NZ Contractor 1508

NEW ZEALAND’S CIVIL CONTRACTING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

INSIDE: Hirepool – Creating new opportunities for equipment hire When Frances took over her Dad’s contracting business Back from the brink – Titan turns 50 with a fascinating history Smart highways of the future – A look at our transport future

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CONTENTS CONTRACTOR

36

INSIDE: Regulars

Highlights / Features

4 Editorial 6 Upfront 16 On the Cover 56 Best Business 64 Classic Machines 68 Motoring 70 Innovations & Contractors’ Diary 72 Civil Contractors NZ Comment 72 Advertisers’ Index

22 KiwiRail upgrade ‘OO7’ licensed to thrill

Profiles 18 Frances Boyces When Frances took over her Dad’s contracting business.

28 Titan Group turns 50 Celebrating the good years, the tough

Starved of investment in recent years, rail infrastructure renewal is back on track.

NEW ZEALAND’S CIVIL CONTRACTING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

34 Auckland’s East West connection Another major Auckland roading project looms.

36 On yer bike again The country has gone ape with cycleways.

INSIDE: Hirepool – Creating new opportunities for equipment hire industry When Frances took over her dad’s engineering business Back from the brink – Titan turns 50 with a fascinating history Smart highways of the future – A look at our transport future

40 Lessons in flood control ON THE COVER

Making threatened buildings waterproof.

The way construction companies focus on controlling costs and managing capital is creating new opportunities for the equipment hire industry, says Hirepool.

42 Heritage Trail – Rimutaka Hill Road It started when Kupe’s wife was abducted.

44 2015 Crane Association Conference Conference coverage from Tauranga.

years and the future.

Comment 60 Peter Silcock Civil Contractors NZ

AUGUST 2015 $8.95

See page 16

52 Smart highways of the future James Careless looks into the ‘smart’ and energised future of the world’s highways.

61 Jonathan Bhana-Thomson NZ Heavy Haulage Association

62 Stuart Robertson and Kimberley Hayward Kensington Swan

Training 46 Connexis Women in Infrastructure Awards 48 Growing great leaders at McConnell Dowell 50 Youth careers day at MOTAT

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52 AUGUST 2015 3

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

CCNZ conference beckons I am filling this spot for Kevin Lawrence while he is getting himself back in the saddle after taking a bit of leave.

We trust you enjoy this ‘conference’ magazine issue with its myriad of topics that includes two profiles.

It always amazes me how serendipitous some careers are. Over the past month I interviewed two personalities; Frances Boyce, who has taken over Whitaker Civil Engineering from her father and started her career as an architect; and (for Q&M) Ilana Miller, national manager minerals at NZP&M, who started her career as a veterinarian.

Back in 2001 veteran Contractor contributor, and ex-editor, Gavin Riley promised Max Whiley, at his behest, that he would write a history of Titan. In 2005, at Titan’s 40th birthday bash, a very unwell Max whispered to him; “What about my book?” It was the last time Gavin saw him. Finally, he has fulfilled his promise with the history of Titan in this issue. “This is my penance,” Gavin tells me.

“It’s a story I didn’t think the Whiley family would allow me to tell. But they have. And I think it’s an inspiring tale.” So do we, thanks Gavin.

Chris Webb is a newcomer to our pages and arrived here from the UK. His first story was on Auckland’s City Rail Link a few issues ago and for this issue he covers the crane conference and writes, in his typical detail, on how the nation’s rail infrastructure renewal is progressing. If you are wondering how Chris manages to simplify all that technical details, it helps to know he was a nuclear scientist before taking up journalism.

Regular contributor Mary Searle-Bell tackles her second cycleway story which is cleverly being built using an old Auckland motorway ramp that fell into disuse. I think it is fastinating that the Asians are throwing away their bicycles into metal shredders while this country goes ape with cycle ways under the marketing wash of good for health, transport and gas emissions (I suppose that depends on what you had for breakfast before biking to work?). Personally, unless you lived somewhere flat in this country, I couldn’t think of anything more precarious, or knee injuring, than biking up and down our hilly cities and putting oneself at risk with Kiwi (and foreign) driving skills. Then, as we are fond of saying here, we are not interested in why roads, bridges and cycle lanes are being built: only in how, as it means work for you guys.

Finally, make sure you read the comment on the challenge with association memberships in attracting young blood as the generation coming up behind us do stuff differently and how associations must prepare for their future success, or otherwise face going the way of many inner-city bowling clubs.

‘Tomorrow’s leaders’ are coming up behind us. Keep an eye on them and be prepared one day to stand aside and let them through.

Meanwhile, see you at the CCNZ conference and keep on shifting dirt for a better future.

Alan Titchall, editorial manager

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

Malcolm Abernethy, Richard Campbell, Hugh de Lacy, Peter Gill, Gavin Riley, Mary Searle Bell, Richard Silcock, 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

4 www.contractormag.co.nz

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CONTRACTOR UPFRONT

NZTA spends up large Transport Minister Simon Bridges has welcomed the release of the largest National Land Transport Programme (NLTP).

The programme, developed by the Transport Agency (NZTA) every three years, gives effect to the government’s transport priorities which are set out in the government Policy Statement on Land Transport.

“The $13.9 billion programme represents the largest ever spend on land transport over a three-year period and is a 15 percent funding increase on the last three-year period,” says Bridges. It will “deliver on the government’s priorities of increasing economic growth and productivity, improving safety, strengthening regional transport networks, lifting investment in public transport and cycling and ensuring value for money”.

Included in the programme are: • $6.3b for investment in the State Highway network over the next three years.

• $4b for investment in local roads – a six percent increase.

• Almost $2b for spending on public transport – a 21 percent increase.

• Investment in cycling more than trebled to $251m.

• $4.2b for investment in Auckland’s transport system and services.

$460m for Northland Key priorities for the $460m programme of transport investment in Northland include delivering better travel times and reliability on the critical Whangarei to Auckland corridor as well as improved resilience and travel times for the Inland Freight Route from south of Whangarei to Kaikohe, says Ernst Zöllner, NZTA’s regional director for Northland.

The funding will make a significant contribution to ensure the region’s key roads remain a vital lifeline for local communities as well as protecting and growing the economic wellbeing of the entire region and the country, he says.

Highlights for Northland include: • 20 percent funding increase in local road operating and maintenance investment to a total of $191m.

• $48m to continue development of the Ara Tūhono - Pūhoi to Warkworth project, which is estimated to cut 30 minutes from journey times in peak periods.

• $13m to improve safety and resilience along State Highways in Northland.

• $5m for cycling, including $2.9m from the Urban Cycleway Fund to complete the Kamo Cycling Route and provide a safer connection for school children. This is the most significant cycling investment ever made in Northland.

6 www.contractormag.co.nz

Auckland’s public transport & cycleways boosted “The planned investment through the National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) brings together a significant series of work including the Western Ring Route and projects including AMETI and East West Connections which, when combined, will create better and more resilient connections from north to south,” says NZTA’s regional director for Auckland, Ernst Zöllner. “This is the biggest step forward in strategic roading in Auckland in 50 years.”

Zöllner says investment in Auckland for 2015-18 includes $1.175b for public transport, $960m to maintain state highways, and $91m to improve cycling and walking.

$591m package for BOP A large part of the NZTA’s investment in the Bay of Plenty recognises and supports the vital part the region plays in New Zealand’s social and economic success, says Transport Agency’s acting Waikato Bay of Plenty regional director, Robert Brodnax.

“Off the back of our investments in the soon-to-be-opened Tauranga Eastern Link, our focus for the next three years in the Bay of Plenty will be on building a safe and efficient transport network to enable local growth, enable easy access for rural goods to markets and people to city-based services.

“This will ensure the region can continue its significant contribution to the nation’s economy and growth.”

An estimated $255m of $591m will target continued economic productivity and growth, advancing key projects such as the Baypark to Bayfair upgrade and Hairini underpass.

The public transport system will receive $45m, with an additional $8.5m to provide school buses for children in Tauranga, while projects designed to get more people walking and cycling, such as the Rotorua Cy-Way and the Omokoroa to Tauranga cycleway will receive funding totalling $9m.

Other highlights in the Bay of Plenty include: • $4.9m for road safety promotion and education activities targeting regional issues • $244m (up six percent on the previous NLTP) for maintaining and renewing the road network, with $141m for local roads and $103 million for state highways • Investigations into how the road and rail network can complement each other and ways to ease the pressure of future freight growth on the region, and looking at the future needs in the approaches to Rotorua and Tauranga.

Mimico wheels out Kawasaki Mimico has been appointed as the distributor of Kawasaki’s new range of Z7 wheel loaders which made their debut at this year’s Fieldays.

Mimico says the Z7 wheel loaders implement brand-new patented technology, industry exclusive innovation, and input from owners and operators all over the world Mimico is also distributor for Metso crushing and screening equipment, Kobelco excavators, Atlas Copco breakers and demolition equipment as well as ZF transmission and drive components.

Celebrating excellence

How much did you say officer?

Three Queenstown Lakes companies won the big awards at the recent 2015 Hynds Construction Awards for Otago.

Each will go on to be judged at National Awards to be presented at CCNZ’s conference in Wairakei this month.

The winner of the less than $100,000 category was Wilson Contractors for the Flagstaff Station Water Scheme project.

Judges commented that: “Wilsons were to be commended for an innovative design that delivered outstanding value for the client.”

In the $100,000 to $1 million category Civil Construction won for its Queenstown Lakefront Retaining Wall. Judges said the job was “technically challenging with significant adjoining structures to be protected. The risk management associated with this project and innovative methodology employed were very impressive.”

In the over $1 million category Maungatua Contractors, of Wanaka, won for the Tarras Irrigation Scheme with the judges saying the value added by the contractor in both the design and construction made a tremendous difference for the clients. “A definitive example of innovation and why we celebrate these awards. An outstanding job.”

How much do you think is the biggest ‘instant’ fine you can be given?

A contractor, still reeling from the shock, found out recently that it is $10,000.

That’s the fine his workers received while driving a ute through Wellington carrying two nine kilogram gas bottles on the back.

The tanks were securely strapped to the head board of the vehicle, however the red diamond labels were not visible and the police officer did not inspect the bottles to determine if they were adequately labelled.

The bottles had tags fixed to the valves indicating that they had been inspected when filled and the name of the filling company.

