TRC's Tracy Massam becomes the first Māori woman to achieve CFMANZ status

Tracy Massam, Pou Herenga Whai Rawa - or Asset Manager - for Tāmaki Regeneration Company (TRC), is someone who really put her lockdown time to good use - she studied for her CFMANZ (Certified Member of the Facilities Management Association of New Zealand) accreditation. She was awarded CFMANZ status late last year - no small deal given it’s held by only 21 people in the whole country, and she is the first Māori woman recipient. 

People with CFMANZ accreditation are considered highly qualified and experienced practitioners of facilities management from small buildings to large commercial facilities. “It’s pretty exciting to complete this, even though the process was relatively stressful” says Tracy, who completed hours of essays and was questioned and interviewed for the longest hour of her life before waiting a month to find out if she had been successful. “It was gruelling, but I love that it had to be based on real experience - what I have done, rather than what I would do in a theoretical situation. It makes it a very genuine accreditation to hold.”

Tracy has been in the field of facility and asset management for nearly two decades, in education, council and now with TRC. “I love it and I especially love doing it in an organisation like this, where people are at the heart of everything we do. My role covers over 2,500 existing social houses that need repairs and maintenance, as well as being involved in the design of hundreds of new houses that will be rolled out over the next 20 years. We have a good understanding of the common issues and are really striving to understand how our tenants need houses to function, and build and maintain and renew them accordingly.”

This wahine toa was able to express some of her cultural perspectives to the examining board when sitting her accreditation. “Cultural background plays a huge role in the design and management of any asset. It might be something as simple as being cognisant of the design location of food spaces relative to where bathrooms are proposed, or the use of Māori health and wellbeing perspectives as part of the prioritisation of planned maintenance programmes. Identity, language and culture is core to Māori and Pasifika whānau and given that we have a high percentage of Māori and Pasifika people in Tāmaki, it makes sense to build houses that cater to them. Houses are so much more than architectural and engineering structures, they should be designed for real people and I’m thrilled to be in a role where we are working with the community to understand their needs and deliver on them, wherever possible.”

Tracy was also the recipient of Tāmaki Regeneration Company’s 2020 Leadership Award for inspiring and motivating her team and embodying the principles of the way the organisation works. “Between that and the CFMANZ accreditation I’m even more excited about what we are doing now, and more importantly what we will do in the future, here in Tāmaki.”