NZ Contractor 1504

NEW ZEALAND’S CIVIL CONTRACTING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

GOING FOR THE HAT TRICK Wirtgen New Zealand takes a multifaceted approach to construction hardware in conjunction with M2PP Alliance partner, Higgins.

INSIDE: National Excavator Operator Competition highlights Heavy hauling one of the biggest loads ever through Northland ANZAC Memorial Park opens in time for 2015 commemoration Road cones – there’s more to them than you’d think

APRIL 2015

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CONTENTS CONTRACTOR

27

INSIDE: Regulars

Highlights / Features

2 Editorial 4 Upfront 16 On the Cover 50 Training 64 Classic Machines 68 Motoring 70 Innovations & Contractors’ Diary 71 Innovations & Advertisers Index 72 Civil Contractors NZ Comment

18

Obituaries

34

12 Rex Pollock 14 Erek Moen 15 Kelvin Strong

Tranzcarr moves the biggest load that Northland’s roads can handle.

22

Dealing with tight tolerances

Technology makes all the difference on Ruapehu roads.

26

New memorial for ANZAC centenary Our new National War Memorial Park opens this month.

30

Cones, more to them than you’d think A light-hearted look at the common road cone.

40

The art of making swimming pools

ON THE COVER

We watch Brian Hoffman at work for a day.

A multifaceted civil construction project needs a multifaceted approach to construction hardware; especially when the work site extends for 18km.

That’s exactly the approach that Wirtgen New Zealand has been able to take in conjunction with M2PP Alliance partner, Higgins.

See page 16

NEOC 2015 All the highlights from this year’s competition.

48

CCNZ Associate profile 38 EROAD

Heavy hauling through Northland

GPS lessons from Australia Mandatory GPS tracking in the future?

52

Building an American landmark The New NY Bridge to be maintenance free for 100 years.

Comment 58 Malcolm Abernethy Civil Contractors NZ

56

Engineering lessons from Christchurch Sumner’s Surf Life-Saving Club posed an interesting challenge for engineers.

60 Matt Cobham SiteSorted 61 Arie Moore and Kate Henderson Kensington Swan

62 Janet Brothers Life Care Consultants

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65 APRIL 2015 1

CONTRACTOR EDITORIAL

PUBLISHER Contrafed Publishing Co Ltd Suite 2.1, 93 Dominion Road, Mt Eden, Auckland PO Box 112357, Penrose, Auckland 1642 Phone: +64 9 636 5715 Fax: +64 9 636 5716 www.contrafed.co.nz

Honouring the past Christmas holidays already seem like a long time ago, which is probably why it’s dark at both ends of the working day again for many. Conversations about cricket will switch to rugby; long hot dusty days will feel like a dim memory as the cold and damp seeps through wet boots; and industry conferences and awards are, once again, upon us.

The first of these was, of course, the annual Hirepool National Excavator Operator Competition held last month in Feilding. Returning champ James Lux of Fulton Hogan, Bay of Plenty, reclaimed the crown from Brian Hoffman by enjoying the event and relaxing, he says. Remembering to enjoy what we choose to do every day can bring such rewards.

There are more results and photos starting on page 41. A lot of work goes in to managing these regional and national competitions, now in their 22nd year, and continued contractor participation is what will make this effort worthwhile.

And if you want to see what Brian Hoffman does when he’s not at NEOC, take a look at page 34 where he explains how he installs a swimming pool. I’m sure it’s not as easy as he makes out.

We have a mixed-bag magazine this month, with a light-hearted look at road cones. Take a look, too, on YouTube to watch peoples’ cone collections proudly displayed and described.

Strangely fascinating, and fascinatingly strange.

On the international scene, we look at a new New York bridge, which at US$3.9 billion will cost more than three times New Zealand’s largest ever road project, Auckland’s Western Ring Route.

And, as is becoming a pattern at this time of the year, we have three obituaries ¬– Rex Pollock of Tauranga, Erek Moen of Alexandra, and Kelvin Strong, who passed away just three days after his wife, Beth.

This month we also honour the sappers of World War 1, to whom most of the trenchdigging and road-building jobs fell – earning them the name ‘digger’, a term still very much in use in Australia, but not as well-known here. Reputations were also earned in fortification, and in particular extensive tunnelling, notably under France. The New Zealand Society for Civil Engineers listed 113 of its members going in to the Great War with 50 becoming officers and 14 of them killed.

As we know the impact of this war has shaped much of our thinking about who we are today, and this month we will all be reminded of what those efforts meant to the country collectively, and families individually.

In our own small way we acknowledge that effort here, along with other fascinating WW1 features in Contractor sister publications Q&M and Local Government this month, as the whole country acknowledges the 100th Centenary of Gallipoli.

Lest we forget.

Kevin Lawrence, editor

GENERAL MANAGER & EDITOR Kevin Lawrence DDI: 09 636 5710 Mobile: 021 512 800 Email: kevin@contrafed.co.nz EDITORIAL MANAGER Alan Titchall DDI: 09 636 5712 Mobile: 027 405 0338 Email: alan@contrafed.co.nz REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS Richard Campbell, Hugh de Lacy, Peter Gill, Gavin Riley, Lawrence Schaffler, Jeremy Sole.

ADVERTISING / SALES Charles Fairbairn DDI: 09 636 5724 Mobile: 021 411 890 Email: charles@contrafed.co.nz ADMIN / SUBSCRIPTIONS DDI: 09 636 5715 Email: admin@contrafed.co.nz PRODUCTION Design: TMA Design, 09 636 5713 Printing: PMP MAXUM

Contributions welcome Please contact the editor before sending them in.

Articles in Contractor are copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the permission of the publisher.

Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the shareholding organisations.

www.linkedin.com/contrafedpublishing @NZContractormag

The official magazine of Civil Contractors NZ www.civilcontractors.co.nz The Aggregate & Quarry Association www.aqa.org.nz The New Zealand Heavy Haulage Association www.hha.org.nz The Crane Association of New Zealand www.cranes.org.nz Rural Contractors New Zealand www.ruralcontractors.org.nz The Ready Mixed Concrete Association www.nzrmca.org.nz Connexis www.connexis.org.nz

ISSN 0110-1382

2 www.contractormag.co.nz

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CONTRACTOR UPFRONT

1200 tonnes of structural steel Recent work on the Cambridge section of the Waikato Expressway involved dropping the final beams onto the 200-metre long Karapiro Gully bridge (near Cambridge) with a 280 tonne crane. This is a key part of this stretch and the biggest bridge on the expressway. It involves 1200

tonnes of structural steel and 23,000 bolts and is made up of four 50-metre spans, making it 200 metres in length with the deck 40 metres above the gully floor. Auckland’s Harbour Bridge is only three metres higher at 43 metres above the water.

Letter to our motoring editor Dear Peter I read your November issue Motoring column and was intrigued by the article on Bedford school buses and the comment on the motors being Chevrolet designed.

I would like that to be clarified. If memory serves me right, the first Bedford motors were Buick. They may have been designed by Louis Chevrolet, but it seems odd that he would have done so if he already had the Chevy 6 motor from 1929.

The Bedford motor was a slightly different capacity and had pressure fed big ends from day one, whereas Chevy persisted with antiquated splash feed until 1955.

Your comments please.

Thanks, Lynn.

Peter Gill responds That corrupt and bent old memory stick that serves as my brain tells me that Bedford engines of the 1930s to the 1950s were modified Chev engines, and that Mr Buick wasn’t involved.

I went to the internet for a quick check and I think I’m right about that. Yes, Bedford/ Vauxhall did vary the cubic capacity of the Chev engines from time to time to suit the needs of the British market. And it looks as though you are right about bottom end lubrication, something I am not an expert in.

It seems that Bedford/Vauxhall did have a better system for this than Chev right into the 1950s. Thanks Lynn for being only the fifth reader to write to my column in Contractor in its 20-year history.

Regards, Peter Gill.

4 www.contractormag.co.nz

Northland bridges beckon Regardless of who wins the Northland seat (March 28) contractors win, thanks to Mike Sabin, whose resignation as local MP (National) opened up a by-election for the region.

With Winstone Peters contesting the seat, National Party Northland candidate Mark Osborne suddenly announced National will commit to replacing 10 single lane bridges on Northland’s Twin Coast Highway over the next six years. National says it will stick to its pledge regardless of who wins the electorate.

The 10 Bridges programme will cost between $32 million and $69 million, and replace 10 old single lane bridges on the State Highway network with two lane bridges. Funding will primarily come from the National Land Transport Fund.

UPFRONT CONTRACTOR

Hynds Construction Awards open for entries Entries are now open to all members of the Auckland Branch of Civil Contractors New Zealand for the 2015 Hynds Construction Awards and the AB Equipment People Awards.

The Hynds Construction Awards are for projects undertaken within the Pokeno to Warkworth area that are completed or near completion. Projects outside of this area will be considered at the discretion of CCNZ Auckland.

Awards are for the period April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015, and are categorised into three company categories (SME, Medium and Large by turnover) and then two project categories (by project cost) within each company category.

Entries will be judged across nine criteria with percentage weighting as follows: Safety 15 (percent); Innovation 15; Technical difficulty 10; Project management 10; Client satisfaction 10; Project profile 10; Presentation of entry 10; Quality of work 10; and Environmental matters 10.

Six industry judges will mark the entries and project sites and project managers must be available from April 15 to May 30 2015 for prearranged and agreed appointments for the judges to visit.

Nominations are also open for the AB Equipment People Awards for Outstanding Individual of the Year and Young Contractor of the Year. Nominees will be shortlisted and finalists will be interviewed by a judging panel of six between May 1 and May 31.

Entries for both sets of awards must be submitted by Tuesday April 14.

The winners of all awards will be announced at a black tie CCNZ Gala Event to be held at Shed 10, Waterfront Auckland on Saturday June 27. The Supreme Award to the overall winner from the combined categories in the Hynds Construction Awards will also be presented on the night.

Awards entry forms with full details are available for downloading from CCNZ’s website: www.nzcontractors.co.nz/auckland+branch

All HPMV permits accessible online Following its successful implementation in Auckland, the new online high productivity motor vehicle (HPMV) permitting system will be rolled out by the NZ Transport Agency nationwide. All HPMV operators can now apply for their permits online.

Transport Agency freight director Harry Wilson says the new system is centralised, meaning that the permitting team will receive all permits through one channel.

The decision to issue or decline a permit will still rest with each region’s permit issuing officer, but applying online means operators will have the benefit of a system which offers a range of features including tracking each step of their permit’s progress and remembering details to make repeat applications much easier and faster.

The system will also enable permits to be processed more efficiently, says Wilson.

Operators will be able to continue using a manual system for permits indefinitely, although it is expected most will opt for the time-saving option of online applications.

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CONTRACTOR UPFRONT

Slip repairs underway After the NZ Transport Agency completed its geotechnical investigations and awarded the 18-week contract to Fulton Hogan last month, the contractor started repairing the 70-metre section of State Highway 1, south of Kawakawa. Flooding last July caused a significant slip, closing the highway for seven days and requiring a temporary route to be built.

NZTA acting Auckland and Northland highway manager, Mieszko

Iwaskow, says the repair will involve moving more than 3000 tonnes of material to build a stabilised-earth retaining wall with 39 reinforced concrete piles, driven 21 metres into the ground.

“We will also install additional drainage at the base of the retaining wall to help stabilise the slope.”

The highway will be rebuilt along the existing alignment and barriers installed to improve safety, he adds.

Green light for final sections of Waikato Expressway The NZ Transport Agency board has approved $1.08 billion to fund construction of the Hamilton and Longswamp sections of the Waikato Expressway, one of the seven Roads of National Significance (RoNS).

The Transport Agency was also expected to announce the successful tenderer for the $458 million Huntly section in March.

Transport Minister, Simon Bridges says the approval means that all seven sections of the expressway will be built, under construction or out to tender by the end of 2015, with total government investment of around $2 billion.

Once complete, the expressway will extend 102 kilometres from the intersection of State Highway 1 and 2 at the base of the Bombay hills in the north, to just south of Cambridge. The continuous, divided four-lane highway will reduce the length of State Highway 1 by six kilometres.

According to the Transport Agency’s Waikato and Bay of Plenty regional director, Harry Wilson, the 21.8 kilometre Hamilton section and the 15.2 kilometre Huntly section are the largest and most complex sections of the expressway, and will also bring the biggest benefits in terms of travel time savings and safety.

“Work on the Huntly section is expected to begin in September and we will start the tender process on the other two sections [Hamilton and Longswamp] over the next eight months.

“These projects will create jobs locally with the employment of subcontractors and provide a flow-on effect for local businesses, which is great news for our region,” Wilson said.

Multi-party funding agreements for the Hamilton section are being finalised between the Transport Agency, Waikato District Council, Hamilton City Council and Tainui Group Holdings.

Stephen Selwood, chief executive of the NZ Council for Infrastructure Development, says this funding arrangement begs the question why more transport investment isn’t accelerated through debt funding major capital projects.

6 www.contractormag.co.nz

Hire confidence at six-year high Hiring sentiment is at its highest level in six years as the demand for new hires becomes increasingly balanced across the country, reveals the latest Hudson Report, Employment Trends.

A net 30.1 percent of employers across the country intend to increase permanent staff numbers, up two percentage points (pp) compared to the previous quarter, and marking four consecutive quarters of employment growth, it says.

Previously the Canterbury and Auckland regions have been key drivers of hiring demand nationally and while still positive, this is now being supported by rising expectations in the lower North Island where employer sentiment has shot up 5.2pp to 22.8 percent in the highest quarter on quarter increase in the region since early 2011.

“For some time both the Canterbury re-build and investment in Auckland have been leading the employment charge, however post-election we’re now seeing Wellington, led by the resumption of large government transformation projects, starting to come to the party and signalling a much more balanced hiring landscape across New Zealand,” says Roman Rogers, executive general manager, Hudson NZ. “While business confidence is growing in line with consumer confidence, a watchful eye is being kept on key indicators such as inflation, commodity prices and the dollar. Employers are cautiously juggling demand in order to be competitive and we expect incremental employment growth in the year ahead.”

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CONTRACTOR UPFRONT

Big Bertha still stuck More than a year after Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel boring machine, got stuck under downtown Seattle, plans to free the big machine have stalled.

The first part of the US$80 million project to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct – damaged in 2001 by a 6.8 magnitude earthquake – was routine, but just 10 percent of the way through the 1.7-milelong dig Seattle Tunnel Partners, the contractor group running the project, thought they had hit an obstruction. Investigators eventually concluded Bertha was overheating and decided to replace the seals and main bearing.

To gain access they chose to dig a 120-foot-deep access pit in front of Bertha, rather than go through the painstaking, time-consuming process of disassembling the machine from behind to make the fixes. Construction of the pit started in October with high hopes that tunnelling would begin again this April about 16 months after the initial stoppage, but in December crews monitoring the project noticed another problem: one inch worth of differential settlement in the area around the job site, causing cracks in basements and foundations above the tunnel.

The breakdown of Bertha has set the project back by at least a year and it will now not be completed until November 2016 – assuming they can get Bertha moving again.

Bad roading design Transport Minister Simon Bridges and Auckland Mayor, Len Brown.

When sod turning turns tough It was every contractor’s nightmare – not having the right gear for the job.

The project was the obligatory sod turning ceremony, in this case for the NZTA’s SH20A upgrade involving a new motorway interchange at the entrance to Auckland airport, which is currently a congested intersection. Construction is now underway and the project is expected to take two years to complete.

The spades were ceremonial, chromed and blunt.

The land was baked like concrete under Auckland’s late summer heat.

The two chosen for the task were Transport Minister Simon Bridges and the slightly built Auckland Mayor, Len Brown. These two desk warriors, trussed up in suits and ties, made a torturous-to-watch sight as they fought the parched earth to dig out a ceremonial sod. Members of the local iwi gave the task more urgency as they chanted over them. “Has someone got a sharp spade,” Len yelled above the haka, before lapsing into hysterical laughter.

Eventually the Hon Bridges, who has a law degree from Oxford University, dropped to his knees and ripped up some dead grass with a bit of dirt hanging off its roots and placed the scalp-like mess into a ceremonial white, plastic bucket. We clapped with relief.

Why hadn’t a nice square ‘sod’ been previously carved out for the cameras, you could well ask?

8 www.contractormag.co.nz

Passing lanes don’t always do the job they were designed to do and a series of them on State Highway 3 between Hamilton Airport and Te Awamutu have been removed by the Transport Agency for safety reasons. The stretch of highway is the only one in the country with passing lanes for north and southbound traffic side by side, without a median barrier and with access to properties.

Over the 10 years between 2004 and 2014 there have been a total of 126 crashes, resulting in five deaths and 10 serious injuries on the three stretches of highway within the project, says the NZTA. A new design allows for at least one passing lane opportunity every five kilometres.

Trade equivalent of the Olympics Some 26 young Kiwis are preparing to compete against the best of the best competitors from Canada, India, Malaysia, China, Australia and Korea in the inaugural WorldSkills Oceania regional competition to be held April 13-17 at Wintec in Hamilton.

So far, 105 international competitors are registered to compete in a total of 30 different skill categories at the Oceania competitions. The NZ WorldSkills team doesn’t include earthmoving construction skills, but chief executive Bruce Howat is very keen to see that change. He says earthmoving construction skills will be represented at the world finals in Brazil in August.

Concrete papers The 2015 Concrete Industry Conference will be held at the Rotorua Convention Centre, Rotorua October 8-10, 2015.

It is being organised by the Cement & Concrete Association; Concrete Masonry Association; Concrete Society; Ready Mixed Concrete Association; and Precast New Zealand Inc.

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CONTRACTOR UPFRONT

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The land wars in New Zealand were preparation for the terraintortured European battlefields of WW1 in that Maori defences featured ramparts, bunkers and trenches built with traditional Maori earthmoving skills.

