workshopS

STREAM: STRENGTHENING OPERATIONS

Healthier Low Carbon Homes

Developing healthier low carbon homes is good for families and the planet. This workshop will provide practical information on best practice to achieve this in a cost-effective manner. You will learn how to balance embodied and operational carbon, the expertise and tools required for a good outcome, and see emerging trends in form, function and features of comfortable, healthy homes. In addition, learn how this can help access sustainable finance to get projects developed.

Facilitated by: Matthew Cutler-Walsh, New Zealand Green Building Council & Tapio Johansson, BNZ

Matthew’s mission is to inspire people to make a better place to live. He is currently the Senior Manager - Residential at the New Zealand Green Building Council, focusing on Aotearoa’s environmental rating tools for homes.

Matthew has an Honours Degree in Natural Resources Engineering and has over 15 years of experience leading residential energy efficiency projects in New Zealand and Australia. In 2016 he joined the Board of the Passive House Institute New Zealand.

Tapio is a green property finance expert and provides sector expertise for BNZ’s sustainability strategy. In addition to managing a commercial property finance client portfolio, he drives the expansion of BNZ’s green property finance product suite.

Tapio holds a BBA majoring in Environmental Economics and Finance and a Chartered Banker Institute certificate in Green and Sustainable Finance. He has 18 years of financial services experience across NZ and Finland.

He kai kei aku ringa | There is food at the end of my hands: Using a Māori-led approach to building community in a social housing māra (garden)

This workshop will provide an example of Māori led engagement to build community in medium density housing at the Pukehīnau Apartments in Te Aro, Wellington. Two Māori apprentices will share personal, first-hand stories to highlight the project’s impact. This will be followed by a facilitated group activity, using community engagement principles to inspire participation.

Facilitated by: Kassandra Stephenson, Richard Cammock & Marama Tekira, Te Toi Mahana

Kassy is a frontline Tenancy Advisor at Te Toi Mahana Community Housing, where she helps tenants navigate their tenancies and connects them with the resources and support needed to thrive in their homes. While her primary focus is on tenancy management, Kassandra believes that having a stable place to call home is just the beginning. She is committed to amplifying the voices of those she supports and walking alongside them to help foster stronger, more connected communities.

Born and raised in Taumarunui, Richard has been organic gardening for 40+ years, first learning with his grandparents on a 2-acre organic vegetable farm. From there he gardened organically in many gardens, from traditional through to commercial gardens around the region.

Richard has School C Diplomas in Horticulture and Forestry, and he has a gift for sharing his incredible knowledge base with the wider community to give everyone the opportunity to help grow community kai.

Marama is from Ngati Porou, Ngati Raukawa & Ngati Kahungunu & has over 20 years’ experience in working with the Community on both voluntary and professional levels and is the Māori language teacher at Central Park Community centre for the weekly koha community reo class. She joined the Pukehinau garden project team after working in several government departments also in roles that included volunteering for the local free food store handing out rescued food to the community.

Marama came to the Pukehinau community garden after a successful interview due to being multilingual, having had extensive experience in the community and a background from childhood in organic gardening.

The fact that the garden community is multilingual and she gets to work with the community tamariki drives her passion for this project, besides the fact that it’s organic, helps with food poverty, health, education and community building relationships, helping with all aspects of te whare tapawha including social, mental, spiritual & emotional wellbeing.

Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, kia tere te kārohirohi i
mua i tōu huarahi

May the calm be widespread, may the ocean glisten as greenstone, may the shimmer of
light ever dance across your pathway.

Managing Medium and High-Density Housing

The density of new housing across all affordability levels is increasing in response to land costs, climate goals and changing preferences. Good tenancy management in denser developments requires different approaches to single homes on large sections. This facilitated panel discussion will share experiences and learnings across a range of locations and property types.

Facilitated by: Ingrid Downey, Vicki McLaren & Natasha Mackie

Ingrid has called Wellington home for the past 18 years, during which she has dedicated herself to advancing the provision of quality housing for those in need. Her career has spanned a range of roles, including positions at the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services, Energy Smart, Housing New Zealand (now Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities), and most recently, Dwell Housing Trust.

