Welcome to episode 6 of Staying Local. This week on the show Nathan spoke with Barbara Mead, inhouse lawyer at Marlborough District Council about the RMA, modular building and a lot about viticulture. Barbara has a fascinating story and one of the most varied careers in local government. We hope you enjoy.Don’t forget to subscribe and we are trying something new this week. If anyone has a burning legal question that you want one of our team to answer, record it into the voice memo app on your phone and email it through to [email protected]. We will try and get those questions answered and share it with the audience on the next episode.Until then, enjoy level 1 freedom!

It is amazing to think that we’re already up to episode 5, make sure to subscribe and go back to listen to the previous interviews with some amazing council people.Hopefully you are all enjoying a bit of a return to reality now that we are out of lockdown. I for one thoroughly enjoyed grabbing a sitdown coffee with the family over the weekend. The Rice Speir team is back in the office on Monday 18 May so those of you in Auckland, we are looking forward to seeing you around the traps. For those further afield, we have already got some travel plans in the diary as Courts start to wind up again. Our council clients have been inundated with work since we moved to level 2 so it’s great to see everyone busy, just make sure you continue to look after each other out there.This week on the show Helen Rice had the pleasure of speaking with Dani Gardiner, the departing general counsel at Auckland Council. Dani is about to become a Judge of the High Court and all of us at Rice Speir wish her the best in this exciting new career chapter. Remember, if you want to be added to our newsletter list send us an email – [email protected]. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the show.

It is amazing to think that we’re already up to episode 5, make sure to subscribe and go back to listen to the previous interviews with some amazing council people. Hopefully you are all enjoying a bit of a return to reality now that we are out of lockdown. I for one thoroughly enjoyed grabbing a sitdown coffee with the family over the weekend. The Rice Speir team is back in the office on Monday 18 May so those of you in Auckland, we are looking forward to seeing you around the traps. For those further afield, we have already got some travel plans in the diary as Courts start to wind up again. Our council clients have been inundated with work since we moved to level 2 so it’s great to see everyone busy, just make sure you continue to look after each other out there. This week on the show Helen Rice had the pleasure of speaking with Dani Gardiner, the departing general counsel at Auckland Council. Dani is about to become a Judge of the High Court and all of us at Rice Speir wish her the best in this exciting new career chapter. Remember, if you want to be added to our newsletter list send us an email – [email protected]. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the show.

Welcome to episode 4 of Staying Local. This week on the show Nathan had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Fahrensohn, the Manager of Inspections at Auckland Council, about all things relating to modular buildings. Many of you will know Jeff already, he and his team carried out a staggering 185,000 building inspections last year, on top of 16,000 CCCs, 17,000 BWoFs and 16,000 pool fence inspections.Jeff played a pivotal role in creating Auckland Council’s guidance document on Modern Methods of Construction. It was great to get to know Jeff a little better outside of work too, did you know that he played professional rugby for Germany prior to the 2003 World Cup?We hope you enjoy the episode and be sure to subscribe and like to hear more. Remember, if you want to be added to Rice Speir’s newsletter list, all you have to do is send an email to [email protected].

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 3 of Rice Speir’s Podcast, Staying Local. This week on the show we have something a little different for you. Instead of an interview with an interesting council person, we have an audio recording of a webinar I hosted on Thursday 16 April 2020 on the ‘hot topic’ of Modular Buildings and Modern Methods of Construction. I know this is an area that many of you are interested in because I get calls and emails about it all the time. Towards the end of the webinar some of the attendees shared their own perspectives and I think you will take a lot from it. There is a Powerpoint presentation that formed part of the webinar and if anyone wants a copy of that, please send me an email: [email protected] In the meantime, grab a cup of coffee and I hope you enjoy.

In episode 2 of Staying Local Nathan Speir had the pleasure of speaking with the former building manager at Tauranga City Council, Shay Harrop. Last year Shay picked up his family and moved to South Korea for a change of scene. On top of a lot of travel and juggling home responsibilities, Shay is also running a business that offers a service to New Zealand BCAs. Nathan had a lot of fun chatting with Shay about the building industry and its challenges, his hands on experience with Modern Methods of Construction and a little bit of mountain bike chat thrown in for good measure. We hope you enjoy.

In this first episode of Staying Local Nathan Speir speaks to Tasman District Council’s Building Assurance Manager, Ian McCauley. Ian’s an all-round good guy with strong opinions on a number of subjects from natural hazards to CCC timeframes. On top of all that, he wants to buy a Triumph motorcycle and ride across Australia – there’s only one problem, he hasn’t told his wife yet. We hope you enjoy and don’t forget to like and share.