This legacy of military engineering resurfaced on the slopes of Gallipoli and the battlefields of France and Belgium between 1915 and 1918.

Before 1914, New Zealand was divided into four military districts and each one had a fields company of sappers (engineers).

Along with members of the Maori Pioneers, these engineers were involved in digging the trenches that became the impasse for the ANZAC forces stuck on the slopes of Gallipoli until they retreated in late 1915. It was the incessant digging for cover and fortification against German-led Turkish forces that earned our troops the name ‘digger’, a term still very much used today in Australia to describe a military or even civil veteran. It also has to be noted that a lot of that digging was done by members of the Maori Pioneers and it was Maori labour that was to become, back home, the backbone of the Ministry of Works.

However, it was in France and Belgium that Kiwi engineers earned

TENSAR® TRIAXTM GEOGRID

10 www.contractormag.co.nz

REF: 1/2-012772-G. ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND.

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E W ST

T E G FOR

a reputation for trenching, fortification and, in particular, extensive tunnelling in the later years of the war – tough and dangerous work.

A special tunnelling company, largely made up of ex miners, mined and counter-mined the frontlines on the Western Front. So much ‘digging’ was involved in this theatre before the German army was rolled back into Germany, that in 1918 an entrenching group was formed that peaked in strength at three battalions. At its peak the NZEF Engineering Corp’s fighting strength was over 23,000. It included 1620 sappers and 900 tunnellers. The New Zealand Society for Civil Engineers listed 113 of its members going to the Great War with 50 becoming officers and 14 of them killed.

There is no doubt that their participation in the Great War brought New Zealand into ‘international’ focus and connectedness as these troops brought their new skills home into civil construction under our Public Works Department and agencies, and private contracting companies.

Such people included Arnold Downer, who served in Egypt and France and who came home, finished his civil engineering studies and became famous for his tunnelling expertise while working for the Public Works Department. He founded Downer & Co in 1933.

ALTERNATIVE GEOGRID

1. Members of the Pioneer Battalion laying a road in Messines, Belgium.

3

3. Pioneer Battalion making a road, France.

2. M embers of the World War I Maori Pioneer Battalion taking a break from trench improvement work, near Gommecourt, France.

PHOTOS: Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association: New Zealand official negatives, World War 1914-1918.

APRIL 2015 11

REF: 1/2-013793-G. ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND.

REF: 1/2-013414-G. ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND.

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CONTRACTOR OBITUARY

Tauranga icon REX POLLOCK, a crane owner whose generosity to the community over many years was legendary is farewelled with a spectacular funeral parade through his city.

REX POLLOCK, who died in February at the age of 70, was much

more than a successful crane owner and transport operator.

Quietly spoken and courteous, he became a revered figure in his adopted home of Tauranga through his generous financial support of community activities and projects.

When Rex’s funeral service was held on Saturday, February 14, his wishes ensured it would be an occasion to remember.

His casket was placed in his company’s heavy-haulage truck, which headed a funeral procession of seven cranes and mourners that took an hour to travel from his home through the city and Mt Maunganui to the ASB Bank Arena, where the service was held.

His wife Cheryl, who travelled in the truck, which was driven by one of the couple’s sons, said the funeral parade was just the way Rex would have wanted it.

“Rex would have been very, very happy,” she told the Bay of Plenty Times. “As we drove past, people were taking off their hats in respect to him. There were a lot of waves and nods.”

Mayor Stuart Crosby, who spoke at the service, said Rex would be missed hugely and described him as “a true icon of Tauranga”, both as a businessman and a philanthropist.

“Rex was a generous man and strongly passionate about Tauranga. He absolutely loved people and loved helping others. He gave so much of himself, and when it came to fundraising events he generously gave money or lent his equipment many, many times over many years.”

Born in Taranaki, Rex David Pollock arrived in Tauranga in 1965 penniless but having completed a building apprenticeship. With his former foreman, Allan Todd, he formed Todd & Pollock, which expanded from its building roots into crane hire and freight haulage.

When Todd retired in 1986, Rex bought him out. At its peak the company recorded an annual turnover of $40 million and when Rex decided to sell the company in 2006 it had a staff of 56. Four had more than 20 years’ service and nearly all the rest had between five and 20 – an indication of the affection and loyalty their leader inspired.

Four businesses, including one in Australia, were in the running to buy Todd & Pollock. It was sold for an undisclosed sum to Auckland-

based New Zealand Crane Hire.

Rex and Cheryl Pollock had intended to take life a little easier and enjoy their new Tauranga-built 13-metre launch. However, after two years the lure of business proved too strong. When Rex’s son Steven and Cheryl’s sons Wayne and Thomas, all with considerable industry experience, said they were keen to form their own company in 2008, their parents agreed to back them – provided they made a success of the venture within five years (they did it in three).

And there was another proviso: the emphasis must be on cranes ahead of transport. Rex explained later that Todd & Pollock’s crane-hire business had suffered in the early 2000s through too much attention to the trucking side and had to go through a re-focusing process.

Thus Pollock & Sons Crane Hire was formed and, like Todd & Pollock before it, became a member of the Crane Association of New Zealand.

The company began with nothing but quickly bought three secondhand Kato cranes – 13-, 25- and 50-tonners – then added a new 130-tonne Grove, plus a second-hand Kenworth 6x4 and various trailers for cartage purposes. Today the company’s crane fleet numbers about 17, including five Grove all-terrains.

Away from business, Rex’s support of Baypark Speedway in Tauranga was legendary. Todd & Pollock had naming rights for many years and first it, then Pollock & Sons, sponsored the successful Baypark Busters speedway team. Rex was low-key about his countless other donations and sponsorships, but it was estimated when he sold Todd & Pollock in 2006 that he had given more than $2 million to the local community.

“Rex … gave a lot of money to lots of local causes because he was very staunch about looking after the local community rather than see the money go out of town,” Cheryl told the Bay of Plenty Times.

“Rex was an old-fashioned kind of gentleman. He was a very generous, proud man and a quietly spoken gentleman. His handshake was his signature. He mixed with anybody and never ranked people and made everyone feel welcome.”

Rex Pollock is survived by Cheryl, sons Steven and Nathan, daughter Letitia, stepsons Wayne and Thomas, stepdaughter Cassandra, and 15 grandchildren.

By Gavin Riley

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CONTRACTOR OBITUARY

A Southland pioneer EREK MOEN, a WW2 veteran, worked diligently on behalf of his fellow contractors despite managing a growing and diversifying company.

EREK MOEN, A SUCCESSFUL post-war pioneering contractor in

Southland, has died in Alexandra at the age of 92.

He had the distinction of being the first Southlander to serve on the Contractors’ Federation national executive after contributing much to his local branch.

Of Norwegian ancestry, Erek spent five years in the New Zealand Army during World War Two and fought in the Italian campaign.

He used his returned-serviceman’s grant to take a third share in a Barber-Greene ditching machine, which was fitted with a vertical line of 23 buckets and scrapers and could dig a ditch 455mm wide and two metres deep.

In early 1949 Erek became managing director of the newly formed Tile Drainage Co, a ditching contractor. He looked after the financial and contracting side of the business and also operated the ten-ton Barber-Greene.

To transport the machine and other equipment, the company built its first five-axle low-bed transporter, using an ex-military General Motors 6x6 as the tractor unit.

By 1953 Tile Drainage had bought its first bulldozer, a TD9, which worked alongside the ditcher and was used for general farm work. But the following year the company sold the ditcher, changed its name to Heavy Haulage, and until 1976 also operated a subsidiary company, Southland Farm Improvements, which was engaged in land development for the Lands and Survey Department.

The transporting side of the company grew rapidly and was soon

shifting heavy gear all around the region, both for itself and other contractors. It was a business made difficult by having to obtain a special licence to cart goods more than 40 miles (65 kilometres) if in competition with the state-run railways.

In 1960 Heavy Haulage beat eight other tenderers to win a contract with Southland Harbour Board to supply and operate loading-and-unloading plant on the New Island Harbour at Bluff.

The contract required 30 operators and forklift trucks, shunting tractors, tractors and trailers, and cranes.

Heavy Haulage also designed and built several special trailers for transporting fishing boats up to 20 metres long to Bluff, where the craft were then launched using the company’s 41-ton-capacity crawler crane.

Other major operations in the 1960s were the warehousing, transporting and handling of heavy machinery used in the construction of the Manapouri hydro scheme; transporting prefabricated beams, piles and deck plates for the cantilever Tiwai Bridge at the start of the Tiwai Point smelter project; and hauling a 50-ton, 40-foot-long, 50-foot-high pile-driving ramp required to help build the Tiwai wharf.

After the smelter was up and running, Heavy Haulage handled the warehousing and delivery of all materials for three international companies involved at different times in oil exploration off the Southland coast.

In 1998 Heavy Haulage’s transport and contracting business was sold to AB Equipment, with the directors retaining only their thriving Jesco Hydraulics division, which they had acquired 11 years earlier.

Erek Moen gave up operating machines in 1972 because of illness, but continued as Heavy Haulage’s managing director and later became a director of Jesco Hydraulics. He eventually went to live in Alexandra with his wife Ngaire, to whom he was married for 63 years.

Despite his busy working life he did much for his fellow contractors.

He served on the committee of the Southland branch of the Contractors’ Federation from the branch’s inception in 1955, represented the branch on the Industrial Transport Association, was a member of a sub-committee appointed to examine hourly rates for agricultural machines, was branch vice-chairman in 1961 and 1962, was chairman in 1963 and 1964 and again in 1968 and 1969, and was elected a member of the federation’s national council from 1968-71.

“He was always a very pleasant fellow, a gentleman and a good committee man,” said federation life member Colin Davidson, who preceded Erek as Southland branch chairman.

Erek Moen is survived by his son Peter, daughter Nicki, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

By Gavin Riley (with acknowledgement to Valerie Davidson’s book, “No Degree for Experience.”)

14 www.contractormag.co.nz

CONTRACTOR OBITUARY

Ace administrator For many years KELVIN STRONG served a wide range of industry organisations from his office in Wellington’s Margan House.

NO ONE HAS EVER GIVEN longer and more

comprehensive service to organisations representing the wider contracting industry than Kelvin Strong, who has died at the age of 74, three days after the passing of his wife, Beth.

Kelvin spent 28 years at Civil Contractors New Zealand’s national office in Wellington, Margan House. During that entire time he was executive director of the Aggregate & Quarry Association, which awarded him life membership on his retirement in 2006.

The industry thought so highly of him that for his last eight years he was chairman of the board of the Extractive Industries Training Organisation.

During the latter half of his time in Margan House he was also executive director of Rural Contractors New Zealand.

His appetite for administration ranged far and wide. When he arrived at Margan House in 1978, after working for the NZ Wheat Board for six years, he was administration officer under chief executive Ian Blincoe of the Contractors’ Federation, and executive officer of both the Ready Mixed Concrete Association and the federation’s chemicalapplicator section.

For 16 years to the mid-1990s he was secretary of the federation’s Wellington branch, and from the late 1980s he had a nine-year spell as executive director of the Ground Spreaders’ Association and a 15-year

term in a similar capacity with the Hire and Rental Association. He was responsible for organising tours to overseas conventions and trade shows for all those organisations.

In the early 1990s Kelvin’s working conditions changed dramatically overnight.

The federation decided that providing secretarial services for other organisations was not part of its core business and Kelvin found himself continuing to carry out his work in a self-employed capacity while remaining in Margan House.

In partnership with his wife Beth he formed Bekel Management Services, concentrating on servicing the quarrying and rural-contracting organisations. The employment switch to contractor, though forced on him, was to bring him considerable job satisfaction.

“It is only by being responsible directly to those organisations and not through the Contractors’ Federation that I have had the opportunity to share and contribute ideas and help grow the organisations,” he said on his retirement.

Commenting on his vast administrative workload over the years, he said: “When you look back on it, you wonder how you did it.”

Visitors to his office wondered too. Every cupboard was filled with files, reports, agenda papers and minutes of meetings, and much of his large desk was similarly occupied with large piles of paperwork. Yet he always

Commenting on his vast administrative workload over the years...

“When you look back on it, you wonder how you did it.” knew exactly where everything was and could find what he wanted within seconds.

When Kelvin retired, his desire to serve others was undiminished. Having been ordained as an Anglican priest in 1999, the Rev Kelvin Strong became priest in charge of the Wellington South parish from 2006-07, assistant priest from 2008 at St John’s Anglican Church, Trentham, and convenor/ manager of the Upper Hutt Food Bank.

For much of last year Kelvin and Beth suffered increasing ill-health, Kelvin eventually having a leg amputated below the knee and Beth being diagnosed with cancer.

Yet they continued their community work almost until their deaths in late February.

Kelvin and Beth Strong are survived by sons Nigel and Rodney, four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

By Gavin Riley

Recognising and celebrating suppliers who ‘Go the Extra Mile’ for customer service and safety.

The GEM Awards (Going the Extra Mile) is The Transport Agency’s opportunity to recognise and celebrate suppliers who ‘Go the Extra Mile’ for customer service and safety. This is a fantastic way to celebrate and recognise the appraisal of work that can sometimes go unseen but not untouched by everyday New Zealanders.

Applications open in May for the 2015 GEM Awards and we look forward to further examples of industry excellence for the GEM Awards 2015.

For more information and an application pack go to

www.nzta.govt.nz/about/awards/

APRIL 2015 15

CONTRACTOR ON THE COVER

GOING FOR

THE HAT TRICK

A multifaceted civil construction project needs a multifaceted approach to construction hardware; especially when the work site extends for 18km. That’s exactly the approach that Wirtgen New Zealand has been able to take in conjunction with M2PP Alliance partner, Higgins.

THE COMPLEX WORKING environment of the 18km-long MacKays to Peka Peka (M2PP) Expressway site – a component of the Wellington Northern Corridor Roads of National Significance project – is split into three zones; northern, central and southern.

This means there are multiple work fronts all progressing in unison, with Wirtgen New Zealand-supplied equipment being relied upon each step of the way.

“It’s a complex site with a lot going on. All the gear you see is here for a reason; we need it to work hard and consistently for us, and that’s why we trust it,” says M2PP pavements manager Jonathan Kibblewhite.

“Higgins and Wirtgen New Zealand have enjoyed a long working relationship.”

That relationship extends to utilising leading technology never before trialled in New Zealand, such as Higgins’ truck-mounted Streumaster SW 16 MC binding agent spreader unit.

It’s no small matter bringing brand new technology onto a complex work site like M2PP, where each crew involved is an integral component of a critical path; wholly reliant on the speed and efficiency of the other 16 www.contractormag.co.nz

crews surrounding and supporting them.

“From 7.00am until 10.00am we’re spreading 75 tonnes of cement and hoeing it in three hours,” says Jonathan.

“Our teams are incredibly efficient, so we need to know the mobile plant we’re bringing in has the ability to keep up with the required work flow. The Streumaster is very quick though; what’s more the standard software onboard gives our guys absolute accuracy through load cell monitoring.”

Operator John Burrows says the improvements in speed and consistency the Streumaster SW 16 MC offers are second-to-none.

“It’s an impressive machine. It’s about four times as fast as the previous spreader I used. Because it features a moving chain-driven conveyor floor, this really helps with the consistency of the spread,” says John.

“It’s intuitive to use and gives you very good width control through the gates. You can isolate each gate and run it individually, or run all three at the same time; this means you have a lot of flexibility with the spread width – from a 2.5m maximum to a one metre minimum.”

The big Wirtgen WR240 soil stabiliser in action

Higgins’ Streumaster SW 16 MC spreader is the first of its kind in NZ

John says that, whereas older style gates often let extra product slide through, the Streumaster system is very precise. Mounted to a Hino chassis, the Higgins spreader unit holds a maximum of 16 tonnes of cement and fully loaded weighs around 26 tonnes. The unit features a self-cleaning mode and a spreading quantity of between five and 35-litres/min² at around 2km/h.

“What we previously needed to do in two runs, we can now complete in one thanks to the Streumaster’s heavy application rate. This improved application rate means we can use the machine more efficiently on site,” adds Jonathan Kibblewhite.

A relatively recent addition to the Wirtgen Group umbrella of construction equipment, the Streumaster is just one of three brands supplied by Wirtgen New Zealand working the soil along this section of what will eventually be the four-lane M2PP expressway.

Joining the binding agent spreader is a large capacity Wirtgen WR240 soil stabiliser, along with a fleet of three Hamm 3412 compactors.

As a result of its large working width and depth and solid milling and mixing performance, the Wirtgen WR240 provides the Higgins team with ample power, all-terrain surefootedness and flexibility for soil stabilisation or cold recycling. And with approximately 800,000m² of stabilising required along the 18km expressway, the Hawke’s Bay-based stabilisation crew are well-versed in getting great results.

APRIL 2015 17

PHOTOS: WIRTGEN NEW ZEALAND + HIGGINS @ M2PP FOR CONTRACTOR

Higgins’ trio of Hamm 3412 compactors

Jonathan explains that while the Wirtgen WR240 will be used on both the expressway and local roads, the expressway’s design is quite unique.

“There is 210mm of sub-base and we stabilise 185mm. The reason for this is that we want to keep a consistent 25mm buffer so that when we’re stabilising, we don’t accidentally pick up the sand underneath and drag it into the pavement layer. It’s almost like a sacrificial layer if you like.

“We then put on 175mm of base course and stabilise that; we’re knitting the top of the sub-base layer, so we’re stabilising at 180mm rather than 175mm.”

A familiar site on Higgins’ many infrastructure projects around the country, Hamm compactor technology is also present at the M2PP site, with three Hamm 3412 machines working; two boasting standard vibratory drums and one a pad foot.

