We sat down with Codey to get an insight into her passion and approach to healthcare design.

What inspired you to join the industry?

The driving force that led me to embrace this industry was my dad’s influence. He was a passionate architect with a love of ‘making’. He loved his job of creating meaningful places, the comradery of working with a team and the physicality of the building process. Witnessing this love and dedication to his profession left an indelible mark on all his kids through dinner table conversations.

I love the diversity of our work, the ‘many hands’ aspects, and the boundless opportunities for creative problem-solving. The human aspects of our profession, working with diverse individuals and projects we design that impact lives, fill me with immense purpose and joy.

Now, at ArchTam as Technical Director and Health Sector Lead for Buildings and Places in Victoria and South Australia, I blend my passion for architecture and clinical experience to embed engineering to achieve wellness outcomes in health projects. I am endlessly inspired by the transformative power of our field and continue to cherish my dad’s legacy. I am committed to crafting spaces that push the boundaries of design and leave positive imprints on the lives of those they serve.

How does your work positively impact the clients and communities we serve?

I love working in the health sector and am inspired by the ability to blend evidence-based design into spaces that make people feel good about being in them. As designers and engineers, how we approach projects has a direct and measurable effect on the people who use our buildings.

I find immense satisfaction in designing for wellness and crafting environments that genuinely resonate with people’s wellbeing. Our work touches lives, nurtures healing and empowers communities. In my commitment to serving our clients and communities, I acknowledge the responsibility to deliver design excellence and integrate evidence-based salutogenic outcomes to foster positive experiences for all users. Collaborating closely with health services, I diligently seek to understand their unique objectives, championing engineering as a critical design stream in pursuit of wellbeing outcomes.

How will your new role change the way ArchTam delivers health projects?

As I step into this role, I see my appointment as a positive catalyst for improving how ArchTam delivers health projects. I think architects and engineers are trained to solve problems in different ways. The amalgamation of these different perspectives we bring to projects will foster more holistic solutions and achieve a broader range of outcomes — particularly from a humanistic, experiential perspective.

Buildings are not just a kit of parts that are built in a sequence — they are for people. Our approach will be rooted in co-designing outcomes with health services, stakeholders, end users and the community. By considering their wants, needs, dreams and visions, our projects will be better.

Taking on this role with ArchTam opens the door to building and fostering transformative relationships with our clients. It allows us to specialise in co-designed, evidence-based outcomes and leverage this to forge architectural partnerships to deliver thought-leading built outcomes. I believe my fluency in health planning and architectural language and my ability to understand the drivers from this perspective equips us with a unique advantage to deliver a different collaborative model by which we can optimise whole-of-project outcomes.

Our collective commitment to delivering outstanding results will ensure we deliver spaces that nourish and enrich the lives of those they serve.

What are the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the industry?

As we face challenges in our industry, I believe the key to our success lies in designing first-class outcomes amidst an economically uncertain market. This means we need to demonstrate and articulate value for money in our projects. But for me, a well-designed building doesn’t cost more than a poorly designed one — it just means we need to be more considerate about how and where we spend money. Achieving great outcomes requires a holistic approach encompassing the early design setting, processes and methodology, together with client engagement. By carefully considering every aspect, we can deliver outcomes that are nothing short of fabulous, leaving a profound impact on all who experience them.

As we navigate the changing landscape, we cannot keep investing in new hospitals. We must seek innovative solutions to support contemporary models of care. Repurposing complex brownfield spaces offers immense opportunities to meet this challenge. Being experts in understanding and unpicking as-built conditions becomes essential, enabling us to discern what is feasible within the given opportunities and constraints.

I am excited about how our team will embrace creativity, collaboration, and adaptability to deliver exceptional solutions for our clients and communities.

What excites you about the future of the industry?

What excites me most about the future of our practice and industry is the commitment to co-design, First Nations engagement and evidence-based design. I love that buildings are being designed together with the voices of place and those who will ultimately end up using them. This approach grants a new dimension of nuance and achieves a more thoughtful outcome due to this engagement.

