An Evolving Order The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand 1914–2014 Peter Cooke An Evolving Order The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand, 1914-2014 Peter Cooke Published by Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand, 158 The Terrace, Wellington, New Zealand © 2014 Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand The author, Peter Cooke, asserts his moral right in the work. First published 2014 This book is copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. ISBN 978-0-908960-58-3 (print copy) ISBN 978-0-908960-59-0 (electronic book) Book design by Cluster Creative CONTENTS Foreword vii Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations x Chapter 1: Beginnings 1 The arrival of New Zealand’s surveyors/engineers 1 Motivation for engineering independence 4 Local government engineers 1912 6 “One strong society” 8 Other institutions 10 Plumbers, architects, and the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers 12 First World War 15 Chapter 2: 1920s 21 Engineers Registration Act 1924 21 Getting registered 24 The Society’s first premises 26 Perception of the Society 27 Attempting advocacy 29 What’s in a name? Early debates 30 Benevolence 32 New Zealand engineering and the Society’s history 33 Chapter 3: 1930s 37 A recurring issue: the status of engineers 37 Engineering education and qualifications 38 Earthquake engineering 40 Standardisation 42 Building bylaw 44 Professional etiquette/ethics 45 A test of ethics 47 Professional body or union? 48 Coming of age as the New Zealand Institution of Engineers 49 Chapter 4: 1940s to 1950s 55 Second World War defence issues 55 The Registration Board and the amended Registration Act (1944) 57 Alien engineers 58 Centennial engineering and a medal 60 Young engineers call for a shake-up 61 Breaking away: the Professional Engineers Association of New Zealand 64 New Zealand Engineering magazine 66 Whole again: the NZIE and PEANZ merger 68 Chapter 5: 1960s to 1970s 73 Public relations 73 Institution regional branches 74 NZIE divisions and the Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand 75 Fellows and membership categories 77 Technicians and assistants: the “middle group” 78 Technical groups 79 The environment becomes a hot topic 82 Water resources 83 Confronting social responsibility 84 Nuclear thinking 86 Ethics and a Code of Practice 88 Reaching out with the Dobson Lectures 89 Premises: Aurora Terrace and Molesworth Street 90 Benevolent Fund 91 Chapter 6: 1980s 97 Name change to IPENZ 97 Administration and publishing enter the computer age 98 Governance reviewed 99 Registration, qualification benchmarks and IPENZ membership 99 Women in engineering 101 Ethnic diversification of the profession 102 Deregulation and corporatisation 104 Chapter 7: 1990s 109 Council to board 109 Heritage matters 111 New broom: membership and organisational changes 112 Money troubles and moral defalcation 113 Chapter 8: 2000s 115 Creating CPEng 115 The CPEng sea change 118 Membership class and group initiatives 119 Publications and branding 121 Premises: the Northern Regional Office and National Office 122 Futureintech to national awards: fostering the engineering pipeline 124 Repiling benevolence: the IPENZ Foundation 125 Going international: Accords, agreements and leadership 125 Canterbury earthquakes response 127 Conclusion 131 Appendix 1: Personnel 133 Presidents 133 Secretaries 135 Deputy Secretaries 135 Assistant Secretaries (and Secretary to ERB) 136 Executive Director/Chief Executives 136 Deputy Chief Executives 136 Honorary Fellows 136 Distinguished Fellows 137 Appendix 2: Awards 139 Angus Award 139 Angus Award for Water, Waste and Amenities 140 Communications Award 141 Cranko Award for Mechanical and Manufacturing 141 Dobson Award for Transportation Infrastructure 141 Entrepreneurial Award 142 Environmental Award 142 Evan Parry Award 143 Evan Parry Award for Energy Systems 144 Freyssinet Award 144 Fulton-Downer Gold Medal 146 Fulton-Downer Gold Medal – President’s Award 148 Fulton-Downer Silver Medal 149 Fulton-Downer Silver Medal – President’s Award 150 Furkert Award 150 Furkert Award for Sustainability and Clean Technology 152 Infrastructure, Utilities and Transport Award 152 Innovation Award 152 MacLean Citation 153 Professional Commitment Award/Turner Award for Professional Commitment 153 Rabone Award 154 Rabone Award for Information, Communications, Electrical and Electronic Technology 156 Skellerup Award for Food, Bioprocess and Chemical 156 Student Design Award/Ray Meyer Medal for Excellence in Student Design 156 Young Engineer of the Year Award 157 Appendix 3: Lectures 159 Dobson Lecture 159 Hopkins Lecture 160 Newnham Lecture 161 Pickering Lecture 162 Turner Lecture 162 Select Bibliography 163 FOREWORD