“We’ve definitely had a long relationship with Hamm,” says Jonathan. “I remember our smaller Hamm HD14s joining the fleet five or six years ago. Since then the technology and capability of these machines has just gotten better and better.”

While Jonathan is an old hand, operator Steven Keys is new to Hamm machines, but says he’s very happy with his ‘company vehicle’.

“I’ve been operating one for about six months and it’s really good.

The cab offers great visibility, the controls are all really well laidout and the compaction is strong; you never feel like the machine is struggling.”

All three of Higgins’ compactors are also wired up for Hamm’s modular compaction measuring, documenting and analysing system known as Hamm Compaction Quality (HCQ).

The HCQ system consists of a ruggedised in-cab panel PC with a touchscreen interface connected to a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) receiver. The HCQ system receives satellite signals along with a DGPS correction signal, meaning the software remains connected even when compacting under bridges or in locations with radio shadowing.

The completely portable system identifies the machine it is connected with and will then give the operator crucial real-time data on the go, including compaction stiffness measurements and maps of compaction levels and how many passes have been made. This means the operator can watch the progress of the compaction in real-time and react accordingly. Collected data is then downloadable onto USB, ready for the Higgins team to analyse back at base, or take onboard another of the Hamm 3412s’ onsite as a reference guide for the next operator.

Jonathan says that Higgins also plans to overlay surface design data onscreen, so every operator can quickly see where they are in relationship to the actual design.

And there’s yet more Hamm technology that Jonathan says could certainly have an application along certain sections of the M2PP project site too.

“We’re unable to use straight vibration on sand so close to residential dwellings along some sections of the project. This means that in the near future there might be an opportunity to use Hamm’s oscillation technology instead, where the compaction energy is introduced both vertically and horizontally at the same time, rather than straight down as is traditional.

“In the meantime, our Hamm 3412 compactors are certainly putting in the hard yards in the consistent fashion we’ve come to expect from this brand,” he concludes.

“That combination of reliability and technology allows our teams to get on with the job quickly and accurately, which is invaluable on such a complex project.” l • Words & photography supplied.

CONTRACTOR HEAVY HAULAGE

HEAVY HAULING through Northland

It was possibly the biggest load that Northland’s winding roads could handle, yet Tranzcarr made moving Top Energy’s new transformer to site look easy. BY MARY BELL. MOVING BIG AND HEAVY objects is what

Tranzcarr Heavy Haulage does day in and day out. Some jobs are straightforward, others somewhat complex, and some are downright tricky. Sometimes it’s the load, sometimes it’s the road, and sometimes the combination of the two that makes things interesting for the team.

In February Tranzcarr shifted an 85 tonne transformer from Auckland to Northland for Top Energy. The transformer is part of a multi-million dollar rebuild of Top Energy’s power network in the Far North.

The road was the big factor in the complexity of this particular job.

Tranzcarr had a choice of two possible routes north – either State Highways 1 or 10. However, after undertaking a feasibility study it was very apparent 18 www.contractormag.co.nz

that State Highway 1 was the only option.

This route would take the load, which weighed 190 tonnes all up, over the Mangamuka range, a twisting turning road with around 104 switchback corners and with sharp and steep inclines.

Tranzcarr Heavy Haulage manager Mike van Ravenstein estimates grades of up to 10 percent in places.

“There were a couple of pinches too,” he says.

Mike’s assessment for the load was that a 10-axle trailer (18 metres) would be the best option considering the winding road, but after working with NZTA they discovered they would need 14 axles for the bridges.

“A number of the bridges north are substandard, impacting the NZ Transport Agency’s allowance for number of wheels

over them.”

The solution was to use 14 axles for the first half of the trip to negotiate the bridges, then change to 10 at the foot of the Mangamuka Ranges to enable the load to navigate the bends.

Fortunately, they didn’t need to swap back to 14 after crossing the ranges and were able to continue to Top Energy without further delay.

There was a total of 16 people on the job, and a fair bit of gear: The transformer was loaded on Tranzcarr’s Goldhofer modular trailer which was powered by three prime movers – two pulling and one pushing – with a combined 1580hp.

In front was the Mack CL600 with a GVM (Gross Vehicle Mass) of 250 tonnes, then the main prime mover, a Scammell S24 with a 300 tonne GVM, and pushing

Day one saw the unit moved out of the Ports of Auckland to the township of Mangamuka at the foot of the ranges.

Just before they arrived they had to cross a one-way bridge at Rangihua that was just 3.75 metres wide.

The load was 3.65 metres! Fortunately, Mike says, the approach was in their favour.

APRIL 2015 19

CONTRACTOR HEAVY HAULAGE

Day two was taken up with reducing the 14-axle trailer to 10 to make it short enough to negotiate the nasty bends on the road ahead.

from behind was a Scania 144G with a 150 tonne GVM. In attendance were a Hiab loaded with the equipment needed to make the changes to the trailer, a 40 foot flat top carrying the gantry used to unload the transformer at its destination, a transporter with a forklift used to set the gantry up and two step decks carrying the accessory parts for the transformer.

Day one saw the unit moved out of the Ports of Auckland to the township of Mangamuka at the foot of the ranges.

Just before they arrived they had to cross a one-way bridge at Rangihua that was just 3.75 metres wide. The load was 3.65 metres! Fortunately, Mike says, the

The trip home was considerably faster.

The trailer was broken down further into its modular parts – a total of two fouraxle and one six-axle modules – and these were loaded onto the two trailers that had carried the accessory parts to Kaitaia.

20 www.contractormag.co.nz

approach was in their favour.

“Crossing that bridge with that load says a lot about the guys’ skills. They made it look a lot easier than it was.”

Day two was taken up with reducing the 14-axle trailer to 10 to make it short enough to negotiate the nasty bends on the road ahead.

Using the hydraulic jack on the trailer, they dropped the transformer onto beams and elephant stools and pulled the 14 axle unit out, removed a four axle module, and then put the reconfigured 10 axle unit back under the load.

Summing it up in one sentence makes it sound straightforward, but it was an exacting and time consuming process that took an entire day.

The next leg was the road over the steep and winding Mangamuka Range.

“This was the real challenge,” says Mike. “It’s a distance of about 15-20 kilometres that takes around 15 minutes in a car.”

Taking a set up of this length through the twisting pass was always going to be considerably slower. In the end it took 2.5 hours, and at times the procession was moving at walking pace.

An operator sitting on a seat on the trailer ensured the transformer was kept level at all times by using the trailer’s hydraulics to raise and lower various parts of the trailer as needed.

When the load finally reached the substation at the end of day three Tranzcarr used its 350 tonne capacity,

four-legged gantry to unload the transformer.

The trip home was considerably faster.

The trailer was broken down further into its modular parts – a total of two fouraxle and one six-axle modules – and these were loaded onto the two trailers that had carried the accessory parts to Kaitaia. This tidy finish ensured cost savings for the project.

The ease with which Tranzcarr successfully undertook this job belies its complexity. A lot of planning went into it: “We started thinking about how we were going to tackle this six months out,” says Mike.

“And it was about three months from our feasibility study to completion.”

The new transformer is part of a major upgrade of the Far North’s power network.

Top Energy spokesman Peter Heath says Kaitaia’s existing transformer was bought second-hand in 1979 and developed a significant fault last year.

The replacement transformer was to be operational by the end of March and is expected to work for the next 80 years.

It will convert the 110kV supply entering Kaitaia to 33kV, then feed substations at Okahu Road, Pukenui, Taipa and the JNL timber mill.

Heath says the new transformer is more modern and more efficient than the existing unit and bigger too, to accommodate growth if Kaitaia’s power demand increases in the future.

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CONTRACTOR TECHNOLOGY

Dealing with tight tolerances A family run contractor employs the latest surveying technology to build a council roading project with challengingly tight tolerances.

IN OCTOBER LAST year Jilesen Contractors was appointed as the preferred roading contractors to Ruapehu District Council, which is responsible for maintaining and preserving 6733 square kilometres of the central North Island including 850 kilometres of metal roads.

The council needs to complete seven kilometres of sealed pavement rehabilitations before the repair season ends, as well as grading and shaping a number of metal roads. All works have “really tight tolerances,” says managing director Tony Jilesen, and the volume of work that council expects to be completed this season has meant there is little leeway for site or weather delays.

The company has already completed the 1.8 kilometres Ruatiti Road job at Orautoha near Raetihi, have been working on the two kilometres Whangaehu Valley Road rehabilitation since early February, has begun the Ohakune Mountain Road upgrade, and will begin the Ohura Road rehabilitation shortly, says Jilesen’s roading manager Mason Slako.

The Whangaehu Valley Road is part of the 77 kilometre OTT cycle trail from Ohakune to Taihape. Luckily, Jilesen knew a road cycling event was coming through “their” section while they were working on it. “It took most of the day,” says Mason.

“The cyclists were coming through between about 10am and 3pm and because they were crossing unbound, granulated pavement we spent that day simply making sure it stayed as smooth and damp for them as possible.”

Given the speed at which they need to work, the requirement to keep traffic moving throughout, and the well-known challenges of forming and maintaining pavements across a wide range of soil types and temperature/precipitation extremes, this is no small undertaking. To ensure all work is carefully coordinated and controlled, they need technology that is contractor-friendly yet delivers to the highest tolerances.

The company has just taken possession of a Leica iCON Grade 3D system with a Leica iCON Robot50 total station from Global Survey, which integrates with their CAT M-series grader. Mason says it is this that has allowed them to cope accurately and quickly with the huge workload.

Jilesen’s had the option of equipping its new Leica iCON Grade 3D system with either a GNSS receiver or Robotic total station.

They chose Leica robotics because of the superior accuracy to 22 www.contractormag.co.nz

APRIL 2015 23

CONTRACTOR TECHNOLOGY

meet the demands and expectations of their clients.

“While this system is being used specifically on road grading, it could be used for any number of things,” he says.

“But at the moment it allows us to control the grader, calculate the correct material volumes and because it’s completely automated, we could potentially work 24-hour shifts since we don’t need pegs or stringlines, or surveyors on site.”

Global Survey managing director Ray Copeland believes the time has finally come for 3D machine control in the construction industry. Most machinery manufacturers already include an electronic interface wired to the machines’ hydraulics. The Leica iCON system uses this interface to control the machine’s computer; there is no need to install hydraulic valves with their system.

“With councils and the NZTA demanding tighter tolerances and smoother roads that remain safer for longer, the challenge has been to deliver that economically,” Ray says.

Pavements perform best when the surface has fewer bumps.

Achieving this cost-effectively is helped considerably by modern electronic instrumentation, and workers are becoming comfortable with information technology using smartphones, tablet PCs, and mobile internet services to manage data in the field.

Hailed as “stringless construction” when this technology was introduced in the late 1990s robotic total stations, 3D laser scanners and GPS surveying equipment have changed contruction processes as well as surveying techniques.

GNSS Systems and Robotic total stations automatically track the antenna or prism mounted on a machine or surveyor’s pole.

They are now the industry workhorses because of their accuracy, range, and versatility for any positioning task.

24 www.contractormag.co.nz

Companies can load plans into them via USB, cellphone or the cloud, and manage construction changes the same way.

A 3D control system like the Leica iCON starts with a control panel which interfaces with the machine. This computer has the 3D control software already loaded with a number of project design files, and can be swapped between machines and jobs.

The computer communicates directly with the total stations, lasers, or GPS instruments to determine the machine’s position, meaning it always knows where the machine is on site. The cut and fill information is then relayed to the machine guide.

Depending on the technology used and machine type, accuracies of a few millimetres are achievable.

This level of accuracy also means base course and pavement quantities can be calculated precisely, decreasing product wastage and increasing costing accuracy.

Owning three quarries ensures base course supply is never a problem for Jilesens, though, especially when the quarry purchase came with all operating consents and certificates – and two trucks.

“We make a conscious effort to keep our gear in top working condition, and as modern and practical as we can afford,” says managing director Tony Jilesen.

Their fleet currently includes 28 machines including mobile crushers, and eight trucks. They employ a total of 35 staff including management.

The Jilesen family are well known in the King Country. Tony and Christine Jilesen raised three boys and with their help broke in land around Waimiha using a D47U Caterpillar dozer.

Sons Martien and Tony Jr then worked for some time with John McJarrow in Wellington, which gave them extensive experience operating and understanding a wide range of earthmoving machinery.

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CONTRACTOR PROJECT

Memorial Park: View of the park during development from the top of the Carillon

New memorial for

ANZAC centenary The new Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington is set to be officially opened on April 18 in time for the ANZAC Day service and commemoration on Saturday April 25.

Richard Silcock explains the project’s construction.

26 www.contractormag.co.nz

THE NEW PUKEAHU National War Memorial Park,

which lies over the recently completed, ‘cut and cover’ 150 metre long Arras Tunnel, (refer Contractor issues: December 2013, February 2014 and November 2014) is a memorial to the thousands of New Zealand and Australian servicemen and women who were killed in action during the First and Second World Wars and other subsequent wars. The park opening and dedication is significant as April 2015 marks the centenary of the fated Gallipoli landing in April 1915.

The park’s concept design was submitted as an entry in a design competition by Wright Athfield Landscape Architects. The design brief was for an enhanced commemorative space that incorporates the original National War Memorial complex: the Carillon which was dedicated on ANZAC Day 1932, the Hall of Remembrance (1964) and the Tomb of the

Unknown Warrior (2004). These are located on the slightly elevated ground that overlooks Wellington city and harbour known as Mount Cook (Puke Ahu) and regarded by Maori as wahi tupuna (sacred). It was formerly the site of a military depot, barracks and a gun site (circa 1840 – 1945).

Physical works for the $120 million memorial park and tunnel was begun in late 2012 by the Memorial Park Alliance. The Alliance was formed to design, construct and manage the ‘roll-out’ of both the tunnel and the park as a single package following an ‘accelerated consent process’ that was completed under special legislation in August 2012 (Pukeahu National War Memorial Park Empowering Act 2012).

Involved in the geotechnical, drainage, structural design, lighting design, and construction are the NZ Transport Agency,

PHOTOS: COLIN MCLELLAN, MEMORIAL PARK ALLIANCE.

On the northern side is a commemorative Australian War Memorial comprising 15 vertical pillars of red sandstone featuring aboriginal art and is symbolic of Australia’s ‘red centre’.

Wellington Citizen’s War Memorial Cenotaph The $2.5 million upgrade to the Wellington Citizen’s War Memorial Cenotaph, near Parliament Buildings was also recently completed by contractors L T McGuinness. The cenotaph, built in 1931 to honour soldiers killed during WW1 and WW2 is also a focal point for commemorating ANZAC Day. To ‘declutter’ space around the structure many of the shrubs and trees close to the cenotaph have been removed and a new paved forecourt around it laid to allow up to 14,000 people to attend the traditional dawn service. The marble granite stone of the structure, along with the bronze sculptures and friezes, have also been cleaned and old grouting replaced. New concrete steps now link it more directly with the grounds of Parliament.

Newly installed lighting will bathe the cenotaph in light at night, and a new pathway embedded with jade discs representing the stream that once ran through the area, will be complemented by ‘sound boxes’ replicating the sound of running water.

The memorial is the responsibility of the Wellington City Council and is listed as an historic asset on the district plan and registered with Heritage New Zealand as a Category 1 Historic Place.

Artist’s impression from the eastern end, looking west, with the entrance to the Arras Tunnel on left

The design brief was for an enhanced commemorative space that incorporates the original National War Memorial complex: the Carillon which was dedicated on ANZAC Day 1932, the Hall of Remembrance (1964) and the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.

APRIL 2015 27

CONTRACTOR PROJECT

1

2

3

4

28 www.contractormag.co.nz

contractors Downer NZ and HEB Construction, and engineering consultants Tonkin and Taylor and URS. They have all worked together as partners in the Memorial Park Alliance, in consultation with the Wellington City Council and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, which has been responsible for overseeing the cultural and commemorative aspects of the project on behalf of the government.

Under another contract Fletcher Construction is carrying out extensive seismic strengthening and refurbishment work on the Carillon and Hall of Remembrance.

Positioned in close proximity to the iconic Basin Reserve Cricket Ground to the east, the memorial park lies between Sussex Street on the south-eastern boundary, Tory Street to the north and Taranaki Street to the west. It incorporates the existing War Memorial complex in a terraced, aesthetically pleasing and extensively landscaped area of 15,000 square metres.

Within the park are garden and lawn areas and plantings of 165 iconic and symbolic pohutukawa, eucalyptus, kowhai and olive trees. The Tangata Whenua gardens and rock features, which flank the War Memorial, honour the special relationship Maori have with the site. A large basalt and granite 4000 square metre paved plaza in front of the existing Carillon, known as ANZAC Square, will act as a congregation area during ceremonies.

Also included in the park on the northern side is a commemorative Australian War Memorial.

This was designed by Australian architectural firm, Tonkin Zulaikha Greer and comprises 15 vertical pillars of red sandstone featuring aboriginal art and is symbolic of Australia’s ‘red centre’. When complete it will be surrounded by eucalyptus trees to further simulate the Australian landscape.

Memorials commemorating other allied nations’ service men and women will also be included over the next few years. Car parking space is being constructed along the northern boundary of the park.

An elaborate stormwater drainage system connects with the tunnel system, and drains off downhill to the north and east. ‘Rain’ gardens also help with drainage through plantings and porous membranes.

Lighting will set a new benchmark for urban park environments. Environmental and compliance manager for the Alliance, Ed Breese says the park will be illuminated by LEDs to highlight the unique features and structures of the park such as the Carillon, Australian Memorial, and rock garden.

One of the biggest challenges facing the Alliance team was to ensure the project was completed on time for ANZAC Day. With an immovable end date there was no room for any delays during design/ construction and many of the team worked 75 hour weeks at the peak times of construction. Once the tunnel was completed and opened to traffic at the end of last year, the team moved onto the

1. Memorial Park looking east. Within the park are garden, lawn areas and plantings of 165 iconic and symbolic pohutukawa, eucalyptus, kowhai and olive trees.

