Kia ora, Nulca NZ whānau! Sincere apologies for the slow release of these Newsletters. It was a hectic start to the year, but there has been amazing work happening behind the scenes. The board started the year off with the annual strategic planning session. This is an in-person session focused on developing a strategy for the year, and setting measurable objectives to achieve over the 12 months. This year’s strategic statement is: “In 2024 we will continue growing the industry through training, events, and conferences and will assist in securing funding for PAS 128 standard adoption in NZ” We will focus our efforts on 3 objectives for 2024 1) Standard funding for PAS 128 adoption 2) Education and Awareness 3) Resilience and growth of Nulca The most pressing area that requires our focus is helping in whatever way we can to keep the progress moving forward for Standards NZ to adopt an international utility locating standard. There have been some slight setbacks in this space with regards to funding the adoption of a standard. Our initial estimate from Standards NZ of the costs for adopting a standard was approximately $30-$40k, but since this, they have revised the cost estimate to $77k which is considerably more. Another setback is Worksafe, who had allocated funding to pay for 50% of the costs for the standard adoption, has now retracted this funding as far as we are aware. We are working with our connections at Worksafe to try and rectify this but it is a disappointing setback. The board has decided to create a working group solely focused on executing a plan to find funding for the standard adoption. The plan is to reach out to the wider industry to look for sources of funding as well as some grants which may offer funding. If anyone would like to join this working group, please let us know we would appreciate any help in this space. |
| A NOTE FROM YOUR PRESIDENT Autumn 2024 What is this year up to? We are well and truly immersed in what appears to be one of the trickiest years to navigate in quite some time. After talking to a number of locating businesses in the last couple of months there seems to be a feeling among most that the work load is light and the market has become extremely competitive. This feels like it’s going to be a suck-it-and-see approach and with the government playing its cards close to its chest and winter works set to get under way it could be a hard few months. It will be a good time to freshen up on some training and give all your gear a once over so when it takes off you will be ready for it. Since the last newsletter, the board has been busy completing another strategic planning season, we have welcomed on board Bill Gyles and we are in talks directly with Standards NZ to try and find funding for the Locator standard. With Worksafe pulling their funding we are having to source the entire cost of the standard which is going to take some doing especially in the current climate. This is something that both Nulca and the wider industry have been requesting for quite some time so we will not be giving up on the dream. The next board meeting will be in person for a half-day sprint session to discuss the key items from the strategic planning day. These sessions are always a lot of fun and is a really good way for the board members to hold each other to account and smash out some actions. It also makes a welcome change from the online meetings that have become the norm since a couple of years ago. I would like to thank each board member company for letting them be available for these sessions as without the support we could not run these sessions. Cheers Brent |
| One exciting development in the New Zealand locating industry is the adoption of Multichannel GPRs. A couple of our member companies have invested in this technology and it is great to see how this is assisting projects with better understanding the undergroud. Multichannel ground-penetrating radar (GPR) operates by utilizing multiple receiving antennas that are spaced apart along a line. This configuration allows for the simultaneous collection of GPR data from different depths and angles within the subsurface. By processing signals received from these antennas, multichannel GPR can produce more detailed and accurate images of subsurface features compared to single-channel GPR systems. The key benefit of multichannel GPR lies in its ability to enhance resolution and provide better discrimination of subsurface targets. This technology can offer improved depth penetration, enhanced target detection capabilities, and superior imaging quality, making it particularly advantageous for applications such as archaeology, geology, civil engineering, and utility mapping. |
 The NULCA NZ AGM will take place on the 7th of August. This will be held in person and online as done in previous years. |
| Membership drive Price of individual membership has been reduced by 55% to $99 to encourage more individual members and to promote Nulca NZ exposure. This will be re-evaluated in the next 12 months. Employers are encouraged to include this in employment contracts. Organization membership will still be the backbone of Nulca NZ with beforeUdig discounts associated with this membership option and further industry partners will be approached to increase. |
| Do you have something you’d like us to share in the ‘A Locators View’ space? Your images must: – Be accompanied by a small blurb about why you think it’s important we share it i.e. is it a common discussion point among your peers? – Not ‘brand-spank’ (i.e. try avoid brand names, this is not a marketing tool for your brand/product) Images chosen for showcasing are at the discretion of Nulca NZ. Email your images and blurb to secretary@nulca.nz or reply direct to this newsletter! |
Stay safe everyone – Jordan |