I S S U E

MOVING TO NEW ZEALAND?

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AUCKLAND

State of the nation

A royal visit to New Zealand always causes a stir and Prince Harry’s 8 day trip was no exception. The prince was warmly welcomed by crowds wherever he went and as well as the traditional charity and community visits he also took part in a haka with the military and paddled a waka (canoe). An article later in the newsletter covers the visit though I would suggest he has a slightly confused interpretation of how most kiwi’s live! The latest budget was announced last week and although underwhelming was very much in line with the “business as usual approach” this government has taken to get New Zealand through the recession. Finally the New Zealand Cricket team, or Black Caps, are touring the UK at the moment. A first test loss at Lords made for a highly entertaining game and the Kiwi’s will be looking for a turnaround in fortunes in the second test.

Civil & Infrastructure

With the arrival of winter comes an annual slow period in the civil sector. Poor weather limits the work that can be done and so companies spend this period trying to win work for the coming season and working out their requirements in terms of staff. Recent conversations with clients show current tenders fitting the extremes; $200million+ projects at one end and “rats & mice” projects at the other, with little in the middle. Regardless of this the mood is still positive with most clients seeing a positive period of work ahead. Although quiet I am still talking with candidates on a daily basis preparing them for a time when the market lifts. If you are keen to start the process then contact Phil on pponder@catalystrecruitment.co.nz and we’ll arrange a time to speak.

Construction

I have just returned from the UK where I was supporting one of our key clients on a large recruitment drive. Our client interviewed in London and Manchester for 2 days and

Stirling for one day. Although we are still awaiting official feedback we have unofficially heard through HR that the hiring managers were over the moon with the quality for candidates they were able to meet. We will give you an update before we go to press as we are expecting to hear later today!

On a wider note, it is recognised that this is the year when Christchurch finally starts to get rebuilt. The Commercial construction should peak in 2017 and the Government anchor projects should finally start later this year.

The Auckland construction market just continues to get stronger and stronger with so much work around – the issue is resourcing.

Once again – our clients are not just hiring for hiring sake, but if you are well prepared and committed, then Catalyst would be very happy to help.

Consulting

Since Mireille’s departure I have taken the opportunity to meet with most of the major players. It appears that the market has changed significantly over the last few months. The clients are buoyant in terms of where they see the market and there is a definite worry that skills will be harder and harder to find. It appears that the market is moving back to status quo where candidates with strong backgrounds can secure offers direct from overseas. I must admit – I am enjoying working with the Consulting Engineers – especially those with experienced HR professionals running their Resourcing teams.

In the last couple of weeks Catalyst has been reappointed to one preferred supplier list. I am also pleased to announce that our major client in the Consulting sector has narrowed down their recruitment suppliers for New Zealand to 2 – with Catalyst being their lead international resourcing recruiter.

this issueState of the nation P.1

Budget offers extra money for Christchurch rebuild P.2Anchor project delays ‘corroding confidence in the rebuild’ P.3

Christchurch retail precinct update P.4SkyCity Convention Centre design unveiled P.9

Royal Tour: Prince Harry P.11Edward Ward: case study P.12

70MAY 2015

Welcome to the Catalyst state of the nation for May 2015. What a month it’s been! It may not officially be winter here in NZ until 1st June, but the wild that has hit the country over the past week would suggest otherwise. In the past 7 days the South Island has been hit with snow and ice, in Wellington large swells ripped a 600kg shipping buoy free of its mooring and deposited it on the beach, in Tauranga wind ripped part of the roof off the speedway stadium and in Auckland torrential rain and high winds have kept everyone hunkered down. Of course, such is New Zealand, that as I write this the sun is shining!

Get in touchThere are many ways to keep in touch with us at Catalyst. Obviously this monthly newsletter is one but we are very active on Linked In and would encourage those not already there to join our groups and link to our company page in order to receive the latest news. If that’s not enough we also have our blog pages, job board and Facebook pages to keep you in the loop. Having your details is only the first step in making the move to New Zealand a reality so get in touch now to discuss your plans and aspirations and we’ll do all we can to help.