(Pic courtesy of NZTA 2015)

2. Seating under wraps.

The completed National War Memorial Park will be a significant place for the commemoration of New Zealanders’ service and sacrifice in times of war as well as a useful space for other passive recreational uses.

3. Traffic calming cobblestones on the northern side vehicle approach.

4. A Ruapehu rock is lowered into position as a part of the Tangata Whenua Gardens which flank the War Memorial and honour the special relationship Maori have with the site.

park development and the earthworks associated with creating the multi-level terraces, lawns and gardens.

Alliance park manager Jason Harrison said it was imperative that the team worked collaboratively and in a timely manner to bring this part of the project to fruition in time for the opening.

“Timing and logistics were a very important component of this project, as due to the long lead times we had to plan well ahead to ensure things like the mature trees and shrubbery were procured well in advance, and the planting of the lawns scheduled to ensure growth by the opening date,” said Jason. “Due to the historical nature of the site and the relevance to Maori we worked closely with them, and with the archaeologists who were interested in a number of historical findings.

“Because of the site’s location and nature of the sloping land, the design called for 10 terraces, five on each side staggered down from the plaza. These are retained by sculptured precast concrete wall slabs, approximately 160 to 200 metres square, which were craned into position and then backfilled.”

Some 1520 people have been involved with the project since it began, clocking up around 680,000 man hours. All stakeholders, interested parties

and immediate neighbours to the development were consulted and kept informed of the project prior to work commencing and during the various construction stages.

A pavilion, educational, administrative and hosting facilities will complete what will become known as the National War Memorial Precinct. The park and the Arras Tunnel underpass will form a key link with the Wellington Northern Corridor via the Inner City Bypass and SH1 and will be regarded as the gateway to Wellington city from the south and east.

The former Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Chris Finlayson, said last year that the completed National War Memorial Park would be a significant place for the commemoration of New Zealanders’ service and sacrifice in times of war as well as a useful space for other passive recreational uses.

The park is a fitting tribute to those who did not return from war and completes the vision originally adopted by a government appointed committee in 1920, for ‘a memorial so designed as to embody the objects and sacrifices of war and the virtues displayed therein, in such a way that it will be an education and an inspiration, not only to present but to future generations’.

APRIL 2015 29

CONTRACTOR SAFETY EQUIPMENT

CONES There’s more to them than you’d think

Flowers in road cones have come to symbolise the Canterbury earthquake recovery, but they’ve a longer history than that. HUGH DE LACY delves.

THEY’VE REPLACED YARD glasses at 21st birthday booze-ups,

they’ve been made into lamps, cat-scratchers, vuvuzelas, hats and a Madonna brassiere, but none of these latter-day uses could have been applied to the original road cone: it was made of solid concrete.

On the eve of the first global war, and about the time Henry Ford changed the radiator on his fabulous Model T from brass to steel, another American industrialist was devising a way to deter cars from going where they weren’t supposed to.

It was 1914, and New Yorker Charles P Rademaker saw a need for a recognisable temporary road barrier, and what could offer firmer guidance to the proliferation of Model Ts than chunks of concrete arranged in a line?

There was no doubting the efficacy of Rademaker’s invention, but it had some obvious flaws: his cones were too heavy to transport or lay out in great numbers, and they did an awful lot of damage to any vehicle that happened to bump into them – which was probably why Rademaker never patented his invention, and it was left to someone else to develop the concept into the global role it plays today.

30 www.contractormag.co.nz

The next step along that path was the use of small wooden tripods, but they had the disadvantages of having to be assembled on-site, and they could do surprising damage to any vehicle that hit them.

The someone who completed the development Rademaker started was another American, Charles D Scanlon, who was a painter with the City of Los Angeles Street Painting Department, and in 1940 he got the idea of the modern lightweight cone that we know today.

Scanlon’s need was to keep vehicles off his newly-painted road markings, and his cone was made by sewing together strips of old tyres.

He teamed up with a local tyre-shop proprietor, Rodney B Taylor, to make the first commercial batch but, in spite of Scanlon taking out a patent on their cones in 1943, they temporarily abandoned the business because they couldn’t find a secure enough supply of used tyres.

By then, though, the principles of the design had been firmly established: the cone had to be light enough to be easily transported, it had to be hollow so it was stackable, flexible so

Host-a-Brooch’ takes jewellery to the streets of Christchurch, inviting the public to (re)connect with the city through an urban wearable art adventure.

it wouldn’t damage vehicles if they hit or ran over them, heavy enough in the base that they wouldn’t be blown around in the wind, and fitted with feet so they wouldn’t smudge freshly painted areas on the asphalt.

Scanlon and Taylor scouted around for a new source of materials for their tyre-rubber cones, and in 1947 teamed up with Charles Terry, the owner of Interstate Rubber Products Corporation.

Taylor set up a production line manufacturing the cones from rubber sheets that he placed inside a mould and heated

under high pressure, and in 1949 the partners found success when Scanlon’s employer, the City of Los Angeles, started using the cones to delineate peak traffic lanes.

That prompted an approach from a company called Radiator Specialty, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that wanted to market the cones in the eastern United States, but Scanlon and company declined.

Instead, they and Interstate Rubber set up the Safety Cone Traffic Corporation and began making cones with square bases.

Obviously not deterred by Interstate’s earlier declining

APRIL 2015 31

CONTRACTOR SAFETY EQUIPMENT

Christchurch’s Windsor Primary School’s post-earthquake road cone memorial.

to collaborate with her, Radiator Specialty owner Isador D Blumenthal acquired her own patent for a product strikingly similar to Scanlon’s.

Blumenthal called her product the Safe-T-Cone, and by 1951 traffic cones were being produced on both American coasts.

Cones were a little slower arriving across the Atlantic in the United Kingdom where David Morgan of Burford, Oxfordshire, claimed to have made the first experimental ones out of plastic in 1961.

Cones had been used three years earlier at the opening of the M6 motorway, substituting for the red lantern paraffin burners that had been used during the construction of the motorway’s Preston By-pass.

Morgan was employed by the British firm Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) at the time, and his first use of plastic for road cones coincided with the US Federal Highways Administration formally adopting a rubber version for America by specifying it in its Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

It was the MUTCD that standardised the cone for American usage by specifying a minimum height of 18 inches (70cm), rising by five inches (10cm) when speeds were higher or “wherever more conspicuous guidance is needed”, and up to 28 inches (0.71 metres) high on freeways.

For night use, the cones had to be “reflectorized or equipped with a lighting device”.

Whether plastic or rubber, road cones were projected globally by the MUTCD, prompting Englishman Morgan to do the very British thing of founding a collection of them.

He began in 1986 and his collection now totals over 500, with 137 of them being unique models.

No one seems to know when road cones made their first appearance in New Zealand, with inquiries at the New Zealand Transport Agency proving fruitless – the agency doesn’t appear to have its own manual on road cones, though specifications for their use are a routine component of contractors’ health and safety training, and their dimensions are covered by standards.

The standard New Zealand road cone weighs 4.5 kilograms 32 www.contractormag.co.nz

but also comes in a slimmed-down version of the same weight on a smaller base, while a taller six kilogram cone is used where traffic is faster.

Finley Biss of Auckland supplier Adsafe, which imports between 5000 and 10,000 cones a year, estimates about 50,000 are imported annually, with some big companies like Fulton Hogan bringing in their own.

Most of New Zealand’s road cones used to come from the United States where they were flow-moulded, but lately China has been supplying increasing numbers of injection-moulded models which are softer and more durable.

No discussion of road markers in New Zealand would be complete without reference to what many New Zealanders believe – highly improbably – to have been this country’s unique contribution to traffic control: the 44-gallon drum.

Once one of those iconic use-it-for-anything materials like number eight wire, 44-gallon drums did sterling service on New Zealand roads for decades, and they’re still around, though no longer made of steel and no longer comprising packaging waste from the oil industry.

Lately the drum has morphed into an orange plastic tub – still 200 litres, or around 44 imperial gallons capacity – widely used in the UK and Europe, but replaced in the US and Australia by orange bollards 1.15 metres high with reflective sleeves and a heavy rubber base.

Pop-singer Madonna used two standard US road cones to construct the other-worldly brassiere she sported on one of her video clips, and a thousand other amateur inventors have applied them to innumerable unintended uses, but in the wake of the Canterbury earthquakes road cones have even revealed a poignant side as impromptu flower-studded memorials to the 185 people who lost their lives.

For more online.

One man’s collection. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc9AxKEq-nk 19 weird cone pictures. http://www.freakingnews.com/Cone-Pictures--2487-0.asp.

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CONTRACTOR PROJECT

34 www.contractormag.co.nz

ALAN TITCHALL visits excavator maestro

Brian Hoffman while he is working on a tricky swimming pool site in Auckland.

THE SHARED DRIVEWAY is stepped and congested with trees. A

The job started with a ‘borrow pit’ from which Brian took clay fill to level out the site.

trail of ripped leaves leads me to a large house. An excavator is clattering away at the rear.

“Yeah it was a tight job alright,” says Brian Hoffman. “Did you notice all the trees? “ And we had five neighbours to consider who use that driveway.

We couldn’t start to haul the pool structure down here until they had all gone to work and taken the kids to school.”

While it took two hours to get the 45,000-litre pool shell down to the site, he completed the excavator work in an hour.

Brian shouldn’t need an introduction. As a skilled excavator operator he has participated in every National Excavator Operator Competition held by the Civil Contractors’ association over the past decade. He has won the national title twice, and was the defending champ at this year’s event (see coverage from page 41).

I caught up with Brian just a week before the competition to be briefed on the art of swimming pool making.

I confess a fascination with backyard swimming pools having looked after one for 15 years. When I bought our house in Auckland our pool was already local folklore, as the previous owner had decided to excavate the hole himself.

Striking a sizable basalt flow he did what any enterprising DIY Kiwi bloke would do in the same circumstance, got some explosives from a mate in the quarry business and blew a dirty big hole in the rock. Unfortunately, he also took out every neighbourhood window in a 100-metre radius and the older residents in our street are still fond of reminding me of the event.

These days Brian Hoffmann doesn’t use explosives to dig swimming pool holes, although he remembers a time when he did.

“Drill a hole with a jackhammer, fill it with explosive and a detonator, put sacks all round it, a thick steel plate on top, then rubber tyres, and then put the digger on top. When it blew the whole lot would jump in the air. Occasionally the odd rock would fly out from the sacks. No health and safety back in those days.”

Brian started with Trevor Boag in 1972. Trevor was a wellAPRIL 2015 35

CONTRACTOR PROJECT

The size of the pool on the levelled site is marked out and Brian had offset the positions earlier on to save time, as is standard with any excavation.

liked contractor and at one stage was the president of the old Contractors’ Federation.

“When Trevor started there weren’t many hydraulic excavators around – maybe the odd Massey Ferguson. When the Japanese machines came onto the market he bought an Hitachi, and that is the brand I have stuck with. I swear by them,” says Brian.

These days Hoffman Excavators can be installing a pool every day of the week. Through another business, Aquatechnics (a large retail business also located in Auckland), Brian imports fibreglass pools from Australia. They are easier to install than a concrete one, he says. And they are usually rectangle.

“Concrete and kidney shaped pools were popular back in the 1970s and 1980s. Now you can’t sell a pool with a curve in it. Although, that could change back, who knows?”

A pool with a view The rural view from the rear of the house looks north and stretches over a forested valley. It is an ideal spot to cool off during Auckland notoriously humid summers.

All pool sites have their challenges and even level sites in residential areas can present very restricted spaces for an excavator.

In this case there was plenty of room for the excavator, the ground sloped away from the house and had to be levelled.

36 www.contractormag.co.nz

“First you have to strip away the grass as you can’t put fill on grass. The grass will rot and create a slippery back under the fill that can cause a slip.

“Then you have to bench the slopes – key-in the fill with steps, so when the fill goes on top it won’t slide down the hill with the first rain.

“This is where a lot of guys go wrong – they don’t strip the grass, or key-in.”

The job started with a ‘borrow pit’ from which Brian took clay fill to level out the site and then compacted it by track rolling.

“The ground needs to be firm to support the sides of the pool shell, which is not self-supporting,” says Brian.

The pool hole is large enough to accommodate a back-fill and bed of scoria and a Topcon – self-levelling laser is used so they don’t over dig.

The size of the pool on the levelled site is marked out and Brian has offset the positions earlier on to save time, as is standard with any excavation.

The hole was then excavated and the fill returned to the borrow pit. The job is done in a matter of hours.

“There’s a lot in each job and not just a matter of digging a hole and plonking in a pool structure, and my motto is do it once and do it properly,” says Brian.

“I want these owners to be happy with their pool and spread the word among family and friends.”

Through another business, Aquatechnics (a large retail business also located in Auckland), Brian (pictured left), imports fibreglass pools from Australia.

They are easier to install than a concrete pool.

APRIL 2015 37

CONTRACTOR CCNZ ASSOCIATE PROFILE

EROAD

sets Kiwi contractors on the right road When EROAD implemented the world’s first network-wide GPS/cellular-based road user charging system in 2009, it revolutionised the way New Zealand transport operators managed and paid road user charges (RUC).

AN EROAD HARDWARE device (Ehubo) installed in their vehicle, connected to the company’s payment gateway, operators are able to purchase RUC online anywhere, at any time.

Instead of spending valuable time keeping on top of paper licences, they now receive them electronically for display on the Ehubo screen. It has also reduced downtime, by enabling instant delivery if a vehicle is on the road when a distance licence runs out, or when additional licences are necessary to cover increased loads.

EROAD now collects nearly 30 percent of all heavy vehicle RUC in this country, and is the country’s largest electronic RUC agent, as transport operators increasingly choose electronic over paper RUC licences.

The EROAD solution consists of a secure, approved vehicle hardware device, and a bank-grade, web-based payment and services gateway. EROAD’s Ehubo (or Tubo for trailers) replaces traditional mechanical hubodometers and is designed to be tamper-evident, operate at a wide range of temperatures and consume very little energy. The Ehubo measures distance travelled with a high degree of accuracy, using a

WITH

38 www.contractormag.co.nz

combination of internal and external sensors including the vehicle’s odometer pulse, GPS satellites and accelerometers. The information it collects from the vehicle is processed by EROAD’s application server and made available to users via a secure website, called Depot. EROAD customers use Depot to pay and manage their RUC and access fleet management and commercial services.

With EROAD’s AutoRUC enabled, transport operators are able to buy RUC automatically in the minimum legal increments. Before a distance licence expires, the new licence is automatically purchased and delivered electronically, with no risk of non-compliance and the associated penalties. It also offers significant improvements in cash flow, with the ability to reduce the size of the RUC licences being purchased while remaining compliant.

Further cash flow benefits are delivered through EROAD’s offroad module. The EROAD system automatically links and electronically maps the correct RUC licences with the distance travelled and with all the off-road locations travelled by the truck and trailer. As a RUC licence expires, the system pre-populates the

RUCOR form and accurately estimates the refund.

Commercial services Since it launched electronic RUC, EROAD has gone on to deliver a comprehensive range of commercial services that provide information to better manage the fuel efficiency of fleets, and simplify compliance with service and health and safety requirements. These include: • EZfuel – combines transactional data from oil companies’ fuel cards with vehicle distance and location information. Together, these measure fuel performance and identify trends and exceptions.

• Service module – provides standard and custom service scheduling by date and distance, delivers service history reports by vehicle, date and/or category, and sends operators and workshop service alerts including COF, WOF and rego.

• Over-speed reports – list vehicles in a fleet that have over-speed events for a specified timeframe, including overspeed activity on all roads that have a posted maximum speed.

• Idle reports – list vehicles that have stopped (or idled) for long periods of time with the ignition on. Details of

“We’re hauling concrete, steel bridge beams, cranes and machinery for construction projects all around the country, so we have to buy lots of additional mileage for overweight loads.

When a truck gets to a site I can work out how many kilometres it needs and buy it straight away. As soon as the truck’s on the road, the additional licence displays on the screen. It’s much easier, we don’t have to wait and we’re always legal.”

HEB Structures “People see EROAD as the RUC and compliance experts, but that’s only half their story!

Between the fuel and service cost reduction in engine idling and overspeed events alone, the system has paid for itself threefold every month.

The service management system is brilliant – I have full visibility on

idle events are also included, sorted by time, showing the location on a map. With EROAD’s Driver ID hardware installed, idle reports are shown by driver as well as vehicle.

• Fleet activity reports – real-time and historical vehicle information is displayed on digital maps, enabling transport operators to optimise routes, manage job schedules, and monitor stop/ idle times and driver hours.

• EZmessage – allows companies to send messages to their fleets in real time using an encrypted connection.

Ahead of this year’s Health and Safety Reform Bill, EROAD has released a range of products to help its customers improve compliance with health and safety, including Virtual Speed Camera, EROAD Share – which enables secure data sharing between organisations working together, and the EROAD Driver app. Available for Android smartphones and tablets, Driver includes the NZTA-approved EROAD Electronic Logbook, EZmessage and Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports.

Rapid growth EROAD’s customers now include many of the country’s largest vehicle fleets, leading civil contracting firms, and more than a third of local and regional councils.

Since commercial launch, it has won numerous awards, including Most Innovative Hardware Product, and Most

Innovative Service Product in the 2010 NZ Hi-Tech Awards, and a finalist place in the Emerging Company category in the 2013 NZ Hi-Tech Awards. Its EZfuel module won the company fifth place ranking on the New Zealand Green 50 list in 2012 and Highly Commended in the transport category of the EECA Awards in 2014.