The sense of ‘ownership’ of these buildings is no longer the purview of a select few but rather a community, which is very exciting to be a part of. Being part of this shift in the industry is inspiring as our projects serve as a vehicle for inclusivity and collective empowerment.

Share a piece of career advice.

Architecture and engineering are a team sport. The buildings we deliver have been made by many hands working together. It is essential to recognise the contributions of everyone in the outcomes we achieve.

The post Designing wellness outcomes: Meet Codey Lyon appeared first on Blog.

This time, we caught up with Marco van Winden, technical practice leader, technical lead and lead verifier, to discover how he chose the path he’s on today.   

Hi Marco. What do you do for ArchTam?

I am a technical director in our Water business line. I have two key roles, one being Technical Practice Leader of the water infrastructure practice area in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), and the other as technical lead and lead verifier on major water projects. Our water infrastructure practice in ANZ is about designing pipelines, pump stations and treatment plants. I work across the region to help the practice make our project designs as technically excellent as possible.

Tell us about your journey and how you got here.

I graduated from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand with bachelor’s in civil engineering with first class honors. My first six years after graduation were in land development, where I undertook planning and design of many subdivisions in Christchurch.

After moving back to my hometown of Auckland, I spent four years in a consultancy designing civil and sewerage infrastructure before joining legacy ArchTam company Meritec. I became associate director managing a team of 15 environmental engineers. I also managed our Auckland City/Metrowater’s Integrated Catchment Study project.

To gain major project experience, I relocated to our Brisbane office for two years. However, my family and I decided to call Brisbane home. Over the next four years, I became design manager and project manager of the Toowoomba Pipeline Alliance. This role contributed to my promotion to technical director and roles on key projects such as the concept design and business case for the Cedar Grove Connector pipeline and project management of the South-East Queensland Water Grid Disinfection Options Study.

Following that, I spent six years with a small firm starting an engineering business, before returning to ArchTam to focus my career on technical excellence. I returned with an interest in pursuing technical roles and technical leadership of major water projects, which subsequently included Unitywater’s Wamuran Irrigation Scheme and working as a design manager for Sydney Water’s ProMac project. I am proud to have achieved these outcomes and to be supporting technical excellence in ANZ as technical practice leader for water infrastructure.

What was a career defining moment for you?

A career defining moment was early in the Toowoomba Pipeline Project. It became evident that the client and construction partners were deferring to my advice and leadership more so than the design manager who had been brought in from overseas. I realized that experience is not the only quality a professional engineer must have. I didn’t have more experience, but my clear communication style was confident, and the design team had my back.

What would you say is the best part of your job?

Earlier in my career, I got a kick out of seeing my designs constructed (and I still do!). But now, what motivates me are the opportunities where I get to mentor water infrastructure engineers to hone their skills and become technical experts, and to support project managers by nominating experienced professionals from Australia and New Zealand or globally to work in their projects.

What’s something you wish someone had told you years ago?

I wish I had understood a lot earlier the impact that humanity is having on our ecology and climate. I have only really discovered this truth in the last two years. My focus now is to plan for creating social value in projects at their inception for better outcomes – environmentally and socially.

If not this path, what would have been your career plan B?

I could just as easily have followed a project management career path within ArchTam, given my roles as project manager on major ArchTam contracts in Auckland and Brisbane.

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Melbourne really does have it all — including, as we saw last month, earthquakes.

The COVID-19 pandemic may continue to dominate headlines, but natural events like last month’s 5.9 magnitude quake that shook the city have been no less frequent, and no less devastating, over the past year.

Additionally, we’ve seen wildfires decimate communities in California and Spain’s Andalusia region. We’ve watched summer flooding destroy parts of Germany, Austria and Belgium, and submerge subway systems in New York and in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou. And in Haiti, mammoth quakes have once again caused widespread devastation.

