News & Events
News
AIMS Games TV goes global
This year's NZCT AIMS Games in Tauranga reached an international audience, following the move to live stream many of the 21 sporting codes and provide daily video highlights. Figures released today showed 502,775 views of the live stream feed of the annual intermediate-aged tournament...
Papamoa man wins big at international film festival
Papamoa's Jonathan Gesthuizen has won a major award at an international film festival. Mr Gesthuizen's short film Ice Cold, which he said was about love conquering all, has won the Best Foreign Film category at the Action on Film festival in Los...
Bay's building boom helps lead NZ as local economy soars
New data from Statistics NZ and Infometrics' quarterly economic monitor show Bay of Plenty house building consents are now ranked second highest nationally, and strong economic growth across all areas of the Tauranga economy. According to Infometrics figures provided by Priority One,...
Tauranga City Council goes for lease over owning new HQ
The Tauranga City Council has agreed to pay $2.5 million a year to lease, rather than own, its new civic administration building. The decision has helped set the platform for proposals to eventually spend up to $200m creating a civic heart for the...
Strong growth in value of Bay homes
Average house values in Tauranga City in August were up 28.5 per cent year on year to $633,638. Western Bay of Plenty homes also showed strong growth of 26.3 per cent to $557,640, according to the latest QV House Price Index. Over the past three months, the average home value in Tauranga City...
$10m development to reshape Tauranga CBD
A new $10 million development that will help reshape one of oldest parts of Tauranga city has been revealed. The new office complex would be located at the intersection of Willow and Harington streets and would span three stories, plus a basement for...
AIMS Games to boost spending
It was a mixed bag for August spending in the Bay of Plenty, but the arrival of the AIMS Games is expected to be a "shot in the arm" for Tauranga retailers. The latest Paymark figures released to the Bay of Plenty Times showed spending in August was $286.6 million. This was...
Blazing hot year for Tauranga's construction industry
A$2.5 million company headquarters and 20 beach villas are the stars among the city's latest building projects worth more than $60million. Tauranga's red-hot construction industry continues to sizzle with August residential and commercial building consents totalling 254 and worth a...
Smartphone app to make parking easy
Tauranga motorists will be able to pay for parking via a smartphone app from next month, a move that could save residents more than half a million dollars in a year. Tauranga City Council has revealed they are preparing to launch the app in October in an effort to make life easier for local...
Comvita stake strengthens China ties
Bay of Plenty-based honey and health products company Comvita has signed a 51-49 joint venture with its long-term distributor in China, Shenzhen Comvita Natural Food Co. (SCNF), strengthening existing strong links between the...
Self-drive test in Tauranga
The country's first official demonstration of a "self" driving vehicle using New Zealand roads is set to take place in Tauranga in November. The New Zealand Traffic Institute, Volvo, New Zealand Transport Agency and the Ministry of Transport had come together to show how an...
Economic outlook for Bay strongest out of all regions
The Bay of Plenty's economic outlook has been revealed as the strongest - topping the country for the sixth quarter in a row. New cars, new houses and record exports of kiwifruit were helping keep the Bay of Plenty's economic growth strong, the Westpac regional roundup report...
Progress on Tauranga tidal steps
Momentum is building on the transformation of Tauranga's waterfront. Tauranga City Council staff and local leaders yesterday sat down to talk with two of the short-listed artists providing concepts to help revamp the...
China drives Comvita's positive growth
Bay of Plenty honey and health products company Comvita's results came in right on guidance this week with a net profit after tax of $18.5 million on sales of $231m. Chinese consumers played a major role in the company's...
AIMS Games live streaming
Next week THE bayofplentytimes.co.nz will have live streaming of the AIMS Games. There are more than 20 sports included in the schedule but specific details are still to be confirmed. More than 12,000 visitors are expected to begin arriving in Tauranga later next week for the 13th...
Major housing improvements needed for ageing Bay population
Major improvements will be needed for Bay houses, with only 3 per cent of new houses passing the age-friendly test last year. Lifemark general manager Geoff Penrose said the lack of age-friendly homes would impact the Bay due to the large older...
Bay vanilla maker enjoying sweet taste of success
Bay of Plenty-based Heilala Vanilla has won the title of Exporter of the Year to the US - Under $1million, at the 2016 AmCham DHL Express Success & Innovation Awards. Company co-founder and chief executive Jennifer Boggiss said the American Chamber of Commerce awards win came as the...
New medical campus for Bay of Plenty
Bay of Plenty is set to get a medical campus to cater for the increasing length of time trainee doctors are spending in the region. Bay of Plenty District Health Board Clinical School head Professor Peter Gilling said it became an academic site for the University of Auckland medical students...
More car parks for Tauranga CBD
Visitors to Tauranga city centre can look forward to more car parking from next week. The Elizabeth St parking building would be opening all floors, with a newly constructed top floor, and would be open 24/7. Opening to the public on Monday the car park building would have 342 public...
Teaching First Aid in conflict zones
Dennis Mundy is heading to Fiji. It is his first overseas job since breaking his neck four months ago, coming just weeks after he got out of the metal halo needed to fuse his spine. Dennis, 50, was celebrating son Finn's birthday when he broke three vertebrae jumping into a foam pit...
