Latest news with #AlanMcDonald
Time Out
14-05-2025
- Time Out
These Midwestern museums were just named among the most beautiful museums in the world
The prestigious Prix Versailles recognizes beautiful architecture and design all over the world at an annual awards program held at UNESCO for the last 10 years—and two U.S. museums show up on its list of the World's Most Beautiful Museums, released earlier this month. The list each year focuses on new or recently renovated structures. Museums showcase beauty, so it's always wonderful when the building itself is a piece of art. It enhances the visit and makes you feel like you are entered a hallowed space. The list is short, with only seven museums on it this year. While we admire the architecture of the Saka Museum in Bali with steel and glass providing a beautiful counterpoint to the ancient artifacts inside and are thrilled to see the Grand Palais in Paris finally emerge from four years of work, it's really the two U.S. museums that catch our attention. In Ohio, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History has won a spot on the list. As recently renovated by the DLR Group, its architecture showcases Northeast Ohio's geological history and especially its historic glaciers, which formed the Great Lakes. The glaciers' flow is interpreted at the museum with 'flowing white alluvial forms in a single, continuous concept to unify the various parts of the facility,' says the Prix Versailles statement. The original museum is a century old, and its collections tell the story of the life of Earth, back to the time of dinosaurs. Likewise, the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, has emerged from a two-year renovation of two of its three unique structures and the addition of a third, all connected to each other. These include the original Art Deco Joslyn building from 1931 designed by John and Alan McDonald; the 1994 pavilion by Norman Foster as his first American commission (he's behind the incredible transformation at San Francisco's iconic Transamerica Pyramid), and 2024's new pavilion designed by Snøhetta (the group behind San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art 2016 addition). The museum offers free entry and collections that vary widely: from Amy Sherald 's 'The Beauty of Change' (2023) to medieval Old Masters. Here is the full list of the seven Most Beautiful Museums in the World. It appears not to be a ranked list, but rather organized alphabetically by country:
Scoop
07-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Unemployment Numbers Still Reflect Ongoing Financial Pressures Faced By Businesses
Press Release – EMA Unemployment is usually a lag indicator of the economic bad news and, while its too early to say the bad news has stopped, its encouraging that the number was stable rather than increasing, as had been widely expected. The EMA says today's unchanged unemployment rate hopefully underlines the bottoming out of the economic bad news, although member businesses are facing ongoing financial pressures. The latest numbers released by Stats NZ show that the unemployment rate has stayed unchanged at 5.1% for the March quarter. EMA Head of Advocacy Alan McDonald says 'While it's positive that the unemployment rate has not increased, we're still seeing pressures on employers, with calls into our AdviceLine service on redundancies and restructures remaining at very high levels. However, last month they did drop off so we're hoping, like the unemployment number, they may have reached their peak. Those processes usually take another two to three months to work through the system.' 'Unemployment is usually a lag indicator of the economic bad news and, while it's too early to say the bad news has stopped, it's encouraging that the number was stable rather than increasing, as had been widely expected. 'The other concern is that we are still seeing a high number of NEETs, that is young people not in employment, education or training. This indicates that employers are overlooking that category in favour of people who already have some work experience, which is another symptom of current labour market conditions. 'In addition, while the high minimum wage doesn't necessarily stop employers from hiring people, it does change the type of skill set and experience that they are likely to value in potential employees,' he says.
Scoop
23-04-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Northwest Busway Will Transform Auckland's Western Suburbs
Press Release – EMA The decision today by the NZ Transport Agency to endorse the Northwest Busway investment case is welcome news for West Auckland residents, says EMA's Head of Advocacy, Alan McDonald. 'We've seen the success of the Northern Busway in significantly reducing traffic on the Auckland Harbour Bridge,' he says. 'There is no doubt that the Northwest Busway will have a similarly transformative impact on Auckland's burgeoning north-western suburbs.' Today's decision follows other significant infrastructure announcements by the government this week, including the preferred corridor for a four-lane connection over the Brynderwyn Hills to Whangārei, as well as the Tauriko four-laning and Takitimu North projects in Tauranga. 'Together, these major roading projects will generate thousands of jobs and provide much needed work for the construction sector.'
Scoop
23-04-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Northwest Busway Will Transform Auckland's Western Suburbs
The decision today by the NZ Transport Agency to endorse the Northwest Busway investment case is welcome news for West Auckland residents, says EMA's Head of Advocacy, Alan McDonald. "We've seen the success of the Northern Busway in significantly reducing traffic on the Auckland Harbour Bridge," he says. "There is no doubt that the Northwest Busway will have a similarly transformative impact on Auckland's burgeoning north-western suburbs." Today's decision follows other significant infrastructure announcements by the government this week, including the preferred corridor for a four-lane connection over the Brynderwyn Hills to Whangārei, as well as the Tauriko four-laning and Takitimu North projects in Tauranga. "Together, these major roading projects will generate thousands of jobs and provide much needed work for the construction sector."
Scoop
23-04-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Corridor Improvements Unlock Significant Economic Gains
Press Release – EMA When completed, the connection between Auckland and Whangrei is expected to benefit that corridor by more than $500 million annually, similar to the gains seen on the corridors south to Hamilton and eventually through to Piarere. Today's announcement of the preferred corridor over the Brynderwyn Hills to Whangārei signals the unlocking of major gains for the Northland economy, and further enhances connectivity in New Zealand's most important economic region. 'For those in Whangārei and further north, the four-lane connection between Auckland and Whangārei can't come soon enough. When you add that announcement to yesterday's decision on the SH 29 and 29A connections from Tauranga, there are big gains for the economy and housing infrastructure to follow,' says the EMA's Head of Advocacy, Alan McDonald. ' When completed, the connection between Auckland and Whangārei is expected to benefit t hat corridor by more than $500 million annually, similar to the gains seen on the corridors south to Hamilton and eventually through to Piarere. In addition, the Tauriko four-laning and Takitimu North projects in Tauranga create significant gains for the movement of people, goods and freight. 'As well as unlocking thousands of jobs, the Tauriko project also opens up the construction of up to 30,000 new homes. Housing growth in Tauranga has been constrained by a lack of buildable sites in recent years.' The EMA has long supported a four-lane connection to Whangārei as it allows the region to become a full participant in the economic engine of the Upper North Island's 'golden triangle'. More than 40% of New Zealand's economy is generated in the corridors from Tauranga to Hamilton and Auckland, with Northland (Whangārei and beyond) increasingly becoming a part of this engine. 'Reliable connections from Whangārei to Auckland and beyond, through to Tauranga, are critical. Warkworth is already becoming a growth area for business and housing, following the completion of the four-lane highway that currently ends just north of the town. We'll see similar growth in the next phase ending north of Wellsford at Te Hana. 'With major business and housing growth in areas south of Auckland at Glenbrook, Pukekohe, Papakura and Drury, as well as the ongoing developments at Ruakura and other areas south of Hamilton, the improved connections to Tauranga are also critical. 'The confirmation of these major corridor projects is good news for the region, especially in linking the major port hubs at Marsden, Auckland and Tauranga.'