Thanks to the vision and ingenuity of our early engineers, New Zealand is furnished with the infrastructure and technology that enable the high standard of living we enjoy today. Shaping the land from the ground up, engineers facilitated the building of the young country’s towns and cities, connecting them with road and rail networks, communications systems and other essential services. That legacy is all the more notable given the concurrent challenge of establishing the foundations for an engineering profession. An Evolving Order: The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand, 1914–2014 begins with engineers at a crossroads, grappling with their identity and status. The formation in 1914 of the national body now known as IPENZ marked the beginnings of our modern engineering profession. It offered a home-grown alternative to Britain’s “parent” institutions, indicative of a New Zealand that was coming into its own. More significantly, engineers were acting out of the necessity to assert both the professional pecking order and their place in society. The new body would provide them with direct representation and standard-setting, and successfully advocate for their registration, bringing about the evolution of a strong profession and the values and identity that grew with it. As the fields of engineering proliferated over the century, the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers would need to branch out from its “civil” focus into other disciplines, undergoing two name changes to reflect wider representation. This book charts the development of an institution and the profession it represents, along with the growth of a nation. As the country underwent momentous changes that would steer its future course, engineers were compelled to act, at times taking centre stage. They mobilised for two world wars, not only enlisting to fight but also providing technical expertise on the battlefield. Destructive earthquakes in Hawke’s Bay and Canterbury required them to provide solutions but also tested their resolve, and – especially with the latter quake – public confidence in the profession. These events informed the professional body’s thinking, as did changing societal attitudes on race relations, immigration, new technology, vii An Evolving Order environmentalism and gender. When issues were so contentious as to be divisive – such as with nuclear power – IPENZ facilitated open discussion amongst the membership. Peter Cooke brings to life the centennial history through a plethora of sources, drawing on newspaper articles, historical journals, society bulletins, annual reports, academic texts and other archival material. Where possible, he lets engineers tell the story in their own words. The minutes of meetings illuminate engineering issues in the vernacular of the day, and interviews the author conducted with participants in the centennial story provide first- hand accounts of history. The combined effect is to convey an authenticity the book wouldn’t otherwise have. Times have changed considerably from a century ago, but An Evolving Order paints the picture of a professional body that never wavered from its founding principles. Then, as now, it was concerned – beyond its day-to-day membership functions – with status, ethics and public perception, with registration, competency and standards, and with serving the community to its fullest. Cooke has masterfully weaved together an intricate body of knowledge to make sense of the people, issues and events of the past 100 years. This highly valuable resource is a superb way to mark the centenary year. Kevin Thompson IPENZ President viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Peter Cooke thanks the following for their help with the IPENZ Centennial Record: former colleagues on the National Engineering Heritage Committee; Karen Astwood for thinking heritage; Andrew Cleland for the open brief; Sue Cornwall for shelves of resources; Malcolm Faulls for inspiration; Cam Smart for enthusiasm; the Schools team for a place to work, the editorial team for a dictionary; Glenys Lloyd for other books; Rob Aspden for a bit of continuity; John La Roche for a bit of history; Dr Nick Smith for his time; and John Crawford, Andrew Samuel and John Davidson for a leg-up. Other staff and members of IPENZ were welcoming. As ever the holy trinity of Archives New Zealand, the National Library of New Zealand and Alexander Turnbull Library do a great job. ix An Evolving Order ABBREVIATIONS (In text and endnotes) ACENZ Association of Consulting ISE Institution of Structural Engineers New Zealand Engineers (United Kingdom) ALGENZ Association of Local NZE New Zealand Engineering Government Engineers of New NZIA New Zealand Institute of Zealand Architects AR Annual Report/Annual Review