The diamond labels were present albeit damaged and in one case severely damaged. He wasn’t been able to get off the fine.

Contractors be warned that for the sake of some relatively cheap labels they should ensure labels are in good condition and clearly visible. CCNZs suggest ensuring two labels are fixed to gas bottles so they can be clearly seen.

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CONTRACTOR UPFRONT

Stuart Sutherland joins TransDiesel TransDiesel, agents for Terex Finlay tracked mobile crushing and screening equipment, has appointed Stuart Sutherland as its material processing product manager.

Stuart has experience with material processing, conveyor belting and rubber lining and fabrication and previously worked for Skellerup Conveyor and Mining and Viking Conveyor.

Flood protection scheme gets a tick Waitara’s flood protection scheme passed its first major test with flying colours in late June when a major storm hit the North Island.

While a number of towns across the lower North Island were hammered by the storm, TRC chief executive Basil Chamberlain says Waitara’s scheme coped relatively easily.

“At its highest the Waitara River was running at levels equivalent to a one-in16-year flow – a moderate flow, rather than a large flood in Waitara, and a relatively minor test for the protection works” he says.

Part of the Waitara’s upgrade included the controversial removal of 23 pohutukawa trees but Chamberlain says the work was needed.

“We’ve made big investments in flood protection at Waitara and the Lower Waiwhakaiho, and it’s clear that these were the right decisions,” he says.

According to Chamberlain, the threeyear, $3 million upgrade to Waitara’s flood protection scheme, which is in its final stages, will hold up against a onein-100-year flood once finished.

8 www.contractormag.co.nz

Steve Bowling Contracting won the Projects over $1 million category for the Kotuitui Whitanga footbridge in Whangarei.

Northland construction award winners High vis vests, steel cap boots and hard hats were traded with suits, bow ties and shiny shoes at the CCNZ Northland branch’s annual Northland Construction Awards.

This is the second year the awards have been run and this year saw a huge jump in entries, from nine in 2014 to 21. Judges Gary Clemett, Barry Stenberg and Malcolm Hawthorne said they were impressed by the quality of the projects presented and also the large variety of works being carried out in the region.

Winners in the construction categories are: Projects up to a value of $100,000: Steve Bowling Contracting for Piroa Bridge Strengthening Projects from $100,000 – $500,000: Fulton Hogan for the Maromaku Slip Deviation Projects from $500,000 – $1,000,000: Robinson Asphalts for Pak’nSave Car Park Projects over $1,000,000: Steve Bowling Contracting for Kotuitui Whitinga Footbridge in the Loop Walkway.

Also recognised on the night were Robinson Asphalts, taking home the Community Contribution Award and Downer NZT, winner of the Health & Safety Practices Award.

Bryce Coughlan from Clements Contractors was the Warren Drake Memorial Trainee of the Year.

Crown & Council JV way to go for Christchurch The Prime Minister’s announcement that an urban development-type agency will be established to oversee future Christchurch central city rebuilding is positive, but a jointly owned Crown and Council agency will better facilitate transition to local ownership, says Stephen Selwood of the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development.

Selwood says it is critical that the CBD redevelopment is completed with urgency and delivered seamlessly across the Crown and Council’s respective asset holdings.

“It is also crucial that the development agency is totally attuned to market needs, has the strongest possible procurement capability and can effectively manage capital project delivery and whole of life costs of public assets.”

A jointly owned development agency governed by an independent professional board seems a logical step, he says. “This would require the Crown and Christchurch City Council to agree the outcomes to meet tax and ratepayer expectations, set the budget and empower the development agency to get on with the job.”

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CONTRACTOR UPFRONT

NZTA cuts truckies some slack Changes to the Vehicle Dimensions and Mass Rule (VDAM) establish a more balanced scale of penalties for breaches of permit conditions by those operating HPMVs says the NZ Transport Agency.

NZTA freight director Harry Wilson says the amendment addresses a seemingly small but critical barrier to the Agency’s goal to move more freight on fewer trucks.

“The amendment to the rule addresses concerns expressed by the transport industry and truck operators about anomalies which meant that those breaching any one of a range of HPMV permit conditions, regardless of its importance, could incur disproportionately harsh penalties,” says Harry.

A key feature of the new offence provisions is the removal of the current reference to the permit being voided if any condition is breached.

This means that if, for example, a permit vehicle is overloaded on one axle the fine would be imposed for that breach only.

The rule now distinguishes three ‘critical’ conditions that will attract a higher penalty: • exceeding the gross weight on the permit; • exceeding a design limit such as gross vehicle mass; • failing to observe bridge restrictions.

The amendment to the rule required corresponding updates to the Offences and Penalties Regulations and for NZ Police to train staff in the new enforcement process before it came into effect in July.

A new permit form has been created to meet the Rule requirements, which is very similar to the online permit forms currently in use. The new form includes a description of critical conditions and clarifies when the permit ceases to be valid.

Existing permits continue to be valid until they expire or are replaced.

Call for entries for H&S Awards A call for entries has been issued for awards that acknowledge people, sites and companies that are demonstrating excellence in health and safety leadership and innovation.

Site Safe chief executive Alison Molloy says the Site Safe NZ Construction Health and Safety Awards are a way of giving national recognition to those who are taking the lead in making construction sites and workplaces safer.

“We want to use these awards to promote the good stories that exist in the sector, the great ideas, innovation and the leadership that we see. It’s important that we recognise the businesses that are making a real difference so that we as an industry can continue to raise the standard of health and safety.”

Categories available for entry: • Safety Innovation Award – small to medium business (up to 20 employees) • Safety Innovation Award – large business (over 20 employees) • Safety Leadership Award – small, medium or large business • Safety Contribution Award – individual or small team.

The awards will be presented at Site Safe’s Evening of Celebration at Alexandra Park in Auckland on November 11, in conjunction with the Site Safe Certificate in Construction Site Safety graduation ceremony.

Applications are open from now until 1 September.

See www.sitesafe.org.nz/awards.

New ISO sustainability spec

Terex appoints Rocktec Specialist engineering solutions provider Rocktec is now the New Zealand distributor for Terex Minerals Processing Systems.

The crushing and screening equipment from Terex MPS is an excellent fit for our business, says Jason Tapper, Rocktec’s sales and marketing manager. “It will further enhance the range of practical solutions we can deliver to the market in New Zealand.”

Founded by the developers of the Barmac VSI Crusher, Rocktec has been in the quarry and mining industry in New Zealand for over 20 years and is part of mechanical project engineering company Southern Cross Engineering Group.

10 www.contractormag.co.nz

A new technical specification from ISO establishes a core list of aspects and impacts for assessing the sustainability performance of civil engineering works taking into account their design, construction, operation, maintenance, refurbishment and end of life.

ISO/TS 21929-2, ‘Sustainability in building construction – Sustainability indicators – Part 2: Framework for the development of indicators for civil engineering works’: • Adapts general sustainability principles for civil engineering works; • Includes a framework for developing sustainability indicators for use in assessing the economic, environmental and social impacts of civil engineering works; • Establishes a core set of aspects and impacts, which should be taken into account when developing systems of indicators for civil engineering works.

The new specification also explains its relation to other standards such as ISO 14000 on environmental management, ISO 26000 on social responsibility and ISO 15392 for sustainability in building construction.

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CONTRACTOR UPFRONT

Zero hours proposals

New French owner for HEB French corporate giant Vinci has signed an agreement to acquire HEB Construction from Bruce and Jessie Pulman but will continue to operate it under the HEB brand.

Vinci Group has a turnover of NZ$65 billion, operates in over 100 countries, and has over 190,000 employees.

Vinci says it will provide HEB with the financial strength to support larger projects as well as access to additional expertise and experience.

HEB has been a major part of the country’s infrastructure scene, including Transmission Gully, the Arras Tunnel, Kopu bridge, Alpurt motorway and Highbrook and Papakura interchanges on the Auckland motorway. The takeover is slated for completion at the end of August.

Timaru

The Government says it will include in forthcoming legislation on zero hours contracts the requirement that all employment contracts must include agreed hours.

The legislation will also ban practices such as making unreasonable wage deductions and restricting secondary employment.

BusinessNZ chief executive Phil O’Reilly says zero hours contracts are not used in the vast majority of workplaces and problems with their use are not widespread.

“In a few situations they have been controversial, and the Government is seeking to provide some protections in legislation,” he says. Any legislation that eventuates should be even-handed in helping employees manage their employment conditions while still preserving business flexibility.”

A zero-hour contract (or low-hour contract) is the name given to a type of contract, where the employer has the discretion to vary the employee’s working hours i.e. from full-time to “zero hours”. The employer has no obligation to provide work for the employee. Such contracts spread widely in the United Kingdom after the global financial crisis, particularly in agriculture, hospitality, education and healthcare sectors.

Business leaders say it makes for flexible labour market, especially for retirees and students who want occasional earnings and flexible work. On the down side it discourages skilled labour that expects a stable income to pay back their education. It is also hard to police these contracts being used to exploit labour or use them as management as a tool to reward or reprimand employees outside of the employment laws. Related to the subject of casual work New Zealand is unusual in taxing all income (10.5 cents up to $14,000). In Australia you can earn up to $18,200 and not pay any tax. In the UK you can earn up to 10,500 pounds ($21,000) before paying tax.

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TAMA elects new president

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Mark Hamilton-Manns, sales manager for John Deere, is the new president of the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA).

Formerly vice president of the organisation, he takes over from Ian Massicks, Kubota manager for CB Norwood Distributors, who has been president for six years.

Roger Nehoff, general manager retail for Landpower New Zealand, was elected vice-president.

“TAMA plays an important role as the collective voice of the industry throughout New Zealand,” says Hamilton-Manns. “My focus will be on continuing the work done by Ian, in establishing TAMA as a sustainable and credible industry organisation, while working to increase our membership base to include all stakeholders in the tractor and machinery industry.”

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CONTRACTOR UPFRONT

Another Waterview milestone Workers at a purpose-built factory in East Tamaki have celebrated casting the last of 24,000 segments which are being used to line the motorway tunnels for the Waterview Connection project.

NZ Transport Agency’s Brett Gliddon says the linings have been a key component in the design and construction of the twin tunnels and the factory has done a first rate job consistently delivering such a big quantity on time.

