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The Bay of Plenty has ranked sixth in the country in a new economic performance report.
ASB's latest Regional Economic Scoreboard showed the region jumped four places to sixth in the June quarter from 10th in the previous quarter.
The scoreboard also gave the Bay a three-star rating for its economic performance.
The report said the bounce was largely a function of weaker performances by the Bay's peers, rather than a sign of particularly strong growth on any given metric.
"Last quarter, we suggested that construction activity in the Bay was moving past its peak, and that looks to have been prescient, with the value of building consents continuing to decline.
"Still, employment growth in the BOP continued its long trend of outperforming the national average, despite two of the region's key industries, forestry – and especially tourism – remaining heavily exposed to Covid-19-related uncertainty.
"The kiwifruit sector remains another important source of support for the region and could continue to benefit from shifting consumer preferences."
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The Western Bay of Plenty Covid-19 Recovery Fund has paid out an additional $177,600 in funding to local community groups struggling with increased demand or income shortfall due to coronavirus.
The successful recipients include Youth Search and Rescue, BOP Classic Aircraft Trust, AphasiaNZ, Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service, Shakti Ethnic Women's Support Group, The Boys Brigade NZ, Families Achieving Balance, Live for More, and Big Buddy Mentoring.
The Recovery Fund aims to support key Western Bay not-for-profit organisations to survive the medium-term impact of Covid-19, to ensure continued service delivery, the capability to deliver and the ability to meet financial commitments.
The joint fund is phase two of the Covid-19 response by local funders TECT, Acorn Foundation, BayTrust and the Tauranga City Council.
BOP Classic Aircraft Trust lost the ability to generate income through the Classic Flyers cafe and function rooms during the lockdown. But fixed costs still had to be paid such as rent, electricity, maintenance and staffing, leaving them in a difficult financial position.
David Love, Classic Flyers board chairman, said the funding would allow them to continue providing their services to the wider community.
The Boys Brigade NZ national director Michael Good said the $9000 in funding received would enable them to provide additional support to schools since Covid-19.
Families Achieving Balance has received an increasing number of referrals since March, particularly from those experiencing family violence, anxiety and loss of work.
Social worker Carrie Matkovich said their small team have had to increase their hours to meet this demand, but feel a sense of relief that the recovery funding would help get them through.
The Covid-19 Recovery Fund is open for applications, which can be made online through the TECT website www.tect.org.nz/covid-19-recovery-fund
There is no closing date for the fund. It is an open-funding round and applications are considered fortnightly.
Community groups that received business as usual funding, and Rapid Response funding, may still be eligible to apply to the Recovery Fund.
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Ray White Commercial Tauranga was awarded a number of accolades at the annual Ray White New Zealand (Virtual) Awards this September.
The commercial team's managing director Philip Hunt achieved Ray White Commercial Salesperson of the Year for the fifth year in a row.
Hunt was honoured as an Elite Performer, ranking him among the top 2 per cent of Ray White agents in the country, where there are more than 180 branches.
"It is an honour to be recognised as one of the best performers not only in commercial but within the whole group," Hunt said.
Ivy Shen was acknowledged as an Executive Member, reflecting her significant service and achievements in the commercial industry in Tauranga.
Christy Arundel, an Executive Member of the group, has been awarded Honorary Premier – a significant achievement and very sought-after performance level.
Ray White managing director Dan White said the team's commitment to their clients was what delivered such impressive results for the group overall.
Ray White Commercial Tauranga also received a series of outstanding accolades at the highly competitive annual Ray White Commercial International (Virtual) Awards last month. Commercial Tauranga was recognised for excellence in customer service, receiving the coveted Customer Service Clients' Choice Award for the fourth year in a row.
Philip Hunt and Christy Arundel also received the Individual Customer service Clients' Choice Awards.
Philip Hunt also won the Elite Performer award and the No 5 Commercial Agent Internationally award.
Kate Bosworth was a finalist, one of the top three internationally, for PA of the Year.
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Priority One has collaborated with the University of Waikato and local design thinking experts to create a new design thinking course in Tauranga.
Design Thinking for Business Impact is a new short course that provides an intensive introduction to design thinking.
