The waiting is almost over for the launch of the exciting new 2 Degrees network. Setting up the infrastructure for such a huge nationwide project can often be fraught with resource consent nightmares. Andrew.Stewart has effectively reduced the vast majority of these difficulties.

The implementation of this nationwide network has been in the pipeline for a while now, and this month marks a milestone site construction facilitated by Andrew.Stewart.

We would like to wish 2 Degrees all the best for their pending launch. To find out more about the 2 Degrees network click here. For more about our services in this area, click here.

Andrew.Stewart and Carbon Group are working together to help North Shore City Council to estimate the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from their wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), as part of the Council's industry leading work on quantifying their organizational emissions. 

Whilst there is general public awareness that burning fossil fuels results in greenhouse gas emissions, less well understood are emissions from other processes.  One such process is wastewater treatment, which results in emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, both greenhouse gases.  By undertaking this work, North Shore is continuing to demonstrate leadership.  With the information from the project, opportunities for process improvements may be identified.

The project is a good example of the synergies between Andrew.Stewart's wastewater and process engineering experience and Carbon Group's carbon expertise.

Failure to seek the early advice of remediation specialists has resulted in company X (name withheld) expending significant additional time and money on achieving satisfactory cleanup following a minor spill at their site. Fortunately  Andrew.Stewart was notified and was able to quickly and efficiently remedy the situation.

Following the spill, the company removed gross contamination and re-instated the site to an apparently satisfactory condition. However, the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) had no proof that the underlying soils had not been impacted by the spill, as no validation of the remediation had been undertaken. They requested that company X prove that there was no unacceptable residual contamination. ASL were engaged to undertake validation sampling, liaise with ARC and provide specialist opinion. The issues are now being addressed to the satisfaction of the ARC. While company X have suffered additional costs, ASL have identified and implemented a number of ideas for minimizing the expenditure.

If the advice of professionals had been sought early on, the situation that company X now finds itself in would have been avoided.

For more information on how Andrew.Stewart can potentially save you time and money by doing it right the first time, click here to go through to our contaminated land page.

Andrew.Stewart welcomes Far North Holdings Ltd, Northland District Health Board Papakura District Council and Waiheke Marinas Ltd as new clients this month.

Our next volunteer planting day is occurring on Saturday 22 August from 9:30 am - 1 pm at Whenua Rangatira (Bastion Point). Ngati Whatua are known for their good lunches which are put on in appreciation of the volunteers, so we look forward to seeing you there, hopefully the sun will come out and join us!. For more information, please visit our volunteer programme page.

Carbon Group are working with Beca to assist Auckland City Council in developing a carbon management strategy for Auckland City's stormwater capital works programme. Auckland City - Environment and Utilities Management (EUM) delivers approximately $30 million worth of stormwater infrastructure every year "if we really want to get serious about reducing carbon impacts it makes sense to target our biggest carbon emitting activities" said Grant Ockleston, EUM Manager.

The work will involve evaluating the carbon impacts of different construction approaches to allow carbon optioneering during the design stage in future stormwater projects. Such an approach to sustainable design of public services is increasingly common practice overseas. It has the potential to not only reduce carbon impacts of the city's stormwater infrastructure but also significantly save Auckland City council costs as the price on carbon (and carbon emitting activities) increases into the future.

The CS-VUE team would like to extend a warm welcome aboard to Papakura District Council as the latest members to join the CS-VUE community. 

Data acquisition is now underway, and we look forward to working with you in the coming months to implement CS-VUE.

"I like my jacket because it keeps me warm on rainy days and it protects me." 
- Rata Street School Pupil (given a raincoat by KidsCan).

You'd think basic access to a rain coat is a given thing here in New Zealand, but unfortunately for many children it is not. Many low decile schools in NZ report high rates of absence in winter, just because many children simply do not own a raincoat! Getting kiwi kids into raincoats is just one of the KidsCan initiatives.

It's been 15 years since New Zealand's iconic telethon, historically raising millions of dollars for good causes in its 18 year run. Now KidsCan is launching 'Big Night In'.

The idea behind Big Night In is to net at least two million dollars for KidsCan enabling it to make a tangible difference in the lives of 42,000 disadvantaged children across New Zealand. 

Here at Andrew.Stewart we are making an effort to support this very worthwhile charity and have organised a couple of in house fundraisers, including a cocktail night at our office on Friday. If you would like to come along, tickets are $10 (numbers are limited) and all the money goes to KidsCan. Contact us on (09)303 0311, reception@andrewstewart.co.nz , or click to donate...

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter, we hope you have found it both interesting and informative.

If you have any suggestions of what you would like to see in future, or if you would like to contribute, please feel free to contact Justin Wannenburg.