“The linings for these tunnels have needed to be extremely precise with to-the-millimetre precision so they fit perfectly together inside the tunnels. They’re also incredibly strong; durable enough to withstand 100 years of traffic use,” he says. The East Tamaki facility, which will now progress to a deconstruction phase,

was built by a partnership between the tunnel project’s Well Connected Alliance and Wilson Tunnelling using some of the most up to date concrete batching and moulding equipment.

With skills developed at East Tamaki, many of those working there have been able to find new jobs in a booming construction industry, says the Alliance Project manager John Burden.

“The team have worked hard with the local community to hire, train and develop a workforce that is now able to move on to higher skill jobs. The skill development within the local community is something that I’m personally very pleased about.”

Meanwhile, as of a few days before going to print, TBM Alice was half-way through completing the second tunnel.

Downer’s green marketing Downer New Zealand has added Electric Vehicles (EVs) as pool cars to its Auckland and Hamilton operations.

“Auckland Transport (AT) is soon to be releasing an EV car share programme as yet another proactive initiative for Auckland’s multimodal transport solutions,” says the company.

“We are keen to support AT with their programme so we will be basing an EV at our Penrose office for use on the AT network contracts.”

Downer and Hamilton City Council will be operating two EVs from the Hamilton Infrastructure Alliance. These will replace the combustion engine cars currently used for network inspections.

In addition to this, the Hamilton City Council is also evaluating how EVs can be brought in to Council services for their own use, in order to reduce fuel costs, optimise renewable resources and support smart city development.

The electric vehicle Downer is introducing to its fleet is the Nissan Leaf Gen 2. It is powered by an 80-kilowatt electric motor and has a range of 120 kilometres on a single charge. The charging unit is attached at the front so long cables have been purchased to ensure that Downer staff can adhere to the company’s safety requirement of reverse parking. Each EV will have dedicated 14 www.contractormag.co.nz

parking sites and staff can book the car using an online tool.

The EVs will have the new Downer branding and include an EV slogan – Switch On. Downer will also be introducing a Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) for staff travelling greater distances than just inner city travel.

The potential for EVs in Downer’s fleet was identified at a workshop with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) in November 2014. Downer’s initiative is aligned with the group-wide, EECA-supported five-year energy management plan and imperatives to reduce fuel costs and optimise renewable resources.

CONTRACTOR ON THE COVER

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

FOR EQUIPMENT HIRE INDUSTRY The way construction companies focus on controlling costs and managing capital is creating new opportunities for the equipment hire industry, says Hirepool.

Brian Stephen says that companies caught out by the GFC have learnt a few lessons and the traditional view that businesses are best served by owning their own equipment is changing.

Brian says that for equipment hire companies to achieve similar levels of rental penetration of equipment use to those seen in the UK and US construction industries, Hirepool needs to play its part in better educating customers about what it can do for them.

“We need to give them confidence that we can meet their immediate need for safe and reliable equipment that’s fully fit for purpose, and that we can also also add value over and above just providing them the tools they need to do the job,” he says.

Brian says handing over the risk associated with major capital investment is one reason many construction firms are increasingly looking to companies such as Hirepool to meet their equipment needs.

“We have the size to spread the risk. We also have customers in a number of different industries, so we are to some extent protected from fluctuations in individual sectors, says Brian.

“Managing capital risk well is challenging, but it is core business for us. We aggregrate what is typically a short to medium term

HIREPOOL CHIEF EXECUTIVE

16 www.contractormag.co.nz

requirement for equipment across our national customer base and branch network, against a pool of assets that are often long life and high value.

“That is our principal role in the hire game.”

Brian says smart purchasing depends a lot on good timing. Hirepool talks to its customers about what jobs they have coming up and what equipment they are likely to need, and keeps a very close eye on broader economic trends at home and abroad – but the unexpected is often just around the corner.

“The recent floods in Whanganui are a great example of how quickly things can change – and how a company like ours needs to be ready to respond.”

Brian says this is where Hirepool’s large network comes into its own.

“Having people on the ground and fleet capacity close by means you can put resources where they are needed fast and effectively.”

Brian says Hirepool is presently “about the right size”, but doesn’t rule out changes in the future.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to grow and develop the business. We have the systems and infrastructure to take advantage

“The recent floods in Whanganui are a great example of how quickly things can change – and how a company like ours needs to be ready to respond... Having people on the ground and fleet capacity close by means you can put resources where they are needed fast and effectively.” of opportunities as they arise, but in the longer term changes to the structure of the business or the size and shape of the network are always possible.”

When Hirepool’s National Training manager, Brendon Ross, started with the company as a transport driver, his present role didn’t exist.

Fast forward 15 years, and the work done by Brendon and his team of four trainers illustrates how much the equipment hire business has developed over the past few decades, and where it is heading.

“We’ve got a big range of equipment, and we hire to a broad range of people – from DIYers to major construction companies,” says Brendon.

“We work hard to train our people so that they fully understand the specifications of the equipment, and how to use it so that you get the best out of it, then they can ensure our customers have the right gear for the job – and the knowledge to get the job done safely and well.”

Brendon says that as construction techniques become more

sophisticated and equipment more specialised, the benefits of hiring become more apparent.

“It gives our customers ready access to modern gear that they can use to improve safety and productivity.”

Business Development manager Warren Twort agrees that Hirepool’s team members have a broader involvement with customers today than when he first joined the company in 1982.

“If we can work with the customer as a part of their project team rather than as just another supplier, we’re confident that we will provide tangible benefits,” says Warren.

“The better our knowledge of the project, the better our advice – and the better the outcome for our customers.

“It takes a bit of time to develop the sort of trust and confidence that a relationship like this depends on, but when you get there it’s a very rewarding experience.” l AUGUST 2015 17

CONTRACTOR PROFILE

A boss

with many hats Frances Boyce, an owner of one of the largest civil contracting businesses in Taranaki, talks to ALAN TITCHALL about taking over the company from her father.

JUST BECAUSE YOU are the boss’ daughter

“...it wasn’t ‘grand designs’ that Frances was lured into, but the specialist area of industry health and safety, a subject that she is still passionate about.

18 www.contractormag.co.nz

doesn’t mean you get favours. Anyway, the young Frances Boyce (nee Whitaker) had no intention of working for her father, Chris Whitaker, who set Whitaker Civil Engineering in New Plymouth in 1980.

In fact, on leaving school Frances had no idea of what she was doing or where she was going.

“I started doing an economics degree at Victoria University then realised that was not me – so I changed to architecture.”

Yet it wasn’t ‘grand designs’ that Frances was lured into, but the specialist area of industry health and safety, a subject that she is still passionate about.

“In my last year at uni I worked full time for the Accident Compensation Corporation as a customer service representative. The money I was being paid far exceeded anything I would get in architecture as a graduate.”

That short stint of just over a year, providing information on ACC products, services, policies, legislation and tax information and processing, has been the backbone of a career that drifted into civil construction.

In March 2001, after returning home to New Plymouth, Frances got a job with local engineering company Transfield Worley (now WorleyParsons) as a contract administrator with a specific contract at Refining NZ. “The job was certainly varied,” she stresses.

“Financial cost reporting, implementing KPI presentations; developing databases; problem solving; simplifying reporting structures; and HSE and quality management support.”

As young people do, Frances got itchy feet and decided to see if the grass was greener on the other side of the Tasman and, in 2002, packed her bags and landed in Queensland where she worked as a quality administrator on a pipeline project.

“It didn’t work out, so I gave up and came home broke in January 2003 and said to Dad, ‘I need a job’, on the condition I would only work for him for three months.”

Careers don’t always end up where you expect them to go and that short stint with Dad’s company lasted eight years.

This time included two years back at the Whangarei refinery while Whitaker carried out $13.5 million worth of civil scope works, which finished mid 2005. Frances was the quality H&S manager on this project and it was where she met her future husband, Peter Boyce.

The itchy feet returned and, in June 2011, Frances and Peter joined the Dialog Group (another petrochemical specialist and related to Fitzroy Engineering) to work on a large tank terminal project in southern Malaysia.

Frances was a quality advisor, developing and implementing the project documentation requirements to ISO9001: 2008 standard.

AUGUST 2015 19

CONTRACTOR PROFILE

They returned just over a year and half later and started back at Whitaker Civil where Frances was seconded into client Worley Parsons as support services manager and H&S adviser.

PHOTOGRAPHY: ALAN TITCHALL

The buy in

Whitaker Civil Engineering director and general manager Frances Boyce, who bought her father’s share of the business last year.

Frances is standing on the landmark pedestrian/cycle way Te Rewa Rewa Bridge designed and built by the company. It is made of three steel tubes; two beneath the deck and the remaining one, together with 19 ribs, forming a distinctive arch.

For its construction, the project used 85 tonnes of fabrication steel, 62 tonnes of reinforcing steel and 550 cubic metres of concrete. The bridge deck was placed at 4.5 metres above normal flow level to withstand both floods and lahars from volcanic eruptions.

Officially opened on June 5, 2010, in its first full month of operation the bridge was crossed by 55,756 cyclists and pedestrians.

20 www.contractormag.co.nz

Chris Whitaker, an engineer, started his company 35 years ago with the contract for supplying rocks to hold down the undersea pipe between the offshore Maui operation and onshore processing plant. It was a huge feat at the time and each rock had to be quarried and carefully measured so it fell through a chute into the sea without jamming. The rock came from Wiremu Quarry and Saunders Quarry and was loaded at Port Taranaki, so the logistics were huge.

Over the past three decades, Whitaker Civil has made a major contribution to the petrochemical industry, Taranaki Regional Council works, and government capital works infrastructure development. The company has provided work for Shell Todd Oil Services (STOS) since 1981 and, of course, enjoys a longterm contract with WorleyParsons.

Graeme Dravitzki joined the company in 2002 and later became a director.

Frances and Peter Boyce had talked about buying into the company while working in Malaysia and, on returning home, raised the subject with Chris Whitaker and Graeme Dravitzki only to learn that another interested part was close to signing a sale deal.

“We accepted that as a lost opportunity,” Frances recalls.

Continuing the same serendipitous way her career had tracked so far, that deal fell through and in November last year Frances and Graeme were directors of a company that employs some 120 staff, a level that it has sustained over the past five years. Not a bad achievement these days when Taranaki engineering is in a slump as petrochemical work has eased off.