Collectively, these events reinforce the growing need to think of resilience in much broader terms; they are both a timely wake-up call to ensure our existing and new buildings have appropriate levels of resilience, and an opportunity to demonstrate the commercial benefits of doing so.

The principles of resilience encourage an integrated consideration of climate scenarios, sustainability and design excellence, and provide insights into how to manage through emergency situations in a way that can enhance economic, environmental and social outcomes.

Resilient design requires a different approach based around four questions:

1. What critical flows is this asset dependent on? (e.g., water, power, information, workforce)
2. What hazards endanger those flows and assets? (e.g., natural, cyber or manmade)
3. What plans and countermeasures are in place to reduce the risks and mitigate the impacts of those hazards?
4. What steps can be taken to increase the asset’s ability to recover faster and be more resilient?

In Australia, we’ve recently applied the above four questions to the operations and design strategies of a commercial tower and university campus.

Our review identified a range of exposure findings related to water security, critical infrastructure failure, direct attack (physical or cyber), geological hazards, economic crisis and regional conflict. The stresses were identified and the range of interdependent assets and services during a shock event relating to digital, energy, social, transport and water infrastructure were considered as we mitigated risks through our design approach and operational responses.  

For landlords or developers, resilient buildings attract sales and tenants, enhance property values and dramatically improve an asset’s ability to be adapted or modified to accommodate changing needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a prominent case-in-point: we now have a heightened awareness of the importance of biosecurity in buildings and have accelerated the integration of resilient design approaches. Health facilities are now being designed to better respond to isolation and social distancing requirements, while encouraging greater use of natural ventilation and outdoor spaces.

Owners of other asset types can leverage lessons learned in the context of the pandemic, as well as others relating to seismic safety (where in California venues like the LA Clippers’ Intuit Dome and the Inland Empire Emergency Operations Centre are designed to meet, and even exceed, respective code requirements). The result? More resilient assets that can remain operational and minimize risk to occupants in the event of future disease outbreaks or natural events.

From the pandemic to last month’s earthquake in Melbourne, recent events have only reinforced the importance of building with resilience in mind. It’s an approach that requires planning, multidisciplinary expertise, integrated design, and a long-term view that, if embraced, will ensure our global cities, including ‘Marvellous Melbourne’, continue to grow and thrive, regardless of what might shake them.

The post Building resilience in the city of Melbourne appeared first on Blog.

Caitlyn has over twenty years of experience in mineral processing across operating, design and project environments, predominantly for the alumina industry.  In addition to her alumina industry expertise, she has design experience with lithium hydroxide, coal, iron ore, silicon, vanadium, nickel processes.

As project design manager, Caitlyn has managed multidisciplinary engineering and design teams to achieve engineering delivery on time and within budget for various projects of up to $50M. As lead process engineer, she has built and led a strong process engineering team to support several Alumina industry capital project programs.    

What inspired you to join the industry? I’ve always been fascinated by how ordinary rocks are turned into incredible metals that are used for all sorts of purposes. I elected the Mineral Processing subjects whilst studying Chemical Engineering at the University of NSW. With my love of travelling to remote places across Australia, my first graduate job was in North East Arnhem land, which was a remarkable location for an Alumina refinery (the first step to making aluminium). That’s where it all began!

In this ever-changing world, there will always be complex problems that will require innovative engineered solutions. What excites me is working with both experienced and young minds as integrated teams, to develop these solutions. I am looking forward to these teams being diverse which provides great opportunities for increased female engineer participation.

What is your favorite ArchTam project that you’ve worked on and why? I don’t have a favorite project, as I enjoy working on different aspects of a variety of mining and mineral processing projects. I like how mining assets and mineral processing facilities need input and expertise from so many different engineering and technical disciplines. Recently, I worked on an interesting South32 project at GEMCO with the Hydrogeologist team. It was great to gain an understanding of how knowledge of groundwater movement can assist and provide financial benefits to the manganese mining process.

