Waihinga Centre

Packed to the Rafters.

The new Waihinga Centre changes daily.  Installation of the exposed rafters is rapidly progressing.  Both rafters and plywood ceiling are one of the key features of the building.

This is a key milestone. The high-level roof will be constructed first, and then the outside walls and translucent cladding added.

Working through the very hot weather of January and early February has been a challenge for the workers particularly as they have been trying to install the extra layer of framing needed to house the insulation before the roof can go on. … Continue Reading

That versatile cuppa

A cup of tea is considered to be a panacea of many things and now it seems it may prevent the serious eye disease Glaucoma. A study published in the British  Journal of Ophthalmology found that  regular drinkers of tea were 74% less likely to develop glaucoma – one of the leading causes of blindness. However  tea has to be hot, as is normally taken, so looks as though those regularly advertised iced teas do not make the cut

A powerful workforce

The public service is a powerful workforce, employing more than 47,000, with 41 per cent of them in Wellington, and half that number in Auckland. Cast the net wider and include the whole of the public sector and you’ve got a formidable workforce of around 348,000 people, or 14 per cent of the country’s workforce.

It’s made up of 29 departments or ministries, things like the Reserve Bank and tertiary institutions, police and health professionals, 16 state owned companies, 67 territorial authorities and 16 regional councils.

As something of an indictment, the single biggest department is now Corrections which runs the country’s prisons.

The totalisator

An Australian website loudly proclaims the Totalisator to be an Australian achievement. However the invention of the automatic tote was actually a New Zealand invention being perfected by  George Julius (later to be Sir George, knighted  for his services to technology) who delivered the automatic totalisator to the world in 1908. He offered it to the  Auckland Racing Club who agreed to  have a system installed. The purpose constructed building  had thirty selling windows and inside was what looked like a giant tangle of piano wires, pulleys, sprockets and cast iron boxes.   … Continue Reading