EROAD’s rapid growth has seen it ranked on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific index for the past three years and on the Deloitte Fast50 for two. Last year EROAD listed on the NZX main board and launched commercially in the USA and Australia, becoming the first approved electronic Weight-Mile Tax (WMT) service provider in North America.

It has also been appointed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment as a syndicated supplier for the procurement of fleet optimisation products and services to participating and eligible agencies.

Last year the company reached a major RUC milestone: $500 million of RUC collected in this country on behalf of NZTA. EROAD’s expansion into North America and Australia hasn’t reduced the company’s focus on New Zealand. It remains very much a Kiwi company, committed to continual investment in research and development to help New Zealand’s transport sector meet the challenges facing it now and into the future.

maintenance costs and service scheduling, and my records are automatically archived.”

PCL Limited “EROAD means we are saving time and money in administration costs by using AutoRUC and it is great for our off road work with accurate and simple reporting. Great reporting has also meant we have saved on fuel consumption by cutting out over speeding and unnecessary idling.

EROAD has been a valuable asset to our business.”

MRL Contracting “There is only one way I know to reliably pay the right amount of RUC every time and no more. Combine this with great fleet tracking, accurate service management and getting rid of mechanical hubodometers and I am on the winning side with EROAD.” Hick Bros Civil Construction

Contact EROAD 0800 4 EROAD info@eroad.co.nz www.eroad.co.nz APRIL 2015 39

160315_Hitachi_CCNZ

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Congratulations to all the competitors from this years events. We look forward to seeing you again next year.

Like the finalists in this year’s event, Hitachi machinery performs to the highest standard, consistently.

Hitachi. The machinery choice of champions.

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L A N O I T NA ATOR EXCAV OR OPERAT ION COMPETI

T

5 1 0 2

Thanks to a team effort!

In what has already been a very busy year the 2015 national final of the Excavator Operator competition was a huge success.

The team from the Manawatu Branch is well versed in hosting these finals and came up with new ideas and competition tasks many weeks before the event, and then set about making it all happen on the day without problems.

We acknowledge and appreciate the time and effort this branch puts into this event, especially when setting up the courses, which starts the Sunday before and finishes packing it down on the following Sunday.

Hats off guys – it is an absolute pleasure to work with you all.

We frequently have a large number of return entrants – those that have been to the finals before – and so it is a challenge to come up with different activities and ways of doing things.

One new activity required the operator to peel a watermelon. I wasn’t too sure leading up to the competition that the Manawatu Branch team would get it to work, but after considerable perseverance and many water melons later they got it right and it was a real show stopper!

And let’s not forget the massive support we get from our sponsors, in particular Ryan the technician that calibrated the machines and ensured they were in top condition over the weekend.

Whenever asked anything of Ryan it would just make it happen!

The contestants were great this year and the scores were close.

James Lux was a worthy second time winner.

Runner up Carl Hollands will certainly have something to brag about to his brother Andrew who represented Otago last year.

Michael Smith has been to the finals in the past and every time he has gone home without recognition. However, every year that he has competed at the final he has improved his standing and this year he took out third place.

Again – thanks to all our sponsors – without you we couldn’t hold this prestigious event; Cable Price, Hirepool, Z Energy, Humes, ENZED, Contractor magazine, Earthworm, Doug the Digger and Brand Imaging.

By Malcolm Abernethy, Civil Contractors NZ executive

P R I N C I PA L S P O N S O R

N E W Z E A L A N D ’ S C I V I L C O N T R ACT I N G I N D U ST R Y M AG A Z I N E

APRIL 2015 41

CONTRACTOR NATIONAL EXCAVATOR OPERATOR COMPETITION 2015

Building confidence The NEOC competition is used as a draw card for the organizers of the Feilding Field Days and this is very advantageous from the Civil Contractors NZ point of view, says executive Malcolm Abernethy, and makes the competition so much sharper.

“Having an audience can make a big difference to a contractor; it gives them pride and confidence in their skills because most members of the general public have no idea of what goes into civil engineering.

“So, it’s an eye-opener for most members of the public and they are always appreciative of what they have learned.

“I hear it time and time again – ‘I had no idea and I’m impressed’.

“Also, excelling at these competitions is just what some contractors need to encourage them to take that next step, that of going out and setting up on their own.

“Several winners have done this, so entering the regionals can be the first step to commercial success.”

Malcolm Abernethy in the hot seat at the site office. See how tidy his desk is? That’s how organized he has to be to run this show - collecting and distributing the judges check sheets, adding up the scores, making a call on the close ones, not mixing anything up. He doesn’t miss a thing and you would be all kinds of an idiot if you think you could sweet-talk him. He’d look at you sadly, pat you on your sorry head and walk away...

It’s a funny old world for Neil Ritchie – not only does he commentate for the slow-moving diggers as they lumber around the NEOC but in another life he commentates at the Speedway. Talk about the hare and the tortoise.

Police stop Keeping the competitors on their collective toes was the unexpected arrival of the Police at the Thursday night dinner to conduct drug and alcohol tests.

All contestants passed, but an adrenalin test might have shown high concentrations!

Another ‘surprise’ was the collapse of an attendee at dinner from a suspected heart attack. Don’t fear – all was well; it was part of a First Aid scenario sprung on the contestants.

42 www.contractormag.co.nz

It’s hungry work competing. Sue Stevens flips burgers, fries steak, browns sausages, caramelizes onions and butters bread to fill the empty stomachs of the competitors. She knew nothing about digger competitions before she met her partner, Brian Hoffman. Now she knows more than she ever thought possible and not only has he got her manning the barbecue at the competition, back home he’s got her shoveling scoria. Life is not boring for Sue.

A family affair JANE WARWICK pops into the he tented ‘clubroom’ for the

competitors and their entourages of supporting family and friends and meets the family connections.

Just steps from the main arena and all the action, the tent is a refuge, from the public and the oppressive sun that beats down on the field days at this time of the year.

Those awaiting their turn in the compeition ring alternate between chatting, looking fleetingly anxious and doing the paperwork to cost out the ‘job’ they are about to do.

James Lux has his daughter on his knee – he was up all night with her as she suffered one of those 24-bugs toddlers get.

Elijah Graham’s younger brothers fly into the tent, each with a balloon, and plant a kiss on his cheek and skedaddle looking mischievous.

JudgeTrevor Blenkiron’s wide-eyed baby grandson, Tom, looking astounded, gets passed hand-to-hand.

Defender Brian Hoffman’s (The Hoff) partner Sue Stevens, who thought she had retired from her cheffing career, finds herself once again on the other end of a spatula cooking up a huge barbecue lunch.

And Lee-Ann Hodgson – whose husband Ben was the inaugural winner of the competition – and Lynette Blenkiron (wife of Trevor, Nanna of Tom, mother of judge and course designer, Daniel) are the shepherds that keep it all from chaos.

It is a family affair and indicative of the type of man who drives a digger. There are women digger drivers out there, too, of course, and it’s about time they got into the competition!

Lynette Blenkiron (left) and Lee-Ann Hodgson are Camp Mothers in a way. They keep an eye on the competition, noting where there might be a breach in the safety fence; where a new competitor might have stood in a spot where they might inadvertently see a task being done that they have not yet done themselves; keeping the pantry full; advising the newbies; and most off all dishing out encouragement to everyone.

Lee-Ann has been attending the comp since her husband Ben won the inaugural event and Lynn’s husband Trevor and son Daniel are judges/ officials.

APRIL 2015 43

CONTRACTOR NATIONAL EXCAVATOR OPERATOR COMPETITION 2015

Introducing the 2015 competitors Contractor magazine caught up with the contestants halfway through the competition.

JAMES LUX

Fulton Hogan, Bay of Plenty

1plsact

place

e

James may have cracked the code to success in the NEOC competitions – just chill out. He won three years in a row up until The Hoff snatched the title last year, which was both a disappointment and a relief. Last year he told Contractor magazine that while consecutive wins did a lot for his self-esteem it also put a lot of pressure on to continue the run.

This year, he decided, he was just going to enjoy himself. He was going to do what he loved best about the competition – have fun and enjoy the company of the other competitors.

Nevertheless, he admits that he was feeling very serious at the beginning of the challenge, until he failed at the Humes Slam Dunk. He was disappointed at that until he reminded himself that this year he was there for the sheer enjoyment of it, with no expectation of himself except to put on a good show. So he relaxed…..and won.

2nd CARL HOLLANDS

3rd

place

MICHAEL SMITH

Wharehine Construction, Northland Michael had the same idea as James – just relax and take it as it comes. It worked, because Michael placed third, at this his fifth time at the champs.

He is busy; he is flat out, he says. Currently he is working reconfiguring the carpark at New World Orewa. It can be tough because the project takes in one part of the carpark at a time for minimum shopper obstruction, which means he doesn’t always have a lot of room to manoeuvre. His next job will probably be at the Summerset Monterey Park, a big new retirement village at Auckland’s new Hobsonville Point subdivision.

Good Bastard Award

ELIJAH GRAHAM

Hollands Excavation, Otago

Graham Contractors, Waikato

This was Carl’s first time at the national comp – his brother competed in 2014, but this year there is a new baby so no comps for Andrew. Carl is chairman of the Otago branch of Civil Contractors NZ so doesn’t normally compete. He didn’t get a slam dunk and he thought the painting task was the easiest or at least went the best.

He thought at best he had a mid-pack expectation but he placed runner up to James. He has a lot of work on his books, mostly subdivisional work, agricultural drainage and land maintenance. He was impressed by the amount of support the public was giving the competition.

Elijah entered the regional competition for the first time, and won. He hadn’t even been on a digger regularly for some months as he now mostly drives a desk. Since taking over his late father’s contracting business, life has changed a lot and now Elijah has 11 staff and works mostly as the contract manager.

He found the hardest task as a first-timer was getting the work done in the time allowed, followed by putting the post in, as he had never used an auger. His core business is bridge maintenance and sub divisions, both of which provide him with more than enough work.

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DEFENDING CHAMPION BRIAN HOFFMAN

Brian Hoffman Ltd, Auckland It’s been a good year for Brian. The great summer has meant his core business – installing swimming pools – has sent a lot of work his way. He enjoys putting in pools and seeing the looks on the faces of the kids when they come home from school to find a new watery playground installed in the backyard. “I enjoy it; it’s a way of life really. It’s good meeting new faces. I always strive to do my very best; do it once and do it properly.”

As defending champ he was aware of the pressure to do well again, but decided that all he could do was stick to his mantra – “All you can do is try your best and do it the way you think it should be done to get a great finished product.” At the end of the first day of competition, he thought the painting task was the hardest.

NEIL COUTTS

Hicks Bros Civil, Auckland Neil, too, was a farmer before he took up civil engineering. He was pretty good on tractors so the transition was easier than it might have been. It was his first time at the comp and like most firsttimers found the time limit to be the hardest chore to comply with. He is a site supervisor so hasn’t spent the time on diggers that he used to; it’s been perhaps a couple of months. But although he didn’t finish the painting challenge he found he was pretty good at pouring tea. He is currently working on the Penihana Subdivision in West Auckland.

JOSH BEGLEY

Faulkes Investments, Canterbury This year is the first time Josh has been in the competition. While he knew everyone had a chance of winning he felt being a newbie gave him a bit of a break. “Winning would be great, but if I don’t I haven’t let anyone down,” he said. So far the hardest part of the competition was getting everything done in the time frame. He also was conscious of the nuances of jumping from small to big machines and back but looked forward to the rest of the comp. Josh was a builder before he swapped to diggers and loves the transition. His current job is the Rolleston Primary School expansion.

BRENT TAYLOR

Gair Contracting, Hawkes Bay It was also the first time at the competition for Brent and he was fairly confident he was at least on a par with his fellow competitors and wouldn’t disgrace himself. He works with previous regional champ, Steve Galbraith, who he thought was a hard act to follow.

He was a dairy farmer for 10 years but had always wanted to drive big machinery and reckons he is better at that than being a farmer. He loves the variety of work and variety of machines. So far he had found the slam dunk and Lemon Squeezer hat challenge the hardest. Brent currently is working on a three-month subdivision project in Napier.

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JONATHON NOONAN Downer NZ, Manawatu

There weren’t any regionals in Taranaki this year, so Jonathon scooted across to Manawatu for the regionals and won. This was his second time at the champs; five years ago he competed for Taranaki and made second place. Pouring tea was the easiest and making the Lemon Squeezer hat was the hardest, he reckons because of the restrictions of movement within that task. He works as the foreman for roading contracts and catching up on yearly maintenance on a wheel digger. His work scope currently is maintaining roads and the clearance and maintenance of gravel roads.

MURRAY COTTLE

Goodman Contractors, Wellington Another comp first-timer, Murray was learning a lot. Pricing was hard as was time keeping; such tight timeframes and so many dimensions to meet – it was a helluva experience he grinned. He has nine months’ experience on a digger. Previously he drove a maintenance railway train, clearing and maintaining the tracks and ground to either side. Good work, he reckoned but not as much fun as driving a digger. Currently he is working on the MacKays to Peka Peka Expressway and then will most probably move onto the Transmission Gully project. l

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APRIL 2015 45

CONTRACTOR NATIONAL EXCAVATOR OPERATOR COMPETITION 2015

NEOC Awards night

1

3 1. The 2015 NEOC competition team 2. Winner James Lux (left), Brian Hoffman (centre) and Neil Coutts.

3. Thumbs up – contestants Brent Taylor and Josh Begley 4. Malcolm Abernethy, CCNZ, and Regan Burke, CCNZ Auckland branch executive, showing off his NEOC ‘official’ certificate.

2

4

Contractor magazine’s

One-Day Job

The One-Day-Job doesn’t look that daunting, but once the clock is ticking, it ticks fast and loud. And there was a surprise request this year – the contestants had to cost out the job. Oh my, it’s a good thing some of these contractors are not accountants laughed judge Malcolm Abernethy, but he said, now serious, it is a skill that comes with practice. After a few years, most, if not all of these contractors will be able to cast their eye around a job and come up with an amount that will stack up to within a few dollars of their first assumption when they work it out properly on paper.

One task was to build a fenced effluent pond within an 11m x 12m boundary. The pond had to be in the corner of the site, 1.400m from the back and right-hand margins. It was to be a 4.000m x 4.400m rectangular, 500mm deep pit, tapering to a smaller bottom just 2.800m wide. Four post-holes had to be drilled and four posts inserted with a 700mm diagonal offset from the pond. The spoil had to be piled tidily to the left.

The contractors used a 4.8-tonne Hitachi excavator.

The other task, using a 12-tonne Hitachi excavator was to dig twin ponds 4m square with a space between them that was 3m at base. The batters were to be 1:1, the depth 500mm and a connecting 225mm PE pipe – 6m long – was to connect the ponds at the base. Excavated material was to bund parallel to the ponds.

The third part of the One Day Job was the Lemon Squeezer hat task.

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the ANZACs at Gallipoli, and because the NEOC is a competition for diggers, which the ANZACs were affectionately known as, one of the tasks at this year’s comp was the formation of a Lemon Squeezer hat.

This task required competitors was to create a seven metre circumference, cut, fill and trim it to a crown depth of 1.7m-1.8m and a brim depth of 0.5m with a space between the tilt of the brim and the crown of 0.6m. By Jane Warwick.

46 www.contractormag.co.nz

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CONTRACTOR TECHNICAL

GPS lessons from Australia

Jim French, a heavy construction specialist at Navman Wireless, believes that in the future big construction companies will require GPS tracking of all contractors and subcontractors on a site.

JIM FRENCH THINKS that the heavy construction industry in this country will go the same way as the mining and oil and gas industries in Australia, which require GPS tracking of all vehicles based on that country’s Land Transportation Safety Recommended Practice.

These guidelines provide advice on ways to reduce, and hopefully eliminate, the number of serious road traffic incidents and fatalities through the implementation of land transport safety elements within a management system and require IVMS (in vehicle monitoring systems) to be used at all times.

The move that Jim is predicting toward universal GPS tracking in the heavy construction industry in New Zealand, will be driven (initially at least), by safety and compliance considerations.

Safety as a key driver In 2012 the Australian health and safety legislation was strengthened, and as a result there is a significant duty of care placed on employers, with huge penalties when things go wrong. New Zealand is also moving in this direction with the Health and Safety Reform Bill currently before Parliament, and expected to be passed into law in the second half of 2015.

In both Australia and New Zealand a significant percentage of workplace deaths involve vehicles or machines.

48 www.contractormag.co.nz

In business, plant and vehicles represent the third highest cost behind salaries and rent/power. Given that combination, it makes sense to focus on minimising risk and ensuring worker safety.

Employers should be thinking about: Where are my employees? How are they driving? Are the vehicles well maintained? Are they taking enough breaks?

Jim also believes that there will be a move towards compulsory GPS tracking of all people on a site, not just all machines. On a big site, such as the construction of a new section of motorway, there are many occasions where a worker may be working alone and out of sight of others, so technology that can alert site managers in the event of a ‘man down’ incident is very important.

Better business practices The heavy construction industry faces multiple business challenges, such as achieving accurate estimating and bidding, reducing profit erosion, keeping machines running, increasing labour productivity and efficiency, increasing asset utilisation, and ensuring the right equipment is in the right place at the right time. Jim believes that moving to GPS tracking of every machine on site can go a long way toward alleviating these challenges.

With a GPS fleet tracking system you can trend productivity across the whole site, and extract data that allows you to reduce downtime, reduce cycle times, and distribute equipment between job sites more efficiently. The remote monitoring aspect of the system means you can monitor your equipment and workforce on multiple job sites then access real time data to make instant decisions based on what is happening on site.

There is another compelling benefit of universal tracking on a construction site. The data extracted provides proof of hours worked and machines used, and this provides a safeguard for both the employer and the subcontractors. When a subcontractor submits an invoice, they have proof of the hours worked and machines used. It also gives the main contractor peace of mind: that the machine was on the job and worked these hours.

