RMLA Awards 2024 - who will you nominate?

While members start putting together nominations for the current year, we are shining a spotlight on last year’s award recipients.

First up is Boffa Miskell and Waikato District Council who were was endowed with our Technical Documentation Award for their outstanding Waikato Regional Seascape Study. The award recognised the Study for its significant contribution through innovative techniques to enhance the quality and understanding of seascape values.

The Waikato Regional Seascape Study (2023), was a first-of-its-kind assessment which describes the way the coastal and marine environments interact together to form ‘seascapes’, and how this distinct environment is understood and experienced by people. The report identifies, maps and lists the natural and cultural values of the Waikato region’s seascapes; and puts forward candidates for Outstanding Natural Features and Outstanding Natural Landscapes in the Coastal Marine Areas.

Assessing Seascape character is a relatively new concept to New Zealand. The innovative methodology presented in The Waikato Regional Seascape Study (2023) draws on the project team’s considerable experience gained from evaluating coastal landscapes over the past 20 years as well as on case law. This study has also taken into account widely used principles set out in Te Tangi a Te Manu, the Aotearoa New Zealand Landscape Assessment Guidelines (2022). The methodology presented here can be applied throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand and marks a substantial step forward in the identification and assessment of some of the nation’s most critical and meaningful environments; and will enable district and regional councils to determine appropriate management of these sites.

The landscape planners at Boffa Miskell and the team at Waikato Regional Council, feel that the RMLA Award for Technical Documentation recognises that The Waikato Regional Seascape Study (2023) is an assessment report that is a significant leap forward in terms of its subject matter and methodology, and the robust nature of its findings.

Find out more about our Awards and the nomination process below.