News in brief

Lynda steps up

CRV New Zealand has appointed Lynda Coppersmith as its new Sales and Marketing manager. She brings extensive experience in the dairy sector and held a range of sales, farmer support, and business development roles at organisations including Fonterra, DairyNZ, and MYOB. For the past seven years, she has been CEO of NZ Young Farmers, where she strengthened both the brand and its membership base, finishing on a high with the recent Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final in Invercargill.

Poa for Rangitāmiro

Te Ropu Poa (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Wai and Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa) has been appointed chief executive at Rangitāmiro, the newly established Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency for Te Tai Tokerau, Tāmaki Makaurau, Waikato, Hauraki and Tuwharetoa. Her experience includes regional director for Te Puni Kokiri, independent director for the National Hauora Coalition, chief executive at Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi, and other governance roles on key health and social service boards.

Foster new CEO

Warren Luxton will take over as Foster Construction Group chief executive in November.

Born in the Waikato, he has worked in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore in senior corporate roles.

Since he returned to New Zealand in 2020, he has led the New Zealand Construction Alliance and served as Fosters group deputy chair.

Forbes in chair

Matt Forbes has taken over as chair of hydropower electricity generator King Country Energy from Phil Wiltshire. Forbes brings to the board role more than 20 years of experience in corporate finance, capital markets, strategic planning, and risk management. He has been Contact Energy chief financial officer since May and has been with the company since 2010, holding senior leadership roles in corporate finance and investor relations

Forklift champs

Waikato champions, Ryan Brink (Lichfield) and Dennis Gage (Te Rapa) are heading to the Fonterra national forklift finals at the Co-op’s Darfield Distribution Centre in Canterbury this week. The competition is an opportunity to celebrate the unsung heroes of Fonterra’s supply chain. Brink won the regional final at Lichfield last month while Gage, last year’s winner, is also heading south.

Real estate prizes

Forty six prizes were presented to real estate professionals from all sectors at the Real Estate Institute of NZ awards in Auckland last month. Harcourts Hamilton Chartwell agent Jana Kivell won the Individual Residential Rising Star Salesperson of the Year. Bayleys Hamilton Country won the large rural office of the year.

Sam to finals 

Hamilton-based Sam Sonneveld of CF Reese won the Waikato and King Country Regional Final of the Plumbing World Young Plumber of the Year competition last month. He will head to the national final next month which provides a platform for plumbers under 31 to sharpen their skills, expand their networks and gain recognition. 

Ebbett open up 

Ebbett Automotive will this month open a new concept store at The Base in Te Rapa, Hamilton providing sales and support for Geely, Farizon and ZEEKR global vehicle brands. 

On the move 

The translocation of 193 Māhoenui giant wētā – one of the world’s largest insects and nationally critical – from Ōtorohanga Kiwi House to Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari was successfully achieved last month. Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, who regard the wētā as a taonga species, supported the move. 

Bridge a winner 

HEB Construction took home the Supreme Award at the Civil Contractors NZ Waikato Branch Hynds Construction awards last month, as well as the gong for projects valued over $20 million, for its transformational Peacocke Waikato River Bridge and Strategic Services project in southern Hamilton.  

Prices drop 

Vendors across New Zealand collectively reduced their asking prices by $82 million in the second quarter of 2025, according to new data from realestate.co.nz. This was almost $20 million more than the $63 million in price reduction during the first quarter, but well below the $108 million trimmed from asking prices in the same period last year. The region with the largest total price drop was Auckland with $20,529,579, followed by Waikato with a total price drop of $9,443,509, and Wellington with $8,203,001.

Nearly finished

Mercury is putting the finishing touches on its refurbishment of the Karāpiro Hydro Station. The project will be complete this month, delivering a 16.5MW capacity uplift. The upcoming upgrades to Maraetai, Ōhakuri, and Ātiamuri Hydro Stations are believed to be New Zealand’s largest hydro reinvestment programme to date – a $550 million investment that is expected to increase capacity by 58MW and generation by 87GWh.

Trading biodiversity

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari has become the first New Zealand conservation project to trade biodiversity credits on an international trading platform through an arrangement with Ekos. Being able to trade on the international trading platform, ClimateTrade, opens the door to foreign exchange to help fund biodiversity conservation in a global biodiversity hotspot and deliver outcomes at a global scale.