Whitaker owns and operates $9 million of plant and equipment, operates its own workshop facility, and owns and operates a quarry at the end of Waiwhakaiho Road, in Bell Block. Work is mostly divided between the petrochemical industry, local authority, and private clients, but with a lot of stuff in between. This has included building the Bell Block Bypass; and the recent upgrading of the Waitara River flood banks – completed in time to hold back the June floods in the region. Even small projects have earned accolades, such as the Te Rewa Rewa Bridge. This was a design and build competition by the New Plymouth District Council, which Whitakers won. The 68.8

metre pedestrian and cycle-way bridge (it can also handle an emergency vehicle) across the Waiwhakaiho River at New Plymouth opened in 2010.

Frances says future work streams look good, with a preferred contract agreement with Port Taranaki and storm and flood damage maintenance contracts through Downers, under the local NOC agreement.

Big projects coming up for possible tendering include the New Plymouth Airport upgrade and continued makeover of the 360 hectare Pukeiti Gardens.

Health and safety focus Moving up into one of the big seats in the company and a new role as general manager, overseeing the company’s management systems and practices, hasn’t distracted Frances from here passion with health and safety. She remains very active in various local and national safety agencies in Taranaki.

“I consciously want to be part of the local industry in this respect and I am a member of NZ Institute of Safety Management. This association is very strong in this region, plus I am involved in the Be Safe strategy group.”

Be Safe Taranaki was formed in the late 1990s by a few managers in the oil and gas sector who also set up a local centre of excellence for health and safety that has been based at Bell Block.

“It’s about getting everyone to read off the same page in a health and safety sense and, after 15 years, we have a strong network promoting safety performance, which is reflected in the statistics for this region.” In her own backyard, Whitaker has signed the national Zero Harm pledge.

Wear the hat that fits A notable feature of Whitaker Civil Engineering is the loyalty of its staff and a small staff turnover. Construction manager, Kevin Broadmore, for instance, has been there since 1984. sd Frances quips.

“When Graeme and I bought the company we knew we had good staff to rely on, and with a strong sense of loyalty. We have very skilled and experienced people and that is reflected in the contracts we have secured.”

Responsibility does not stop at your job title, she adds.

“We are all responsible for making or breaking the company and no one here is title bound. You wear whatever hat fits on the occasion.”

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CONTRACTOR PROJECT

KiwiRail Upgrade ‘OO7’:

licensed to thrill?

Starved of investment in recent years, the nation’s rail infrastructure renewal is back on track thanks to a significant financial shot-in-the-arm for KiwiRail in May’s budget. CHRIS WEBB reports.

CONSCIOUS, PERHAPS, OF the fact that ‘Project Ongaruhe Optimised Seven – North Island Main Trunkline Rail Bridge replacement’ doesn’t exactly excite in the same way as a new James Bond movie, KiwiRail has instead dubbed it with the shorthand ‘OO7’.

The work involves upgrading seven wooden railway bridges on the North Island Main Trunkline (NIMT) in the Taumarunui area and a further one in Taupiri. Begun in February, the project is being undertaken by KiwiRail’s contractor, Downer New Zealand. It will help improve the network and allow more freight to be carried on the tracks in future.

In May, KiwiRail welcomed the funding package included 22 www.contractormag.co.nz

in the government’s Budget announcements in which it will receive $210 million in 2015/16 and a further $190 million as a pre-commitment against Budget 2016.

“The package recognises the vital role that KiwiRail plays in New Zealand’s transport networks and the significant economic, social and environmental benefits it contributes to New Zealand,” says KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy.

Transport Minister Simon Bridges said the investment was necessary to develop the system with a view to “making the freight business a viable concern”.

Reidy continues: “Government investment in our business over recent years has enabled us to make significant

improvements in the quality of our service offering, meaning we’ve become a more efficient and reliable supply chain partner.

“This has been reflected in the significant growth in freight volumes carried over that period, supporting the government’s ‘Business Growth Agenda’. We’ve also seen increased patronage on our passenger rail and Interislander ferry businesses during that time.”

The work includes replacing a total of eight weathering steel bridge superstructures. Downer New Zealand CEO Cos Bruyn says the design and construction contract is valued at $24.3 million.

“This is familiar territory for Downer, we are utilising all our experience and knowledge, and the project has been carefully planned months in advance in order to ensure minimum disruption.

“We will be working carefully around the existing fragile structures, as well as overcoming the challenges of working with live rail lines and overhead power lines, and dealing with liquefiable and soft soils,” he told Contractor.

“Downer has a strong relationship with KiwiRail having worked previously on the EMU Depot in Wiri, Bridge 28 Replacement, Palmerston North Yard upgrade plus a range of previous civil and maintenance contracts.”

Bruyn says the contract involves some significant technical challenges.

“The OO7 project is a design and construct contract. Safety is always our highest priority, and this project is no different, particularly when working around live rail lines with traction and live overhead power lines. Some of the key technical challenges are similar to other design and construct projects, where strong temporary works or tight schedules are a must.

AUGUST 2015 23

CONTRACTOR PROJECT

“We’ve had to consider economical designs to deal with liquefiable and soft soils, and strong temporary works design to ensure the bridges remain online and safe when working with the existing fragile structures. This requires thorough planning and exceptional temporary work design.

“We continue to work towards fixed block-of-lines to complete the changeovers – all of which are locked-in months in advance. Programme targets must be met and most blockof-lines are scheduled over public holidays so resources need to be locked in well in advance.”

Work is well advanced on two of the bridges – Uepango Bridge (206), and Taringamotu Bridge (203). A new culvert is being built in the Uepango Stream, requiring temporary diversion of the existing stream to maintain water flow during construction. To stabilise and strengthen the surrounding ground sheet piles and a concrete capping beam have been installed as foundations for both the culvert and new retaining wall on the eastern side of the bridge. A similar arrangement is being installed on the bridge’s western side.

Upgrade works at the northern embankment of Taringamotu Bridge include mass stabilisation of the existing embankment and the installation of 50 titan minipiles to stabilise the ground.

KiwiRail construction manager Peter Dautermann says the ensuing benefits of the scheme will include reduced maintenance and rail noise but also a number of economic benefits.

The first milestone at Taringamotu was the completion of two out of five sections of the bridge over Queen’s Birthday weekend. Dautermann says it was a busy 24 hours for the teams, who replaced two spans of the old bridge with an 18-tonne precast concrete deck.

The crew built up the embankment, placed the ballast and relayed the tracks. Heavy machinery was used to complete the works, including a 100-tonne crane, another smaller crane, 360-degree excavators and rollers.

In the South Island, an early January 2015 earthquake of magnitude 5.6 brought New Zealanders a sharp reminder of the devastating events of 2010 and 2011, which flattened much of Christchurch. It also brought much of the rail network to a

“We’ve had to consider economical designs to deal with liquefiable and soft soils, and strong temporary works design to ensure the bridges remain online and safe when working with the existing fragile structures. This requires thorough planning and exceptional temporary work design.” standstill, temporarily at least, while engineers checked the system’s safety.

KiwiRail was quick to declare the main North Line between Oaro and Christchurch, and the main South Line between Oamaru and the city, along with the Hokitika Line, clear to reopen. No serious issues were reported, Ron Murray, KiwiRail’s spokesman for operations reported at the time. Nevertheless, the largely benign earthquake, some 44 kilometres to the south-southeast of Hokitika, on January 5, 2015 near Arthur’s Pass and Methven, highlighted the importance of recent and extensive reconstruction works to upgrade the network.

“The 2010/11 earthquakes, along with a number of other significant quakes in recent years in the South Island as well as the Wellington region prompted KiwiRail to undertake an assessment of its portfolio of buildings across the country and to strengthen those buildings and other infrastructure as required,” Murray told Contractor.

These works had already seen activity in the North Island include the Wellington Metro Upgrade Project (WMUP) which is, over the next eight years, set to deliver significant improvements to aging overhead traction systems and signalling across the network. The work is in response to many years of under-investment, and is needed to support the Wellington commuter system.

“Under-investment in New Zealand’s rail system is a wellrecognised fact and since 2004 KiwiRail has been increasing the investment in the upgrade of its infrastructure,” explains

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Murray. For bridges, the annual budget has increased from some $10 million a year in 2004 to $40 million in 2010 and has remained at around the $30-$40 million level over the past five years. Currently, KiwiRail has a network of around 3940 kilometres of track, and is currently operating on 3460 kilometres of it. Infrastructure includes a total of 1489 bridges, serving 189 mainline locomotives and around 4740 freight wagons.

Recently completed, the Wellington Region Rail Programme (WRRP) prepares lines for the introduction of the new Matangi trains. The work included double tracking to Waikanae, constructing a third track into Wellington Station and improving the traction overhead to carry more power. Benefits include increased train speed, improved timekeeping for trains, a reduction in the number of random faults and the provision of more train services to cope with growing demand. The WMUP, currently underway, will build on this and result in better network operability.

The capital aside, just as important are the ongoing works in the South Island, which is a major contributor to the country’s tourism and coal-mining industries. Timber-decked bridges, most of them at least 100 years old, are being replaced in a rolling programme. Among them are those between Lyttelton and Christchurch, the first suburban electric train service in the country.

“This timber elimination programme could definitely be described as a ‘rolling programme’,” says Murray, “in the sense that it is ongoing and will continue for another 25 to 30 years. There are some 500 bridges containing timber piers and timber spans, and it will take a long time to replace all of the timber structures.

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AUGUST 2015 25

CONTRACTOR PROJECT

“The bridges are not being replaced in a sequential fashion [from one bridge to another]; rather, they are being prioritised using a combination of risk assessment taking into consideration their individual condition and strategic importance of the various line segments,” says Murray.

The vast majority of the bridges concerned are replaced ‘in line’, in that they are being replaced in exactly the same location as the existing structure. New piers are built within the ‘live’ corridor around train movements over a few months – depending on the number and depth of the new piers (during a ‘block of line’ or track possession) where there are no train movements at all. This operation is usually undertaken during a 24- to 48-hour operation in which the old bridge is taken out, the new bridge deck is lifted in or assembled and the track re-instated.

Typical of the many bridge replacement projects is that of Bridge 72 on the Midland Line, where last year Smith Crane and Construction (SCC) installed two 14-metre concrete ballast deck spans on new concrete piers and abutments. All of the works prior to the bridge change-over had to be carried out in the live railway corridor in-between trains. The bridge change-over was carried out and completed within a 36 hours possession.