Also, working with BHP on the Olympic Dam Village project, I loved learning how the community design aspects impact the success of the resulting project. Having lived in single-person quarters when I was a graduate, I am now excited to see the significant changes to modern-day villages. Remote mine site accommodation has come a long way over the years! Nowadays we are creating a community and focusing on both the mental and physical health of the remote living.

Pulling together the South 32 Global Master Services Agreement proposal was highly valuable in making connections with ArchTam teams in the USA, Canada, Columbia, and South Africa. It grew my understanding of our global capabilities within ArchTam. It was nice to share and collaborate with our teams all over the world.

I do have to say, I have a soft spot for alumina projects. Alumina processing just has so many different unit operations and so many pieces of equipment, that there is always lots of opportunities for learning and improvements. I started at ArchTam working on an expansion and optimization study on an existing refinery here in WA for ALCOA. That was interesting, although challenging as it was 90% heavy brownfields. My fingers are always crossed that we can work on developing a future new greenfields alumina refinery as they are few and far between.

What career advice would you like to share? I worked with a very driven and capable co-worker who always said, “There are many ways to skin a cat”. She said it so often that I now find myself saying it to my kids! At times, you feel like you come up against a brick wall, but you just need to take a step back and re-assess the situation to work out a different way to look at the problem to allow things to keep moving forward.

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Ed Ang is an associate director in strategic engineering based in Sydney. He is a chartered professional engineer in both Australia and the UK, specializing in mechanical and fire safety. Over the last 15 years, Ed has worked on many major buildings and infrastructure projects as a multidiscipline design manager, project manager or as a specialist in fire and risk. Ed works closely with ArchTam’s key clients to develop integrated solutions to complex project challenges. Through his involvement in Sydney Metro Northwest, Ed was recognized as Sydney’s Young Professional Engineer of the Year 2019.

What inspired you to join the industry? I was drawn to the opportunity to get involved in different projects from a range of sectors. Over 15 years, I have been fortunate to work on stadiums, train stations, road, rail and utility tunnels, substations, naval bases, airports, industry buildings and historic buildings. This has helped me to develop a diverse skillset and use my experience across a variety of sectors to help solve our clients’ unique challenges.

What is your favorite ArchTam project that you’ve worked on and why? My favorite project to date has been Sydney Metro Northwest. We were faced with a world-first challenge of integrating a fully automated driverless train into an existing heavy rail corridor, alongside conventional trains. There was no precedent around the world at this scale.

It meant that we had to develop a brand new certification framework that allowed this to be certified and accepted by our client, Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW), while we also utilized digital tools like laser survey as part of our work.

This was only made possible by fostering a collaborative culture to support engagement not just with TfNSW, but with the many stakeholders on the project including operators, constructors, safety agencies, emergency services, local councils and disability councils.

Our integrated approach across many technical disciplines helped us to provide a more holistic and efficient outcome which contributed to the Sydney Metro Northwest project opening on time. This project was memorable for me in many ways, and it led to recognition from Engineers Australia as the Sydney Young Professional Engineer of the Year in 2019.

Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community. What inspires me most is that the projects I have worked on directly benefit the people in our communities – by improving their journey to work, improving quality of life, or by supporting access to energy and increased comfort in the home. Knowing that I have contributed to improving people’s lives is hugely fulfilling, and one of the main reasons I became an engineer in the first place.

The experience I have gained has helped me to contribute voluntary time to assist governments and industry bodies in shaping better legislation and providing inputs into a state’s strategic goals for safety and infrastructure.

What career advice would you like to share? One of the things I always try to remember is that “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. I believe it’s important to remember that often what we achieve today is due to the effort and contributions of those who came before us. While strong leadership is vital, collaboration is fundamental to success. This is a constant reminder for me to appreciate the support and guidance I receive throughout my career, and to be a support for others whenever I can.

The post People Spotlight Series: Meet Ed Ang appeared first on Blog.

