputs of researchers working collaboratively on key defining areas. The eight universities in New Zealand engage in built environment research at varying levels. However, the research projects have been conducted in silos with little or no collaborations. The annual symposia have been initiated to bring together the built environment practitioners and researchers in the New Zealand universities to share ideas and collaborate in areas of mutual research interests and expertise. The symposia challenge the silo mentality amongst researchers and offer platform for leveraging collegiality and coordinated efforts in achieving optimal research outputs and information diffusion.

Each symposium offers opportunities for presentations by postgraduate research students and academic staff on the research projects they are currently engaged with.

At the workshop sessions, a panel comprising academics and industry practitioners looks at the challenges faced by postgraduate research students and staff and offers experience-based solutions to resolving them. Discussions at the workshop sessions are also documented as guides to current and prospective research students and staff in their research efforts.

Professor George Baird

George Baird is Emeritus Professor of Building Science at the School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, specialising in building environmental science and the assessment of building performance from the point of view of the users. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (UK) and of Engineering New Zealand, and was awarded Life Membership of the Energy Management Association (now Carbon and Energy Professionals) of New Zealand in 2013. He received the NZ Science and Technology Bronze Medal in 1999, the international “Pioneers of the World Renewable Energy Network” Award in 2006 and was appointed a Fellow of the Architectural Science Association at their 50th Annual Conference in 2016. Dr Baird has authored innumerable conference papers and journal articles over the last half century. Major books include: Energy Performance of Buildings; Building Evaluation Techniques; Architectural Expression of Environmental Control Systems; and most recently Sustainable Buildings in Practice, a worldwide survey of sustainable buildings. Still active in his field, he was an invited speaker at the recent World Sustainable Building Conference in Hong Kong and the Passive and Low Energy Architecture Conference in Edinburgh, and is a member of the editorial boards of several journals in the field of architectural science, including Architectural Science Review, Journal of Building Engineering, Intelligent Buildings International, and Buildings. For further details see: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/architecture/staff/george-baird.aspx

Professor Vivian Tam

Professor Vivian W. Y. Tam is the Associate Dean (International) at School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, Western Sydney University, Australia. She was nominated to the College of Expert, Australian Research Council (ARC), Australian Government. She received her Ph.D. in sustainable construction from the Department of Building and Construction at City University of Hong Kong in 2005. Her research interests are in the areas of environmental management in construction and sustainable development. She is currently the Editor of Construction and Building Materials and International Journal of Construction Management. She has published over 3 books, 21 book chapters, 248 referred journal articles and 151 referred conference articles. She has been awarded forty-one research grants (totalled over $8 million), including two ARC Discovery Projects, one ARC Linkage Project and an ARC Research Hub.

Nick Sterling

Nick Sterling – Business Innovation Advisor and Construction Sector Lead at Callaghan Innovation. With technology changing at an exponential rate, Nick enables NZ construction businesses to identify and maximise the opportunities that those disruptions bring rather than be disrupted by them. Construction is the only sector in NZ where businesses are folding in boom times. Callaghan Innovation is working in collaboration with industry sector partners, including Massey University, to enable construction businesses in NZ to be more resilient, more productive, more collaborative and do more R&D in environmentally sustainable products and systems with a roadmap to more exports. In his previous roles, Nick has held senior leadership positions in the ICT sector in NZ and the UK, managing large regional channels, national delivery business units and strategic programmes. He has also supported businesses both as a business growth consultant and as a pro bono Business Mentor, turning around ‘at-risk’ local businesses, with some of his engagements featured as case studies on Business Transformation, published in the NZ Chamber of Commerce ‘Innovate’ magazine. Nick has also supported a NZaid economic development programme in 3 Pacific Islands for 4 years to transform businesses, not-for-profits and charities.

Mehrdad Arashpour

Dr Mehrdad Arashpour is the leader of Infrastructure Engineering and Management Program at Monash University. He is undertaking research on robotics, prefabricated structures and processes, Building Information Modelling (BIM), and automation and optimisation of design, manufacturing and assembly. He is one of 13 worldwide members of the Working Commission on Off-site Construction and Infrastructure Task Group established by the International Council for Building (CIB). Dr. Arashpour holds a Doctor of Philosophy in the Built Environment, Master of Construction Engineering and Management and Bachelor of Civil Engineering degrees.