Rotorua Conference - A Night to Remember : Survey Spatial New Zealand

The awards evening, a black-tie event sponsored by GSI Partners that was a night to remember. Held at the glamourous Rydges Hotel Rotorua, this was our second celebration of members’ outstanding service to the industry under the refreshed award programme introduced in 2021. Judging by the standard of the nominations the format is very popular with S+SNZ members.

The judging panel was presented with an impressive array of entries and after much discussion and deliberation decided on the following well-deserved award recipients.

S+SNZ Stream Awards

Each Steam chose their award recipient who was then put forward for the Premier Award, judged by the Awards Panel.

Cadastral Stream member Andrew Blackman is this year’s winner of the McRae Supreme Award and the Professional Excellence in Cadastral. He is a highly motivated, collegial and accomplished cadastral surveyor who, over many years of professional work has made a significant contribution to his profession, particularly in the area of cadastral surveying.

Well-deserved recipient Andrew Blackman .

The award for outstanding service to the Spatial industry was presented to Spatial Stream member Sam Williamson who has been a passionate and accomplished geospatial professional since 2014. Sam is currently GIS Solutions Manager at Fulton Hogan where he leads the team in the design and development of GIS solutions for our various industry verticals.

For outstanding service to the Land Development and Urban Design industry, Colin McElwain of the Land Development & Urban Design Stream was recognised his contribution to land development and urban design in the Hutt Valley and Wellington Region for more than 30 years.

Sam Williams of the Engineering Stream was the well-deserved recipient of both the outstanding service to the Engineering Surveying industry and the Technicians Professional Excellence Award. Sam’s incredible survey efforts, using a full array of modern survey technologies, allowed him to inform engineers, constructors, designers, stake holders and hundreds of staff on multi-billion-dollar projects.

The Positioning and Measurement Stream’s recipient for professional excellence in the Positioning and Measurement industry was Michael Pinkerton of Aurecon for his significant contribution to the profession over many years using his enormous depth of knowledge in the area of spatial data capture, geodetic and positional control, along with contemporary techniques in processing and delivery. These skills have has benefitted many across NZ and Australian Aurecon teams and their clients.

The final stream award went to James Van der Pauw for outstanding service to the Hydrography industry. Jame’s endless supply of positivity to every project he undertakes and his ability to manage all elements of a complex hydrographic project, including bringing together a team of surveyors, support staff, vessel crew, stakeholders and ultimately the client place him amongst the best surveyors in the Hydrographic Industry today.

Bogle Young Professional of the year Award

Cassie Hardie of Aurecon, Tauranga received this award. She is a key member of a multi-disciplinary team which includes planners, geotechnical and civil engineers and one of the leading geospatial surveyors, having taken the lead on numerous drone surveys and laser scans. In the years since 2017 she has established her place and is now highly regarded by internal and external clients, contractors and council representatives.

Cassie Hardie, Bogle Young Professional of the Year and Kat Salm, President.

2022 Cadastral Survey of the Year Award

Celebrating the best in cadastral survey datasets were Alexander Liggett for DP 519637, Tony Nikkel for DP515021 and Simon Reid for the City Rail Link Tunnel Surveys.

Fulton Bequest

Two Fulton Bequest Awards were awarded on the night. These were A1 Class to Mick Strack for a paper of sufficient merit on a subject of professional or technical interest to members of the profession of surveying. The second Fulton Bequest, B.2 Class went to Devon Allen for a paper or thesis of sufficient merit on some aspect of surveying. 

Examination Awards

Percy Dyett Award

This award recognises the best land development engineering candidates in the Professional Entrance Examinations as part of the process of qualifying to be a Licensed Cadastral Surveyor. Cassandra Hardie and Mitchell Holyoake are both recipients for 2022.

Maurice Crompton Smith Award

The second exam award is the Maurice Crompton-Smith Memorial Award. for the best set of projects for a Certificate of Competency. This year, we have the winner from the October 2021 Professional Exams and the winner for the 2022 Professional Exams –Katie Anson and Jessica Smyth. This award to be awarded to Katie and Jessica at the Survey and Spatial NZ AGM in November.

Congratulations and well done to all the award winners.

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