Listed as one of the United Nations’ 17 goals to transform our world, Sustainable Development Goal Number 4 states that we must “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all and promote lifelong learning opportunities.” In many places, children (girls in particular) don’t have access to education or are not encouraged to use their education to create a better future for themselves and their families.

One of the benefits of a strong Corporate Responsibility program is that it provides a platform to see where inequity exists as a real issue in our own communities. It gives us context in which to build a better world, and education has come to the forefront of our review of the issues that need to be tackled. By helping girls benefit from a good education, they’re more likely to grow into women with full contributing power and economic stability.

As part of our Australia/New Zealand Give Back program, we wanted to choose a partnership that would influence the SDG Goal 4 in our region. The Smith Family was perfect, because it focuses on supporting young disadvantaged Australians through education and provides opportunities for our ArchTam team members across the country to give back in a tangible way through volunteering, mentoring, donating and fundraising.

Last year, I volunteered as an iTrack mentor through The Smith Family and had the privilege of working with a Year 9 student as she considered her future career. My mentee, a very bright person with amazing potential, had not been encouraged to think about or start planning her career path. It was a humbling and rewarding experience to give her focused attention, help her build confidence, and provide support and ideas with regard to what her future could look like. It reaffirmed my belief that a good education, coupled with career counselling, can make a huge difference in the lives of so many.

As a mother of three daughters, I’m also driven to #PressforProgress in my personal life. Recently, my eldest daughter came home and told me she had been interviewed as part of a film being shown at the United Nations about gender parity. Apart from being amazed that she’s been listening to me, I was also heartbroken that my intelligent, capable daughter needed to be interviewed about gender equality.

My wish is that through our collective efforts, she and all women can just get on with being amazing and not have to campaign for what should be basic, fundamental rights.

This blog post is part of a series celebrating International Women’s Day 2018 and this year’s theme, #PressForProgress.

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If any one of these pieces was not in play, I would not be where I am today.

As a transportation engineer, the idea of going to work every day excites me. There are real world challenges to be solved that impact people’s lives. The projects I work on are monumental, and the physical evidence of my decisions will be visible in our infrastructure for decades.

Finding my ideal career, one where I can make a difference, has been incredibly empowering. But I’m also deeply disheartened when I hear about the lack of women in our industry. It’s not because I expect every person to be excited by physics or want to pursue a career in engineering, it’s because I know many women and girls are simply not exposed to the possibility of a STEM career.

For the past two years, I’ve been an ambassador for Futureintech, an organisation that promotes careers in technology, engineering and science by bringing people working in STEM-based industries (such as myself) into schools to share career stories and run workshops. Futureintech helps raise the visibility of STEM in an effort to address the skills shortage, with a particular focus on increasing the number of women entering these fields. Run by Engineering New Zealand, Futureintech will be implementing exciting changes to the programme, with one of its priorities to look at how to target Maori and Pasifika students who tend to be under-represented in STEM education.

One of my favourite experiences of being a Futureintech volunteer was holding a Disaster Proof Roads workshop for female high-school students identified as high achievers in science. As part of the workshop, students were given cardboard cut-outs of bridges, roads, bus lanes and other infrastructure elements with a cost associated with each element. The task was to build a resilient network within a certain budget. It was incredible watching the girls’ faces light up as they solved problems and realized what they could be capable of doing.

Futureintech allows me and my ArchTam colleagues who also volunteer to share our experiences at a critical time in the lives of young people. I hope to return the favour one day and be that passionate and enthusiastic person who serves as a role model, sparking interest and uncovering new worlds.

This blog post is part of a series celebrating International Women’s Day 2018 and this year’s theme, #PressForProgress.

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Engineers play an integral role in shaping our interaction with the world. The decisions we make on a day-to-day basis through our work can have a range of environmental, social and economic impacts. The construction of buildings, for example, consumes natural resources outside of the boundaries of what happens on-site, including the energy, water and raw materials that go into the manufacturing of construction materials. The urban heat island effect in major cities, meanwhile, can cause undue stress to inhabitants during heat waves — particularly the homeless — and new jobs and revenue streams can flow from major infrastructure projects or innovative manufacturing.