Clive Baddeley, civil engineering manager at SCC, says the project at Camp Creek marked the end of a successful five-month bridge operation in bad weather. The civil works involved the construction of piers and crossbeams to support the new decks.

“Temporary works involved the design and fabrication of a specialised falsework system to support the headstock soffit,” he says.

“After column curing, the headstock soffits were bolted [to] either side of the columns, and propped from below. The handrails were pre-attached to provide a safe platform. A pre26 www.contractormag.co.nz

tied cage was then lifted onto the soffit, and steel forms bolted on. After that, the inserts were accurately placed between the bars and their location double checked and made secure.”

Then came the casting of the headstocks themselves.

“The precast deck units were manufactured on site, as we had previously done on bridges 41 and 61 on the Midland Line.

A series of concrete pads was cast for the steel deck mould to sit on. After each cast, the unit was lifted and the mould moved to the next cast location; reinforcement, stressing ducts and cast-in items were fixed in the mould.”

The 65MPa concrete was sourced from Allied Concrete in Timaru, pours taking place in the early morning to allow sufficient finishing time.

Once adequately cured, the deck unit was jacked out of the mould and the latter pulled out for the next cast allowing, after some 14 days, the stressing cables to be inserted, tensioned and locked off.

A tandem lift plan for the 115-tonne precast deck units was used on the project, whereby each unit was transported by rotatable crane for final placement by 220 tonne and 300 tonne mobile cranes onto the available headstocks.

KiwiRail’s Reidy says it is important for New Zealand that KiwiRail becomes “a high performance organisation”.

“Our focus remains on delivering further efficiencies and making improvements in our business so we can continue to build on the growing support of our customers, increase our market share and ensure a viable and sustainable rail system for future New Zealanders. That will involve simplifying the business, standardising our assets and investing in our people.

“In 2013/14 rail removed around 1.2 million trucks from our roads, and in doing so enabled roading upgrades to be deferred and provided significant environmental and safety benefits.”

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CONTRACTOR COMPANY PROFILE

Back from the

brink

The Titan group suffered a crisis after the death eight years ago of its legendary and charismatic founder, Max Whiley. Now, on turning 50, Titan is celebrating “the good years, the tough years, and the future”. GAVIN RILEY reports.

Above: The original Titan fleet in 1965.

Right: Titan’s Jones 30-ton strut-boom crane in Wellington in 1966. The crane was leased then later bought from Aveling Barford.

28 www.contractormag.co.nz

Why Max did so much for the industry Max Whiley (lower right) with key Titan people in the early years.

From left: Frank Wicksteed, Jimmy Tomlinson, Colin Worsfold, Dick Dore, John Carter.

All except Carter were ex-Wilkins & Davies men with strong engineering skills.

TEN YEARS AGO construction-equipment supplier Titan Plant Services and its crane-hire offshoot Titan Cranes held a glittering 40th birthday celebration at a top Wellington hotel. Company founder and industry legend Max Whiley, though visibly ailing, was in attendance to smilingly greet staff and customers, many of them friends of long-standing, because that’s the kind of friendships the charismatic Max forged.

Fast forward to Queen’s Birthday this year in the same hotel and a much quieter function is underway. The occasion is the Titan group’s 50th birthday and it is largely for staff only – a staff that numbers less than onethird of the 300-plus total of 10 years earlier.

Yet there is much for those present to celebrate. After several crises that brought Titan to the brink for some time after Max’s death at 76 in 2007, when it relied on leaders recruited from outside, control of the group is firmly back in the hands of Whiley family members.

If Max were around today he would not be surprised that sons Owen and Bruce are operations manager and property and marketing manager respectively. But he would be astonished (and, one hopes, delighted) that daughter Jan Coton, whom he first employed as a receptionist in 1978, has been the group’s managing director since 2013.

A 94-page illustrated booklet, 50 Years of Titan, available to staff only, quotes Judy Whiley as saying her late husband would be proud now the family are running the business. “He would be very surprised, especially with Jan,” the book adds. “Max was old school where women in business were concerned. He would be chuffed that they have pulled it off.”

Levin-born Max was Wilkins & Davies’ Lower Hutt-based equipment division manager when he took the offered opportunity in 1965 to buy the division, which was already called Titan and included the buying and selling of heavy machinery, and crane hire.

He acquired the business with £2500 of his own money (he sold his wife’s car) and £5000 loaned by five business associates. The new

Max Whiley channelled so much energy, attention and vision into ensuring the success of his Titan plant-equipment and crane-hire companies that it is hard to imagine he had time to devote to anything else. But he did. And the civil and crane sectors of the construction industry were the beneficiaries.

Max was the catalyst that led to the founding in 1975 of the Power Crane Association (now the Crane Association of NZ). He was its first president, its first life member in 1982, and he authored and frequently revised the widely distributed and highly respected crane safety manual.

He did important but low-profile work for many years on a number of industry committees, notably Transit’s (now the Transport Agency’s) axle weights and loadings committee. And he served for 27 years on the board of Contrafed Publishing Co (publisher of Contractor), the last 18 as chairman. He was made a life member of the Contractors’ Federation (now Civil Contractors NZ) in 1994.

When asked by Contractor in 2005 when he was in his 75th year why he had given so much unpaid service, he replied: “I wanted the industry to grow. I felt we were helping it. Some of them were competitors. But it was something I could do for the industry. I enjoyed doing it too.

“Loyalty is very important. People have helped us and we pass it on. It’s not just loyalty to and from people in the company but people out there in the business world.”

AUGUST 2015 29

CONTRACTOR COMPANY PROFILE

Titan’s’ IHI 150-tonne crawler crane erecting a light stand at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium in the late 1990s. Main contractor Fletcher Construction used several Titan cranes to lift and place precast building units weighing up to 35 tonnes.

30 www.contractormag.co.nz

Titan Plant Services had 10 staff, some used construction equipment, six mobile cranes for hire, workshop equipment, servicing vehicles, and crane spares.

Max bought plant from Ministry of Works auctions and private sources, refurbished the equipment, then sold it. He had a remarkable memory, kept records, and knew who had what for sale and who wanted it. He regarded his often-cluttered yard as “profit waiting to happen”.

His astuteness in business and networking abilities went a long way to building the company and successfully undertaking ventures that were a big stretch. He demonstrated strong people skills with staff, customers and advisers. He took pride in employing experienced hands-on people who helped the business grow. And staff not only stayed but were as loyal to him as he was to them.

Max expected sons Owen and Bruce to join the company, but not too soon. Jan was actually first on board, but after two years as receptionist left in 1980 to become a full-time mum. She returned in 1997 as sales coordinator, took leave in 2001 to obtain a business degree, became human-resources manager in 2003, and later also took on responsibility for health and safety.

Owen joined the company in 1982, worked in Titan Plant Services’ heavy equipment

workshop, was promoted to workshop foreman in 1987, and in 1989 became equipment manager for Titan Cranes.

Bruce started in the Lower Hutt workshop in 1991, spent two years in the group’s Taupo branch, attended Massey University for three years to obtain a degree in marketing, and became general manager of Titan’s Volvo trucks distributorship in 2003.

The Titan bandwagon gathered considerable pace during the Think Big energy-related infrastructure projects of the 1980s. It continued to roll on so successfully that at the time of Max’s death eight years ago the group had a staff of more than 300 and an annual turnover of $150 million.

Titan had branches in major centres from Auckland to Dunedin, was the New Zealand importer and distributor of Volvo, trucks, buses and construction equipment, as well as Yanmar and Dynapac construction equipment, and its nationwide crane-hire company was the largest in the country with a fleet of more than 60.

But all was not well. Max’s lack of a succession plan had been apparent to all who knew him. Former Downer managing director Alex Swainson tried to address the problem after he assumed the Titan board chairmanship in 1991. However, though Max had a lot of time for Alex he was not keen to think about the future

Titan’s leaders today… Bruce Whiley, Jan Coton, Owen Whiley and Vaughan Clark.

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AUGUST 2015 31

CONTRACTOR COMPANY PROFILE

Titan Cranes’ P&H Alpha and Kato NK 800 lowering the 22-tonne hull onto the restored paddle steamer Waimarie on the Whanganui River in the late 1990s.

32 www.contractormag.co.nz

structure of the company and Alex died in 1998 without being able to persuade Max to initiate a plan.

After some pressure from inside and outside Titan, former Downer senior executive Brian Kennedy had been appointed group chief executive in late 2005. But his corporate style was not a good match for the Titan team and he resigned after a year. Max died seven months later, in June 2007, and directors John Rowell and Trevor Taylor acted as interim joint managing directors until former Gough Gough & Hamer head Brian Hogan was appointed chief executive in August 2007, shortly after which Jan Coton joined the board to represent the Whiley family.

Brian Hogan recruited 11 mainly sales people whom he had worked with at Gough’s and began an aggressive capital-intensive sales campaign. At first it was successful but by the fourth quarter of 2008, with the global financial crisis biting, the Titan group was out of cash and sales started to dry up.

More cash was injected, Titan Plant Services and Titan Cranes were separated (with Gordon Stone heading the latter) and assets were disposed of over a period, including the closure of branches and sale of the Volvo and Yanmar agencies. When Brian Hogan’s contract ended in May 2010, Darryl Sutton was appointed chief executive of Titan Plant Services, and he and a hard-working team succeeded in bringing the

company back into the black.

Under a new board, which included not only Jan Coton but Bruce and Owen Whiley, a debt-free Titan group was able to start anew.

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In a foreword to the 50 Years of Titan commemorative booklet, Jan Coton says: “It feels like we can say, yeah, 50 years, we made it. What better time to reflect on the good years, the tough years and the future.”

She goes on to salute the many staff who have contributed to the group’s 50 years – “from the original men who took the risk and joined Max in 1965, through the early years, the Think Big projects, and the heady days of Volvo Truck and Volvo Construction Equipment when we employed over 300 people, [through to] the difficult years and all those people who stuck with us and helped rebuild the company back to something we can all take pride in.

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CONTRACTOR ROADING

Another major Auckland roading project looms As the government tips millions of dollars into Auckland’s transport infrastructure the green light for the controversial East West Connections is getting closer as the NZTA narrows down its options.