The course offers practical coaching from industry practitioners and formal accreditation from a leading university and has been crafted by experts to get you up to speed and delivering impact fast.
Design Thinking for Business Impact is ideal for individuals or teams who are new to design thinking, or looking for a refresher and want to rapidly get to grips with doing design thinking in practice.
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A Rotorua timber business has congratulated the Government on implementing a low-carbon construction procurement policy.
It says the policy will simultaneously deliver strong economic, social and environmental outcomes for New Zealand and was a necessary step in the path to becoming carbon zero by 2050.
As part of the Covid-19 recovery, the Government has strengthened its procurement rules to ensure its annual $42 billion spend creates more jobs, uses more sustainable construction practices and results in better outcomes for Māori and Pasifika.
Cabinet also agreed mandated departments and agencies will be required to assess the greenhouse gas emissions from materials and processes used when constructing new buildings.
Economic development minister Phil Twyford said the use of raw materials such as wood offered a chance for the Government to "reduce its carbon emissions, boost our wood processing sector, create jobs in the regions and utilise a sustainable resource – our forests".
Red Stag group chief executive Marty Verry said it was great that New Zealand was going to start leading the way in clean, green carbon-zero construction.
"It's great for our country's brand image, and something all exporters and tourism can benefit from.
"Fortunately there is now a good range of price-competitive mass timber suppliers in New Zealand, with a good base of architects, engineers and construction companies experienced with wood design and construction."
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An award-winning Ōhope Beach home has sold for a massive $3,650,000 under the hammer.
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom home at 165 Pohutukawa Ave sold for more than double its CV of $1,570,000.
Ray White Ōhope salesperson Tony Bonne said the property offered a dream beach lifestyle and attracted 15 registered buyers and had 40 inspections.
"This is a very special property and it commanded a strong price because the well-designed home with spectacular beach views sits at a prestigious address in Ōhope."
Bonne said the winning bidders were a retired professional couple returning home from Auckland.
Ray White Ōhope auctioneer Wayne Olver said there were 57 bids in total.
"The bidding started at $2,000,017 and immediately jumped to $2,500,00 for the second bid - such was the competition for this magnificent property.
"Bidding was highly active until it got to $3,000,000. It then came down to two passionate buyers, with the winning bidder walking away with the keys at $3,650,000."
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Rotorua Indian Tandoori Cuisine has been nominated in the People's Choice category in the Menulog Restaurant Awards.
Menulog is encouraging all Kiwis to support their local restaurants by voting for them in this year's Menulog Restaurant Awards to be crowned "People's Choice".
The winning restaurant will receive a $1000 cash prize and $2500 in advertising, plus one lucky voter will win free Menulog meals for a year.
Owner of Rotorua Indian Tandoori Cuisine Ajay Bharti said despite being a new restaurant they had been getting great feedback from customers.
"We just opened our restaurant after the first lockdown and we found that it was really busy as soon as we opened.
"Winning People's Choice would be great for us because we are trying to open up a new branch and this prize would help our image and increase awareness about us."
Voting is now open via restaurantawards.menulog.co.nz with up to 10 votes allowed per
person and each vote another chance to win.
The 2020 People's Choice Award winner will be announced on October 1 alongside
the national winner, regional winners and category winners on the website.
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Fresh off a $150,000 investment from Icehouse Ventures, Mount Maunganui-based company Refund Club is looking to provide some light at the end of the tunnel for anyone who has been stuck with non-responsive call centres and worthless credit notes.
Chief executive Nick Bartlett created Refund Club due to the battles his family had getting their flights refunded.
"We were in the same situation as 300,000-plus New Zealanders with unusable credits. Even though we found a solution, it was unknown to most and not as accessible as it could be."
If you bought your tickets with a credit card or debit card, you may be able to get a full refund via the chargeback process where money paid to the retailer is reversed out of their account and refunded into yours.
There's no charge if the refund application is unsuccessful and only a $20 fee plus a voluntary tip if a full refund is obtained.
Check it out at refundclub.co.nz
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The data show Rotorua has the highest proportion of burglaries in New Zealand.