Follow us via the links below;linkedin.com/company/catalyst-recruitmentcatalystrecruit.wordpress.com/catalystjobs.co.nz/christchurchrebuild.co.nz/facebook.com/CatalystRecNZ

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An additional $108 million of Government money is being poured into Christchurch’s rebuild to ensure anchor projects stay on track.

Budget offers extra money for Christchurch rebuild

All the money has been earmarked for operational funding over the next four years and no additional money has be made available for capital projects, despite the Christchurch City Council publicly stating it needs another $400 million to fix the city’s broken pipes and roads.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee said the new operating funding would support land clearances to make way for anchor projects, preparation of land before those constructions began and would ensure the planned recovery work was implemented over the next four years.

“This Budget enables recovery to progress with certainty,” Brownlee said.

The $108m takes the Government’s contribution to Christchurch’s earthquake recovery to $16.5 billion.

The new money included $8m of funding to accelerate the planning process for the convention centre.

The Government announced earlier this month the convention centre was one of two key anchor projects that would be delayed. The Metro sports facility was now scheduled to be completed in 2020 and the convention centre in late 2018.

Labour’s Canterbury Earthquake Recovery spokeswoman Ruth Dyson said $108 million was a lot of money when none of it was going to be used on capital, but if it meant the rebuild got back on track and started to move faster, then that was a good thing.

“It doesn’t look like we’re getting anything, bigger, better or new. It does look like money that probably should have been budgeted for previously and was not.”

She believed the Budget would have been the perfect opportunity for the Government to reassess its Cost Sharing Agreement with the council. Under that agreement the Crown and the council agreed to split the cost of fixing the city’s damaged horizontal infrastructure 60/40, but the Crown capped its contribution at $1.8b. The council has since said another $400m would be needed.

Green Party Christchurch Earthquake Recovery spokeswoman Eugenie Sage said there was a major flaw in the Budget because it did not include any additional money to fix Christchurch’s horizontal infrastructure. She wanted the Government to meet that infrastructure shortfall, to renegotiate the cost sharing agreement and scale back the anchor projects.

Sage said it appeared the Government was releasing more money to speed up the design and planning for things like the Convention Centre, when it still had not publicly released a business case to support the expenditure.

Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend said the $108 million of new money for the rebuild of Christchurch was welcome.

“It is once again a reinforcement of the Government’s continuing involvement and its role in the rebuild of Christchurch and in particular the central city.”

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel and the council’s finance spokesman Raf Manji did not want to comment on the announcement until they had seen the details of the additional spending.

Source: stuff.co.nz

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On Friday, the Government said completion of the metro sports facility would be delayed to early 2020 and the convention centre to late 2018.

Anchor project delays ‘corroding confidence in the rebuild’

City Owners Rebuild Entity (Core) spokesman Ernest Duval said delays on key anchor projects were “corroding confidence in the rebuild”.

Hotel developers and investors trying to plan around a promised convention centre were now “on hold and may well decide to look elsewhere”, he said.

“The delays are enormously disappointing and frustrating for a number of investors.”

The convention centre had an “enormous impact” on Cathedral Square, the performing arts precinct and the Avon River Precinct, all of which were already behind the rest of the city, he said.

The Government needed to provide solid reasons for the delays to reassure the business community, he said.

Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove agreed.

He was concerned the convention centre and the metro sports facility had been delayed “without explanation”.

“I accept we need to get it right, but we’re five years out from the initial earthquake and it has now been delayed a number of years.

“There may well be a good reason for the delays and the Government has a duty of care to explain why.

“People are not prepared to invest especially when delays are put forward without explanation.”

Business required certainty and decisions needed to be made, Cosgrove said.

“If you’re a business person, you say ‘this is nuts, I’m going to Sydney’ - this is not helping.”

On Monday, Earthquake recovery minister Gerry Brownlee declined to be interviewed about the delays.

On Friday, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) acting chief executive John Ombler said the authority was working on the convention centre design.

“It’s our task to build a business case and to go back to cabinet for money and that step has not been started,” he said.

“The Crown is committed to realising the intentions of the blueprint but we, like any business, have the obligation to go back to our funders and make sure that our funders are happy with our proposal and that step still has to occur with the convention centre.

“We’re going to do it right, not rushed.”