The work of engineers also significantly influences, both positively and negatively, our human contribution to climate change. Climate change does not just present environmental risks; it is also a risk to global political stability, infrastructure and food security. Given that climate change is one of humanity’s biggest challenges of the 21^st century, and its effects are already starting to be felt around the world, it is imperative that the engineering profession commits to playing its part in reducing its impacts. For society to develop solutions that minimise climate change, engineers must play a fundamental and active role.

There are many opportunities for engineers to work directly in the field of sustainability and contribute to climate change solutions. In my role with integrated infrastructure firm ArchTam, I advise project teams and clients on reducing the environmental impact of buildings, while creating a healthy and positive environment for building tenants. I also use analytical skills to provide strategic direction on sustainability initiatives at a precinct or community-wide level, such as low-carbon energy generation or sustainable transport. Many engineers develop new technologies that reduce our environmental footprint — such as solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells — or that are involved in the efficient manufacturing of these technologies. Environmental engineers, meanwhile, make their contribution to sustainability through the use of engineering principles that reduce the impact of major industrial activities.

However, the contribution engineers can make in sustainability isn’t limited to these so-called “traditional’ fields of engineering. The strength of the engineering profession is the combination of analytical abilities with strong communication and interpersonal skills to effectively inspire change in the way people do business or live their lives. For example, ArchTam has developed a Total Carbon Metric methodology for office developments that assesses the carbon impacts of a building across a range of emissions sources. The metric looks at carbon emissions from on-site demolition and construction, the embodied carbon in the materials, the carbon emitted during the operation of the building from electricity and gas consumption, staff transport to and from work, and waste sent to the landfill. The tenants in the building then commit to purchasing carbon offsets annually to account for operational emissions from that year, as well as a portion of the fixed-embodied carbon impact.

The total carbon impact isn’t the only output of this tool. The tool also assists tenants in tracking and offsetting their environmental impacts over the course of each year. Our role in implementing this tool is not just to inform the tenants of what they need to offset, but also to support the tenants in using and understanding the results in a meaningful way so they can reduce their carbon emissions. This approach shows how engineers can use their skills to not only “crunch the numbers” and influence designs, but also to engage with people to understand environmental impacts and drive the behavioural change required to minimise the impacts of climate change.

This ability to influence isn’t limited to engineers working directly in the field of sustainability. Engineering professionals from all backgrounds and industries have the unique combination of technical and interpersonal skills that can be utilised to contribute to climate change solutions.

So my challenge to you is this: How can you, in your professional career, use your engineering skills to influence your clients, colleagues, peers and suppliers to make choices that work towards a more sustainable future?

Michael Li is an ArchTam environmentally sustainable development engineer based in Melbourne, Australia. In late 2014, he was named one of 25 young professionals under 25 transforming the world of sustainable business by collaborative sustainability community 2degrees for his commitment to sustainability.

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ArchTam staff donated a fleet of brand new BMX bikes to the school, and we teach cycle skills to the Year 5 and 6 students on an ongoing basis. This programme is the first of its kind in New Zealand and gives children the opportunity to participate in monthly cycling skills and exercise programmes. Given the declining trends in cycling, beginning at an early age to teach children that cycling can be both fun and safe is extremely important — especially the part about safety.

You might remember in 1994 when it became law to wear a bike helmet in New Zealand. The hope was to reduce the number of serious cycling injuries and fatalities. At the time, an average of 21 people every year were dying on our roads.

While the next 10 years after 1994 saw a 50-percent drop in cyclist deaths, New Zealanders also cycled 50 percent less; effectively, fatality rates were unchanged. From this, it’s reasonable to conclude that the helmet law didn’t actually help reduce the risk, but rather only served to discourage the use of bicycles.

Should this be any surprise to those who understand safety factors? Helmets are just Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) after all — the last line of defence in any safety system. Just like a hard hat worn by a construction worker, the only guaranteed way to protect the worker is to eliminate or isolate the worker from the hazard in the first instance.

