From helicopter rescues, to regional economy ranking, to river mouth monitoring, to hottest year, to pre-fab classrooms, to youth robotics champs, here are some announcements of note you might have missed.
Rescue helicopter missions top 350
The Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter Service has clocked up over 350 lifesaving missions so far this year, and with the holiday season approaching that number is set to rise further.
January and February are historically busy months for the region’s crew, with more accident related callouts over a two month period than any other time of the year. According to crew data, 20 patients were assisted across 19 missions during January and February this year.
A total of 295 patients have been airlifted with the majority of missions being inter-hospital transfers totalling 153 as at November 30. Accident related rescues remain comparatively high for the region, totalling 90 missions followed by 72 medical missions and 36 search and rescue operations.
To meet its annual operating costs HBRHT needs to raise around $1.4 million each year.
For more info and to donate: https://www.hbrescuehelicopter.org.nz
HB economy ranks #6
Hawke’s Bay is holding steady at #6 in ASB’s quarterly rankings through September 2024, with strong showings in car and home sales.
Here’s ASB analysis:
“Hawke’s Bay maintained its position at 6th place on the Scoreboard. The region’s residents were the second most optimistic in the country, only surpassed by those in the Waikato. Despite the increase in consumer sentiment, retail sales declined by 2.5% annually, which was bigger than the national average decline. On a positive note, new car registrations grew significantly by 15% annually, more than double the national average.
“Housing market activity was strong in the Hawke’s Bay with house sales rising sharply by 20% annually, almost three times the national average. However, house prices dropped by 1.4% annually, following the national trend.
“Employment growth was another highlight for the region this quarter, with an annual growth rate of 1.2%, double the national average, boosting the region’s ranking on the Scoreboard.
“The construction sector in the Hawke’s Bay showed a modest annual decline of 1.6% in building consents, a significant improvement from the 39.1% decline in the previous quarter. However, this segment still hindered the region’s movement up the Scoreboard.
“Direction: It’s been challenging since the early 2023 cyclone hit. Recovery is still happening. Ongoing rebuilding of the region’s infrastructure will help support activity. And good spring growing conditions are setting up the apple industry for a good crop.”
Wairoa video monitors river mouth
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council contractors and staff have now installed two cameras to monitor the Wairoa River mouth.
The cameras are positioned to the north and south of the river mouth to provide maximum coverage of the potential areas that the mouth opening could travel or move to. The cameras will take hourly pictures of the river mouth that will feed back to the Regional Council’s monitoring centre. The frequency of photos will be increased during weather events.
HBRC Councillor Di Roadley says: “We are pleased to get these cameras up, and get them up earlier than planned. These cameras will now be part of our region-wide river level monitoring during weather events.”
Next steps are to set up a regular feed to the Wairoa District Council and make the camera views available to the public on our website. This will happen in the coming weeks.
Hottest year on planet
This year will be the world’s warmest since records began, with extraordinarily high temperatures expected to persist into at least the first few months of 2025, say scientists from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
Data from January to November has confirmed 2024 is now certain to be the hottest year on record, and the first in which average global temperatures exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period.
More coverage from Reuters here.
Hawke’s Bay Homes’ pre-fab classrooms a great solution
HB Homes, a local offsite prefabrication building firm, has launched an affordable classroom range aimed to help clear some of the $6 billion backlog of education builds. Its new models are over 60% cheaper than the current average cost of a classroom.
Managing director Mark Roil says their offsite manufacturing process is much faster and affordable, with their latest models costing less than half the price of the average onsite classrom build cost of $1.2 million, according to a ministerial inquiry into school property.
Roil says, “Our classrooms are affordable and sustainable property solutions which are simple, functional, durable, maximise existing assets, and deliver value for money. We build in our purpose-build facility in Hastings and we can easily transport anywhere in the central North Island and beyond.”
HB Homes has already installed classrooms at a number of schools including Patoka School, St John College, Taikura Rudolf Steiner school, Paikea Kindergarten in Gisborne and Te Horo School in Kapiti.
HB robotics champs to compete in US
Two talented student teams from Hawkes Bay with a passion for Robotics have achieved extraordinary success in National Robotics Competitions and are now set to represent New Zealand at the FIRST World Championships in Houston, Texas, from April 16 to 19, 2025.
Six students from Havelock North HS and Havelock North Intermediate triumphed in the National FIRSTLEGO League Robotics competition held in Auckland in early December.
The second team, six students from Havelock North HS, earned the Inspire Award at the FIRST Tech Challenge National championships in Hawke’s Bay, after finishing as runners-up at the event, earning them a spot in the World Championships as well.
FIRST’s global competition is a robotics program that introduces science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to students ages 4-18 through engaging, hands-on learning. Participants solve real-world challenges by designing and programming robots to complete tasks related to an annual theme. This year’s theme, SUBMERGED, encourages teams to explore life beneath the ocean’s surface and develop innovative solutions for healthier oceans.
Why are we reporting this now? Both teams need financial support to cover travel, accommodation and other expenses.
For more information, please contact: Brendon White, Team Manager, 021 023 96551, [email protected].
