Latest news with #Porirua
RNZ News
10 hours ago
- RNZ News
Assault on popular Porirua walking track prompts re-assurance patrols
The man wore a dark long sleeve top, dark-coloured track pants and a cap, police said. Photo: 123RF Wellington police will carry out re-assurance patrols, after the daylight assault of a female on a Porirua walking track. Detective Sergeant Ben Evans said the assault happened about halfway up the stairs of the Rangituhi/Colonial Knob walking track at about 3.30pm on Wednesday, 18 June. "This is a deeply concerning incident and police are offering support to the victim, who is understandably shaken," he said. "Police are following positive lines of enquiry, but are seeking the public's assistance to help locate the alleged offender. "The man was wearing a dark-coloured long-sleeve top, dark-coloured track pants and a cap." The Rangituhi/Colonial Knob walking track. Photo: WellingtonNZ Police asked anyone who was in the area at the time or had footage of a person matching that description to contact them, via 105, either over the phone or online, referencing file number 250618/1395. Information could also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111. Detective Sergeant Evans said Rangithui/Colonial Knob was a popular walking area and police understood this incident might cause some concern. "Police will be conducting re-assurance patrols in the area in the coming days," he said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Science
- RNZ News
New science lab designed to burn at high temperatures
A new research lab in Porirua has been built to be set on fire, so it can simulate the way a blaze can spread through a multi-storey building. The Building Research Association (BRANZ)'s new $40 million-dollar facility will provide some of the most advanced fire testing capabilities in the Southern Hemisphere. The 2310-square metre warehouse, with a ceiling height of 22.5m, features climate-controlled testing spaces, large-scale furnaces, and an air filtration system to prevent carbon getting into the atmosphere. Inside the new facility. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Fire testing team leader Peter Whiting said the largest furnace - measuring four by four metres - could reach temperatures up to 1200 degrees celsius. The lab's three furnaces provided for two types of tests. "One is called a fire resistance test, and that is where we are looking at a fire barrier between you and the fire," he said. The second was the "reaction-to-fire test", where materials or objects were set on fire inside the ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) room, to see how they behaved. An open burn area would allow them test on complete multi-storey structures, with a giant, movable extraction hood able to suck fumes out of the space and then send the air through the "wet scrubber system". "While the gas fuel that we use is going to be clean burning, a lot of the products that we're testing will not be," Whiting said. "And so we need to extract that, and the wet scrubber system is going to take out a lot of that particulate that we see in smoke, so what really gets up the chimney and into the environment is literally steam." The importance of this kind of facility was growing, BRANZ said. Building materials were advancing, housing developments were becoming denser, and the climate was heating up. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Recent catastrophic fires like Loafers Lodge and the Port Hills show the importance of being prepared, said chief executive Claire Falck. The lab has been in the works for more than a decade. "So the old building had been here for about 40 years, and it wasn't able to do the things at-scale that we're able to do now," Falck said. "What this facility provides is also, it's climate controlled, so for example, our facade testing we could only do outside, so Wellington and its weather conditions didn't always provide for the test." The build had cost them a total of $40 million, paid for by the Building Research Levy. That levy is set at 0.1 percent, and is applied to all building consents where the work is valued at more than $20,000. For every $1000 over this threshold, BRANZ receives $1, which it invests into research projects. On the same site are facilities which simulate earthquakes and extreme weather. A structural engineering lab opened in 2023, which meant BRANZ could assess entire building systems for structural performance, weathertightness and durability. Other tests were done on-location around the country, often in highly exposed places, testing for climatic performance in wind and UV. Falck said it was not just New Zealand which would benefit from the research done in the new fire lab. Cross-country collaboration already existed, with international brands able to use BRANZ' facilities to test products against their own fire safety standards. The fire lab was officially opened in front of a crowd on Tuesday by the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology Shane Reti. It is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Science
- RNZ News
Reseach lab built to be set on fire
technology 17 minutes ago A new research lab in Porirua has been built to be set on fire. The Building Research Association said the $40 million facility can simulate the way fire spreads through multi-storey buildings, providing some of the most advanced fire testing capabilities in the Southern Hemisphere. Kate Green reports
RNZ News
08-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Schools serve up their own lunches: 'We all want to keep the programme going'
