In September 2019, ArchiPro held their second networking event, “AP after five” in Parnell. These events are designed to bring together the professional people and companies on ArchiPro, providing an opening to create opportunities, to network and to learn from industry peers. The September theme was vernacular architecture, and the guest speakers were Tom Rowe, and Willie de Gruchy from WG de Gruchy Construction. Willie was the builder for the Volcano House that has received high media acclaim and the video that was produced by ArchiPro has had more than 50,000 views on youtube.

The content we presented  was attuned to the volcano house and in particular the use of the unique materials sourced from New Zealand. We brought material samples of Riverwood and Timaru Bluestone to the event that were quickly gobbled up by the audience to furnish their material libraries. It has been a real success to work closely with these two small companies that were sourcing material from New Zealand.During the lecture, we relayed that as a result of the Volcano House alone, 17,000 native trees have been planted alongside the rivers of Northland. This process is fuelling provincial growth alongside significant ecological benefits.