A visitor walks past a placard of 'World of Warcraft' at their exhibition stand at the Gamescom 2010 fair in Cologne August 18, 2010. The Gamescom convention, Europe's largest video games trade fair, runs from August 18 to August 22.
In PHOTO: A visitor walks past a placard of 'World of Warcraft' at their exhibition stand at the Gamescom 2010 fair in Cologne August 18, 2010. The Gamescom convention, Europe's largest video games trade fair, runs from August 18 to August 22. Reuters/Ina Fassbender

New Zealand’s bustling city Christchurch will be hosting a big expo cum conference on building trade for two days starting from 22 May. The annual conference of Certified Builders’ is being held in the city for the first time since the Canterbury earthquakes. According to organisers, Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith will inaugurate the conference on Friday and Labour Party Leader Andrew Little will deliver the valedictory address on 23 May.

“The programme spans apprentices, leadership, business development, health and safety, and educational workshops and illustrate the scope of Certified Builders’ activities as one the two main building trade associations in New Zealand,” said Grant Florence, CEO, Certified Builders. He said the huge response from attendees and exhibitors is a proof that there are unprecedented demands on the building industry.

Main Speakers

The conference will be paying greater focus on health and safety in the backdrop of legislative changes coming up by the end of 2015. Regarding speakers, Florence said, “one of the keynote speakers, Rhett Brown, suffered a life-changing fall whilst working on site and will be speaking about his experience first-hand. His story is a good reminder for people in the industry who deal with hazardous situations every day, and as we’re starting to prepare our members for the changes ahead to ensure they’re safe and that they understand their obligations regarding safety in the workplace.”

Another speaker will be Davey Hughes, known as the “Swazi Man” with his own success story of a booming business that he built from scratch. Florence is certain that given his conservation background and experience in the Arctic Circle, Alaska and Tanzania, “Davey will have a few interesting stories to share. His insights into leadership and business growth and development will be of particular interest given our members are predominantly smaller to medium sized building firms that focus on residential and light commercial construction.”

Highlights

The conference will also have a major highlight on New Zealand’s construction project at Scott Base, Antarctica, where two talented ‘Apprent-ICEs’ had been working on a major reconfiguration of the Hillary Field Centre. It is supoorted by Antarctica New Zealand and Certified Builders, in association with the Industry Training Association Building and the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation. Certified Builders’ is unique as the only building trade association that requires trade-qualification to qualify for its membership.

(For feedback/comments, contact the writer at k.kumar@ibtimes.com.au)

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