BY MARY SEARLE BELL

THE NZ TRANSPORT AGENCY’S plan for Auckland is to provide

an alternative to State Highway 1, linking Manukau, Auckland, Waitakere and the North Shore. Known as the Western Ring Route, this comprises State Highway 20 (the Southwestern motorway), State Highway 16 (the Northwestern motorway) and State Highway 18 (the Upper Harbour Highway).

The Waterview Connection, with its twin tunnels, is currently under construction, and will join the Southwestern and Northwestern motorways. It is the final piece of the Western Ring Route, and will be completed in 2017.

To make the system operate most effectively requires a number of connecting routes between SH1 and the Western Ring Route. The interchange at Waterview will provide one, but what is missing, and is sorely needed, is a link between the two routes just south of the CBD around the suburbs of Onehunga and Penrose.

A major industrial hub, this area currently suffers from significant congestion, especially at the approaches to SH20 and SH1, which hinders freight movements and ultimately restricts productivity and economic growth.

Known as East West Connections, the connecting route was identified in the Auckland Plan as one of the top three transport priorities for Auckland. The NZTA says the route will support economic transformation as a major freight corridor, enabling goods and services to move safely and more steadily throughout the country.

It will also improve the resilience and performance of Auckland’s transport network, increasing capacity, protecting our infrastructure against the elements and providing an alternative route in the event of an incident on the network.

34 www.contractormag.co.nz

However, where it was actually going to be built has been a matter of debate for years.

Now, finally, some progress is being made, thanks to the project being brought forward following its inclusion in the Auckland Accelerated Projects package in 2014.

It received an additional $10 million to speed up the investigation of options for the East West Connections as part of a much larger $375 million package to accelerate a range of key transport projects in the city.

In June, the NZ Transport Agency and Auckland Transport announced that a preferred route had been chosen.

For Onehunga-Penrose a staged full connection on the north side of the Mangere Inlet between SH1 and SH20 has been identified as the best long-term solution to the current transport issues.

Transport minister Simon Bridges says, “The OnehungaPenrose industrial hub is a significant contributor to our economy – generating $5 billion per year in GDP and employing over 64,000 people. Many of our largest distribution and logistics facilities are based in the area because of its access to key road and rail routes, but its heavy congestion is slowing freight movements and restricting economic growth.

“The projected growth rates of Auckland, particularly of Auckland Airport, Manukau City and East Tamaki/Botany, are expected to generate greater demand for cross-city, east-west movements.”

Brett Gliddon, the Transport Agency’s highway manager for Auckland and Northland, says the preferred approach for Onehunga-Penrose will improve the reliability of freight journeys in the area and will provide an additional route which makes the

transport network more resilient for all users. It will also improve pedestrian and cycling facilities and connections for buses and general traffic. In addition to the transport improvements, there are opportunities to achieve some positive environmental outcomes, particularly for the Mangere Inlet.

“This project is all about improving access into and out of Onehunga-Penrose. For this reason the new connection is expected to be a ‘limited access’ state highway, not a motorway,” stresses Gliddon.

MP for Maungakiekie Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga says this project will significantly decrease congestion on local roads and deliver tangible benefits for both residents and businesses in Maungakiekie.

“This is another step towards new infrastructure that will bring benefits to this area.”

Currently there is no direct path between the Port of Onehunga, the rail freight hub at Metroport and the Southern Motorway. This is critical as the port handles around 270,000 containers a year, making it the third busiest freight terminal in New Zealand.

“Progressing the East-West Link will mean fewer trucks on our local roads and freight will get more efficiently to its destination. It will also enable improvements to be made for public transport, walking and cycling,” says Lotu-Iiga.

Substantial work will be undertaken to identify how to speed up bus services between Mangere, Otahuhu and Sylvia Park and improve connections. These improvements are aimed at supporting Auckland Transport’s Frequent Network, which will

have buses and trains at least every 15 minutes from 7am to 7pm, seven days a week.

Auckland Transport’s key strategic initiatives project director, Theunis Van Schalkwyk, says that the plans propose bus priority and transit lanes at key pinch points along the future Frequent Network bus route.

“Buses often get stuck in traffic, for example along Massey and Walmsley roads. The average travel time between Mangere and Otahuhu at 8am is 22 minutes, but congestion and queuing can slow this down to half an hour. Similarly the bus journey between Otahuhu and Sylvia Park can take anywhere between 17 and 29 minutes.

“Bus and transit lanes would speed up bus journeys and, most importantly, make sure passengers can rely on the travel time.

We are also proposing sheltered bus stops along the route, upgraded bus stops at Otahuhu town centre and an upgraded bus station at Mangere town centre.”

New facilities are also proposed along the route between Mangere, Otahuhu and Sylvia Park to improve cycle and pedestrian safety.

The project is still in its early stages and the NZTA and Auckland Transport held a series of open days in late June and early July to get feedback on the preferred approaches from the community to help further develop the project.

Pending funding approval, further investigations will now be carried out on the preferred approach and confirm the land or area needed to protect the route. The NZTA says it expects this to be completed by 2017.

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AUGUST 2015 35

CONTRACTOR PROJECT

On yer bike again The country has gone ape with cycleways being built throughout the country.

In Auckland a disused motorway off-ramp is about to get a new lease on life as a bike path. BY MARY SEARLE BELL.

36 www.contractormag.co.nz

The first phase is currently under construction and is expected to open later this year. It will see the construction of a bridge from Canada Street, connecting with the old Nelson Street motorway off-ramp and continuing as a separated two-way cycleway along the road on the western side of Nelson Street to Victoria Street.

MOST AUCKLANDERS HAVE forgotten it’s even there, but the old

Nelson Street off-ramp has been sitting unused for several years now after it became surplus to requirements. In 2012, State Highway 1 through Auckland’s central motorway junction was rejigged – a tunnel was built beneath Victoria Park and the road widened from two lanes to three, northbound. For those travelling south, the old northbound overbridge was repurposed for southbound traffic, boosting the number of lanes to four and making the Nelson Street off-ramp redundant.

Now, that off-ramp will soon be in use again. This time by cyclists.

Auckland Transport is working together with the NZ Transport Agency on a number of central cycling routes that will ultimately link together, providing people on bikes with easier and safer access to and from the city centre. The Nelson Street cycleway

Big spend on regional cycleways Across the country, cycleways have been given a major financial boost. In June the government announced $296 million in funding for regional cycling projects. It will be invested across 41 projects in urban centres over the next three years, to establish cycling as an integral part of the transport network.

Among those to benefit are Hamilton, Tauranga and Rotorua.

Hamilton will receive $3 million which will go towards its $4 million Western Rail Trail, a 2.7-kilometre off-road shared path that will connect the south-western suburbs of Hamilton with the city centre, using the rail corridor.

In the Bay of Plenty, an injection of $3.8 million will go towards completing the remaining sections of the Tauranga cycle network, and developing the proposed 16-kilometre Omokoroa-to-Tauranga scenic cycleway.

Rotorua will spend its $1.5 million in funding developing its $5.52 million Cy-Way project, a network of 23.7 kilometres of cycling and walking paths that will connect the central city and forest mountain bike trails.

Working with various local authorities, the NZ Transport Agency anticipates the total investment in cycling over the next three years will be around $380 million to $400 million, delivering more than 250 kilometres of new urban cycleways and greater network connectivity.

Not everyone is a fan of allocating government money to cycleways however. The New Zealand First party says urban cycleways are not the priority for provincial New Zealand.

Ron Mark, New Zealand First local government spokesperson, says recent floods caused $120 million worth of damage and, despite Minister for Transport Simon Bridges reportedly estimating roads will need up to $60 million to fix, “he has said no to further government support to help repair the very things jobs and exports depend upon.

“Incredibly, Mr Bridges and his National Government will not find $6 million to reinstate the Gisborne-Napier rail line, but he’s all too happy to drop $9.52 million on urban cycleways in Napier, Hastings and Gisborne instead. We don’t get the logic and neither will the voters.”

In contrast, Cycling Advocates Network interim project manager Will Andrews says, “This is awesome. It’s forward-thinking, clever groundwork by the Prime Minister and Minister Bridges and will boost the liveability of every town it touches.”

He says he hopes it will be accompanied by rapid training of engineers in cycleway design, and by education of all road users in how to share road space.

“There will still be a lot of routes where cyclists share with motor vehicles, so it’s important to keep improving the environment – especially in CBDs – with low speed limits and good junction design.”

AUGUST 2015 37

CONTRACTOR PROJECT

Hawkins Construction is building the cycleway from Canada Street to Union Street.

Key to this is the construction of the 160-metre-long bridge that will connect Canada Street and the old Nelson Street motorway off-ramp.

38 www.contractormag.co.nz

will provide an alternative route between Upper Queen Street and the CBD and waterfront, as well as link to the Northwestern and Grafton Gully cycleways.

Brett Gliddon, the Transport Agency’s Auckland and Northland highway manager, says this will give cyclists more choice and better, safer connections to, from and within the city centre.

The project is being delivered in two phases.

The first phase is currently under construction and is expected to open later this year. It will see the construction of a bridge from Canada Street, connecting with the old Nelson Street motorway off-ramp and continuing as a separated twoway cycleway along the road on the western side of Nelson Street to Victoria Street. This section will link with the existing shared path on Upper Queen Street Bridge. Intersection improvements are currently underway and the NZTA hopes they will be completed by October.

Hawkins Construction is building the cycleway from Canada Street to Union Street. Key to this is the construction of the 160-metre-long bridge that will connect Canada Street and the old Nelson Street motorway off-ramp.

The bridge will be a seven-span steel structure, with an effective width of 3.5 metres.

It will be painted with a high sheen black finish.

Subcontractor Construction Landscapes (CLL)

has already placed most of the seven piles for the bridge. These will form the base for the piers of the bridge. Pier 1 has a 1200mm diameter pile and the rest are 900mm in diameter.

The bridge is being built in Hamilton by another subcontractor, PFS. When complete, the bridge will be transported to Pukekohe for painting and then brought to site in sections overnight during a motorway closure.

Each section will be placed on purpose-built concrete pads next to the motorway before being lifted onto the piers. Three sections will be lifted from Canada Street and the other four will be completed from the motorway.

Construction of the cycle path from the off-ramp down to Victoria Street is being undertaken by Auckland Transport and was due to get underway in late July.