Ground clearance had been done on the metro sports site, which was currently used as a carpark for hospital staff.

“We expect this year to have to close the carpark off.”

Cera had reached an agreement with the Christchurch City Council on the scope for the metro sports facility and had to go back to Brownlee with a business case proposal.

“There are some challenges on that site. There’s a bit of a clean-up still to be done,” Ombler said.

He said parts of the facility could open ahead of the completion date.

On Monday, Cera did not answer requests for further explanation on the delays.

A spokesman said: “With big complex projects like these, it’s normal process for options to be considered, funding discussions to be had, business cases worked up, and proposals put to Cabinet, and this all takes time.”

Source: The Press

Cathedral Square from Novotel Hotel looking west over the empty Convention Centre site.Photo: John Kirk Anderson

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It might have seemed it was never going to happen but the central city retail precinct is signed, sealed and – in 18 months – going to be delivered.

Christchurch retail precinct update

Even his mates don’t get it, says Tim Glasson, relaxing back into the armchair in his tiny, temporary Lincoln Rd office.

Another wave of doubt is washing over when it comes to the rebuild of the central city. People are looking at the current state of the Christchurch CBD and thinking perhaps it will never properly recover.

So when Glasson’s friends bring up the matter, the rich lister – said to be worth a cool $75 million with his many property investments and 20 per cent stake in the Hallenstein Glasson clothing chain – changes the subject.

“I just don’t talk about it. It’s easier. What’s the point? It gets too frustrating.”

Glasson has emerged as one of the small group of local businessmen of a certain age who are busy refashioning the retail core of Christchurch. The other three are Philip Carter, Nick Hunt and Antony Gough.

Above: An atrium in Tim Glasson’s ANZ Centre in central Christchurch. bordered by Colombo St, Hereford St, and High St.

Between them, they are pumping nearly half a billion dollars into a shopping and banking area centred around Ballantynes department store. It is going to be unrecognisably splendid, they say. And the projects are completely nailed down.

Sure, Glasson agrees, there was massive uncertainty until around a year ago. Everything was still sliding about. But now the tenants are lined up, the construction contracts signed.

Where the public sees empty spaces, he already knows the buildings which will fill those spots. It is no longer a question of if, or even when.

Glasson says his own $80m four storey ANZ Centre development – the old Triangle Centre northeast of Ballantynes – is so hedged around with penalty clauses that its shops and offices have to be open for business by Christmas 2016. By early 2017, people are going to see the retail precinct done.

Well maybe not quite. There is a block of empty land by the Bridge of Remembrance that the Crown has ended up owning. There is a carpark the council is faffing about with rather than rebuilding.

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Christchurch Hospital

Christchurch retail precinct updatearticle continued from page 4

But if the retailers can get a sensible outcome on these last elements of the precinct, they reckon they will have created a central city “mall” to beat anything Riccarton or Northlands has to offer.

It will have the parking and public transport access. It will offer a host of name brand stores like Top Shop and Zara that you won’t find in the suburbs.

And unlike Auckland’s Queen Street or Wellington’s Lambton Quay – strung out along some busy roads – it will be a compact nest of laneways and cafes. A modern metropolitan experience.

In his mind’s eye, it is as good as done, says Glasson. He knows because he, like the other developers, has been signing the cheques.

So why argue with his friends? Give them a year and they will be able to see it too.

It is the first time Glasson, now approaching 70, has sat down to talk about his own part in the rebuild. Like most Christchurch rich listers, Glasson has long been a famously private person.

He is known as a tough and careful operator who took over his father’s clothing warehouse in Lichfield St in the 1960s and though a merger with Hallensteins in 1985, built up a chain of men’s and women’s wear stores across New Zealand and Australia.

While officially now just a shareholder in the listed company, business commentators feel Glasson still pulls the strings. The managing director’s job at Hallenstein Glasson has been something of a revolving door – four different faces in the last eight years or so.

In partnership with the firm’s chair Warren Bell, Glasson also controls a large property investment portfolio that includes the $180m Deloitte Centre in Auckland’s Queen St and a private cemetery in Silverdale, north of Auckland.

Ah, Glasson protests, he is not here to talk about his other business interests. But yes, he admits, he has tried to retire a few times without success. And now here he is, because of the earthquakes, with another big job on his hands.

