Introducing the newest members to the DCC City Development team.

Kathryn Ward - Principal Urban Designer

The DCC warmly welcomed Kathryn Ward as Principal Urban Designer in mid-September as a chartered landscape architect and urban designer, replacing Crystal Filep who has taken up a role at the University of Otago.

Kathryn is passionate about ensuring DCC projects represent the unique characteristics of Dunedin and believes that the best design outcomes can only be achieved with creating outstanding places through prolonged engagement and sense of ownership of the community.

Dr Andrea Farminer - Heritage Advisor

Andrea Farminer joined the DCC City Development team on 15 October as the DCC’s Heritage Advisor, replacing Dan Windwood who moved on to the Auckland City Council.

Andrea previously worked for heritage consultants, Origin Consultants, in Dunedin and has lived in the city for nearly 10 years. She has over 25 years’ experience in heritage consultancy across a range of fields, starting as an archaeologist in the UK, then specialising in buildings archaeology, building conservation and planning, and finally coming to New Zealand to undertake doctoral research at the University of Otago on people and place relationships. Andrea has had the opportunity to work across Dunedin and further afield on many interesting and often challenging heritage projects, and has a real appreciation for our built heritage and the many local people who invest time, money and most of all enthusiasm in retaining and re-using Dunedin's special heritage places.

Richard Ewans - Biodiversity Advisor

Richard Ewans joined the DCC City Development team on 23 October in a newly created Biodiversity Advisor role.

The role is responsible for leading the delivery of the biodiversity outcomes sought under 2GP and Te Ao Tūroa (Dunedin’s Environment Strategy).

This will include:
• working with landowners to understand biodiversity values on their properties and related 2GP rules
• encouraging protection of areas of significant indigenous vegetation or habitats of indigenous fauna and ecological restoration of private land
• providing expert advice on ecological matters to support plan development and resource consent processes
• supporting the administration of the Biodiversity Fund
• monitoring of and reporting on Dunedin’s biodiversity and ecological activities across the city.

For the past five years Richard was an ecological consultant specialising in indigenous vegetation and ecosystem assessment and biodiversity management advice. Prior to that Richard spent 10 years working for the Department of Conservation (DOC) in Fiordland, planning and delivering ecological monitoring programmes as well as threatened species and pest control programmes.

Richard has worked at the front end of biodiversity work and has extensive field experience This brings a practicality and in depth ‘real world’ understanding to the technical and strategic side of ecological assessment and management.