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Leviathan
1 Min Read

Well, that was fun! Nothing quite like a good old blow. It’s still dark as I write this, but the coming dawn are going to show us a fair bit of damage. “A wet and windy day for most areas” as they say. I’m picking that some of our well-loved buildings may have been damaged, possibly beyond repair. The Boatshed in Nelson for instance – damaged…

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Guest
4 Min Read

The following is a Guest post from Dominic Kelly, the Director of Hashigo Zake: For a year and a half, the conversion of the Manthel building on the Taranaki/Wakefield St corner into Xero’s headquarters caused substantial damage to my business, Hashigo Zake, and to that of our fellow tenant, Zibibbo restaurant. During the period of the work, both businesses suffered a significant downturn in trade, which…

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Leviathan
1 Min Read

If you’re in the world of architecture and construction then, like me, you’ll be stunned and horrified at the extent of the pile of bad news coming out of Fletcher Construction. Having declared a loss of $292 million last year, and $660 million this year, the total combined loss is $952 million over the last two years – almost a billion dollars. Coming from New Zealand’s…

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Leviathan
2 Min Read

In a move that surprised nobody, Mr Blinglish announced his resignation yesterday, potenshully removing the millstone that currently hangs around National’s neck. Clearly the Nats won’t win with the current team of Blinglish, Gerry Brownlee and Stephen Joyce as front runners, so an entirely new lineup needs to be put in place. Curiously, Nick Smith hasn’t put his hand up yet, as he is clearly the…

Leviathan
4 Min Read

After what seems like the longest of times, the new building for PWC on Site 10 at Kumutoto (by Athfield Architects) is now progressing well. Strong advances on the cladding front, with the end of the cantilever now glazed and looking reasonably interesting, with the massive braced cantilevered box projecting out above the south end of the building. The top two floors are expressed as a…

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Leviathan
1 Min Read

A pause for thought today : evidently the silly season is still with us. Point in case the front page of the Dom Post today – and cub reporter Julian Lee tries to argue the case for a bridge – or tunnel ! – across the Cook Strait is a viable thing. Both possible options are as silly as each other, both are physically impossible, and…

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Leviathan
2 Min Read

At long last, what looks like it may be a productive Waiting Day. Big steps forward by Adern, particularly in saying “Hold us to account” and also to the smaller details, like the Ministers cooking the kai for the ordinary people, instead of the other way round. Cooperation, coordination of effort, mutual respect. Isn’t this the way it always should have been? Fingers crossed that it…

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Leviathan
1 Min Read

Hugely intriguing story going on in Auckland at the moment, which most of us in Wellington are watching with intense interest. You all know the back story – Auckland’s various cities amalgamated into one “Super City” and this would cut costs, streamline decision making, increase cohesion, integrate transport planning, and a million other things. So far, not really any of those showing up. I’m certainly glad…