LAA newswire: Around the motu
Sharing the aroha! Welcome to another LAA circuit around the motu, featuring a range of newsbriefs, event updates and bright spots.
Biodiversity: Forest & Bird’s 2026 Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau - Bird of the Year voting
In the news: Waiwera Thermal Springs
Events watch: Ngā Aho and Objectspace in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Landscape studio updates: Richard Neville and Natasha Iyer
Ōtautahi Christchurch now has a Food Map
Artful compliments: A Design shout out to the Pae of Paererewā
Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau: Let the voting begin!
Voting is now open for Forest & Bird’s 2026 Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau - Bird of the Year and will remain open until 5pm on Sunday 20 September.
As already declared here on LAA, we’d love to see the splendid land bird, the mighty Takahē, take out the honours and are putting our support behind the Takahē for Bird of the Year push on Instagram and Tara Black’s inspirational unofficial campaign on Substack.
Voters will be pleased to know that you can select up to five different birds and can also add, remove, or swap birds until you're happy with your final selection. This year there are more ways to filter your choice: by 2026 Bird Party; Conservation status; Underbird status; and Past winners (or hide previous champions from the results).
If any added inspiration for the motivation to vote were needed we suggest you read Dr Antony Shadbolt’s new essay in the Christchurch Art Gallery’s B.225 bulletin If you build it, they will come about the return of native birds to Ōtautahi Christchurch.
Antony is an ecologist who leads the Christchurch City Council’s Parks Biodiversity team, a landscape architect and director of Landscape Ecology NZ Ltd. He is an active trustee of Trees for Canterbury and the Willowbank Foundation and an advisor to the Styx Living Laboratory Trust. His essay is a companion piece for the major exhibition Bird Land: Te Kāhui Manu (on now until 8 February 2027).
VIDEO above: Performing as FĒI LÍN Yazmin Todd has written this song celebrating Aotearoa's incredible native birds.
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See also:
Project Milestones: Green light for Waiwera Springs
A $58 million revival of Waiwera Thermal Springs has received Resource Consent from Auckland Council. With developed designs completed by Studio Pacific Architecture, work on the site is planned to begin in early 2027, with an opening anticipated by mid-2028.
Left: Weekly News Annual 1964; right: an illustrative fast forward to 2028.
Craig Mitchell, Joint Managing Director of Waiwera Thermal Springs Property Ltd: “Our focus now turns to securing the final portion of private investment required, along with completing the detailed design. From there we’ll commence construction, keeping the community closely informed throughout the process. This is a carefully considered restoration of a place that matters to Aucklanders and of the relationship between people and the water that has drawn them here for generations.”
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See also:
Coverage of the milestone on TVNZ Breakfast
Heading into 2026 with eyes wide open - LAA, December 2025
Events watch | Ngā Aho: Kora Session
Ngā Aho and Objectspace in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland are proud to host a Kora Session on Wednesday 30 September - the second session of 2026.
A dynamic line up of seven speakers from the Ngā Aho whānau will present insights into their creative practice through a PechaKucha format of 20 slides, 20 seconds each.
The speakers for this event - register here - are:
Rameka Alexander-Tu'inukuafe – Architect, ŌRUA
Bella Grimsdale – Kaihoahoa Taiao Landscape Architect, LandLab
Elisapeta Heta – Principal – Kaihautū Whaihanga Māori Design Leader, Jasmax
Leon Kipa – Designer and Owner, Toikipa
Kuramahaurangi Kotlowski – Graduate Landscape Architect
Samantha McGavock – Kaihautū Director and Kaiārahi Kaupapa Whakaora Regenerative Project Leader, Done
George Woolford – Design Practice Manager, Beca
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See also the NZILA Events calendar.
Landscape studio updates: neville design Studio
Richard Neville and Natasha Iyer joining forces. Photo credit: Scott Sinton
Seven years since Richard Neville stepped into setting up his own small practice, Neville Design Studio, he is continuing to “walk slowly in the right direction” and has recently doubled the size of the team!
Naturally a first step to celebrate this was the compulsory ‘here we are’ photograph seen above, taken by Richard’s friend, specialist photographer Scott Sinton. On the day Scott had just returned from a shoot in the Arctic, and even on a cold day in Auckland turned up attired in shorts and jandals. (Shot Scott!)
With the addition of Natasha Iyer, as a new Principal, the pair will be pursuing their shared passions and philosophies by working on projects they care about across private, public and community realms. Not that tui or kererū divide the ngahere into private and public, adds Richard. “They didn’t get that memo”.
LAA loves that in a recent Instagram post Richard referenced a David Bowie quote as a way of setting the scene for a new/ next phase of the practice.
David Bowie: “If you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.”
Ōtautahi Christchurch now has a Different Kind of Food Map
From Christchurch City Council: Finding and supporting local food gardens, green grocers, butchers, small local businesses and cooking classes is now easier thanks to a new Local Food System Map created in collaboration with Envirohub. The map breaks down locations into four categories: production and growing, community access and distribution, education and advocacy and business and associations.
Council Policy and Project Advisor Sara Nourozi has also encouraged people to check out SmartView's fruit and nut tree map, which shows where people can forage for food.
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Sourced from CCC Newsline.
A Design shout out to the Pae of Paererewā
Paererewā was established in 2025 as a Charitable Trust to catalyse and deliver 1,000 meaningful places for reflection across Aotearoa New Zealand. In a sentence their stated mission is:
We create places to sit, designed to last 1,000 years. Each work is designed as a place to pause, reflect, and connect people more deeply to the whenua and to one another. We call each one a Pae.
To date, growth in the Pae network has seen two completed Pae, with another five under development and 31 suggestions.
Dr Ryan Reynolds, a co-founder of Gap Filler after the 2010–11 Canterbury earthquakes, is Paererewā’s head of operations and strategy. The Curatorial Board consists of Heather Harris, Kim Paton, Kīngi Makoare (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei), Helen Klisser During and Kelvin Soh.
You can contact the Trust via hello@paererewa.org.nz They’re on Instagram and LinkedIn.
If you have a brief editorial contribution or a ‘news tip’ similar to those above to share, please email Stephen at laaotearoa@nzila.co.nz