News & Events
News
Third medical school for NZ
The Bay of Plenty and Lakes district health boards are set to benefit from a third medical school at the University of Waikato. The newly-proposed Waikato Medical School will be a community-engaged, graduate entry medical school based in the Waikato and at about 15 regional clinical education...
$2.8M tidal stair contract awarded
Tauranga City Council has announced that it has appointed HEB Construction as civil works contractors for constructing the new tidal stairs, pier and pontoon at Tauranga's waterfront. The contract awarded to HEB Construction has a value of $2.8 million. Deliverables include 49...
Trustpower demerger gets final High Court go-ahead
Bay of Plenty-based power company Trustpower received the final go-ahead from the High Court this week to proceed with its planned demerger, which is scheduled to complete by early...
Special Housing Area scheme beginning to gain traction in Tauranga
The pace of residential development under Tauranga's Special Housing Authority (SHA) scheme is beginning to pick up, say developers involved in the projects. The SHAs are expected to eventually bring some 2700 new dwellings on to the market, though to date just under 1000 have been...
Homecoming for new Priority One CEO
Priority One's executive board has announced the appointment of Tauranga-born Nigel Tutt as its new chief executive, after an extensive search that attracted interest from candidates around New Zealand and overseas. For the past three years, Mr Tutt has been the Auckland-based chief...
Tauranga to host NZ's first coworking space event
Tauranga's Venture Centre is launching a New Zealand first event in the coworking space, the CoWork Hui, on 29-30 October. Organisers say there has been a growth in the number of coworking spaces in the Bay of Plenty, driven in part by increased numbers of new arrivals turning their back...
Tauranga job listings spike 44pc
Tauranga job listings have seen a huge spike in the past three months and businesses are struggling to fill vacancies - with one employer resorting to bringing staff out from the Philippines. Listings for Tauranga increased 44 per cent in the last quarter when compared with the same quarter...
Bay of Plenty incubator aiming for seven portfolio companies by year end
Callaghan Innovation has confirmed two years of additional funding for Bay of Plenty technology incubator WNT Ventures, and for two other incubators that won funding under a three-year pilot programme that got underway in...
Design of new University of Waikato campus praised by stakeholders
The University of Waikato's new campus in Tauranga's central business district will be a "benchmark" tertiary building in its use of space and modern facilities, says senior deputy vice-chancellor Professor Alister Jones. The approved design, unveiled yesterday, features two...
Megaship arrival in Tauranga ushers in new era for NZ shipping
The arrival in Port of Tauranga of the biggest container ship ever to visit New Zealand was a historic day for New Zealand exporters and importers, Transportation Minister Simon Bridges said...
New name for Bay polytechnic launched
Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic is now officially Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology. The new name was officially launched yesterday and comes after the merger of the Rotorua-based Waiariki Institute of Technology and the Tauranga-based Bay of Plenty Polytechnic at the beginning of this...
Tracking the building boom
The building boom in the Western Bay continues to break new ground, with both Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty District councils breaking records in the number of consents being issued. For the nine months to September 2016, the two local authorities issued the highest value of...
Artemis moving to Tauranga
An innovative, multi-award winning plant medicine company is opening a new satellite office in Tauranga this month, based on the competitive advantages of being based here. Dunedin-based Artemis sells organic natural plant medicines. It has been experiencing double digit growth in recent...
Auckland Waterfront expert shares vision in Tauranga
Tauranga can learn lessons from the development of Auckland's waterfront but getting the local community behind the vision is crucial. Former Waterfront Auckland chief executive John Dalzell spoke to an audience of mainly council election candidates on Tuesday about how the revitalisation...
Conferences attracted to the Bay
The Bay of Plenty is becoming an increasingly desirable destination for business and educational conferences, says the region's official tourism and marketing organisation. Tourism BOP's head of marketing Kath Low says it's an exciting opportunity for the region to play host to a...
Cycle trail boosts economy
One of the government's earliest initiatives is reportedly paying huge dividends to the regions. The New Zealand Cycle Trail, first conceived in 2009, has generated more than $37 million for the economy, including $1.2 million for the Bay of...
Tauranga city parking app goes live
A mobile phone parking app that does away with the need for meters and pay and display tickets is going live in Tauranga. Not only will PayMyPark make paying for parking easier, city transportation manager Martin Parkes says it will save parkers more than half a million dollars a year in...
Mountain film festival returns
An inspirational film festival that'll have your heart climbing every mountain and fording every stream is making a triumphant return to Tauranga. The 2016 Tauranga Mountain Film Festival is back for its third year and will take place across three nights at the Tauranga Art Gallery,...
Early morning princess
The first cruise ship of the 2016/17 season Sun Princess arrived today, four days earlier than originally scheduled. The ship's New Zealand cruise is re-routed to begin with North Island ports because of poor weather in the South...
Biggest ship due next month
The biggest ship to enter the Port of Tauranga is expected alongside Sulphur Point on October 4. The 347m long container ship Aotea Maersk has a cargo capacity of 9,640 TEU, and weighs in at 110,387 tonnes deadweight. It was built in 1999 as Svend...
Te Tumu development crucial for Tauranga's growth, say project managers
Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic has announced Associate Professor Dr Leon de Wet Fourie as the new chief executive. WBoPP council chairwoman Cathy Cooney said in a statement they were absolutely delighted to announce Dr Fourie's...
Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic announce new CEO
Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic has announced Associate Professor Dr Leon de Wet Fourie as the new chief executive. WBoPP council chairwoman Cathy Cooney said in a statement they were absolutely delighted to announce Dr Fourie's...
First time voters are looking to the future
First-time voters in Tauranga have their eyes to the future when it comes to casting their votes in the local body elections. Despite voter-turnout for youths declining in the past few elections, four Otumoetai College students are keen to have their say come...
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...