Awhi Farm – Timbrel Dome workshop with James Bellamy
Dynamic, innovative approaches and a ‘can-do’ attitude have clearly made the Awhi Farm Sustainability Centre a community project to keep both eyes on.
Over two visits, Steve Henry and I have been able to see a number of great low-cost projects unfolding before our eyes – one in particular was finished on our return visit on Wednesday.
In this short video, James Bellamy took the time to talk to me about the Timbrel vault workshop while students worked around him.
On our return visit the structure was complete as you can see from the photo below.
Self supporting Timbrel vault structure
On our way north James Bellamy, running a 3-day Timbrel vault building workshop. The tiles are pressed from local crushed pumice, cemented together with gypsum plaster to create amazingly strong arch and dome structures in a very short time.
Check out the courses at http://www.ecoshow.co.nz/Courses.html
This excerpt is copied from the above webpage:
“A building technique that dates back 600 years and is now being rediscovered due to it’s low use of building materials and therefore low embodied energy. Made from locally pressed tiles, beautiful spanning shapes are built without extensive formwork and at minimal cost. The designs of these dome shells work with pure compression and no reinforcement steel.
At Awhi farm a hand press is used to make the tiles out of our local materials of pumice and stabilized with cement.”
I can see Awhi Farm becoming a significant and integral part of the ‘sustainable community development’ space in the central North Island in a very short amount of time.
Thanks again for the whole Awhi Farm community for extending your time to us so generously. Hopefully, these blog posts go some way towards raising the profile of the Centre and encourages more people to visit and be inspired by the space you’re creating.
Sustainable Business programmes launched in the Manawatu
About 30 people attended the launch this week and registered their interest in programmes which begin in Febuary 2011. The ten available spaces for business were filled and has led to a rethink of how to accomodate the high demand. The programmes are a collaboration of Vision Manawatu, Palmerston North City Council and will be delivered by the Universal College of Learning supported by Otago Polytechnic’s Centre for Sustainable practice and The Natural Step NZ.
Participating businesses are committing to a 12 month programme including 4 one day workshops spread over the year. These are supported by an advisor who will support staff between workshops. The programme will initially raise the awareness of the opportunities alligning economic perfomrance with social and environmental performance brings using case studies. Then an audit of current performance leading to quick wins. These are usually through energy and waste efficiencies and staff motivation for smarter ways to do business. Then a visioning process ensures a future esired state is clear so that step can be taken to head towards this. Business will leave the programme with a customised strategic plan and a detailed action plan. The work will gain credit in either a Certificate in Sustaianble practice or a Graduate diploma in sustainable practice.
Should be fun!
EECA meeting in Wellington – a collaborative project around solar hot water
After a 6am start in Levin, Steve and I made our way down the beautiful Kapiti Coast for pre-work meeting with the EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority) team.
From left: Steve Henry, Julia Barton, Jane O'Loughlin, 'Mike the sustainable builder' & EECA CEO, Mike Underhill involved in a whirlwind Solar Hot Water demonstration at the Wellington Interislander ferry terminal
Thanks to EECA CEO, Mike Underhill, senior advisor, Jane O’Loughlin and Julia Barton from the EECA solar hot water team for taking the time to see a quick demonstration of the brand new Otago Polytechnic Solar Hot Water demonstration trailer (it’s existence is owed to EECA’s significant financial contribution).
In a show of high commitment, local sustainable designer and builder, Mike, made the early morning trip out to see us. He registered his interest in enrolling in the new sustainable practice graduate diploma, beginning in Feb 2011. “I’ve studied a lot of theory in this space. It’s time to get stuck in with some action”.
He jumped into our roadtrip ‘rig’ to continue the conversation all way the mouth of the ferry before Steve and I drove into the ferry bowels to cross Cook Strait. We’ve had these sort of experiences the whole way – passionate, committed people ready to embed sustainable practice in what they do for a living. It’s inspiring to be involved and makes the hard work we’ve invested to spread the message worthwhile.
The North Island leg of the roadtrip has been a resounding success – a rich and diverse range events, ranging from ‘top-of-town’ strategic decision making and planning events along with grass-roots activism and community projects and everything in between. The importance and relevance of sustainable practice in all segments of the community has been on full display – a demonstration of the fact that with a shared vision of what a sustainable future looks like we can all look towards a prosperous and healthy future.
Next on the event schedule is Nelson on Thursday evening with a lunchtime event in Kaikoura – please come join us if you’re in the neighbourhood!
Auckland event (and a paradise called Waiheke Island)
Our travelling circus vehicle (at least that’s what it felt like after driving all the way from Queenstown!) finally arrived in Auckland. We were greeted on our arrival by the ever smiling James Samuel, community organiser extraordinaire and one of the most generous people I have been fortunate enough to meet in a long time.
