8 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Te Wānanga o Raukawa - McMillan & Lockwood T T Ange Davidson Kaitiakitanga principles shape upgrade Te Wānanga o Raukawa’s new learning and administration spaces were built with resource use front of mind. The principles of kaitiakitanga at Te Wānanga o Raukawa in Ōtaki have shaped a major upgrade of facilities at this tikanga Māori tertiary education provider. Working with McMillan & Lockwood, a building and civil construction firm based in Palmerston North, the Wānanga’s new learning and administration spaces were built with resource use front of mind. The Kaihautū Manaaki whenua Rawiri Richmond, grounds and facilities director at Te Wānanga o Raukawa says they hadn’t run out of space for students, but the buildings were old and not fit for purpose. Rather than trying to revamp these, the Wānanga board opted to build new. “Kaitiakitanga is one of our guiding principles – to look after land, its people, and resources. “The board were being good guardians by deciding to replace the old inefficient buildings with purpose-built spaces that are beautiful to look at, beautiful to work in and high performing. Combine these with the landscape and the Wānanga environment, it’s a really lovely place - good for the mind and the spirit.” “The upgrade would not have been a success without the McMillan & Lockwood team as they totally understood who we are and what we wanted. They understood our guiding principles and stuck with them. “We insisted everyone who came on site did an induction to understand who we were and were supportive of their staff to not engage with behaviours that are disrespectful such as smoking, using drugs and alcohol, and eating refined sugars. This ensured healthy relationships across all contractors and sub-contractors. They became part of our campus and if our kitchen was putting on morning tea for our staff, we’d get them to drop tools and join us,” laughs Rawiri. The biggest challenge was working within the Living Building Challenge, a certification for performance based self-sufficient and regenerative buildings that create a positive impact on the human and natural systems that interact with them. Led by Wellington architecture firm, Tennent Brown Architects, the Living Building Challenge provided metrics on how to measure kaitiakitanga. One example is the diversion of construction waste from landfill. Processes were set up on site to weigh and measure all waste coming off the site to be disposed of appropriately. McMillan & Lockwood Central Ltd as Main Contractors are proud to continue our association with Te Wānanga o Raukawa Hydraulic, Mechanical & Structural Engineering Specialists 06 364 7444 m 46 Riverbank Road, Otaki 9 k info@riverbankeng.co.nz riverbankeng.co.nz
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