So what is the solution in the context of cycling? Some people blame cyclists, some blame drivers, some blame roads, and some blame all three! Some might like to argue that the only way to reach zero cyclist fatalities is to have zero cyclists on the road but, interestingly, New York City achieved zero fatalities by doing just the opposite.

In 2013, when New York City had an average of 20 cycling-related fatalities per year, the decision was made to make 6,000 bikes available to New Yorkers at 300 stations around the city. Soon enough, the number of trips taken by cyclists had tripled, and the number of fatality rates had dropped to zero. More cyclists meant everyone had to get used to sharing the road.

New York’s experience is just one of the reasons why cities and countries around the world are encouraging more cycling, not less. A city with a large population of regular cyclists is proving to be healthier, community minded, more efficient, more economically viable, more environmentally responsible, and, surprisingly, safer for all residents. Personally, I love riding my cycle into work along Auckland’s waterfront on the shared cycle path. Yes, it’s beautiful, and the exercise and freedom are a definite bonus, but it’s the cost I like the best. If I ride my bike, I don’t have to pay for public transport or parking (ArchTam even provides free bike cages, lockers and showers), and I don’t have to find time or money for exercise classes.

Sadly, when I tell people I cycle to work, I get the same response: “You are so brave!” It is a stark reminder that the number one barrier to cycling is safety. But whose responsibility is it to ensure my safety as I cycle on public transport routes alongside other commuters and drivers heading to their jobs?

This is why the Rongomai Cycle Programme is a great way to teach our children the importance of cycle safety, while promoting the benefits of cycling as well. The more awareness that is brought to our future and current cyclists, the more likely we will be accepting of them on our roads.

Set to be in force in late 2015, the Health and Safety Reform Bill is poised to change the face of safety and make the responsibilities far more wide-reaching and all encompassing. Under the proposed act, all Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) will have an obligation for the health and safety of those affected by their activities — including cyclists. This obligation will extend to all New Zealand employers, contractors, designers, manufacturers, importers, construction companies, truck drivers and government agencies.

So what does this mean? Car manufacturers may develop alarm sensors to detect the presence of people on the road. Transport trucks may be fitted with mirror extensions and side guards. And where PCBUs don’t act, it means the regulators can step in. London is already proposing a full ban on all trucks that are not equipped with this basic safety equipment.

Fortunately, we have already started on this journey. Transport agencies, construction companies and integrated infrastructure firms like ArchTam are already starting to consider people who cycle and provide comprehensive cycling infrastructure, including purpose-built cycleways in their urban-design and transport-planning work.

Auckland’s first urban cycleway is nearly complete and will connect the downtown to the Northwest Cycleway via the newly constructed Grafton Gully Cycleway. Further up the cycleway, the Causeway Alliance (upgrade to Highway 16 in Auckland) has committed to maintaining unimpeded access for cyclists during construction.

Local councils and businesses are exploring options like the bike-share programmes that ArchTam has sponsored in Christchurch and San Francisco, and many have embraced the role they can play in changing behaviours and connecting communities in our cities, providing education opportunities for the public and businesses.

Efforts such as the Rongomai Cycle Programme help to build the confidence and skills these young cyclists need, and also prepare them to be responsible road users in the future. Recent studies have even shown that students who cycle have better road awareness and success rates when they take their drivers test.

In New Zealand today, only 1 percent of our commuting is done on a bicycle, but 46 percent of standard travel commutes are less than 5 kilometers long — a perfect distance for a bicycle. The number one barrier is safety, but I believe that is poised to change for the better.

Comment below to share your thoughts on the importance of cycle safety. Be sure to use the #SafetyforLife hashtag when you share this post on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook.

