Latest news with #Luyten
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Pasifika advocate work recognised
A love of community and a love of rugby have been the driving forces behind a Timaru lawyer's recent recognition. Aoraki Legal director and lawyer Pauline-Jean Luyten was the co-founder of the South Canterbury Tongan Society and has been a stalwart advocate and trailblazer for the Pasifika community in the world of New Zealand rugby. For her services to rugby and the Pacific community she has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) as part of this year's King's Birthday Honours. She joked that she felt a bit too young to be receiving the honour. "Compared to some who normally might get this, I still haven't finished my tenure and all the things that we're trying to achieve." It felt a bit weird, or even premature, she said. "The stuff we do is never for ourselves, it's always for your community and to see what differences you can make. "For me personally, it's validation, I guess, that I'm on the right track and responding to what our communities need. "It's also exciting to be sharing it with Sina Latu, to both be put forward with the Pacific community aspects of it is pretty cool." Ms Luyten has led several strengths-based cultural, social and wellbeing initiatives across South Canterbury and in the rugby world became the first Pacific woman appointed to the South Canterbury Provincial Rugby Union Board and in 2022 the first Pacific woman to be appointed to the New Zealand Rugby (NZR) Board as an emerging director. She was appointed to the NZR Pasifika Advisory Group and elected co-chair in 2021 and in 2024 helped secure Pacific representation within the NZR's new governance structure. Ms Luyten said her work centred around trying to normalise cultural differences. "Just because people come from different cultures doesn't mean you actually haven't got the common ground or the common goals." She said receiving the honour made her reflect on the work she had done and how great it had been to combine her passions. "It's actually been pretty amazing doing that. "It's kind of almost gone full circle, because when I first started, I was looking at being a sports lawyer. "It never eventuated, but it's kind of gone full circle where I've been doing it in sports governance and applying some of those skills and assets to it." She said her current goal was working with the New Zealand Pasifika Rugby Council to have them become a voting member of New Zealand Rugby. "On the 8th of May, there was a vote, we got 61% and we needed 61.3% to pass muster, so we're hoping that could happen by the end of the year. "The value of being effectively a stakeholder or shareholder is huge. "One day I'll also do my PhD, but I don't think anyone can make me do it right now." She was very grateful to everyone that had played a part in her receiving the honour. "I want to thank my immediate family, my kids, my twin sister, my firm and the Pacific Advisory Group. "I also want to acknowledge my late father Henry, who couldn't be here to see this — he would be blown away. "Also my mum, she is one of the elders and she's been here as one of the first Tongans to arrive in 1970." She wanted to acknowledge everyone who had welcomed and had worked with her and her family. "I'm born and raised here, so I've lived in both worlds but so many people were warm and welcoming."
The Guardian
08-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
See how Australia's first 3D-printed multi-storey house is being built: four bedrooms in five weeks
In a quiet street in the western Melbourne suburb of Wyndham, a house is being built. The slab has been laid, the frame is being printed. Almost silently, cement piping that looks like a soft serve is methodically poured by a giant robotic crane. This will be Australia's first 3D multi-storey house. 'I'm going to live in it personally,' says Ahmed Mahil, the CEO of Luyten, the Melbourne-based company that is printing the house. 'I'm not just selling it to people, I actually trust the science behind it.' At the heart of Australia's housing crisis lies a central issue: there are not enough homes. Also, over the past 15 years, we've become slower at building them. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The average build time for standalone houses has slid from nine months to 12.7 months (a 40% increase), while apartment construction timelines have blown out from 18.5 months to 33.3 months, Master Builders Association data shows. Mahil says he is about to move into the answer to that problem. 3D printing shaves huge chunks of months off a build. Mahil's house, which will have four bedrooms and five toilets, will be completed within five weeks. 'The printing itself is about three weeks, and then to put the roof and the lighting and all the other services, that will take us about five weeks,' he says. 'Then I can move and live inside it.' While there has been no Australian research into the cost differences between traditional brick and mortar builds and 3D ones, Mahil says he got comparative quotes for his house. 'I have three quotations, and the best of them, [3D printing] comes cheaper at 25% to 30% [than traditional builds],' he says. Mahil did not tell Guardian Australia how much it is costing to print his home. Australia's first 3D-printed home – a one-bedroom in New South Wales that was completed in May 2023, took just two days to construct. Overseas, entire suburbs are being printed and built. Last year, in Wolf Ranch, a suburb in Georgetown, Texas, 100 homes were printed. Governments are warming to the idea. In NSW, the Dubbo 3D-printed social housing project – two modern two-bedroom duplexes – is about to be completed. Starting late last year, it took about two weeks to finish construction of all internal and external walls. Indigenous tenants are expected to move in to the building by the end of March. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Guardian Australia understands the Dubbo project will cost the government $814,000, and is estimated to cost 10-20% less than a traditional build. The NSW housing minister, Rose Jackson, says her government opted for 3D printing because it wants to deliver more houses, more quickly. She calls 3D-printed houses 'a gamechanger'. 'It's faster to construct, cheaper to build, and more environmentally-friendly than traditional construction methods because it cuts down on material waste,' she says. There are also lower environmental impacts. Two weeks ago, a study published in the Journal of Building Engineering, looking at the environmental impact of a build in Canada, found the technology has the potential 'to support sustainable and efficient construction, particularly in remote locations'. 'However, material consumption and transportation remain significant contributors to environmental impact,' it said. Property developer Kavitha Vipulananda is now completing her PhD in housing at the University of Melbourne. She says there are environmental benefits with 3D-printing homes – but other issues are also in play. 3D printing homes in urban environments and the middle ring suburbs that sit just outside the CBD and inner-city neighbourhoods is 'a bit tricky', Vipulananda says, pointing to the size and manoeuvrability of the 3D printer. 'You can only really do houses at the moment.' Banks are also reluctant, for now, to fund developers to 3D print homes because it is a new technology, she says. Prospective customers are also limited in the design options to choose from. 'It just needs to be more flexible on sites and more flexible for consumers.' Michael Fotheringham, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute managing director, says 3D printing could help the federal government meet its target of 1.2m homes in five years, but there are a lot of unknowns. 'We're really early days with this stuff in terms of actually delivering housing,' Fotheringham says. 'I think we're really more at a demonstrating potential than delivering in any mainstream sense.' Fotheringham says more research is needed on the insulation and energy efficacy of the builds. 'We need to make sure that we're building housing that is suitable for our climate … and energy efficient going forward,' he says. While alternate building strategies are worth exploring, Fotheringham says governments should concentrate on more high-density housing close to the CBD. '3D printing probably plays a role in that infield development quite effectively,' he says, 'because of its pace of delivery, it's less disruption to communities.'