Originally from Tucson, Arizona, Ingrid's career in housing included non-profit organizations and design and construction firms. Her experience included activities like teaching first-time homeowners to fix a leaky tap, to building Rammed Earth homes and plastering walls with mud, to managing the construction of custom-designed homes reflecting the distinctive "The Arizona School" style.

Ingrid joined Dwell in 2018 through an internship supported by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), with the goal of developing an Asset Management Framework for the organization. Since then, she has played a key role in expanding Dwell’s pipeline of high-quality, medium-density new builds. Ingrid has been instrumental in the successful completion of three developments in Kilbirnie, and she looks forward to furthering Dwell’s growth with upcoming projects in Newtown and Lower Hutt.

Vicki is an experienced strategic leader, with a passion for delivering quality social housing whilst addressing inequality within the housing sector. From successfully leading a complex, large-scale social housing regeneration programme in partnership with the Crown to more recently leading New Zealand’s largest non-government public housing contract, Vicki has been committed to delivering successful social housing across the motu that makes a real difference to the people who need it most.

She currently works at Kāinga Ora as their Regional Director for the Wellington Region, which owns a range of complex, medium and high density apartments within the heart of the city. In her spare time, Vicki enjoys outdoor adventures from paddleboarding, biking and fishing, as well as spending time with her whānau in Tauranga.

Natasha has over 12 years’ experience in the Community Housing Sector and is the Tumuaki Tautoko ā Whare (General Manager) for Auckland City Mission Housing Ltd. She joined the Mission after 10 years in local government in a role that included overseeing Council’s Senior and Social Housing along with, developing community strategies, community consultation and community development.

Natasha came to the Mission just after it opened HomeGround in 2022, Aotearoa’s first Single Site Supportive Housing. The portfolio has expanded quickly to include another Single Site Building along with apartments scattered across Tāmaki Makaurau, with the organisation now housing over 220 whānau. A strong advocate for everyone’s right to a decent home, she acknowledges that building community is key to successful high density single site housing solutions.

Social Procurement and Social Development

The Ministry of Social Development and Auckland Council will speak to their work supporting people who are disadvantaged in the labour market into employment across their keystone partnerships. Together, they have supported 1,000 people into employment through Council’s Healthy Waters Department. Learn how they have achieved great results with 80% still employed after two years and 76% with the same employer after five years. More than 6,000 young people across rural and provincial New Zealand have also started local work through MSD’s partnership with Mayors Taskforce for Jobs.

Facilitated by: Amanda Nicolle, Craig McIlroy, Doreen Christie, Jamie Kissock & Nicola Anderson

Amanda Nicolle, Director Industry Partnerships, MSD
As Director of Industry Partnerships at the Ministry of Social Development, Amanda Nicolle currently leads a team that designs and creates initiatives and strategic partnerships with industries and employers with skills and labour shortages. These relationships are used to identify the skills employers need from new employees and how programmes and services can be tailored to meet the specific requirements of their partners. The aim is to create independence through sustainable employment and careers for people across New Zealand.

Amada is a complex relationship management expert and creative thinker. And her diverse professional background in some of our most challenging and volatile industries – from fashion to racing, to now working with businesses and organisations to improve the opportunities and life outcomes for people disadvantaged in the labour market – and history with organisations of all sizes, from NGOs to SMEs, large corporates and the public sector, has given her a cross-sectional perspective and an ability to create sustainable partnerships that are tailored to the needs and objectives of each party.

Craig McIlroy, General Manager Healthy Waters & Flood Resilience, Auckland Council
With over 30 years of leadership in the local government sector, Craig is a forward-thinking leader known for challenging the status quo and driving resilient, sustainable solutions for New Zealand’s water sector. As General Manager of Auckland Council’s Healthy Waters and Flood Resilience department, he has played a key role in transforming water management services from a technical engineering focus to a broader, more integrated approach, delivering significant environmental, social, and cultural benefits to communities.

Craig is committed to integrating Te Ao Māori perspectives, having established programmes that promote Māori outcomes and foster community partnerships, highlighting the importance of cultural responsiveness in water services. Known for his strategic leadership and effective team building, he has cultivated a high-retention, empowered workforce, helping Healthy Waters become a world-leading stormwater utility.

