The LAA newswire: Around the motu and the world
If you have ‘news briefs’ you can point us to - consisting primarily of a photo/s with brief captions - please send them to laaotearoa@nzila.co.nz
Feedback sought: Te Pūmanawa o Onehunga
Between 4 August and 1 September the Auckland Urban Development Office (AUDO) is seeking feedback on planned work in Onehunga through Have Your Say.
For more background see Te Pūmanawa o Onehunga and Waiapu Precinct
Resilio has been working across Onehunga with AUDO, in partnership with mana whenua and local stakeholders, across multiple scales to shape a range of projects from intimate laneways and streets to large scale urban and civic spaces, all the way to broad landscape strategies for implementing blue-green networks that incorporate urban ngahere and stormwater management across the wider urban Onehunga area. See the renders by Drawn studio on the Resilio Instagram feed here.
Public voting has opened for the People's Choice Award across the finalists for the inaugural IFLA Global Landscape Architecture (GLA) Awards and will remain open until 31 August, 23:59 GMT.
Each voter receives 10 votes per week. First of all you will be prompted to register on an IFLA awards platform here before you can start looking at the 92 finalist projects to base your votes on.
You can cast only one vote per project (entry), and only one vote per category from amongst the 18 award categories you’re most interested in. You can change or change or revoke a vote at any time during a voting period or session.
The People's Choice Award winners — one Professional project and one Student project — will be announced alongside the jury-selected winners at the IFLA Global Landscape Architecture Awards Gala Dinner being held during the IFLA World Congress in Hong Kong from 28-30 October.
Honour for Ines
Forest & Bird has awarded Ines Stäger, of Geraldine, a Distinguished Life Membership – the highest honour they bestow on their members. Ines and her partner Peter arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand from Switzerland in 1981 and moved to Geraldine the following year, where Ines worked as a landscape architect for the New Zealand Forest Service before joining Di Lucas, founding director of Lucas Associates. When remnant populations of pekapeka-tou-roa long-tailed bats were found in South Canterbury in the 1990s, Ines worked to protect their habitat. Today, Geraldine is one of the few towns in New Zealand where residents and visitors can see native bats flying in the wild – emerging at dusk from giant mataī and tōtara in the Talbot Forest. Read more at these links from Forest & Bird:
- Powerhouse conservationist Ines Stäger
Photo credit: Caroline Wood
Mourning the passing of To’osavili Nigel Bickle
The sudden passing of To’osavili Nigel Bickle, Hastings District Council chief executive, on Saturday 1 August 2026 is being mourned around the motu.
Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum said the council’s thoughts and aroha are first and foremost with Nigel’s wife, children, grandchildren, wider whānau, friends and colleagues.
Mayor Schollum: “Nigel was a charismatic and visionary leader with enormous energy and an even bigger heart. “He was incredibly generous with his time, his support and his belief in people. He cared deeply about our staff, our community and Heretaunga Hastings, and that was clear in everything he did”.
Participants in the NZILA Firth Wānanga in Heretaunga Hastings in May 2025 will all have strong memories of Nigel’s contribution to the event, as a gracious host and as a compelling speaker in an an opening session that dove deep into the challenges posed in the Hawke’s Bay during and since Cyclone Gabrielle. Vale Nigel Bickle.
Tributes to date include:
Tribute to To'osavili Nigel Bickle - link
A chief executive for the people, by the people, for the people - link
Taituarā remembers To’osavili Nigel Bickle - link
Passing of To’osavili Nigel Bickle a huge loss - link
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Editor’s note: In the week prior to Nigel Bickle’s death a former long-time mayor of Taupō, David Trewavas, died age 63. He was a key member of the Tūrangi co-governance committee, signatory to the mana whakahono agreement, and strong supporter of iwi partnerships.