Locus Research Original product development

PE Australasia offers a wide range of custom-tailored services in areas ranging from Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), product and corporate Carbon Footprinting to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Accounting, as well as the development of sustainability strategies. PE Australasia, is a subsidiary of PE International, the world’s leading Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainability group. Their consulting work is underpinned by their software solutions GaBi for LCA and Carbon footprinting and SoFi for Corporate Environmental Management. With offices in Wellington and Perth PE Australasia provide their services to the Australian and New Zealand market. Locus Research has worked extensively with Managing Director, Barbara Nebel and Principal Consultant Jake McLaren.

Scion (Formerly the NZ Forest Research Institute) and Locus Research have had a long term relationship canvassing both stand alone research projects, applied research, product development, and commercialisation. Scion is a leader in the Biomaterials area, developing cutting edge technologies in Bio-Energy and Bio-Materials.

Scion has been a key collaborator in the life cycle thinking arena and the forestry sector. This collaboration has led to a greater engagement earlier in the science process to provide design and commercialisation input in larger science projects.

They are also neatly based at the foot of the best mountain biking in New Zealand; the Whakarewarewa forest, Rotorua.

A recent collaboration, Landcare has long been a leader in the application of life cycle thinking in New Zealand through their programmes such as: Enviromark; Carbon Zero; Life Cycle Management Project.

Locus Research has worked with the participating companies to assist in integrating life cycle thinking into their product development, and to increase their understanding of design for environment practice and application.

We first collaborated with MFE in 2004 to capitalise on some research we were doing at Delft TU in the Netherlands with Josh Astill on sustainable product design within the EU. This became 'Recircle' which was an internal report used within the ministry to provide some insight into the changes, challenges and trends in the application of sustainable design within the EU.

This collaboration was extended through the Life Cycle Thinking workshops created in 2008 for general use within New Zealand to promote the uptake of sustainable design in practice.

MFE also funded the formation of the Sustainable Design Group of New Zealand (SDGNZ) which Locus is actively involved with.
Locus Research has recently been appointed to the ‘product stewardship assessors panel’ where Jake McLaren will be undertaking work to assist industry sectors and companies to develop strategies for improved end of life producer responsibility.

Textiles New Zealand was founded to represent the textiles, apparel, footwear and carpet sectors. This organisation is vital to the health and wellbeing of the wider textiles sector in New Zealand.

The 'Transform Initiative' was created to develop the R&D capability and capacity within the sector by TNZ and Locus Research, with the financial support of MED and the administrative and managerial support of FRST. This innovative programme is an example of integrating design and business.

One of the most fascinating and durable partnerships Locus Research has had is with a key group of designers and engineers based in the UK.

Neil Tierney and Ryder Meggit have both worked here in New Zealand in 2003 and Blythe Rees-Jones worked with the team at Element06 and LWM. A talented team of designers and engineers were largely responsible for the birth of the Smart Metering powerhouse 'Onzo'.

This group move well beyond design into behavioural change, business creation and commercialisation and have successfully commercialised products in the medical and energy sectors. They consist of Neil Tierney, Ryder Meggit, Rory Wilkinson, Brian Mcguigan, Neil Farish at the top end, with a number of talented designers underneath them. We remain regular visitors between studios and expect Jono from the Onzo team to take up an internship later this year, we also retain a very close shared vision on what design can achieve and how it should be delivered.

When Locus Research first started we worked in a small house at the mount with an electronics engineer and an electrical engineer come general logic chip. Glenn Laugesen has gone on to create an effective technology hosting platform that has enabled Locus to embrace the best in collaborative technology online.

DINZ is the voice of New Zealand design, and Locus Research has contributed in particular to the sustainable design component of DINZ. Locus has collaborated on the production of a sustainable design resource, a sustainable design guide and the life cycle thinking series.

Locus Research remains committed to the development of the sector as a whole through improvements education and professional development.