Glasson owned three small buildings in the prequake central city – the Hallensteins and Glassons shops off Cashel St, plus the historic Stewart Dawson building further down High St. About $25m worth.

His initial expectation was that he would collect the insurance and rebuild. “I was going to wait until the city got rationalised and decide what was the most appropriate thing to do.”

Glasson says at first it looked as if action would be fast. In

2011, with the ground still shaking, Christchurch City Council began drafting its central city masterplan.

But the Government decided the result was not ambitious enough and so created the Christchurch Central Development Unit (CCDU), which in July 2012 came out with the precinct-orientated Blueprint.

For the retail zone, the Blueprint called for a compact few blocks of shops with office space above. Cashel St rather than Colombo St would become the main shopping axis.

And to enforce an integrated approach, the CCDU said developers had to submit their proposals as an Outline Development Plan (ODP) which covered at least 7500 square metres.

It was a risky move. Effectively it divided the prime commercial space in the city, several hundred mostly individually-owned properties, into just six half-block chunks. This meant either building owners were going to have to get together with their neighbours to agree a joint development scheme, or else they would have to sell, hand the properties over to someone else with the cash and commitment to rebuild a corner of the retail precinct as a single project.

The CCDU suggested it had the emergency powers to force matters with compulsory purchases if needed. It also said international money was sure to be lining up to take advantage of the opportunity the retail precinct presented. But both these things proved optimistic.

Glasson scoffs at the idea that out-of-town investors were ever going to rebuild Christchurch’s commercial heart.He says the earthquakes hit as the world was coming out of the global financial crisis. And if they wanted, foreign property firms could head to Shanghai for a 11 per cent return.

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Christchurch retail precinct updatearticle continued from page 5

Christchurch was a speck on the map with soaring construction costs and an unclear future – the exact opposite of the kind of low risk/high margin opportunities that corporate investors have in mind.

This is why the retail precinct has ended up a project being carried forward by a particular generation – those with the experience and personal wealth to underwrite $100m scale deals. Plus the willingness to accept their ventures can only pay off over the very long term.

Glasson bursts into laughter when asked if he has attempted to calculate his own expected return. “No, I haven’t bothered trying to work that out. You could play with the figures forever. It’s got to be a gut feel as much as anything.”

In fact at the start Glasson found himself sitting it out on the sidelines. He was watching others trying to accumulate the blocks of land needed for an ODP.

Philip Carter had decided to go for the properties around The Crossing, the building he owned east of Ballantynes. The Glassons shop was part of that block so Glasson agreed to sell it to help make Carter’s project work.

Then Wellington-based investor Michael Ogilvie-Lee proposed rebuilding the Triangle Centre as a $100m glass wrapped building. And he needed Glasson’s Hallensteins shop to complete that ODP footprint.

Again, Glasson says he was happy to step back, sell out, wait until eventually something else came along that was worth him re-investing in.

Yet Ogilvie-Lee changed his mind. He was having issues with his Wellington property investments. After a phone call, the transaction was reversed. Glasson ended up buying back his own property, along with the entire Triangle Centre project.

It sounds a bit casual. But Glasson says it boils down to the usual business equation of local knowledge, personal relationships and gut instinct – even if it was a deal with a few more noughts than usual. “I’ve known Michael a long time. We’ve had to work together because our buildings are right

beside each other. We shared a common access way. He let me use his car park. He’s an ex-retailer, so we talked about that sometimes.”

Because Glasson was involved in the Re:Start Mall project, he was also hearing the inside gossip of how Carter, Hunt and Gough were developing a logic for the retail precinct. It was becoming clearer how the Triangle Centre could fit into that whole.

Glasson says Ogilvie-Lee had half-signed ANZ as the building’s anchor tenant. It was happy to stay on and take the naming rights. Then he succeeded in signing engineering consultancy Beca to another one and a half floors for its 300 staff.

With Hallenstein Glasson’s board agreeing to take much of the ground floor with a couple of flagships stores, the development was finalised late last year. The Triangle Centre became the ANZ Centre.

The construction contract could be let. Right now, as he says, there is only a hole in the ground. They are digging the foundations and making room for the 96 space basement car park. But any uncertainty is history.