Porirua College canteen manager Antoinette Van Den Elzen oversees lunch production in the school's kitchen. Photo: RNZ / John Gerritsen Schools that still serve up their own lunches they have made - despite slashed funding from the government's free school lunch scheme - are determined to stick with it. After six months under the revised scheme, they say their meals are better than centrally provided lunches, although some are making more use of lentils and vegetables to make ends meet. One primary school told RNZ it was managing within the government's $4-a-child funding, but a nearby college, where students had bigger appetites, said it was facing a $50,000 shortfall. Education Ministry figures showed 268 schools were on the "internal model", meaning they either made their own lunches, or received lunches made by another school. Contributing primary schools with pupils up to Year 6 were funded at $5.56-$6.52 per child, but intermediate and secondary schools and primary schools with pupils in Year 7 received $4 per child. At Porirua College, canteen manager Antoinette Van Den Elzen said the reduced funding was challenging and required good relationships with ingredient suppliers, but she was confident the school's meals were better than the centrally provided option. "I think our lunches are much better," she said. "All the dishes go down really well, here. They're all favourites." School principal Ragne Maxwell said it initially tried to stay within the government funding, but it did not work. "We simply could not produce acceptable amounts of even moderate-quality food for that price. That was not possible. We did it for a few weeks and the students were really unhappy with what they were getting to eat compared to what they were used to - and you've got to remember that for many of our students this might be the big and often the [only] hot meal they get," she said. "So we had to improve the quality of what we were doing and increase our expenditure. So we are operating in deficit to provide quality lunches for the thousands of young people in Porirua who really need them." Maxwell said the school was facing a $50,000 shortfall which it could cover this year, but next year and beyond it would need charitable support. She said it was definitely worth continuing the in-house scheme. "This is the biggest and best initiative I have ever seen in my time in teaching to challenge child poverty in New Zealand. This is food that is going directly into the mouths of young people who are hungry and we shouldn't be letting any of our young people go hungry," she said. Tairangi Primary School in Porirua East was also on the lower funding rate because it had children in Y7-8. Principal Jason Ataera said it received $60,000 less than last year and had to cut a staff member from the kitchen and reduce the use of dairy products. "We also gradually taught students to eat some more vegetarian options, which has been an interesting path. It's weird that we live in New Zealand and serving beef mince is a luxury, but importing lentils and having lentil nachos is much cheaper," he said. Ataera said the school's food supplier agreed to match prices of the national school lunch supplier and in some cases was cheaper. He said those measures kept costs within the government funding of $4 per child. "Our fixed cost for the kitchen comes in at about $2.50 per child per day. That's just to keep the kitchen running with the person staffing it and and those sorts of things. So that leaves us about $1.50 a day for food," he said. Ataera said the school's chef was able to make lunches during the warmer months for about $1 per child, so it could afford to provide hot meals through the winter. However, he said there was no money left over to cover wear and tear on equipment. "That's one thing that we're still struggling with is everything is geared towards providing the food to the kids, but there is not enough enough slack in the system to provide for asset replacement if and when those appliances and commercial ovens start breaking." Ataera said the internal model was much better than central provision because the food was better, nobody missed lunch due to late delivery and special dietary requirements were always met. Contributing primary schools, which enrolled children up to Y6, would come under the cut-price funding model next year. Tute Mila, principal of Arakura School in Wainuiomata, said the school wanted to keep making its own lunches, but would have to find $40-50,000 a year to do it. "We all want to keep the programme going because it's made such a difference for our children, for our attendance, for our engagement in the classroom and just for general, well-being of those students," she said. Mila said making the lunches, and growing many of the vegetables in a school garden, had wider benefits than just feeding children. She said they had a greater understanding of where food came from, and some asked their parents to use the same vegetables they ate at school. "It's not just about the food anymore. It's the holistic approach. It's the things that we've been able to hook on it." Mila said the school had reserved enough money to cover the programme for half of next year, but would have to fundraise or find a donor for the remainder. "If we can't raise the money, if we can't get donations, then the board will have to pay for it out of our operations. And that option is the last option because we already are heavily invested in providing a teacher aide in every classroom because we've got so many neurodiverse children, so many children with really high needs," she said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
06-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
The legacy of Jerry Collins
sport life and society 28 minutes ago Today marks 10 years since All Black Jerry Collins and his partner Alana Madill were both killed in a fatal car crash in the south of france. At 6pm tonight Porirua's Jerry Collins Stadium hosts a special memorial match, put on by his first amateur club Norths United RFC.
