Greg Hoobin, Environmental Standards Team Leader of the Council’s Building Team, has received not one but two awards from the Building Institute of New Zealand (BOINZ) at its conference in May this year.
Greg was awarded the Ryanfire 50th Anniversary Award as well as the BRANZ award for ‘outstanding commitment to information, skills development and education of building officials’.
Unfortunately, Greg was not at the conference to collect the awards.
“I stumbled across the fact that I was nominated for something in South Taranaki when I was chatting to the local Branch president of BOINZ and overheard him mention something about me on the phone,” says Greg.
“I found out later that BOINZ rang Kym Fell (Whanganui District Council’s Chief Executive) and said ‘can you get Greg up there without him knowing?’” Unfortunately, the logistics in getting me there on time didn’t work out.”
Instead, Greg’s colleagues Bill Leslie and Ben Nyssen were at the conference and collected the two awards for him. Greg says he was happy to be recognised for his commitment to training and upskilling his team.
“Training is a big thing for us. We constantly have to upskill. I had organised some regional training and facilitated a forum which I am sure contributed to the BRANZ award for commitment to skills development and education. I’m really supportive of training and strongly believe in upskilling. We’ve implemented our own building cadet programme and I make a point of upskilling our team to gain more knowledge and think outside the square when we can.
Kym Fell, the Council’s Chief Executive, says Greg’s two awards reflect really well on Whanganui’s reputation in the building sector and he appreciates the work Greg and his team has put in to achieve the recognition.
“From time-to-time the building control team cops a bit of flack so when we get positive news like this it’s good to be able to share it. Receiving these awards indicates that our building control team is being recognised for our work on a national level.”
The Ryanfire 50th Anniversary Award was awarded to an ‘unsung hero’ from each of the BOINZ branches who dedicates significant time to organising branch meetings, promoting the institute and working hard behind the scenes for the success of the institute.
Sam Roiall, Sales Manager from RyanFire said of the nine recipients: “There is no doubt that without these people, the Institute would not be what it is today. Thank you for your incredible hard work and dedication”
For the BRANZ award, of which Greg was the only recipient, Chelydra Percy from BRANZ said Greg was instrumental in standardising compliance schedule layouts and building warrant of fitness forms to make a more informed and enjoyable experience for customers.
“Greg is proactive in initiating and running forums for his North Island branch and gets involved in promoting information and document sharing. Within his own organisation he is always looking for ways to bring staff together to break down silos and encourage open topic discussion and skills sharing. He helps identify training gaps, and has created training and presentation opportunities within the Branch to fill these gaps. The outcome results in members across the region getting clear and consistent messaging and knowledge which in turn assists customer service and understanding.”