Our kick off event organised by James in Manakau City – a community garden get-together and one of 100 events throughout New Zealand to mark 10.10.10
A small gathering of a cross section of the Manakau City community gathered together at the local Papakura church to discuss some of the possible options for sustainable practice projects. The recent announcement of the election of Len Brown as major of the new Auckland Super City, a Manakau City local brought a buoyant mood to the group.
We were then hosted by James, Simon Harvey and Jerome (our host for the next days’ event at Jasmax Architects in Auckland) for a quiet get together on Waiheke Island. My first time to Auckland let alone Waiheke was eye opening and James, knowing we’d be exhausted after the long journey arranged for a luxury beach retreat. Simon arrived with local organic pizzas, all washed down with some of NZs finest ales.
For people whom I’ve met once, this was a show of generosity I’ve rarely experienced – testament to the strength and spirit of the local community on Waiheke.
After a much needed sleep, we woke to a beautiful calm morning – an early walk on the beach bringing a great photo opportunity and a timely reminder that with the rush of the roadtrip it is so important to take the time to slow down.
Some good breakthroughs and equal amount of mutual learning were achieved with James during the morning to develop a social media course for the ‘community development’ space.
My first experience of Auckland traffic was not as bad as expected although James’ calm navigation kept things sane – thanks and kudos to Jerome for arranging the Jasmax event which was well attended and received – what an amazing presentation space!
After narrowly escaping the parking inspector and driving circles trying to park and a lack of food, frustration started to creep in and by the time Steve was done with his final appointments I was not disappointed to be on the way south again by mid-afternoon to Hamilton.
Thanks to Berny for the car storage in Manakau City and get-away car speed driving to and from the ferry, James for your above and beyond hospitality and thoughtfulness, Simon for the food and beers, Jerome for arranging the event and everyone for being great company!
Return to Awhi Farm to meet with tangata whenua
Welcome to Awhi Farm - Turangi Sustainability Centre
Our return visit to Awhi Farm has proved to be the most culturally rich experience of the tour so far – a grassroots action project, practical outcomes, a supportive learning community, tangata whenua involved intimately in the process – all necessary to create a culture of acceptance, forward thinking and a sustainable future.
Nick, a young Maori man talked passionately about his 8-months at Awhi Farm “this has changed the way I think about what I do, about who I am, about myself”
Lisa, tangata whenua, talked about being able to inhabit the land without having to go into debt, something she had done before and was not prepared to do again – the opportunities Awhi Farm provides allows for this possibility.
Bryan spoke again about the Awhi Farm vision of creating a low-cost practical learning centre for young people in the local community.
Jo talked about the profound impact a 2-week permaculture course had had on her perspective and how it had informed her ideas and community vision for Awhi Farm.
The discussion came up around the idea of whether Awhi Farm could be a teaching and learning hub for sustainable practice in the Central North Island –“It already is” was the response. There is the potential that more formalised recognition of the work being done could be credited through the qualifications in sustainable practice being developed by Otago Polytechnic’s Centre for Sustainable Practice (CSP).
Steve and I were provided with the opportunity to speak from the heart about why the new qualifications are so important – John, one of the founding trust members highlighted the need for the new qualifications to be promoted with Maori communities. Strong ties between a traditional Maori perspective of land and the type of sustainable practice both Awhi Farm & the Centre for Sustainable Practice means that genuine collaboration is possible between these unique, rich and diverse communities; united under the shared vision of what a sustainable future looks like for all of us.
Manaaki whenua, manaaki tangata, haere whakamua.
Care for the land Care for people. Go forward.
Enough said.
Awhi Farm solar trailer demonstration
Hamilton TNS event with Simon Harvey
At Tuesday lunchtime event in Hamilton to the local Chamber of Commerce brought together many of the big players in the Hamilton business scene to hear Simon Harvey, CEO of The Natural Step NZ, speak persuasively about the business case for sustainability.
For those not familiar with the science-based decision making framework The Natural Step explained in two minutes is well worth watching
Simon Harvey talks about the backcasting process to Hamilton Chamber of Commerce
In many ways, the focus of Simon’s presentation was ‘business beyond compliance’ and the opportunities available to early adopter businesses who pro-actively decide to inhabit the sustainability space
In one fantastic confronting slide, Simon got to the heart of the matter by asking the following question:
Where is your business in relation to sustainable practice?
Following were a number of possible scenarios:
Leadership
Integration
Compliance +
Compliance
Denial
The resounding silence in the room spoke volumes. Then, in a highly compelling way, Simon went on to describe the opportunities for businesses in NZ to take up an active role in the sustainability space.
