The Firth NZILA Wānanga 2026 is the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects' annual national gathering, held 5-6 November 2026 at Majestic on Durham in Christchurch under the theme "Ka Rū Ka Hā — Awaken the Energy", culminating in the Resene NZILA Awards Gala Dinner at One NZ Stadium at Te Kaha.
The Firth NZILA Wānanga 2026 is the annual national gathering of the New Zealand landscape architecture profession, running across 5-6 November 2026 in Ōtautahi Christchurch. The New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects (NZILA) frames the 2026 edition around the theme "Ka Rū Ka Hā — Awaken the Energy", exploring how the profession responds to change across landscapes, communities and practice (source: nzila.co.nz). A separate Student Wānanga is held on 4 November at the School of Landscape Architecture (SOLA), Lincoln University.
Note for the directory: this event was listed as "Firth NZILA Conference 2026" in Auckland at the NZICC on 21 October. Per the official organiser site those details are superseded — the institute now runs the event as a "Wānanga", and the 2026 edition is in Christchurch on 5-6 November.
The wānanga is organised by NZILA (Tuia Pito Ora), the professional body for landscape architects in New Zealand, established in November 1972 and operating seven regional branches (source: Wikipedia / NZILA). "Firth" refers to Firth Concrete, the naming sponsor, while Resene sponsors the awards gala. NZILA also presents its biennial awards across multiple categories, including the three supreme awards — the George Malcolm Award, the Charlie Challenger Award and Te Karanga o te Tui.
The wānanga is aimed at registered and student landscape architects, allied design and planning professionals, and industry sponsors. NZILA describes the 2026 programme as "designed as a journey, not two days of back-to-back presentations" (source: nzila.co.nz), built around themed sessions with speakers and session detail being added progressively on the official programme page. The Resene NZILA Awards Gala Dinner is the social centrepiece, held on the Thursday evening from 6:30pm.
The main sessions are hosted at Majestic on Durham in central Christchurch, with the Awards Gala Dinner staged separately at One NZ Stadium at Te Kaha, Christchurch's new covered arena (source: nzila.co.nz). The organiser advises most attendees to arrive by Wednesday evening or early Thursday, and to book return travel after 6:00pm on Friday to allow for closing sessions. NZILA notes that accommodation and detailed travel information will be added to the attend page closer to the event. A central-city venue plus the Te Kaha stadium gala keeps delegate movement compact within the Christchurch CBD, with the airport a short transfer from the city centre.
As the sector's flagship annual event, the Firth NZILA Wānanga anchors a recurring national professional-association conference on the New Zealand business-events calendar. Rotating between main centres (the 2022 50th-anniversary edition was in Auckland), the 2026 return to Christchurch supports the city's post-rebuild events profile and showcases the newly opened One NZ Stadium at Te Kaha as a large-format function space — a meaningful signal for association and gala business in the South Island.
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