The new chief engineer role links policy, research, and engineering practice

Tuesday, April 26, 2022, 9:43 am Press Release: Earthquake Committee

Connecting policy, research and engineering practice between agencies is a “huge step” in improving construction resilience in New Zealand, says Dr Ken Ellwood, who was recently appointed as Chief Engineer by the Earthquake Commission (EQC) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

The University of Auckland Professor of Engineering hopes that the new position will strengthen relationships between industry and related academic and research institutions, as well as the EQC and MBIE, while providing a strategic lens for resilience strategies, direction and sector-wide initiatives.

Dr. Elwood has already begun talks with the Structural Engineering Society of New Zealand, the New Zealand Earthquake Engineering Society, the Geographical Society of New Zealand, MBIE and EQC to explore possible improvements to how engineers assess the expected seismic performance of existing buildings and design appropriate modifications.

Dr. Elwood will also be the keynote speaker at this week’s New Zealand Society of Earthquake Engineering conference, from 27-29 April, addressing the evolution of building design since the Christchurch earthquakes.

Dr. Joe Horrocks, Head of Resilience and Research at EQC, has high hopes for what EQC and MBIE can do together.

“Developing constructive partnerships and lasting relationships will provide a much more collaborative approach to inform and lead risk reduction activities in New Zealand,” says Dr Horrocks, who acknowledges that it has been a battle to have the natural resilience to risk built into all aspects of decision-making for our communities.

“Through the work that Ken is doing, I hope we can bring science, policy and practice closer together to solve some of the major challenges to New Zealand’s resilience to disasters,” she says.

EQC and MBIE have a common goal of increasing the resilience of New Zealand’s buildings and reducing the impact of natural hazards on people and property.

“The purpose of this dual agency position is to serve as a major advocate for resilience, but also to conduct practical and useful research in support of successful policy,” says Dr. Ellwood.

Dr. Elwood hopes to bring the right people together to tackle critical challenges, work on solutions and initiatives, and improve the future of New Zealand’s building environment.

“It is important to realize that improving resilience building needs more than just best practices or minimal guidelines. I think the position of chief engineer is a huge step toward that,” says Dr. Ellwood.

“The collaboration between EQC and MBIE on previous building resilience projects has been successful, including the ongoing review of the National Seismic Risk Model (NSHM).”

Dr. Elwood is no stranger to the natural hazards we face in New Zealand, having experienced the 2011 Christchurch earthquake firsthand. Since then, he has conducted research to help support earthquake risk reduction.

“It was an experience that changed my life in many different ways, and it definitely affected me as a researcher.”

Dr. Elwood says that science is always evolving, and while the intentions of researchers, policy makers and engineers are good, they are understandably focused on their individual fields.

Also, sometimes it’s as if everyone is speaking another language and important things are lost in translation.

“Such a role can mediate cross-knowledge sharing and collaboration from science to policy to practice, helping to produce practical standards and guidelines that improve building resilience in the real world.”

Among Dr. Elwood’s priorities is the Earthquake Risk Action Program.

This program involves working with Kiwi’s earthquake engineering experts to assess potential changes to the building code and supporting documentation in response to new knowledge of earthquake potential across New Zealand from the NSHM to be released in 2022. It will also lead to code updates in late 2023 and 2025.

Always striving to work at the forefront of research and engineering practice, Canadian-born Dr. Elwood has served as a member of numerous international code committees and is currently a member of the Building Code Committee at the American Concrete Institute.

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