H3 scooped two top accolades in the 2016 Entertainment Venues Association of New Zealand (EVANZ) Awards at Claudelands Arena last night.

The group received the iTicket Excellence in Innovation Award for the smart thinking, effort and care taken to relocate Founders Theatre events to other venues, predominately Claudelands, following the theatre’s closure in March.

As well as managing scheduling, communication and client relationships, the H3 team also came up with creative solutions to present the theatre events in the alterative venues in ways that best replicated the surroundings and acoustics of a traditional theatre.

H3 Technical Services Manager Sven Ladewig was also named as the Simpson Grierson Operations Manager of the Year.

The award recognised for Sven’s depth of expertise and experience, attitude to the role and approach to building and nurturing his specialist team, as well as the pivotal role he played in achieving the production requirements of relocated Founders Theatre events in alternative venues.

H3 Executive Director Sean Murray says the awards are great recognition for the team.

“The EVANZ Awards are always hotly contested so to receive these two top awards from our industry peers is an outstanding achievement for H3.

“The relocation of Founders Theatre events earlier this year was a challenging time but I am immensely proud of the way our team approached this with a great deal of care, consideration and smart thinking to achieve the best results possible for our clients and event-goers,” says Mr Murray.

“The role Sven played in the relocation of Founders Theatre events, and his level of skill and professionalism in general, is exceptional, so for him to be named Operations Manager of the Year reinforces what we already knew – that he really is an outstanding leader in the industry.”

H3 was also shortlisted in two other 2016 EVANZ Award categories – Chad Hooker (Director of Operations and Major Events) was a finalist for Ticketek Venue Executive of the Year, while Dawn Stewart (Business Development Executive) was a finalist for the Priava Rising Star Award.

The annual EVANZ Awards recognise talent and dedication within the country’s events, entertainment and venue industries.

This is the second year in a row that H3 has been awarded the EVANZ Excellence in Innovation Award, after receiving it last year for its ‘Business Systems and Processes Transformation Project’.

In 2014 Claudelands was named EVANZ’s Large Venue of the Year and Supreme Venue of the Year.

H3 is a unit of Hamilton City Council responsible for overseeing the management of Claudelands, FMG Stadium Waikato, Seddon Park, Founders Theatre and The Grandstand.