Universal tracking of vehicles, machines and people on heavy constructions sites is the way of the future, Jim iterates.

“Safety of workers will be the main driving force to this change, particularly with the upcoming change to health and safety legislation in New Zealand.

“Improving business practice and efficiency will also be a key consideration in our very competitive heavy construction market.”

CONTRACTOR TRAINING

Register now for TRADE CERTIFICATION The long-awaited Trade Certification programme for the civil construction industry is a step closer, with the Civil Trades Certification board confirming that it will be up and running by the end of 2015. Contractors are encouraged to register their interest now.

DEVELOPED WITH INDUSTRY, for industry, Trade Certification

is a nationally recognised accreditation programme for civil contractors. It is the result of a partnership between Civil Contractors New Zealand, the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) and Connexis, the Infrastructure Industry Training Organisation.

The programme combines a recognised trade qualification with certified hours of practical experience, and leads to registration as a Certified Tradesperson. Trainees can specialise in either civil works, utilities maintenance, pipe installation, bituminous surfacing, or bituminous product manufacturing.

Certified tradespeople will be highly skilled in their chosen trade – able to work to the required standard unsupervised and with a high degree of practical and theoretical knowledge.

Industry demand for a credible and robust trade qualification for civil construction workers has been well-documented.

Traditionally there has been a lack of standardisation in the industry, with no clear benchmark for performance and skills.

The new system will provide clearer career pathways and equip workers with recognisable and transferrable skills, enabling them to move easily within the industry.

Inaugural chair of the Civil Trades Certification board and president of Civil Contractors New Zealand, Dave Connell, says that the programme is the best thing that has ever happened to the industry. “Finally our trade is getting the respect and 50 www.contractormag.co.nz

profile it deserves,” he says. “In America and Europe you can’t get on a brand new excavator and pretend you’re a digger driver. There is a real respect for qualifications, and there are recognised steps you need to take. Why on earth in New Zealand do we let untrained people on a half million dollar piece of plant? It’s madness, it’s been done for far too long, and it’s got to change.”

The programme will also give a much-needed boost to how civil construction is perceived as a career option. Dave Connell explains, “We will be able to attract young people to our industry who may not excel academically – but who are practical kids – and turn them into something really special.

The programme will also enable us to put apprenticeships in our industry on a par with trades such as electricians, and help people understand what we actually do. I’m really enthusiastic about it and am confident we can get some great people into the industry.”

With an acute skills shortage, 20 years of reconstruction coming up in Christchurch, and New Zealand just coming out of recession, Trade Certification could not have come at a better time. The board anticipates that it will become the backbone for skills development in the industry, benefiting employers, people working in the industry, and the wider infrastructure sector.

Connexis chief executive Helmut Modlik believes the

The Civil Trade Certification programme at a glance

How it works Apprentice achieves: • Level 4 Trade Qualification (approximately 4000 working hours) • Completes another 4000 hours – demonstrating the specified competencies to gain the required experience and proven skill level • Applies to Trades Certification board to be certified as a Tradesperson • Certified Tradesperson – if requirements met.

Specialist skills covered • Five Level 4 Trade Certificates available – Civil Works – Utilities Maintenance – Pipe Installation – Bituminous Surfacing – Bituminous Product Manufacturing • Each focuses on a specific scope and not generalist labourer or operator skills, as previously.

Trade Certification programme will change the face of civil construction as we know it.

“The industry will finally have the capacity and capability to meet the demand created by growth in infrastructure construction, new health and safety legislation and the introduction of new technologies. We will also see increased productivity and massive efficiency gains,” he says.

“Employers and business owners will benefit from improved business attributes and scores during tender evaluation, as well as a reduction in rework and improved health and safety records.

“People working in the industry will be able to gain the recognition they deserve. There are currently a huge number of infrastructure workers who are highly skilled but unqualified. Trade Certification will provide these people with a recognised and respected trade, and significantly lift their career and earning potential.”

Connexis will facilitate the Trade Certification programme, and will provide support to employers and trainees across the country. The ITO is currently finalising the trade qualification and the associated learning and assessment resources.

Connexis will also develop and finalise a Recognition of Current Competence (RCC) process for experienced employees wishing to become a Certified Tradesperson. An RCC pilot scheme is due to be launched shortly, and the first trainees are expected to complete the programme in 2016.

For more information talk to your Connexis regional advisor, call 0800 486 626, or go to www.connexis.org.nz

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CONTRACTOR INTERNATIONAL

Building an

American landmark

An early conceptual rendering for the replacement three-mile twin New NY Bridge.

The Tappan Zee Bridge being replaced.

In the March 2015 issue of Contractor we featured one of New York’s most historic bridges.

The New NY Bridge, expected to be completed in 2018, is the latest of the Big Apple’s many bridges, designed and constructed to last 100 years without major structural maintenance. BY ALAN TITCHALL.

PLANS FOR A NEW bridge to replace New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge go back to 1991. Some US$88 million in taxpayer dollars, 430 meetings, and 150 concepts later – project construction started in 2013.

The old, 4.8 kilometre Tappan Zee Bridge (1955) crosses the Hudson River at its widest point and is the longest bridge in New York State. As part of the NY State Thruway, over 138,000 vehicles cross the bridge every day, far more than it was designed to handle, and traffic jams and delays are regular.

The state has spent US$750 million on maintenance over the past decade and expected costs of a further US$4 billion to keep the deteriorating structure in repair over the next two decades.

The three-mile twin bridge New NY Bridge will replace the 60-year-old Tappan Zee Bridge and has been designed and 52 www.contractormag.co.nz

constructed to be mass-transit-ready, with eight traffic lanes, four breakdown/emergency lanes, bus rapid transit, light rail or commuter rail, and a bike and pedestrian path.

The total cost of the New NY Bridge project is US$3.9 billion, which is far less than initially expected. The financial risk associated with most cost overruns or schedule delays lies with the contractor. The construction period is scheduled at five years 2.5 months and is due to finish in April 2018.

The bridge has been designed and is being built by Tappan Zee Constructors, a consortium of four engineering and construction firms – Fluor, American Bridge, Granite, and Traylor Bros.

Currently the project site is a buzzing hive of activity, hosting up to 500 workers on site at any one time. With some 6000 pieces of rigging equipment and 55 rigging crews working with

PHOTOS: NEW YORK STATE THRUWAY AUTHORITY.

Above: Installing the formwork for the pier 39 columns.

Left: The New NY Bridge project’s I Lift NY super crane arrived at the Hudson River construction site in October 2014.

After completing its 6000-mile journey from San Francisco Bay, the super crane was modified for work on the New NY Bridge project.

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APRIL 2015 53

CONTRACTOR INTERNATIONAL

an armada of cranes that lift from sunrise to sundown, there is no room for error.

Bob Hammond, equipment manager for the consortium, says that of the approximately 30 cranes on site, 14 of them are made by Manitowoc.

“Many of our partners in the consortium brought Manitowoc cranes to the project,” he says. “Among them are two Manitowoc 4600 Ringer cranes that are doing pile driving work, driving sheets, setting concrete and casting forms, and performing form work; a Manitowoc 14000 cleaning piles and handling dig out chores; and a Manitowoc 999 using a clam bucket to handle clean out work for piles.”

The 182 tonne (US) capacity Manitowoc MLC165 chosen for the project is Manitowoc’s newest compact crawler crane. It’s set up on a barge with 54 metres of main boom, using a static list load chart configuration. The crane’s list and trim meter has come in especially handy, as the crane is being used on a barge – it’s floated into position before making lifts of up to 20 tonnes at heights reaching approximately 27.5 metres.

Following dredging and other preliminary work, permanent construction operations began in October 2013. As the area is cleaned out and piles are driven, construction of the bridge itself is occurring 210 kilometres north of the job site. When completed, the sections will be floated down the Hudson River for assembly and this was due to happen this month.

The new bridge is being built parallel to the old one, following the same basic contours. After the new bridge is finished, the cranes will stay on site to help demolish the old structure. “When working on water you can’t move anything around without a crane, so they’re crucial to the project,” Hammond adds.

The hundreds of enormous steel girders that will connect the columns and support the new crossing’s road deck required enormous logistics to make, transport, store and position in place.

A number of temporary facilities included new slips to receive very large transportation barges and customised hydraulic rail carts to help move the girder assemblies.

These 12-foot tall girders began as steel plate sections and were delivered to fabrication shops in Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, which are producing a total of 100,000 tonnes of welded steel beams in lengths ranging from 18 metres to 36.5 metres. These beams are shipped by barge and truck to a 16-acre staging yard in the port area of the Hudson River where they are assembled with high-strength bolts into girders that range in length from 88 metres to 125 metres, and weigh as much as 600 tons each. Assembling the girders on land in a controlled environment helps the project team maintain a high degree of safety, quality and efficiency.

Later this year, the assembled girders will be barged to the new bridge’s location, a journey of about 20 hours. Once they arrive at the project site, many of the girders, particularly those destined for locations farther from shore, will be set in place by the project’s so named ‘I Lift NY’ super crane (from San Francisco and actually registered with the US Coast Guard as the Left Coast Lifter).

This floating super crane plays a vital role on the project, building the new structure and dismantling the existing Tappan Zee Bridge. It features a 100 metre boom capable of lifting large sections of the new bridge weighing 1000 tons.

Piece by piece, the massive steel members will connect the support columns and form the framework for the future road deck.

54 www.contractormag.co.nz

Vibratory hammer driving a steel pipe pile.

First a virtual bridge was made Long before the first foundations of the New NY Bridge project were installed, HDR, a US architectural and engineering firm, built the new crossing in a virtual world.

To cope with the sheer scale and complexity of the New NY Bridge project, the largest bridge and highway project in North America, HDR used state-of-the-art building information modeling (BIM) to visualise a structure in three dimensions (3D) and from infinite vantage points. This digital process identified potential design conflicts early in the process and allowed designers to find efficiencies that reduced costs and improved construction scheduling.

The enormous amounts of data helped quantify and organise the materials needed for large projects, and precisely manage design and construction, including scheduling and tracking of each element of the bridge’s construction progress.

For example, the 3D model was used to guide the installation of the bridge’s electrical wiring, which had to be coordinated with the production of the crossing’s huge steel girders.

Using video game-based technology, HDR developed a userfriendly viewer programme that displays the bridge model in a realistic and interactive virtual manner that will continue to serve for future maintenance teams long after the bridge is completed. Each of the approximately 500,000 bridge elements can be viewed with links to pertinent design and maintenance information. Maintenance crews will be able to view the model from mobile devices, laptops or desktop computers, allowing them to see every piece of the bridge at every possible angle.

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CONTRACTOR CHRISTCHURCH INNOVATIONS

From left: Robert Kamuhangire and Louis Collingwood from Aurecon; and John O’Sullivan, Hawkins’ site respresentative.

Unique engineering lessons from Christchurch

THE NEW SUMNER Surf Life Saving Club building was under the triple threats of sea erosion, liquefaction and lateral movement, and engineering consultancy Aurecon was tasked to come up with an innovative design for the foundations. It came up with a combination of a raft type foundation and a reinforced gravel mattress with sand filled geotextile containers to protect the foundations from erosion.

The site was particularly challenging as it was located on Crown land, within a Council managed reserve and was susceptible to coastal hazards and a harsh coastal environment.

All these factors had to be accounted for in the design process.

Robert Kamuhangire, senior geotechnical engineer for Aurecon, says this is the first time that a ‘sleeping defence’ system utilising geotextile containers has been developed at design stage to form part of a composite shallow foundation.

“The best way to describe the containers is they are specialist geotextile sandbags that are relatively damage resistant on the exterior but have sufficient filtration on the inside that water can easily get in and out during a storm event without dislodging the sand inside the bag,” he says.

The bags are filled with locally available beach sand avoiding expensive imported fill, but are strong enough as a unit to resist damage from wave borne objects. They act together to prevent damaging effect of strong waves, storm surges, erosion or undercutting by wave action.

They incorporate a special ‘flexible self-healing toe’, a feature that reduced required excavation below erosion level and provides protection during extreme erosion events.

Unlike traditional sea defence structures that tend to be expensive and intrusive to the eye, sand bags can easily be employed as ‘sleeping defences’. They are not visible as they can be covered with natural dunes or dune plants.

“In terms of coastal erosion protection, we explored all the traditional solutions such as gabions, rockwalls, piled walls 56 www.contractormag.co.nz

and found the sand filled geotextile containers to be more cost effective, easily adaptable in the future, and provided more flexibility to landscape designers.

“This was particularly important for Sumner SLSC since the final location of the Christchurch Coastal Pathway was not yet confirmed and we needed a system that could easily be adaptable to different landscape requirements.”

Aurecon explored a variety of solutions for this geotechnically challenging site and this combination was preferred because of its effectiveness and cost.

“In terms of building foundations, we assessed the option of deep piles to minimise the amount of fill required on site but considered this solution would be much more expensive to design and build due to varying depth to rock and liquefiable sand layers,” says Robert.

“Further still, and based on our experience around Christchurch, piled buildings are usually difficult to repair following a damaging earthquake compared with buildings on shallow foundations that are easily re-levellable if they have been designed for that purpose.

“The 800mm minimum thick gravel raft will span over areas where soil could liquefy during an earthquake, redistribute building loads and moderate differential settlement, and reduce building damage if lateral spreading occurs.”

The thickness of the gravel raft was also dictated by the finished floor levels that had to be higher than design flood levels.

The Sumner SLSC is a steel and timber frame building with precast panels in places. The main building occupies an approximate footprint of 550 square metre with an additional 200 square metre timber deck towards the beach side. It is single storey except the lifeguard tower that has two levels.

The project is due for completion in September 2015 before the busy summer season.

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CONTRACTOR COMMENT

Simplifying the prequalification stage MALCOLM ABERNETHY, EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CIVIL CONTRACTORS NZ THERE IS CURRENTLY A lot of chatter about prequalification, particularly around the issue of savings that can be made if a prequalification system is in place for both contractors and the clients.

It is my view that such a regime could be easily implemented based on the work that NZ Transport Agency (then Transit) did in 2002. We need modification of the current prequalification system, not a wholesale change.

When prequalification was implemented it was lauded as being a good thing, because it would save time and costs for when contractors were preparing bids. At the time clients wanted to know that the contractor had the ability to do the job, management systems for health and safety and environment, the track record, and the resources and the skills. The contractor needed to demonstrate that they had the ability to deliver the project on time and to the specified quality for the price provided in the bid document.

What has changed?

There have been changes since 2002. We now need to know that the contractor’s health and safety management system is fit for purpose by meeting the requirements of the Accident Compensation Commission’s (ACC) Workplace Safety Management Programme (WSMP) at secondary or tertiary level (including Partnership Programme). We also need to know that they have quality management systems that meet the requirements of ISO 9001 for Quality Management. And we have a greater requirement on environmental requirements with more insistance upon ISO 14001 Environmental Management accreditation.

There will be additional changes in the safety area as a result of the Health and Safety Reform Bill currently before parliament. One of the significant changes in the health and safety space is that the client (principal) must be able to demonstrate that they have undertaken due diligence on their contractors or suppliers.

Now each of these aspects (quality, environment and safety) are accredited annually (every two years in the case of ACC) by independent third party audits. I seriously ask, why is it that client groups insist upon a whole lot of other information in each of these areas that is not project specific and would be assessed by the Tender Evaluation Team (TET)?

Let’s accept that fact that registered, independent third party audit companies have the knowledge, experience and integrity to assess these aspects of a contractor’s company. After all, audit companies are accredited by JASANZ (Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand). JASANZ auditors must satisfy stringent requirements to ensure their competence,

independence and integrity to assess a contractor’s business systems for specific industries.

From these three areas – quality, environment and safety – we then need to add some other ‘non price attributes’ (NPA) relating to relevant experience, track record technical skills and training or company competency. Some of these NPAs are project specific, so specific information should be sought in the Request for Tender document. I suggest we don’t need to ask this at the prequalification stage; lets keep them as project specific – as things that really make a difference from one tenderer to another.

NZTA requests seven performance criteria being – Quality Assurance, Traffic Management, Environmental Management, Health and Safety, Project Management, Quantum or Size of Work and Co-operative and Pro-active Partnering.

Good stuff I hear you say – but three of the seven are already covered by accreditations awarded based on third party independent audits carried out within the contractor’s business

by JASANZ accredited auditors!

Even more interesting is that the suite of Standard Conditions of Contract NZS 39XX requires, when requested, project specific Temporary Traffic Management Plans to be accepted – so let’s take that out of the mix!

What is left from the original seven is Project Management, Quantum or Size of Work and Co-operative and Pro-active Partnering.

I contend that these three remaining aspects are of little significance when it comes to prequalification with no need for inclusion at the prequalification stage.

There are two things that are missing in the prequalification equation and they are training where a contractor must demonstrate their commitment to training and, due diligence for health and safety where a contractor must demonstrate on an ongoing basis that the health and safety systems they are using are being maintained as detailed in their processes.

Training already forms part of the audit requirements for Quality, Environment and Safety so there is little change to be made for prequalification.

Due diligence requires contractors’ performance to be assessed and recorded to feed back into the prequalification equation. Currently we use PACE (Performance Assessment by Coordinated Evaluation). It is this aspect that needs greater detail and modification to ensure consistency of evaluation across many different types of work and contracts.

Prequalification is not broken, but needs that due diligence feedback loop to ensure its relevance and it is this aspect along with a significant review of PACE that needs to be revisited.

Postal Address: PO Box 12013, Thorndon, Wellington 6144 Physical Address: Margan House, 21 Fitzherbert Terrace, Thorndon, Wellington 6011 Phone 0800 692 376

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CONTRACTOR COMMENT

Paperwork versus the Cloud in safety MATT COBHAM, SITESORTED

THE NEW HEALTH and Safety Reform Bill proposes 10 concepts, most of which aren’t new. However, the concepts will be more explicit and will come with a new set of regulations enabling WorkSafe NZ to enforce them with harsher punishment.

