I have been involved with the Registered Master Builders House of the Year competition for over ten years.
I judge both the House of the Year and Commercial Project of the Year competitions which allow me a unique overview of the entire New Zealand construction industry.
Both competitions provide a platform to showcase excellence across this collaborative sector. It is heartening to see the quality levels rising over the years.
New Zealanders are a competitive bunch and we do like to win! Even though HOY is predominantly a builders award with points split 65% build - 35% design you don't get to win this competition without good design!
As an Architect I know the same applies for the quality of craftsmanship and I keep track of the best builders around the country that may be able to assist us with our client projects.
The major item we are all looking at closely now is how we can build better for the environment. Targets have been set for the construction sector to reduce its carbon footprint and I am proud to be part of the judging team looking at how these competitions can encourage all to design and build better from an embodied carbon and operational carbon perspective. I believe that the early signs of improvement are encouraging.
A while back I was also fortunate enough to front the annual television documentary which aired in prime time for a number of years.
The videos below are archive footage from 2009 and 2010! They showcase the winning houses and the winning commercial projects from the Registered Master Builders competitions that I had judged.
The show was a little like Kevin McCloud's Grand Designs Revisited! The shows were produced by Teleola.
(If you have trouble loading the videos just click, right click and enter within the box. They are also on Youtube)
Commercial Project Awards
The video below is a clip from the documentary above that showcases the winning commercial project the Deloitte Building in
Auckland which won the 2010 RMB Commercial Project of the Year.
Here I present some of the innovative sustainable features (for the time) that reduce the building's operational carbon and hence impact on the environment. The lead
contractor on the project was Brookfield Multiplex Construction. The
Architects were Woods Bagot in association with Warren and Mahoney. The show was produced by Teleola.
House of the Year
The video below is archive footage of the documentary I presented that aired on New Zealand television in 2009. It showcases the winning houses from the Registered Master Builders competition. The show was produced by Teleola.