Welcome to my first formal update as NZILA President. I’ll be aiming to keep you closely informed of key developments as we continue our work on behalf of our 1130 members.

Executive Committee meeting
The team met in Auckland last Friday following Thursday night drinks hosted by our Auckland Branch. We reviewed the Interim Strategy document implemented in 2018.

The key initiatives and focus for the two year term [2021-2023] of this committee are:

- Te Tangi a te Manu: Aotearoa New Zealand Landscape Assessment Guidelines
- Resource Management Act
- Governance changes including a review of the Constitution
- 2022 Celebrations and enhanced range of CPD events
- Integration of the Bi-cultural strategy
- Development of a specific Scope of Services document and General Conditions of Contract for members
- Review of the Registered Membership documentation
- Membership engagement

Te Tangi a te Manu - Aotearoa New Zealand Landscape Assessment Guidelines
Late last week Rachel de Lambert, Gavin Lister, Alan Titchener presented to the Ministry for the Environment the ‘Te Tangi a te Manu: Aotearoa New Zealand Landscape Assessment Guidelines.’ Rebecca Ryder, Brad Coombs and Bridget Gilbert were also there in a support role. Discussion was had around the Guidelines as well as the Resource Management Act reform process and rollout.

We have initiated a Resource Management Act working group. As you will know - the Government plans to reform the Resource Management Act. It’s announced three new pieces of legislation to replace the complex and lengthy RMA - the National and Built Environments Act (NBA); the Strategic Planning Act (SPA) and Climate Change Adaption Act (CAA). These are in line with recommendations from the independent Resource Management Review Panel.
We want to ensure our voice is heard in this process and will keep you updated with progress of both the RMA and our working group.

We hope to publish the illustrated ‘Te Tangi a te Manu: Aotearoa New Zealand Landscape Assessment Guidelines,’ later in the year or early 2022. In the meantime, the final draft on the website is available for use. It should be referred to in full as ‘Te Tangi a te Manu: Aotearoa New Zealand Landscape Assessment Guidelines.’ The final draft which was approved at the AGM in May is still subject to final editing, graphic design and illustration.

The next generation of Landscape architects
We’ve been proacting in championing landscape architecture as a career choice for school leavers - We’ve distributed a supply of brochures to high schools around the country.
LandLAB’s Sam Gould spoke about the profession at Northcote College in Auckland recently and we encourage other members to make themselves available to do the same at their local schools.

Branch Engagement
COO Vicki Clague and I are very keen to open the lines of communications with NZILA Branches around the country - earlier this month I held my first zoom meeting with the Branch Chairs. This was a productive discussion and will become a regular bi-monthly catch-up. Megan Ash and Melissa Davis who manage the Membership Portfolio will be continuing this valuable line of communication.

Remuneration
Later in the year we will be carrying out a membership remuneration survey - this has been frequently requested by our members over the last couple of years and the Institute is pleased to advise it is investing funds into this undertaking.

Events Manager
We are delighted to announce the appointment of a dedicated NZILA events manager who will begin with us next month. Watch the space for a formal introduction!

NZILA Fiftieth Anniversary
One of the key events for our new event manager to focus on will be our 50th Anniversary celebrations. We can confirm the 2022 NZILA Firth Conference will be held in Auckland at the Cordis Hotel on 26 and 27 May, 2022 and will be followed by the Resene New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architecture Awards Gala Dinner - also at the Cordis Hotel.

Landscape Architecture Aotearoa
The LAA website has been going from strength to strength since launching in late 2017 with more than 30 thousand visits this year alone. The team is always looking for content - don’t hesitate to contact Claire with story ideas, interesting projects or opinion pieces.

Thanks for reading - more soon.
Henry Crothers