Paperwork is set to increase to maintain compliance under the Health and Safety Reform Bill – which will force directors to exercise due diligence to ensure the safety and health of their employees (and workplaces). Old paper-based Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) management systems simply won’t cut it anymore and directors need to realise this.

The Bill and the new regulations are set to put the country’s WHS system into the modern age, but paper-based systems aren’t keeping up in accounting for modern workplace practices – trying to handle multiple contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and servicemen. Workers don’t like complicated and convoluted systems for doing what could be a very simple job.

All they want to do is to get on with it.

The question has to be asked then: How can a director, with a paper-based system, effectively perform due diligence, account for overlapping as well as upstream duties while inciting a motivated safety culture?

It has already been proven with the rise of social media that cloud-based solutions have the ability to effectively handle multiple users inputting large amounts of information.

The answer: they struggle. With cloud-based systems, they don’t.

It has already been proven with the rise of social media that cloud-based solutions have the ability to effectively handle multiple users inputting large amounts of information.

What’s more is that they draw on the fundamental concepts of motivational science: autonomy, competence and purpose.

Something a paper-based system can almost certainly not do.

By taking proven philosophies of multi-user platforms on mobile devices (laptops, tablets and smartphones) and applying them to a WHS management system, some revolutionary functionalities are introduced.

Cloud-based systems can conduct the same procedures in

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real-time that a manual system would take days to do. Internal databases can house dictionaries of typical hazards with expected controls helping a worker to better identify risk on their site. Most importantly, they can accommodate multiple organisations on-site ensuring they are all adhering to the Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) health and safety procedures.

The discontinuity in communication between directors, high level management, subcontractors and workers on the coalface can finally be continuous (and in real-time). As communication flow improves, so do feedback cycles. All of a sudden coalface workers feel more competent and understand the value in what they are doing. Workplace behavioural patterns that the new Bill and regulations are trying to drive can actually be realised.

An example of this is the monotonous prestart form and meeting. Anyone who has been involved in these understands the temptation to just copy the previous day without giving it any thought. It is all too easy to scribble down some generic hazards then get up and say: “Lads… same as always, get to it.”

Using a cloud-based system the prestart form becomes interactive. A foreman can select the day’s tasks then be be made aware of associated hazards, impacts and controls from a database based on regulations and industry standards.

When presenting the prestart meeting, WHS managers can set prompts for the foreman to talk about in the form of diagrams, pictures and videos. During the day, if people sign on to the prestart, the foreman can be notified they have new personnel on site. Feedback loops are more effectively closed, engagement is increased and workers are motivated to act in a safer and healthier way.

The most significant functionality offered by cloud-based systems is their ability to handle overlapping PCBUs. If multiple contractors are working on a single site, they can all meet their obligations to cooperate and coordinate WHS systems. Not only is it immoral to withhold safer workplace practices from a subcontractor, soon it will be illegal.

Adding layers upon layers of paperwork just to be compliant won’t save lives.

Instead, a system that meets compliance by engaging workers and motivating them to act in a safer and healthier way will.

The stakes have been raised, consequences are more severe and the onus falls on directors. For companies that are yet to understand the implications of the new reform and how best to be compliant, now is the time to act.

COMMENT CONTRACTOR

How financially secure is your project?

ARIE MOORE, ASSOCIATE, AND KATE HENDERSON, SOLICITOR, KENSINGTON SWAN’S CONSTRUCTION TEAM

OFTEN NEW ZEALAND contractors operate on little more than a handshake. Recent liquidations, such as Mainzeal Property and Construction and roading company Infracon, serve to highlight the risks with that approach and the importance of ensuring that there are safeguards in place to protect from insolvency.

Insolvency has also been at the forefront of the courts recently with the Supreme Court releasing its decision in the combined Fences & Kerbs, Hiway Stabilizers and Allied Concrete appeals.

The first step contracting parties should take is to ensure that a written (and signed) contract is in place that clearly sets out each party’s rights and obligations. Secondly, it is important that parties to a construction contract consider whether any additional security arrangements are required. Adequate security manages two major risks: performance and payment.

Performance risk Insolvency is a potential performance risk for all parties to any project. Additional security to protect against this event will typically include retentions, bonds, and warranties.

Retentions from progress payments provide a principal or head contractor with a certain level of protection in the event that a contractor does not complete the project.

A performance bond is issued by a third party (eg, an insurer or registered bank) and also provides security in the event that a contractor fails in performance.

A bond in lieu of retentions (or a retention bond) is a bond offered by a contractor, instead of a principal or head contractor withholding retentions. Retention bonds are appealing from the position of a contractor/subcontractor, as they increase cashflow and reduce the risk of losing retentions in the event that the principal or head contractor becomes insolvent. However, principals and head contractors may not accept a retention bond and prefer retentions on the basis that ‘cash is king’.

Whether retentions or a bond are appropriate will largely depend on the parties involved and the value placed on having cash rather than a third party security. Regardless of which is obtained, the main benefit of both forms of security is that the funds lie separate from the principal or contractor.

In the context of performance risk it is also important to consider warranties. Ideally contractors will only warrant the work that they have undertaken. In reality, head contractors are responsible for the entirety of the contract works and often required to provide a corresponding warranty. Warranties are typically provided to cover works following their completion.

A trade warranty from a subcontractor may be worthless if the subcontractor is no longer able to make good on that warranty (due to insolvency or otherwise).

A trade warranty from a subcontractor may be worthless if the subcontractor is no longer able to make good on that warranty (due to insolvency or otherwise). Head contractors can mitigate this risk by considering the financial stability of the subcontractors they engage to work on a project.

Payment risk Payment risk is a fundamental consideration. Contractors can protect themselves from exposure to payment risk by taking steps at an early stage to ensure that any parties that they are working for have the ability to pay the contract price and any variations that might arise under the contract.

If additional payment security is required, this is likely to take the form of a principal’s bond, or a direct payment agreement.

As with a performance bond, a principal’s bond will sit with a third party and is able to be called upon if the principal is not in a position to pay a contractor’s costs.

A direct payment agreement may be appropriate for larger projects, and contemplates a tripartite agreement with a bank in which a loan is approved for the value of the project, as well as a contingency for variations. The agreement provides that the bank will pay out the amount if required upon certification of the engineer to the contract or a QS (whichever is applicable).

For contractors there is an element of payment risk in having retentions withheld from a project. To the extent that the party withholding retentions does not keep these funds separate from its working capital, the retentions may be lost if the principal or head contractor were to become insolvent. The collapse of Mainzeal is an example where a number of subcontractors lost retentions – there are currently around $18 million in subcontractor retentions claimed through the liquidation.

Conclusion The security required to manage the performance risk and payment risk will vary depend on the particular project and party. On lower value contracts, retentions may be sufficient.

However that is not always the case, and further security may be required to mitigate risk. The most important take away is the importance of adequate due diligence at the beginning of a project – know the people, the project, and the risk.

APRIL 2015 61

CO247.COM

CONTRACTOR COMMENT

What’s happening to first aid training?

JANET BROTHERS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, LIFE CARE CONSULTANTS

THERE ARE 1000 reasons why someone would participate in a first aid course and these include: compliance for their employment, responsibility on a school camp, being a volunteer tramping guide in the weekends, their neighbour getting chest pain when they mow their lawn, and a new dad who just wants to know what to do in case he needs to.

One of the best reasons to train in the contracting industry is to be able to help a mate if needed.

WorkSafe says an employer is required to have sufficient people first aid trained, taking into account the risk level of the workplace, the size of the workplace, the number of staff and the number of worksites and shifts.

In the early 1990s, with the establishment of NZQA, first aid was rightly written into many qualifications and NZQA became the standard setting body. As with any standard setting body there are pros and cons; it is great to have a national standard and, in theory get rid of the cowboys, however it also reduces flexibility and the ‘minimum standard’ can

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become the ‘standard’.

An example of this is when a contracting company does a first aid course which is unit standard based but doesn’t include bitumen burns, exposure to heat and exposure to cold – is this training ‘fit for purpose’?

WorkSafe doesn’t require unit standard based first aid training; it requires training relevant to the workplace, which may include the unit standards. Therefore an office worker will require a different emphasis and content than a digger driver or a teacher.

The 6400 series unit standards have been the first aid unit standards since 1991 and for providers the standards have been rather controversial as they are written quite ambiguously.

About five years ago some providers became very vocal about their frustrations with the unit standards so NZQA got together with some (not Life Care as we were happy enough with them) and new unit standards were written.

These new unit standards were 25661 and 25662 and they

WorkSafe says an employer is required to have sufficient people first aid trained, taking into account the risk level of the workplace, the size of the workplace, the number of staff and the number of worksites and shifts. were written into many qualifications to replace the 6400 series.

These two unit standards were appropriate for someone who wants to do a first aid course because his neighbour gets chest pain when he mows the lawn and were completely irrelevant for industry.

There were so many complaints about the new unit standards that NZQA put together a Project Action Group to sort it all out once and for all! This group had representatives from providers and from industry; I represented the then Contractors’ Federation.

The outcome, after two years (nothing happens quickly) is the ‘new’ unit standards will expire and the 6400 series is the golden child and is, once again, the standard for industry.

Life Care has always been adamant that 25661 and 25662 are just too light for industry and the 6400 series, or an industry specific course without unit standards, is the best option for the contracting industry.

If this is confusing or better clarification about first aid training compliance is wanted contact Janet Brothers at janet@ lifecare.co.nz

It’s easy to recognise the good guys – we do it all the time.

With ACC Fleet Saver, you can show your customers, suppliers and stakeholders that your health and safety systems are up to scratch – which means you’re good guys to do business with.

If you own five or more heavy goods service vehicles and have documented health and safety systems that demonstrate your business’ culture of safety, we can work with you to make sure your fleet gets the recognition it deserves – making yours the ‘trucks you want to be around’.

Find out more at accfleets.co.nz or call 0800 222 776.

The team at Clements Contractors Ltd are good guys too. They’d like to tell you what achieving ACC Fleet Saver Gold Accreditation has meant for their business. Get the full story at accfleets.co.nz/casestudies.

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CONTRACTOR CLASSIC MACHINES

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The Allis-Chalmers HD-14 The Allis-Chalmers HD-14 was introduced in 1939 and was broadly based on that company’s earlier and very successful Model L and LO gasoline powered crawlers. BY RICHARD CAMPBELL AT THE TIME of its introduction, the HD-14 was the largest track type tractor that AllisChalmers had manufactured and joined two other machines, the HD-7 and HD-10, which Allis-Chalmers had also released that same year.

Weighing in at approx 14.5 tons bare, the HD-14 was a contemporary of the Caterpillar D7 and International-Harvester TD-18.

Allis-Chalmers needed a large diesel engined tractor as diesel engines were the way the market was headed and its biggest competitors already had a head start.

But there was a problem – A-C did not manufacture its own diesel engines.

It had experimented in the early 1930s with Atlas engines but these were deemed to be too heavy and cumbersome.

A couple of years after this initial 64 www.contractormag.co.nz

experiment, a small number of tractors were fitted with Hesselman spark ignition diesels which ran at low compression but these also failed to make an impact.

So, after examining several options, A-C entered into an arrangement with General Motors for the supply of suitable power plants.

It was to be a highly successful arrangement which lasted almost 15 years.

The HD-14 went into full production in late 1939 and was well received by contractors, loggers and the agricultural sector.

During WWII Allis-Chalmers supplied a quantity of HD-7s, HD-10s and HD-14s to the US military and these largely saw service in the Pacific theatre of operation.

They were highly regarded by the armed forces and shared an engine commonality

with the US Navy’s landing craft which also used GM 71-series diesel engines.

Following WWII, many of these HD-14s were disposed of in government auctions in Australia and New Zealand to the delight of equipment starved contractors.

These ex-military machines can be identified by the numbers “US7” stamped into the serial number plate.

Allis-Chalmers was never a manufacturer to rest on its laurels and was constantly striving to improve its products.

One such improvement was the introduction of the torque converter, the first ever application of this device in a track type tractor, fitted to the HD14 in 1946. The torque converter was an earthmover’s dream as it allowed fewer gear changes and automatic compensation to changing loads without

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1 Allis-Chalmers HD-14 equipped with a full Baker cable bulldozer package including the PCU. Baker PCUs were quite rare on A-C tractors as they proved to be a little troublesome, most operators preferring the GarWood or LeTourneau variety.

2. A very early production Allis-Chalmers HD-14 with an equally old GarWood cable blade. This particular unit has the under hood air cleaners and left side ejecting exhaust pipe, found only on pre-WWII machines 3. Wartime Allis-Chalmers advertisement from a magazine of the period, extolling the virtues of Allis-Chalmers equipment. Front and centre is an HD-14 equipped with a GarWood hydraulic blade and Carco winch. Keen eyed readers will notice the badge of the 7th construction battalion, the SeaBees, on the side of the seat.

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4. Two HD-14’s with GarWood Model L12, 12 cubic yard hydraulic scrapers engaged in land clearing for housing, Wisconsin, USA during 1940. The push tractor is also an Allis-Chalmers, a Model L

APRIL 2015 65

CONTRACTOR CLASSIC MACHINES

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1. Pre-WWII manufacture HD-14 fitted with a Baker hydraulic “Gradebuilder” angle blade and a home made canopy. As can be seen, the Baker blade was a massive affair and more than a match for rock work. A lot of HD-14’s were supplied in this configuration including NZ resident machines.

2. A n HD-14 sits quietly in a Nebraska salvage yard awaiting preservation. Although the machine has no blade, it was at one stage fitted with a Carco cable controlled model, the lifting frame being still attached to the machine. PCU on the rear is a GarWood CU-2 double drum type, very popular in the 1950s.

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stalling the tractor.

For a time it gave Allis-Chalmers quite a competitive edge within the industry.

Torque converter-equipped HD-14s were known as HD-14Cs. By 1946 it was obvious that the HD-14 was in need of a serious makeover to keep up with technology trends.

Lessons learned during WWII and the explosion of technology that resulted from this conflict allowed Allis-Chalmers to embark on an even bigger tractor to replace the HD-14 and HD-14C. This new machine would become the HD-15.

Over 6400 HD-14 and HD14Cs were manufactured between 1939 and 1947 when the type was discontinued.

The HD-14 described BRIEF SPECIFICATIONS HD-14 (standard) Engine: General Motors 6-71, 6-cylinder, inline diesel engine rated at 132 flywheel horsepower @ 1500 rpm Transmission: Allis-Chalmers 6-speed sliding gear, manual.

Clutch: 15” single plate, dry type Top Speed: 7 mph Track Gauge: 68” Track Links: 35-section Std.Shoe: 22” Rollers: 5 per side Drawbar Pull: 28,000 lb in 1st gear Length: 13’ 9” (bare) Width: 7’ 8” (bare) Height: 8’ 8” (bare) Opt Weight: 14½ tons (bare), up to 18 tons fully equipped

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It is worth noting at this point that AllisChalmers was a great innovator within the earthmoving industry when it came to track type tractors, having introduced many of the things that are inaccurately attributed to its biggest competitor.

Items such as duo-done roller seals, sealed and lubricated (SALT) track links, lifetime lubricated track rollers/idlers, bi-metallic steering clutches and torque converter drives were all first invented by Allis-Chalmers!

The engine chosen for the HD-14 was the ultra-reliable GM 6-71 and this was connected, via a dry type clutch, to a sixspeed constant mesh gearbox.

In this application, the 6-71 diesel generated 132 flywheel horsepower, so it was quite a ‘grunty’ tractor for 1939!

It was also a very stylish looking machine with curvaceous lines.

Its panel work was designed by the design team of Raymond Loewy who was

a highly noted and respected designer of the period, responsible for a number of firsts including streamlining locomotives.

There was no mistaking the fact that the HD-14 or its siblings were Allis-Chalmers machines.

A spotting feature of HD-14s was the twin air cleaners whose tall intake stacks were mounted side by side on the rear hood.

HD-14s had single reduction final drives and rode on a 5-roller track frame with spring and oil tensioned idlers and a fully pinned equaliser spring to prevent track frame misalignment.

Steering was by multiple disc bi-metallic clutches and conventional contracting band dry brakes.

The operator was provided with a full width bench type seat with wide armrests which could be used to sit on if the machine was engaged in scraper towing operations.

A wide deck gave ample legroom and a centrally placed instrument panel contained all the necessary gauges.

Of all the large track type tractors of the period, the HD-14 was the easiest to start as it had direct electric starting and was not reliant on petrol-diesel conversion or a separate gasoline starting engine.

Attachments From the factory, Allis-Chalmers HD-14s were available with a number of optional attachments. These included a canopy (non-ROPS of course), cabin with heater, lighting package, power take off (PTO) and a factory installed push plate which mounted directly to the chassis side rails.

Prior to WWII tractor manufacturers were just that, relying on specialist builders to supply blades, winches,

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scrapers, cable controls etc.

Allis-Chalmers was no exception and relied on several manufacturers to outfit its machines for duty.

Those preferred suppliers included: LeTourneau – cable controls, cable operated bulldozers and angledozers, towed scrapers, land clearing equipment.

Baker Manufacturing – hydraulic and cable controlled bulldozers and angledozers, towed scrapers, snow plows. (Allis-Chalmers later went on to acquire Baker.)

GarWood – cable controls, cable operated bulldozers and angledozers, towed scrapers.

Carco – hydraulic and cable controlled bulldozers and angledozers, land clearing rakes, logging winches and arches.

Buckeye – cable bulldozers and cable controls.

LaPlant-Choate – towed scrapers It would appear that the Tractomotive Corporation, which manufactured a line of front-end loaders for Allis-Chalmers (often known as the ‘G’ series) never manufactured

a loader for the HD-14 as the author can find no record whatsoever of an HD-14G variant.