“We’re aiming to pass it over for fit-out in October 2016, so the shops will be open by November next year. And then I expect the offices will fill up over the Christmas holidays.”

Across town on the fifth floor of a new office block in Victoria St, Philip Carter is wrestling with technology. He has just had a wireless display installed in the boardroom and a virtual fly-through of his $140m The Crossing project should play when he taps the icon on his iPad. However the damn thing keeps logging off.

Like Glasson, Carter is worried that once again a negative perception is developing around the central city’s rebuild. There is talk of investors bailing, anchor projects slipping, areas like Cathedral Square being left an eyesore.

Carter agrees there are problems. However so far as the commercial core is concerned – the shops, offices and civic

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Christchurch retail precinct updatearticle continued from page 6

facilities like the bus station and justice precinct clustered around Cashel Mall – the public should be reassured that the big money is locked in.

It took a while, but the button marked go has been pushed.

“If you stand in Cashel Mall now, it’s a bit of a mini-Dubai. There are cranes around the Bus Exchange, cranes where the Grand Chancellor was, cranes where Tim Glasson is, cranes around The Crossing, cranes around Nick Hunt’s buildings. It’s all starting to come out of the ground.”

After another few stabs at the iPad, Carter gets his virtual tour of the Crossing project running. Shiny images of what Christchurch people will be able to walk around by Christmas 2016 begin to play.

Carter explains the thinking behind its design. He says he sent one of his sons, Andrew, overseas to gather the inspiration. There were conversations with other retailers and the CCDU.

Out of that has emerged a vision of the central city rebuilt as if it were an integrated mall – but with more interesting shops and also open plan. A properly urban shopping centre and not a bland air-conditioned enclosure.

Carter says The Crossing will have two levels holding about 60 shops and cafes, with extra floors of offices at the corners. It will be broken up by an atrium and laneways so it feels always like a mix or being inside and outside.

And careful attention has been paid to how his development connects with everything around it. One entrance aligns with the Bus Exchange across Lichfield St, another laneway feeds towards Glasson’s ANZ centre, while the air bridge across to Ballantynes remains.

With all the other developers doing the same, Carter says there will be four blocks of new shops that flow down to Gough’s The Terrace on the banks of the Avon. The central city will have a completely new ambience.

But it relies on getting the car parking right. Carter says the reality is the rebuilt central city can only compete if it also has the accessibility of a suburban mall. Like it or not, success will be spelt out by the very numbers the centre brings in.

So Carter admits that it wasn’t until May 2014, when the council finally agreed to sell him the quake-damaged Crossing public car park, allowing him to increase the number of car parking spaces from 200 to 630, that his plans actually clicked into place.

“That was the circuit-breaker.” That is when he could complete the land purchases – buying 8000 sq m on top of the 2000 sq m he already owned – and start planning the detailed design.

Now it is happening. It looks a bombsite at the moment, but Carter says The Crossing will also open by Christmas 2016. The central city will have a retail precinct that is miles ahead of anywhere else in terms of its attractiveness and ease of use.

Carter does mourn a missed opportunity or two. He says an obvious omission from the “mall in the city” story is a cinema multiplex.

Given central city building costs, it couldn’t pay for itself as a development. Well, possibly it might have worked as extra storeys on top of the new Bus Exchange, he says, but that is history now.

More seriously, there is the question of what is going to happen to what has become known as the south west retail block down by the Bridge of Remembrance – the large site currently occupied by Re:Start Mall.

Originally that was going to be the prime shopping development under a $350m ODP put forward by Australasian property giant, the Goodman Group, with Westpac Bank as the anchor tenant.

This was the outside money that the CCDU promised. But the Goodman proposal got bogged down because local landowners refused to be bought out and the CCDU proved shy about using its compulsory purchase powers to force through any sales.

However it then ended up with much of the land being in Crown ownership anyway after a succession of other deals fell through and eventually all those involved walked away.

The failure of the south west block was why the retail precinct felt stalled – along with the fact that the office blocks were springing up all along Victoria St and Cambridge Tce, the wrong side of where the Blueprint wanted them to be.