Wendi Croft is an ArchTam safety, health & environment manager based in Auckland, New Zealand. Originally from Canada, Wendi lives in Auckland with her husband and three children. When she isn’t working, she enjoys hiking, camping, kayaking and exploring New Zealand with her family.
LinkedIn: Wendi Croft

References:
Predicting Accident Rates for Cyclists and Pedestrians, 2006, NZTA http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/research/reports/289/docs/289.pdf
Lorries without cycle safety equipment to be banned from London. 2014. https://www.london.gov.uk/media/mayor-press-releases/2014/01/lorries-without-cycle-safety-equipment-to-be-banned-from-london
City of Portland – violation study. http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/2009/04/so_you_think_cyclists_are_the.html
Harbour Sport Study. http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/north-shore-times/10273067/Cyclists-make-better-drivers

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Olivia Franco was recently awarded the 2014 South Australian Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) Award for “Outstanding Achievement by a Young Planner.” She was recognized for her demonstrated leadership within the planning industry and skills in strategic and policy planning, development assessment and community engagement.

Despite the increased publicity and focus on urban and regional planning over the past decade, many people don’t actually know what planners “do.” “What do you do?” is a question I’ve been asked many times at family barbecues and when meeting new people, but it remains a question I struggle to answer. I’m thus taking this opportunity to share some insights into the planning profession, and what planners actually do in their various roles.

In Australia, planning broadly falls under the following categories as described below:

• Development assessment: Proposals for new development are lodged with the relevant council or state government agency, which then assesses the development application against the policies within the relevant planning scheme and either approves or refuses the proposed development.
• Strategic planning: Strategic plans are generally prepared to identify the location of new development, land types and resource planning for areas, regions or businesses at a high level.
• Policy planning: Policies and directions are established to guide development or provide frameworks for areas, places and organisations, including government agencies.
• Community and stakeholder engagement: Engaging with individuals, groups and stakeholders on planning matters to work through solutions and strategies on policies or development that affects them.
• Various land-use planning specialties: These specialties form an integral part of the planning profession by considering the environmental, social, transport, infrastructure and other impacts in the decisions that planners make.

Planners have been trained with the skills and critical-thinking abilities needed to bring together several elements when assessing developments, writing policies and creating strategies for the future development of a location, region or business. Strategic thinking is part of everyday dealings for planners as we consider how our decisions will impact upon people, places and systems in accordance with the development policy or decision.

Our decisions and policies seek to balance the environmental, economic and social needs of our communities on a daily basis. Planning is much more than the “fluffy” stuff. I would like to think of it as the “glue” that brings together the technical elements of various disciplines, and develops these into frameworks that guide the way our world is developed — not just from a built-form perspective, but also from the viewpoint of our social environments, the management of natural resources, movement systems and economic activity in our cities and regions. Really, though, planning is much more than this. Planners work in private consultancies; local, state and federal governments; and other organisations that are all collectively shaping our world. Our mix of skills and knowledge means that you will often find planners working in a range of areas — from economics to politics and education to health.

Planners are needed to make informed decisions with, and on behalf of, our communities and decision makers who contemplate the environmental, social and economic outcomes of the way our cities and regions are developed. If we are serious about mitigating the impacts of climate change, planners will be called upon more than ever to influence the development of the built form that strives towards environmental sustainability.

This is but a brief insight into the work that planners are involved with. Above all, I’d like to think we are drivers of change, guiding the future land form of streets, cities and regions. We engage with local communities to help shape the built form that we want to live, work and play in. We tie together and translate the inputs from various disciplines, and turn this into directions for our future. We are the glue.

Olivia Franco (Olivia.Franco@archtam.com) is a senior planner within ArchTam’s transport team in Adelaide, South Australia. Olivia has worked in the urban and regional planning field for over six years, starting her career in local government. She is happily married to Peter, is passionate about environmental issues and hopes to contribute to a better world through her profession. She has recently ended her term as the Chair of the South Australian PIA’s Young Planners Committee, and the state’s representative on the PIA National Young Planner’s Committee.
LinkedIn: Olivia Franco      Twitter: @Olivia_E_Franco

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