Tom Walter presents the Ziptrek Ecotours business case to Hamilton Chamber of Commerce
As the representative for Ziptrek Ecotours, I was provided with the opportunity to speak about the business case of opening up a new sustainability-focussed operation in the already saturated Queenstown adventure tourism market. By firmly placing ourselves in the sustainable tourism niche niche (and one of the very few left in Queenstown) Ziptrek have been able to build a significant profile in a very short time since opening in December 2009.
Kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga - a vision for NZ tourism by 2015
By strategically aligning it’s business with the 2015 Tourism Strategy vision of a sustainable NZ tourism industry which embraces the Maori concepts of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and manaakitanga (hospitality), Ziptrek have welcomed the numerous opportunities to present it’s compelling vision to businesses and organisations looking to do business in a new way.
Thanks and kudos to Simon for his excellent presentation and for providing the opportunity to present Ziptrek Ecotours in this setting.
Green Drinks Tauranga
Steve Henry from Otago Polytechnic’s Centre for Sustainable Practice and Tom Walter from Ziptrek Ecotours were invited to a very civilised Green Drinks event from 5-7pm hosted by Jo Wills from the Sustainable Business Network
Jo – thanks for the providing the Centre for Sustainable Practice, Ziptrek Ecotours, and Nomad Safaris with the opportunity to speak to such an enthusiastic and engaged group.
We took advantage of a sunny afternoon to demonstrate the Centre’s new solar hot water trailer in central Tauranga along with being able to showcase the Southern Lakes success stories in sustainable business.
Kudos to Jo for bringing together such a committed and high caliber of attendees – sustainability is alive and well in this region!
Awhi Farm -Turangi
On the suggestion of James Samuel, Steve Henry and I dropped in on Awhi Farm on our way through Turangi not really knowing what to expect. 3 hours later we had to drag ourselves away after being blown away by the scope and breadth of the work that had been done by Bryan, Jo and the the board of trustees.
Steve, Bryan and Jo at Awhi Farm
A fantastic community focussed, led and run project – 10 acres of land on the edge of Turangi, this is old Ministry of Works land overgrown with blackberries and numerous other invasive species. Since March 2010, the board and a committed group of voluteers have come to together to clear the land, erect temporary structures and showcase low-cost sustainable projects including harvest gardens, sustainable building techniques, landscaping and a working community of health and low impact lifestyles.
Much of the work is based on permaculture principles and it is obvious that this is the case when looking around the farm and the trnsformation it has gone through in such a short space of time since opening in March.
Many of the folks there were kind enough to offer their time to describe the projects they had been working on. In this series of posts, I’ve embedded a number of short videos to show what sort of innovative projects are possible when a group of people come together with the shared vision of creating a sustainable future together.
Check out some of the Youtube videos from our time at Awhi Farm:
Bomun talks about creating this low cost sustainable structure
We look forward to out second visit on Wednesday 13th October when Lisa, who is tangata whenua, is available to speak to us about the project and her visions for it. I’m looking forward to it!
Joining the drive to biogold
The number of vehicles joining the drive to Biogold has increased again with two more new businesses signed up to the Queenstown Lakes Biodiesel Consortium this week. We’d like to welcome Queenstown Wine Trail and Christmas Wrenching Services Ltd as members.
The biodiesel pump is working over time with the volume of Biogold NZ20 increasing by 60% in the month of September to almost 16,000 litres. Close to 60 vehicles are now powered by New Zealand Biodiesel in the Queenstown Lakes District
Why don’t you build sustainability into your supply chain and join the drive to biogold? 
Email sharon.schindler@op.ac.nz for more information.
Showcasing Sustainable Practice Expo
The Showcasing Sustainable Practice Expo is just a few weeks away (Friday 5th November). We are excited to be presenting the event in collaboration and with support from our partners in the Queenstown Lakes Sustainable Business Programmes.
The response has been terrific and the event is shaping up to be a unique and compelling gathering of local leaders in sustainability with representation from activity and accommodation operators in the tourism sector; companies from the construction & design industry, as well as community organisations, all exhibiting their products and services.
During the interactive format you’ll hear how sustainable practice is working inside businesses and organisations by learning from your fellow attendees whose collective experience, knowledge and capabilities will make this inaugural expo a unique and rewarding experience.
You’ll learn from the high profile keynote speakers which to date include Rod Oram, international business journalist and columnist of Sunday Star-Times & Good Magazine; Phil Ker CEO of Otago Polytechnic, Paula McCallum GM of Qualmark and Karen Upston CEO of Envirocomp Ltd.
Check back here (or our website) regularly for more updates or follow us @csp_otago on Twitter (search for #cspexpo2010).
Look forward to seeing you on the 5th November!