Carter now looks at this large empty site and sees it as the other natural half to his mall concept. Especially if the council could be persuaded to integrate its remaining damaged car park, the Lichfield St multi-storey beside Ballantynes, into a coherent development.

“The CBD has to have the scale to fight the suburban malls. They have been the problem for many years. And with that as the other half of a new mall in the city, the CBD’s case would be so compelling.”

Carter’s hope is that as The Crossing, the ANZ Centre, and Hunt’s and Gough’s developments take shape, as tenants and funders recognise the possibility that has been created, this next obvious step is sure to follow.

Development is a confidence game. The central city’s problem is that it is caught between the moment in mid-2014 when the spending plans of the likes of Carter and Glasson

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Christchurch retail precinct updatearticle continued from page 7

finally gelled and Christmas 2016 when Cashel St will re-open with a bang.

The city feels on hold. And also its successes are mixed. Some parts of the CCDU’s blueprint, like the innovation precinct, are looking to have developed a head of steam now.

The East Frame is also shortly likely to be declared a success with the official announcement that Fletcher Living is to be the builder of some 1200 apartments along Manchester St – although at an expected build rate of 150 a year, that may prove a slow burning project.

But then there are the other Blueprint elements – around Cathedral Square in particular, and also the South Frame with its hope of turning car yards into campus style office development – where the vision is languishing.

Yet many are echoing Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend in saying you can’t spend $10b on commercial buildings and $7b on civic buildings in a city the size of Christchurch without it being transformational in the end.

Jonathan Lyttle, managing director for commercial real estate specialist Savills, says in retrospect the Blueprint’s ODP process that tilted the table to half block-size developments in the retail precinct was a real risk.

It probably created a year’s delay because of the extra time it took to accumulate the land, corral sufficient tenants, figure out the designs. However now it is safe to talk about what it is going to look like.

“We bring people down from Auckland and after they get off the plane, they just see the devastation. But once you get them on the ground, walk what is literally just two blocks and tell them there’s going to be 10,000 people here in three years’ time, they’re simply blown away,” says Lyttle.

The new city centre is going to have more people working within 300m of The Crossing or the ANZ Centre than there were within the whole four avenues pre-earthquake. It will be humming, says Lyttle.

So while chunks of the blueprint vision may take a few further years to fall into place, with the retail precinct, the basic plan is finalised, the tenants on board, the foundations already being dug.

It is as good as built. There is now just the 18 month gap until it actually is.

Source: John McCrone, The Press

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It will be smaller, more expensive and have a reduced capacity - but those behind the International Convention Centre say it will return much the same economic benefits and provide even more jobs.

SkyCity Convention Centre design unveiled: smaller but it will still cost at least $430m

They also confirmed no new economic modelling has been done since a 2011 report which estimated a $90 million return to New Zealand.

The revamped design means the centre will be capable of holding fewer people than had first been planned.

Initial projections of benefits from the ICC were 800 jobs on completion, 1000 jobs during construction and $90 million of economic benefits to New Zealand.

A new design was released today by Economic Development minister Steven Joyce and SkyCity chief executive Nigel Morrison. Visually, it is one level lower than the previous design but the thrust of the changes is around a reduction in size and capacity.

It’s a different convention centre from the one SkyCity mooted in 2011 when it edged out four competing bids to build the centre, winning on the basis of a promise it would cost taxpayers nothing but a change to the gambling law.

The Government signed a deal in 2013 for a $402 million trade with SkyCity - the value of building the centre against the benefits derived from the gambling law change.

But it then found itself looking for a redesign after Mr Morrison said the centre could cost up to $530 million and might need an injection of public money, prompting the Prime Minister to express concerns over an “eyesore” if extra money wasn’t spent on it.

Mr Joyce said this morning that the original benefits projected by the Government and SkyCity held true because they were based around a projections of incoming business which had not changed.

“We’re completely relaxed the numbers we have got in front of us today are able to accommodate the sizes that we’re

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SkyCity Convention Centre design unveiledarticle continued from page 9

estimated at the time. There is no material difference to the amount of business the centre is able to attract.

“There’s no substantial change to those metrics. From the Crown’s perspective those variations in cost have gone up and gone back but they don’t make a difference because we’re not paying for it. They certainly make a difference to SkyCity.”