Next year phase two will be built and will extend the separated cycleway from Victoria Street down to Quay Street and will also provide a link along Pitt Street to join Karangahape Road and Union Street and completion is expected midway through next year.

The route will connect with and expand the Auckland Cycle Network and align with the longterm vision of the NZTA and Auckland Transport to build world-class cycling infrastructure that promotes cycling as a safe and convenient mode of transport.

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CONTRACTOR TECHNICAL

Lessons in flood control

It’s a somewhat novel approach to flood prevention – making threatened buildings waterproof.

HUGH DE LACY explains a Christchurch experiment.

IT MAY NOT BE the solution for the earthquake-induced flooding problems in Christchurch City’s Flockton Basin, but spraying a waterproof membrane over buildings, and plugging apertures such as doors and air-vents, seems to ensure that at least floodwaters don’t get inside.

The 2011 quakes made the 600-home inner-city suburb highly prone to flooding through a combination of vertical tectonic movement, liquefaction-induced settlement, lateral spreading and river channel capacity changes.

Essentially, the ground dropped, the water table rose, and hundreds of homes were flooded in the heavy rains of March and April last year.

Worse, there was no simple solution to prevent the same thing happening every time Christchurch received heavy rain – something that fortunately hasn’t happened since.

The Christchurch City Council (CCC) trialled a range of responses to the ongoing threat, one of which was to make the individual houses flood-proof by coating them in a waterproof membrane called Blue Barrier Liquid Wrap 2300, and blocking off the doorways and the air-vents in the foundations.

Seapage inevitably accumulating under the floorboards would be pumped out to keep the space round the foundations relatively dry.

The spray-on membrane at the heart of the strategy is called Blue Barrier Liquid Wrap 2300, a product of Australian company Australasian Building Envelope Protection, or ABEP, which has a Napier-based New Zealand subsidiary, ABEP (NZ). The liquid wrap is simply sprayed on the outer surface of the building to be protected, making it impermeable to water.

In setting up the test on a single house site, the CCC called in water barrier company Hydro Response, based in Rangiora, which has a range of five products designed for various water exclusion scenarios.

40 www.contractormag.co.nz

Hydro Response, launched by managing director Clay Griffin a couple of years before the quakes, has since been mostly involved in holding back the water round the city’s bridges so that engineers can assess the quake damage and, later, so contractors can effect repairs.

In the Flockton Basin trial, carried out in collaboration with the CCC’s Flooding Taskforce, ABEP first sprayed a red-zoned weatherboard house, which was awaiting demolition, with its bright blue membrane, and Hydro Response surrounded it with 80 metres of its Swedish-manufactured Geodesign barrier, which can exclude water up to 2.4m deep, plus an Americanmade water-filled tube barrier and a self-inflating barrier from Canada..

Griffin and Hydro Response then blocked off the foundation ventilation apertures with slabs of wood sealed in place and fitted with plastic tubes with removable lids.

The company also deployed its British-made Floodgate barrier system across the doorways, two of them side-by-side at the wide rear porch, and one at the narrower front porch.

With the systems in place, the opened the fire hydrants and filled the space between the Geodesign barrier and the house with water to a depth of a metre – and waited to see how it would work.

In fact it worked well, with no water at all getting into the house, and the inevitable seapage into the underfloor area being easily controlled by a small pump.

The experiment supported the scenario of the householder, faced with a flood threat, going round the house fitting caps to the foundation vents, and then setting up the Floodgates to keep water from the doors. They could then flee the scene, confident that when the water receded they could immediately take up residence again with no water damage. This scenario assumed the householder would have the Floodgate doorway

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CONTRACTOR AUGUST 2015

barriers permanently on hand – possibly owning them.

The CCC’s general manager for the infrastructure rebuild, John Mackie, told Contractor that the level of property protection provided by the trial was ”viable,” but “there is not a great deal of enthusiasm for it from the communities affected, as it still leaves them with access problems and nuisance flooding of land and outbuildings.”

Accordingly, “it does not form part of the recovery programme for flood mitigation,” Mackie says.

The cost might also prove a deterrent in Flockton-like situations: it could cost up to $20,000 to flood-proof a single house-sized building in this way.

In November last year the CCC announced that its $48 million answer to the basin’s flooding problems would instead comprise a new pump station and bypass system, requiring the outright or partial purchase of several of the 580 homes it will protect. The bypass, made feasible by the widening of the Dudley Creek channel and the installation of a new pumping station at Tay Street, will be 700 metres long and gravity-fed.

Griffin’s launch of his Hydro Response systems was nicely timed for a role in the Christchurch earthquake recovery, but the application of his water barrier products has spread throughout both main islands, and gone from clearing water round bridge foundations for inspections to holding back floodwaters.

In the latter role the company’s systems were used extensively in the Whanganui floods, where the river overflowed its eastern embankments, putting the area from the Dublin Street to the Victoria Avenue bridges under water.

An increasing number of local authorities has bought and stockpiled Hydro Response’s water barriers to limit flood damage, exclude water from bridge piles and allow stream beds to be dredged.

AUGUST 2015 41

CONTRACTOR

HE

RI TAGE

TRAILS

It started with his wife’s abduction Wellington’s land-locked harbour made a road over the Remutaka Hill vital for the young colony’s development.

HUGH DE LACY tells how it got there.

A RETURN TRIP TO Hawaiki by a great-

grandson of Aotearoa’s Polynesian discoverer, Kupe, and the elopement of his wife with two slaves while he was away, were the disparate events that led to the naming of Remutaka, the hill that separates the Hutt Valley and Wellington Harbour from the plains of the Wairarapa.

And no, that’s not a misspelling: it may be written and spoken these days as the virtually meaningless Rimutaka, but Remutaka is what it should be, and may yet become.

Haunui-a-Nanaia – the latter part of his extended name is his mother’s, and distinguishes him from Kupe’s son, Haunui-a-Aparangi – was one of a group of brothers who left the New Zealand their ancestor had discovered to return to his starting-out point, the Hawaiki which the Cook Islands claims to be, but is perhaps in the Marquesas Islands.

While Hau was away, his wife Wairaka was abducted by two slaves, named Kiwi and Weka, from her home near the Mahia Peninsula in Hawke’s Bay, and taken to Pukerua Bay on Wellington’s north-west coast.

It was there that Hau, according to ethnologist Elsdon Best, caught up with them when he eventually returned from Hawaiki, and killed the two slaves.

Whether or not Wairaka was a willing 42 www.contractormag.co.nz

party to the abduction, Hau seems to have presumed some guilt on her part, because he ordered her down onto the rocks at the edge of the bay, supposedly to gather shellfish, then turned her into a stone that remains there today, buffeted by the sea.

All of which may seem remote from the Remutaka Hill far inland, but that was the route Hau took on his way home from Pukerua Bay, and he sat on top of it, contemplating the gleaming Lake Wairarapa on the plains to the north, and mourned his wife.

It is from his act of sitting, of remutaka, that the hill takes its name.

When written language came to Aotearoa with the Europeans in the 19th century, “Remutaka” was belatedly misspelled “Rimutaka”, and remains so today.

The original spelling, as it commonly appeared in 19th century newspapers, used the ‘e; the ‘i’ seems to have slipped in accidentally sometime in the 20th.

In 2010 the Treaty of Waitangi Tribunal recommended that the misspelling be corrected, just as it had recommended the ‘h’ be returned to Whanganui, the river port Hau passed through in his pursuit of Weka, Kiwi and Wairaka.

Both of the tribunal’s recommendations drew naysayers, the then mayor of

Wanganui getting in such a fluster about it that he refused to add the “h” to any written reference he made to it, even after the change had been formally put in place.

Rimutaka’s proposed correction to Remutaka revealed the same polarities: opponents called it political correctness gone mad; proponents, led by local Maori, said it’s simply a matter of historical accuracy.

Whatever it was to the Maori, that big hill blocking the way between the marvellous natural harbour of Wellington and the equally marvellous natural farmland of the port-less Wairarapa was a major hurdle to the development of both.

The early farmers Bidwill, Clifford, Weld and Vavasour had driven sheep round the coast to the Wairarapa in the early 1840s but this had, if anything, intensified the colonial demand for a cross-country route.

This could be accomplished only by a trail over the Remutaka Hill, and in 1843 the New Zealand Land Company sent one of its surveyors, the part-time artist Samual Brees, to blaze one.

He did so, but work on forming it was delayed by Maori unrest in the Hutt Valley until 1847, after which the hardcharging Governor, Sir George Gray, ordered its completion.

The Rimutaka Hill range offers one of the country’s prettiest road trips and, with the burnt-over bush now vigorously regenerating along most of its length, even the legendary Hau might recognise the summit as the place where he sat to mourn the loss of his wife.

It was achieved under the direction of government surveyor Thomas Fitzgerald – formerly of Kerry, Ireland, later the first superintendent of Hawke’s Bay when it became a province in 1858, and later still the founder of the Australian sugar industry – and, as construction foreman, Henry Burling, the founder of the Wairarapa town of Featherston.

As New Zealand engineering feats go, the 1.3-metre wide Remutaka Hill track was not that great a challenge: it was a relatively gentle climb on the south side as the track wound in and out of innumerable gullies, and much the same on the north side, albeit considerably shorter and steeper.

It took about three years to complete the trail, and in 1850 Te Ore Ore runholder Richard Collins was able to

pack his wool clip out over it to the great harbour the Maori called Heretaunga, resting place of canoes.

What was more or less comfortably negotiable by packhorses however was more daunting for the main means of bulk land transport of the day, bullockwagons, and though they could make it over the hill by the mid-1850s, they could do so only by charging the exorbitant cartage fee of $46/ton.

Traffic was backing up as immigrants sought access to their sections in Greytown and Masterton when the great earthquake of 1855 struck, destroying many stretches of the track and closing it for weeks.

Almost immediately it was determined to push a proper dray road through where the track had been, and this was completed in the winter of 1856, with one Thomas Kempton Jnr taking the first vehicle over it, a ton of goods on a dray pulled by four bullocks.

Thereafter horse-drawn traffic found its way over but it was not until World War One, and the establishment of the big army training camp in Featherston, that extensive widening and upgrading was undertaken to facilitate troop movements between the camp and the soldiers’ port of departure.

This included the building of seven one-way concrete bridges on the Featherston side, since replaced with two-lane structures.