Craig’s latest challenge is leading the development of the Making Space for Water programme, a 10-year initiative prioritising flood readiness and risk reduction projects across Auckland. This programme aims to build resilience by addressing both current and future flood risks with innovative solutions.

Doreen Christie, Ngā Puna Pūkenga (NPP) Manager, Auckland Council
Ko Ngāti Kahungunu te iwi, Ko Tamaterangi te hapū, Ko Rangiāhua te marae
Ko Ngāi Tūhoe te iwi, Ko Kākahutāpiki te hapū, Ko Tīpapa te marae

Doreen is a senior management professional with a successful background in information technology, programme management and operational delivery of strategic goals in both the public and private sectors. Doreen’s broad industry experience includes local government, tertiary education, information technology, telecommunications, airlines, Iwi, and finance.

Doreen is committed to self-development and is a public speaking coach, speaker, trainer, Master NLP Practitioner and Master Hypnotist. Doreen is also a past board member of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated and Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi ki Tāmaki Makaurau and was a Treaty of Waitangi claims mandated representative for her tribe. Doreen lives in Auckland CBD and is the manager of Ngā Puna Pūkenga Skills for Industry Programme, which in June 2024 achieved the milestone of 1,000 Aucklanders into fulltime work.

Jamie Kissock, Key Account Manager Industry Partnerships, MSD
Jamie Kissock is a Key Account Manager with Industry Partnerships, Ministry of Social Development (MSD). He has worked with Civil Contractors NZ since commencing his original role as an MSD Account Manager for the Civil and Infrastructure sector in 2008. Since then, he has been involved in a range of industry-led Skills for Industry partnerships delivering entry-level employment for MSD Job Seekers, including the Downer Basics and Ready programmes, the Fulton Hogan Infrastructure Skills Centre and the Assess It and ATD excavator programmes. He has contributed to the Construction Skills Action Plan and to the adoption of Broader Outcomes by government agencies, including a partnership with Waka Kotahi.

Jamie considers the MSD Auckland Council Ngā Puna Pūkenga partnership to be the best example of a procurement-based partnership that actively supports contractors to grow their business while meeting the aspirations of the community. There’s always challenges, but there are also opportunities, solutions.

Nicola Anderson, Key Account Manager Industry Partnerships, MSD
Nicola Anderson is Key Account Manager in the Industry Partnerships team. With a passion for enabling local communities to design programmes that address their unique needs, she leads MSD’s relationship with Mayors Taskforce for Jobs to deliver youth employment focused initiatives in rural and provincial New Zealand.

Nicola is happiest when she is elbow deep delivering work that is insights led and results driven, with people at the heart of it. She has relationship management, engagement, marketing, and communications experience across the government, retail and financial services sectors.

Tenancy Management – An alternative tenancy delivery model focused on providing a high level of service to social housing tenants

Facilitated by: Robert Hardie & Amelia Rees, Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust

Tenancy Management in the social housing arena has been delivered mostly in a traditional manner with a Tenancy Manager responsible for all aspects of managing tenancies in a designated housing portfolio. This workshop will outline an alternative delivery model, discussing the elements of the model What are the potential opportunities and benefits? What are the challenges to implement? Would it work for your organisation?

Robert Hardie is General Manager Tenancy at Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust in Christchurch. He has been part of the city’s social housing response for two decades, first as an Area Manager at Housing New Zealand where he was responsible for more than 3500 social housing tenancies, and then as Operations Manager for the Christchurch City Housing Social Housing Unit. Robert was one of ŌCHT’s first appointments when it was established in 2016 and has a key role in the ongoing development of its groundbreaking tenancy management model. Robert continues to guide ŌCHT’s risk management, and Health, Safety and Wellbeing work.

Amelia Rees is the Strategic Housing Manager at Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust in Christchurch. She has been involved in public housing policy and delivery for a decade, first as a housing case manager then strategic purchasing and contracting advisor at the Ministry of Social Development, before moving to be senior advisor contract management at the then - new Ministry of Housing Development. Secondments allowed her to work across the sector in roles including Canterbury Regional Housing Manager and Customer Practice and Improvement senior advisor at Kainga Ora. Amelia now applies her government-level knowledge to the NGO space at ŌCHT.