In the time since SkyCity was selected, changes have included the value of the convention centre. It has risen from $350 million in July 2011 to the agreed $402m when the agreement was signed in June 2013, to a maximum $530 million earlier this year. It has now been pulled back to a minimum $430 million with a possible top end of $470 million, to be covered by SkyCity.

The size of the centre has also wandered from the 5000 sq m maximum, stated in a memo to then-minister David Carter in April 2011, to the 3500 sq m maximum in the June 2013 Heads of Agreement to the 2850 sq m in the revised design announced today. As well as conventions, the new design could accommodate 4200 people for a single event.

Other changes - which the Government and SkyCity said amounted to a maximum 10 per cent reduction - were a drop from the 10,000 sq m exhibition space heralded by SkyCity in its 2011 proposal Government to 8700 sq m and the eventual 8100 sq m in the latest design.

The new design was captured in an updated Heads of Agreement between SkyCity and the Government, which has seen more authority over construction and design handed to the casino company - subject to a line in the sand drawn by Mr Joyce and officials.

“What we’ve done is said, ‘here is the benchmark now and everything will be measured against the benchmark’. The arrangement is SkyCity can’t depart in any material way from this design today. It shifts the balance slightly.”

This means SkyCity will now have to work to the minimum requirements laid out in the updated deal. It will reduce the company’s ability to renegotiate, as it has since the original agreement was signed.

Mr Morrison said design changes, including a laneway between the convention centre and the new hotel SkyCity is building, would lead to an overall increase in jobs, even if there was a slight change to initial projections.

“If it has changed, it’s 1 per cent. I think you’ll find the number of people employed overall will be increased. The jobs will be greater under this scheme than they were previously.”

On the economic benefits, he said if there was any change it was “nominal” and irrelevant.

He said there was a benefit in reaching the agreement announced. “Part of the savings is being able to get on with it and avoiding future escalation.”

The final hurdle for SkyCity is the resource consent, which was lodged with Auckland Council in December. The panel considering the application has the option of putting it out for public consultation - or approving it with its own authority.

Mr Morrision said it was SkyCity’s preference the resource consent not be publicly notified,. “To do this, we need to get on with this.” He said if the plan was put out for public consultation, it was difficult to know how long it would add to the completion date or how costs would change in that time.

Mr Morrison said it was still not possible to know when the convention centre would be finished because the resource consent had yet to be decided. Beyond that, there would be a three-year build period.

There were no current bookings, but about 60 firm expressions of interest had been made.

He said the shift in location for the hotel to land purchased from TVNZ had added to the value of the deal by $28 million, the current value of the land. The sections, on which SkyCity’s hotel will now be located, were bought from TVNZ for $10 million in 2013 for the building of the convention centre.

Told Mr Joyce had called the new design “handsome”, Mr Morrison said: “Better than eyesore,” a reference to John Key’s comments in February.

Mr Joyce said Mr Key had seen the design and was happy with it.

Source: NZ Herald

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British royal Prince Harry has told media he finds it “quite inhumane” how many New Zealanders do not live in sheltered homes, and appear instead to be forced to live in cramped enclosures on the side of the road.

Royal Tour: Prince Harry says its ‘inhumane’ how many New Zealanders live in cramped pens on side of the road

Harry, who has been touring New Zealand since Saturday, says that “many”, if not a majority of the New Zealanders he has encountered in his travels, did not appear to live in regular houses, but spent their days pressed shoulder-to-shoulder behind chest-high barriers with no room to move or go to the bathroom.

Harry told Radio New Zealand this morning that it was “appalling” that children might have to grow up in these conditions, and had expressed his concerns directly to the Prime Minister and Governor General.

“Well I wouldn’t want anyone to get me wrong. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the time I’ve spent here so far,” he said. “But it does concern me, and I’ve seen it in cities from Wellington to Christchurch, these sort of strange roadside housing facilities, where people appear to be kept, en masse, behind these waist-to-chest-high iron bars.

“In every case, they’ve been very happy to see me. But there’s nothing I can do, really.

“One woman yelled ‘Take me Harry!’ and I just said nothing. I couldn’t get her out of there, so I just waved.”