The New Zealand connection Unfortunately, all records concerning the importation of Allis-Chalmers HD-14s have been lost/destroyed so no accurate number of those that arrived in NZ can be given. This also applies to the HD-14C variant.

All those machines your author has ever sighted have had the “US7” stamp on their serial number plates, marking them as exmilitary machines sold through war surplus.

For the model collector A very dismal outlook here as to date there has been only an odd-scale zamac cast, one piece model of the HD-14 issued, back in the early 1950s.

It is crude and wildly expensive in the “collectors market” (if you can find one) and doesn’t fit into collections as such other than as a curiosity.

This is a great pity for such a groundbreaking tractor.

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3. This poor old girl is “rusting in peace” in the USA. It should be preserved as it is fitted with a very rare Buckeye cable blade assembly, PCU and frame.

Buckeye was a lesser-known attachment company, swallowed up

by GarWood in the mid 1950s. Buckeye also manufactured chain trenching machines.

4. V ery clean lines of the HD-14 are apparent in this photo of a machine slated for restoration. It would appear that this particular example has been a scraper tow tractor all its life as no blade mounting hardware is evident.

There is a GarWood CU-2 double drum PCU fitted to the rear of the machine.

This is a late production machine without the ridge down the centre of the hood.

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APRIL 2015 67

CONTRACTOR MOTORING

BY PETER GILL

Ron does it a again … this time a woodie Ah, what a treasure is Ron Berry, a car nut enjoying his retirement in Utah. I imagine you’d need a good hobby to enjoy your retirement in Utah. We’ve featured Ron in these pages before. He re-designs vehicles with a sense of humour. They look almost cartoon-esque. Yet they are of sound engineering and are legal on the roads there. The last one we showed you was a VW Kombi re-created to

H VACA N CY F O R A C H AU F F E U R H

look like something from a psychodellc reverie. Now he has another. It’s a surf chasing “woodie” called the Shorebreak. It’s based on some kind of early American Ford woodie. Ron has given it a 5 litre V8 block. Took a look at the map of Utah. Land locked. No surf. But Ron can always do what the rest of us older guys do: fantasise.

Spoonerising the cheen Apparently, Her Majesty is advertising a vacancy for a chauffeur.

As I write this, the Royal website confirms the fact. The person would be driving Rolls Royce and Bentley cars. For a TV show that I was working for in New Zealand, I was invited to drive the Rolls that the Queen would be travelling in on an upcoming royal tour of our country. Two kilometres into my televised test drive, the car boiled. I understand that after the problem was rectified, officials decided to have a Ford LTD on hand as a tail-end Charlie throughout the Royal Tour in case Her Majesty needed a lift home. The Rolls held out though, but the fastest it ever travelled was when leaving the Navy Base at Devonport where the Monarch had been reviewing a parade. Reason? The announcer at the event, a broadcaster mate of mine, had accidentally Spoonerised the bit where the sailors all throw their hats in the air and toast Her Majesty. On nationwide radio and TV, my mate haplessly said; “And now the sailors are offering three Queers for the Cheen.”

68 www.contractormag.co.nz

700CC’S OF SPINNING BLADES

NAKED WHAT …?

Ford seems be going through a welcome phase whereby it’s making cars that people actually want to buy. One of these is the Focus. As a workaday five door hatch, the Focus sells very well these days, including here in New Zealand. The car has done well on the world rally scene, too, and Ford has capitalised on the sporty underpinnings of the Focus by producing a so-called RS version. The next iteration of this model is due out soon. It will have a 2.3 litre Ecoboost engine. Ecoboost is Ford’s term for a small engine that has been technologically boosted to do the job of a big engine, hence the same or similar 2 litre and 2.3 litre engines can now be found in the Falcon and even the Mustang. Another firm that for a while used the suffix RS was Daihatsu for a car that unfathomably they called the Naked. I was at the Tokyo Motor Show when they unveiled the Naked RS, to a round of international laughter. Try saying it and you’ll understand.

Because I frequently refer to my ride-on mower in these pages, are you wondering if I have some sort of obesession with it? The honest answer to that is no.

It’s just that owning and operating it poses so many interesting thoughts and questions. Buying a property in Kerikeri and moving there in 2013, we knew we had to bite the bullet and buy one of these machines, like everyone else in the place has had to do. But the model Anne chose is nearly 700cc in engine capacity. That’s what it takes to mow two and a half acres of lawn here. You can see the machine in the picture. Brand is Husqvarna, and I am oft-taunted by those who say I have bought a sewing machine to mow my lawns.

Fact is that an engine that size has powered many roadgoing cars in the past. The Citroen 2CV, Fiat 500, Bradford van, and Daihatsu Mira to name a few. Anne, who chose it, happily operates it most of the time. I note that it vibrates a lot.

REMEMBERING THE TRIKE Have you noticed the increasing number of three wheel motor bikes on our roads of late? I had two identical ones in my rear view mirror just the other day on State Highway 10 in Northland. The increasingly cool ones seem to have two wheels in the front and one at the rear, rather than the way it was done previously, which was the other way round. Who buys them and why, I don’t know. But now they are developing them as smaller city commuter machines, the sharpest of which I have seen being the Yamaha TriCity. It has only 125cc going for it which is about one fifth the capacity of my ride-on mower, so I imagine even I could handle it. It’s $4,495 and pretty cool. It’s said that as men get older they start to regress to childhood. I recall my trike very well. It was usually in a state of capsize.

Let me out at the corner please If my motoring writer friends were to be believed, in 1988 I took leave of my senses. I bought a brand new Subaru Vortex Coupe.

Four wheel drive. 1.8 litre boxer engine. Turbo charged. And very, very wedge-shaped. The other motor-noters laughed like drains.

To me, it was sure-footed, eye catching, and quite fast. Seems my colleagues thought the Vortex to be uber gauche with its doorstop shape and its Disneyland digital dashboard that sometimes looked like a Tokyo fireworks display. Then, one day, my Vortex got its vengeance. I encountered two Porsches and a Benz stuck in the snow on the way up to Mount Ruapehu. I gave

all three drivers a lift to the top. One asked if I could deliver him to the back of the Chateau as he didn’t want anyone to see him getting out of the Vortex.

APRIL 2015 69

CONTRACTOR INNOVATIONS

Quality range of gloves Ansellis’ diversified portfolio of premium disposable gloves are now available in New Zealand.

Ansell says it will will progressively introduce six styles to the Microflex product line: Microflex 93-853 High Risk Disposable Nitrile Gloves; Microflex 93-856 High Visibility Nitrile Gloves; Microflex 93-843 Durable; Heavy-Duty Coverage Nitrile Disposable Gloves; Microflex 93-852 Distinct Black Disposable Nitrile Gloves; Microflex 73-847 Wet Grip & Ergonomic Certified Disposable Neoprene Gloves; and Microflex 93-833 Certified Ergonomic Nitrile Disposable Gloves, which also happens to be the first disposable glove of its kind to be certified ergonomic by the United States Ergonomic Association.

Industry corrosion training The economic impact of corrosion and its degradation of infrastructure and assets is estimated to be three to five percent of GDP, which for our economy is more than $10 billion annually.

The Australasian Corrosion Association (ACA) is hosting a range of seminars and training courses in Auckland throughout 2015 to inform and guide organisations and practitioners about ways to combat corrosion. These courses cover the fundamentals of corrosion control through to more advanced techniques and procedures. All are applicable to a range of different industries.

A three-day training course will be held in Auckland from April 27-29 covering the topic of ‘cathodic protection monitoring’. Bookings for this and other events can be made via the ACA website at www. corrosion.com.au.

New Service Locator from Kennards Unexpectedly hitting and puncturing underground services when excavating can instantly shut down a project site. The lost productivity, potential for injury to personnel and costly repairs can all drastically reduce profit, so it’s essential to eliminate this risk.

To assist in underground service detection, Kennards Hire Test & Measure has introduced the Service Locator into their expansive portfolio of specialist equipment, which features the latest in digital signal processing to pinpoint the exact position, route and depth of pipes.

It’s designed to detect, identify and trace specific sub-surface pipes and cables reliably and accurately, even in the most congested areas and difficult environments,

CONTRACTORS’ DIARY Date Event 19 Jun

Venue

Contact

CCNZ Nelson Marlborough Awards

Annesbrook Community Church, Stoke

nelson.marl@civilcontractors.co.nz

27 Jun

Shed 10, Auckland Waterfront

www.nzcontractors.co.nz/auckland+branch

Hynds Contruction Awards

8-10 Jul

Crane Assoc of NZ Conference Trinity Wharf, Tauranga

www.cranes.org.nz

15-17 Jul

QuarryNZ Conference

Claudelands, Hamilton

www.quarrynz.com

5-7 Aug

Civil Contractors NZ

Taupo

12-14 Aug

NZ Heavy Haulage Conference James Cook Hotel, Wellington

28-30 Jun 16 Hillhead Quarry Exhibition

Lafarge Tarmac’s, Hillhead Quarry, England

Please send any contributions for Contractors’ Diary to kevin@contrafed.co.nz, or phone 09 636 5710

70 www.contractormag.co.nz

www.nzcontractors.co.nz www.hha.org.nz www.hillhead.com

A paint that changes like a Chameleon

Setting a benchmark Local distributor AB Equipment now has the new Manitou MLT–X 960, designed specifically for heavy duty jobs when loading power and high lift height is a factor.

With a rated operating capacity of 6000kg and maximum lift height of nine metres, the MLT-X 960 specifically excels in demolition and recycling and provides a unique alternative to the large wheel loaders.

It is equipped with a powerful 141hp Interim Tier 1V John Deere engine that is paired with a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) gearbox to give a smoother driving operation and increased fuel efficiency. For safe and flexible handling, the inching pedal allows you to slowly lift your loads while keeping your engine running at a high speed.

A quick fit mounting system on the handler connects to a wide range of Manitou attachments including forks, rotating buckets, grapples, bale and hay handlers. A hydraulic lock option provides for fast attachment changes without the operator having to leave their seat.

Further information: Call 0800303090 for the location of your nearest AB Equipment branch.

Plasti Dip is an ingenious way to cover almost any surface with a synthetic rubber coating that protects, insulates and revitalises. The multi-purpose air-dry, coating can easily be applied by spraying, brushing or dipping and, because it remains flexible and stretchy, it doesn’t become brittle or crack.

The Enhancers range was introduced to New Zealand last year with a series of bright Metalizer colours designed to go over the top of a Plasti Dip base coat to provide a coloured, shimmering, metallic finish that can differ depending on the number of coats applied and also the colour of the base.

Different effects are available, according to the Chameleon choice, which includes; Turquoise Silver Chameleon and Green Blue Chameleon.

Plasti Dip adheres to most hard surfaces, including metal, wood, glass, masonry and other plastics, making it extremely versatile. The Americans refer to it as ‘like duct tape in a can’ because of the myriad of uses.

More information: www.plastidip.co.nz.

Volvo H-series loader arrives Volvo Construction Equipment has sold its first H-series wheel loader with its industry-leading technology and fuel efficiency.

The latest generation H-series wheel loaders feature the Volvo D8J Tier 4 final engine and an all-Volvo powertrain that work in harmony to deliver power, reliability and performance.

The L120H features Volvo’s award-winning OptiShift technology that lowers fuel consumption by up to 18 percent, while Volvo’s patented Reverse By Braking (RBB) technology senses the loader’s direction and slows the machine when the operator wants to change direction by reducing engine rpm and applying the service brakes automatically.

Further information: www.volvoce.com.

A DV E RT I S E RS IN D E X ACC 63 Buildmax 7 CablePrice 40, OBC CAT 25 CCNZ 58 Connexis 31 Counties Ready Mix 44 DitchWitch NZ 3 Earthworm 49 EROAD 38 GeoFabrics 10

Glenbrook IFC Gough Cat 9 Hirepool 5, 47 Humes 43 Hynds Pipe Systems 51 Mimico 55 NZTA 15 OMC Power Equipment 53 Position Partners 33 Prime Pump 29 Puma Energy 11

Rocktec 37 Ryco 62 Taylor Built 12 Total Oil 57 Transdiesel 21 Trimble NZ 59 Wirtgen NZ OFC, 13, 16, 17, IBC Youngman Richardson 67 Z Energy 44

APRIL 2015 71

CONTRACTOR CIVIL CONTRACTORS NEW ZEALAND

Working for members News pages, covering the association’s latest news, views, activities and intentions.

Health & Safety Reform The Health & Safety Reform Bill was introduced into Parliament in March 2014. It is currently before Parliament’s Transport and Industrial Relations Committee, which is considering public submissions and is due to report back by March 30, 2015.

This bulletin is prepared for the Members of Civil Contractors NZ and their employees and has been developed using the Health & Safety Reform Bill Web pages at http://www.business.govt.nz/ worksafe/about/reform.

Once the Bill is passed, it will be several months before the new Health and Safety at Work Act comes fully into force. This will enable the supporting regulations to be made, and WorkSafe to finalise the supporting guidance and Approved Codes of Practice.

Civil Contractors NZ will keep you informed on legislation progress and when it will come into force. Recent indications are that the legislation will come into force in the third quarter of 2015. The Bill is still going through the Parliamentary process, so the final shape of the new law – to be known as the Health and Safety at Work Act – won’t be definite until it’s passed You can access a full copy of the Health & Safety Reform Bill at http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2014/0192/latest/ DLM5976660.html We are running a series of health and safety legislation articles in future issues of this magazine.

• CCNZ – Engaging with Local Authorities around the country on a range of issues –P rocurement issues –B itumen sprayer certifications –H &S compliance requirements –S ubcontract Agreement review –S mall contracts agreement review –R esource Management Act for Plant Operators under review –O perator Safety Manual Review with Connexis (at the printers) –B lue Book Plant Hire Rates Review (at the printers) –R egional and National Excavator Operator Competitions – 2016 round starts at National Field Days, Mystery Creek –A nnual Conference planning –C ablePrice theme dinner –Z Energy People Awards –H irepool Construction Excellence Awards

Industry Liaison

Construction Excellence Awards

• C onstruction Safety Council for rollout of compliance testing • Engineering Leadership Forum for engineering industry related issues including capacity and training • Construction Industry Council for Resource Management review and earthquake prone buildings • Industry representative organisations for responses to common issues.

Entries are being sought for the Hirepool Construction Excellence Awards – contact Malcolm Abernethy.

National Excavator Operator Competition

Our Current and Ongoing Activities • WorkSafe – Regulation development for 1. General Concepts and 2. Worker participation and representation – Approved code of Practice for Excavations – Certificates of Competency training for mines and quarries • MBIE – Construction Contracts Amendment Bill including retentions – submission made – Standards and Accreditation Bill submission made • NZTA – Industry Advisory Group for Network Outcomes Contracts – Zero Harm at Leadership level and Advisory Group – CoPTTM at governance and operational levels – RCA Forum – Draft Speed Management Guide – Driver Licensing review • Training – Slinging Lifting and placing training – Interactive couch sessions with lawyers, accountants, bankers and HR for small business administrators – Qualification reviews for Asset Management and Procurement procedures – NZIHT National Advisory Committee 72 www.contractormag.co.nz

The 2015 final of the National Excavator Operator Competition was held at Central Districts Field Days, Manfeild Park, Feilding on March 13 and 14.

The competition was won by James Lux representing Bay of Plenty who also won the Contractor magazine One Day Job. Second place went to Carl Hollands representing Otago and third to Michael Smith from Northland.

First time finalist from Waikato, Elijah Graham was recognised as the competition’s Humes Good Bastard as assessed by the judges and officials over the weekend.

Civil Contractors NZ thank members of the Manawatu Branch for their dedication and tireless contribution to the competition and all the sponsors for their continued support – Cable Price, Hirepool, Z Energy, Humes, ENZED, Contractor magazine, Earthworm, Doug the Digger and Brand Imaging. The competitors vying for the title of Best Excavator Operator Nationwide were: Defending Champion Brian Hoffmann Northland Michael Smith Auckland Neil Coutts Waikato Elijah Graham Bay of Plenty James Lux Hawkes Bay Brent Taylor Manawatu Johnathan Noonan Wellington Murray Cottle Canterbury Andy Collier Otago Carl Hollands

•

DESIGNED FOR HARD WORK THE 3000 SERIES VIBRATORY COMPACTORS. 3000 SERIES • Perfect all-round visibility • Excellent hill climbing • Long service intervals • Even weight distribution

ROAD AND MINERAL TECHNOLOGIES

www.wirtgen.co.nz

Wirtgen New Zealand 10 Wareham Place, Seaview . Wellington 5010 Tel: 0800 WIRTGEN . email: info@wirtgen.co.nz

PRODUCTIVITY | UPTIME | LOW DAILY OPERATING COST

LIGHTWEIGHT AGILITY, HEAVYWEIGHT ABILITY.

OPEN THE DOOR TO A MORE PRODUCTIVE DAY

300114_JD_Skid

Want a skid steer that’s more productive? Get one of ours. Optimal weight distribution, low centre of gravity, high ground clearance, and long wheelbase deliver superior stability.

These E-Series Skid Steers also excel at putting material in its place. Their patented vertical-lift boom rises to the occasion, delivering exceptional lift height and reach.

Significantly more power in the top-of the-line 332E.

Increased performance in the 328E. Best-in-class visibility and bucket breakout forces in all five models.

And increased operating capacities in the 318E, 320E, and 326E. You have more control choices too, including exclusive switchable electrohydraulic (EH) H-ISO-foot controls. So you can do more, with less effort.

For more information on John Deere Skid Steer range, visit www.cableprice.co.nz or contact your local CablePrice sales representative.

0800 555 456 I www.cableprice.co.nz I sales@cableprice.co.nz