TEDx Tauranga delights listeners
In its fourth year TEDx Tauranga has delighted and inspired listeners, who travelled here from all over the North Island. This year's talk boasted 13 different speakers and live entertainment. Auckland friends road tripped down to "be inspired" by the...
Firms vie for slice of Enterprise funding
This week's Enterprise Angels meeting saw funding pitches from three companies, including Bay of Plenty-based Balex Marine. Balex is looking to close out its third funding round of $900,000 and has already raised $415,000 in a rights issue from shareholders in its latest...
Grenada St link officially opened
The Grenada St link officially opened, with about sixty people eager to be the first people to walk and scooter over the new road. A blessing was held at the opening ceremony, held yesterday at 8am. This was followed by speeches from Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby, Mangatawa Papamoa...
New approach as office makes move
Harrison Grierson's new Tauranga headquarters is the first of the engineering and design consultancy's offices to fully adopt an activity-based workplace, says national marketing manager Karen West. After six months' planning, design and fitout, Harrison Grierson moved from...
Bumper kiwifruit crop breaks record
Kiwifruit exports rose $105 million in June this year to reach $331m. The increase was up 47 percent, with goods exports rising $109 million (2.6 percent) in June 2016 (to $4.3 billion). Figures released from Statistics New Zealand today show the June 2016 rise was across all our top...
Driving the region's growth strategy
Rotorua born and brought up in Tokoroa, Cheryl Lewis returned to the Bay of Plenty in 2007 after working in senior roles with NZTE and Treasury in Wellington. She has since been a key driver in establishing the Bay of Connections, the region's economic growth strategy, where she currently...
Avocados: Bumper crop coming this year
With prices finally starting to drop, and a bumper crop expected in the second half of the year, its good news all round for avocado fans. While sky-high prices have kept Kiwi avo fans from their favourite toast topping, and even spurned an avocado black market, avo lovers should be able to...
TEDx Tauranga aims to inspire
TEDx Tauranga is back for its fourth year with local and international speakers lined up to educate the audience. The event would include 13 different speakers, live entertainment, three official TED videos and a special screening of the winning video from the Enspire Youth Video...
Papamoa film-maker shooting for the stars
Jonathan Gesthuizen's films are going from Papamoa to the world. Mr Gesthuizen's short film about love conquering all will be screened at international film festivals after being officially selected for the Tokyo On-Line Lift Off festival, Access Code India festival, Eurofest in St...
Bay's 'silver economy' subject of conference
A symposium next month will examine the challenges and potential for the Bay of Plenty of the 60-years-plus "silver economy", which the event's organisers say is now the third-biggest economy in the world after the USA and China. The Silver Economy Symposium, to be held at Mills...
Port shipshape to handle large vessel
Port of Tauranga will this September welcome the largest container ship to visit New Zealand waters, carrying 9500 TEU (20-foot equivalent units). Maersk Line, the world's largest container shipping company, and Kotahi, New Zealand's leading export supply chain collaboration,...
Council urged to change priorities
Priority One's submission on civic heart development amendments to the 2015-2025 Long-Term Plan (LTP) urges Tauranga City Council to reconsider its priorities and bring forward civic amenity projects being sought by the...
Accommodation 'absolutely booked out' for AIMS Games
This year's AIMS Games is set to attract a record number of athletes and pump millions of dollars into the Bay economy - with most accommodation in Tauranga booked out months in advance for the event. Tournament director Vicki Semple said the number of intermediate students for the event,...
Jobs up in the Bay
Trade Me job listings for Tauranga are on the rise, new figures show. Trade Me statistics released yesterday show job listings rose by 27 per cent in the second quarter of the year in comparison with the same period last year. It was the third biggest increase in the country behind Gisborne...
Half a billion dollars of consents issued in Bay
Half a billion dollars' worth of building consents have been issued in the Western Bay of Plenty so far this year - the highest since at least 2004. Priority One figures for January to June the total value of consents issued by both Tauranga City and Western Bay District councils hit...
Green light for Tauranga Marine Precinct
Tauranga's Harbour Marine Precinct is officially a reality, with a successful tender process completed for the sale of lots for Stage One of the project. Mayor Stuart Crosby today signed sale and purchase agreements with Hutcheson Boatbuilders, Pachoud Yachts, Pacific 7, RMD Marine, SMF...
Hunt for Tauranga Waterfront artist
Tauranga City Council is searching for an artist to play a key part in Tauranga's Access to Water project and help create art for the new development on the Waterfront. The council is looking for interested people and needs some examples of their work, a bit about their background and an...
Bay of Plenty international enrolments up 22 per cent
There were almost 900 additional international student enrolments in Bay of Plenty last year, a 22 per cent increase for the region, according to the latest International Education Snapshot Report released today. Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce said the report...
One Love Festival set to return to Tauranga
The One Love Festival is returning to Tauranga next year with a capacity one-third bigger than last year's sell-out event. The festival will be returning to the Tauranga Domain next Waitangi Weekend. Earlier this year, a sell-out crowd of 15,000 people attended, bringing an estimated $5...