Harry said he had inquired as to who had erected the

enclosures, and was led to believe the Government had played a role.

But Prime Minister John Key dismissed those claims today, saying that he did not have any recollection of setting up the pens, at least not personally.

“Look, I suppose what the story is here, is that ultimately, people make their own decisions about their living situation, housing, if you like,” Key told One News this evening. “And sometimes those decisions, they might seem strange to us, but I’m not personally aware of any issues, and actually, if you take a look at the footage, they’re all smiling, waving, very happy, actually.”

Key emphasized that the crowded pens Harry had witnessed were “comfortable” and “relatively spacious” when compared with those in other parts of the world. He said the people in them were “well-watered.”

Harry’s tour of the country continues in Whanganui or Wanganui tomorrow, before he moves onto Auckland, where he has specifically asked to be shown the airport’s international departure lounge.

Source: thecivilian.co.nz

One man who showed up to see Prince Harry in Christchurch yesterday said he got an “excellent” view of the back of another man’s head.

The Catalyst Team

Andy Hopkinsahopkins@catalystrecruitment.co.nz

Phil Ponderpponder@catalystrecruitment.co.nz

Address:PO Box 17405Green LaneAuckland 1546

490 Coatsville – Riverhead HighwayAlbanyRD3Auckland 0793

Phone:+64 9 307 6111

Fax:+64 9 307 6110

Website:www.catalystrecruitment.co.nzwww.christchurchrebuild.co.nz

Blog:www.catalystrecruit.wordpress.com

P.7

Edward WardCase study of moving to NZCurrent Employer: Hawkins Construction

Edward contacted Catalyst a few years back when he was first thinking of moving to New Zealand but officially set the wheels in motion in March 2014 when he and his family committed to a move in November/December of the same year. As Edwards’s wife is from New Zealand he was able to secure his residency before arriving.

A combination of timing (Christmas) and the specialist nature of Edwards experience meant that he arrived in New Zealand without a position secured. After the Christmas shut down Catalyst got back in touch with clients and very soon Hawkins Construction had an appropriate vacancy and interviewed Edward for it. The interview went famously and within a week he had received an offer and accepted the position.What inspired you to consider moving with your family to New Zealand?

My wife is from New Zealand, originally from Christchurch but spent her teenage years in Wellington. We brought a house in Wellington in 2011 with the view of eventually moving over from the UK and in 2014 it was just the right time after we had our first child.

Has New Zealand lived up to your expectations?

Having a kiwi wife has meant I have visited New Zealand a number of times before we committed to the move so I had a good idea of what to expect from a family and social side of life.

Although I had worked with a number of New Zealanders in the UK on various projects I didn’t have much of an idea of what to expect work wise. It is certainly a different way of working than the UK although the projects are similar. I think that is due to the huge difference in the population, this puts an even greater importance on relationship building with subcontractors.

How has your life changed since moving to New Zealand?

My life has changed 100% since moving. I miss my friends and family loads but I had to make the move for myself and my family. In the UK I spent my entire career working in Greater London and commuting daily. This meant long train journeys and car trips resulting in spending little time with my wife during the week and sometimes not seeing my son between weekends. In Wellington I finish at a similar time as I would in London but I have no M25 or M1 to worry about allowing me to get home in 15 minutes and have some family time.

What one thing would you have done differently?

I wouldn’t recommend heading over to New Zealand just before Christmas without an existing job offer as I found that a lot of companies seem to put a freeze on recruitment from Christmas to February due to the school summer holidays.

What one thing do you wish you had known about before moving?

Being away from friends is a lot harder than you can imagine.

What advice would you pass to someone commencing the process?

Go for it; if you are thinking about it just go for it. We only get one life and if you don’t try things when they are on your mind you may never get the opportunity again. Get involved with the community, join some sort or team or group, just do something that gets you out and about meeting new people. It’s a great way to meet friends and make new contacts.

Looking back with hindsight, do think you have made the right move for you and your family?

Definitely, I wouldn’t change a thing, your kids grow up quickly make sure you are there every step of the way.

Useful Facts:

1st contact to interview: 288 days

1st interview to offer: 7 days

Offer to arrival: Adready in NZ

Time since arrival: 155 days