Auckland Council received four awards and two professional certifications at the recent New Zealand Recreation Association (NZRA) Recreation Awards, held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
The Recreation Awards recognise the people, places and organisations who contribute to providing quality recreation opportunities and experiences in New Zealand. The awards Auckland Council received were for research, leadership and contribution to the industry.
Leading the industry in research
The Outstanding Research Planning and Policy Award went to Low Carbon Parks: Developing a Carbon Inventory for a Sports Park.
The research considered the important role that parks can play in tackling climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and raising public awareness.
Directed by Auckland’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2040, the Parks Services team, led by Parks, Sport & Recreation Graduate Hannah Chapman-Carr, had set out to understand how the parks and open spaces network can contribute positively to climate change.
At almost three years in the making, it involved collecting data on emissions, estimating the carbon storage in over 300 trees, many calculations and literature searches.
Research outcomes
The research informs service strategies for the parks network and will help inform future decision-making around all aspects of park design, management and maintenance across Auckland’s 4000 parks.
The outcomes include considering the type of fields and playing surfaces in sports parks, thinking about the end of life options for infrastructure and planting high sequestering species to maximise carbon storage. These outcomes will guide park design and help mitigate climate change and its effects.
The judges were impressed to see such a leading edge piece of research undertaken in-house that has not only increased internal capability but produced a process that can be used across the country to address some of the issues associated with climate change.
The Low Carbon Parks research is currently being used to help in the design of a new sustainable sports park at Scott Point in Hobsonville.
Awards and professional certifications
The full list of recipients from Auckland Council includes:
- Ian Galloway Memorial Cup – Jane Aickin, Paeurungi Te Waka Tai-ranga-whenua
- NZRA Fellow Award – Mark Bowater, Head of Parks Services
- Outstanding Research, Planning and Policy Winner – Low Carbon Parks Research (Hannah Chapman-Carr, Parks, Sport & Recreation Graduate)
- Outstanding Research Planning and Policy Merit Award – Scott Point Sustainable Sports Park Masterplan (jointly with WSP-Opus)
- Accredited Recreation Professional (ARPro) certification – Mark Miller, Principal Parks Advisor and Howell Davies, Senior Urban Forest Advisor