In the meantime a railway had in 1878 conquered the Remutaka Hill with the help of a series of tunnels and the addition of specialist hill-climbing Fell locomotives for the steep 4.8-kilometre stretch between Summit and Cross Creek stations, at a gradient of one in 40, on the Wairarapa side.

The Rimutaka Incline rail service – by

then the spelling mistake had become semi-official – continued until the end of 1955 when it was replaced by a long tunnel between Maymorn in the south and Lucena’s Creek, through which passenger and freight services continue to operate.

The old railway line is now part of a popular Rimutaka Forest cycle path.

With World War Two looming, focus again centred on the road, State Highway 2, the first part of which was sealed in 1935-36.

During World War Two the former Featherston Army Camp was converted into a Prisoner of War facility for Japanese captives, who staged a revolt in 1943 that led to the deaths of 48 of their number and one New Zealander.

Sealing was tackled in stages and largely completed about the end of the war, after which efforts went in to straightening out some of the curlier bits.

The most challenging of these was Muldoon’s Corner, a sharp right-hand bend (coming from the south side), that parliamentary opponents named for the 1970s’ Prime Minister, Rob Muldoon, as supposedly reflecting the degree of change in the direction of his politics.

This $16.5 million straightening, which involved moving 200,000 cubic metres of earth, was completed in 2011.

The New Zealand Transport Authority continues to chip away at the Rimutaka Hill’s bends, and motorists to grizzle at the road’s frequent closing by snow and dangerously high winds.

But despite its notoriety the Rimutaka Hill offers one of the country’s prettiest road trips and, with the burnt-over bush now vigorously regenerating along most of its length, even the legendary Hau might recognise the summit as the place where he sat to mourn the loss of his wife.

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CONTRACTOR 2015 CRANE ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE

Awards for Lift and Project UDC sponsored the prestigious Project and Lift of the Year awards at the crane community’s annual ENZED conference in July. By CHRIS WEBB. FULTON HOGAN SNAPPED up the title for the Onehunga Foreshore

Grant Moffat of HEB Structures (left), stepped down as president after four years in the post, replaced by Scott McLeod of McLeod Cranes.

A further lift to construction Tauranga was the venue for the 2015 Crane Association conference and trade show in July.

It welcomed a new CANZ president and celebrated ‘Project of the Year’ and ‘Lift of the Year,’ confirming that the construction industry continues in the ascent.

The mood at the conference was high as CANZ CEO, Rod Auton, reported the past 12 months had seen the crane sector growing strongly on the back of buoyancy in residential development in Auckland, the on-going rebuild in Canterbury and regional expansion in general. One downside was that growth in the petrochemical industry on the East Coast and Taranaki had slowed in the latter months of the year.

Yet, he said, CANZ continues to spearhead members’ issues with government on regulatory matters and health and safety in the industry.

The Association launched the newly completed Crane Safety Manual at this year’s event, and it has continued working with the regulatory authorities on a number of issues including the Health & Safety in Workplace Act, Vehicle Dimensions and Mass Rule, Driver Licensing Review and BESS (Bridge Engineering Self Supervision) Renewals.

Auton also said that CANZ had undertaken a project that will reduce road user charges (RUCs) for truck cranes following a survey proving that truck cranes inflict less harm on the road pavement and infrastructure than the commercial road fleet.

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Restoration Project, while the accolade of Lift of the Year went to Smith Crane and Construction for the assembly of a five-tonne tower crane at Waitaki Hydro Dam. Fulton Hogan won the accolade of Project of the Year. Now almost complete, the project has transformed the Onehunga foreshore by creating parkland and beaches to provide enduring public access to the Manukau Harbour.

It creates 6.8 hectares of new parkland, a pedestrian and cycle bridge over SH20 linking the new foreshore to Onehunga Bay Reserve, new sand and shell beaches, and recreational gravel and shell beaches. In addition there is a boat ramp, pedestrian and cycle paths, and park facilities including a toilet block, park furniture and car park.

As a result of the project, the local community and wider region will be able to enjoy new recreational opportunities and facilities within walking distance of Onehunga town. The aim is to restore the community’s connection to the harbour, as Onehunga’s original beachfront esplanade was removed when the south-western motorway was built across Onehunga Bay in the 1970s.

The new land is adjacent to highway SH20. The $28 million project is funded by the Maungakiekie-Tamaki Local Board and the Transport Agency. This large project included, notably, a lift-in-place operation to locate the main footbridge.

The Lift of the Year award went to Smith Crane and Construction. In June 2014, the company erected one of its 5 tonne tower cranes at the site of the Waitaki dam sluice pier. The company used a Kato MR 100 10-tonne rough terrain crane was initially used to build an outrigger platform.

The company also used a Tidd PC 25 25-tonne pick-and-carry crane to take loads out in order to assemble the crane and tail. It had only 75mm clearance at either side as it carried all the components down the 2.65m wide access. With its outrigger fully retracted due to limited space, the crane was used to place piles and I beams in readiness for a larger crane, a Kato MR 220 22 tonne rough terrain unit, which would later install the support for the tower crane.

Work involved the construction of a steel frame, designed and built to get the crane up high enough to enable the outrigger legs to pass over a wall and onto the platform. A temporary 3m tower was used as template to set the anchors into foundation so the 10-tonne crane could lift key items of the structure into place.

Lifts included the base tower, at 3.8 tonnes, using reduced boom length, a slew ring and A-frame, the heaviest of which utilised 97 percent of the crane’s capacity. The project was made more difficult due to the 12m proximity of high tension electricity cables close to the main lift crane, and space restrictions requiring the pick and carry of components down a 2.65 metre wide access way.

The project was part of Meridian Energy’s investment of more than $40 million on a four-year project to refurbish the iconic Waitaki dam and power station. The Waitaki power station is the oldest station in the Waitaki hydro system and was built by manual labour as a ‘make-work’

The Lift of the Year award went to Smith Crane and Construction. In June 2014, the company erected one of its 5 tonne tower cranes at the site of the Waitaki dam sluice pier

Brian Lea (left) bestows Tim Smith (owner of Smith Crane & Construction) with Lift of the Year Award.

Fulton Hogan snapped up the title for the Onehunga Foreshore Restoration Project.

Fulton Hogan’s Alan Brown (left) receives Project of the Year Award from Brian Lea from UDC (CANZ sponsor).

programme during the 1930s Depression. The power station has six operational 15 megawatt generating units and generates enough electricity each year for about 62,000 homes.

“The Waitaki power station is an historic part of New Zealand’s electricity network and despite it being almost 80 years old and, with the work that we are planning, it will continue to provide reliable and sustainable electricity for many generations to come,” says Neal Barclay, Meridian’s general manager Markets and Production.

Meridian will carry out a range of work to ensure the old powerhouse building remains strong and usable.

This work includes earthquake strengthening. The architectural-look of the building will be retained.

“The four-year project involves reinstating the site’s seventh generation unit, which hasn’t operated for a number of years. We’ll be upgrading the protection for the existing units so we can identify and rectify faults as early as possible. We’re also making the intersection to the site safer and carrying out erosion, seismic and flood protection work around the site.

The issue of synthetic rope On the sidelines of the conference and exhibition, there was also interest in a key issue, which is top of the technical agenda of those operating mobile cranes – synthetic rope.

Last year, Manitowoc displayed a Grove GMK3060 all-terrain crane equipped with the new Samson KZ-100, the first synthetic hoist rope for the crane industry. The synthetic fibre rope was launched to the global market at CONEXPO 2014 held in Las Vegas, US. Last September at the CICA Conference, many Kiwi and Australian owner-operators got their first opportunity of a closer look at it.

The industry remains keen to see how the new rope can benefit its operations. Samson says it is 80 percent lighter than traditional wire rope, it won’t spin (unlike wire ropes), and is easier to spool on the winch.

At the 2014 CICA Conference, Eric Etchart, president and general manager of Manitowoc told the audience the company regarded the use of synthetic ropes as a logical progression for the industry.

AUGUST 2015 45

CONTRACTOR TRAINING

Some of the participants who gave the infrastructure industry ‘a go’ during Girls with Hi-vis month

Connexis

Women in Infrastructure Awards McConnell Dowell Project Manager Kimberly Jupp was recognised as a role model for women at the inaugural Connexis Women in Infrastructure Awards, held at Te Papa in Wellington recently.

KIMBERLY WAS JOINT winner of Industry Inspirational Shining Star Award with Jade Lloyd of Meridian Energy. The award recognises those actively working to empower women working in the infrastructure sector. Kimberly, an active member of the SCIRT Women in Construction group (SWIC), received the award for her role in providing PPE for women. The PPE initiative was launched with the theme ‘Women in construction - It’s a good fit’.

As well as helping to keep women safe on the job with clothing that fits appropriately, the new range of gear helps to increase the visibility and participation of women in the construction workforce. The range was launched at a joint event held with the Ministry for Women in November last year.

Kimberly was delighted to receive the Award, saying “It’s great to know that what I’m doing is appreciated and making a small difference. It has given me the encouragement and enthusiasm to keep going.”

NASA Astronaut shares her experience in a male dominated industry The Women in Infrastructure Awards were launched to recognise women who are making a difference in a traditionally male dominated industry. This year’s Awards were presented by guest speaker NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence. Wendy shared her experiences of working in a male dominated industry. Her thoughts were that women bring a solutions-driven approach and are more collaborative than confrontational when working to 46 www.contractormag.co.nz

solve problems. Wendy had some advice for those young women starting out in the infrastructure industry. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help,” she said. “That’s actually not a sign of weakness to not know everything. It’s a sign of strength to realise that you don’t know everything, and that you still have a lot to learn. I view it as a sign of strength and a sign of self-awareness and maturity. This is what I really want you to take away, reach out and seek out a mentor, you don’t have to do it all on your own.”

June’s Girls with Hi-vis Month The Awards were a fitting close to Girls with Hi-vis month – an initiative by Ultimit (a sub-brand of Connexis) which aims to increase female participation in trade and technical roles in the horizontal built-infrastructure industries. During the month of June, almost 50 women ‘gave it a go’, with the support of participating companies – McConnell Dowell, Transfield Services, Northpower, Electrix, PowerNet and Meridian Energy.

In the coming months, Connexis hopes to continue to gain ground and further increase the number of women in the infrastructure industries. Although Girls with Hi-vis was initially an initiative for the month of June, a number of companies will be continuing events throughout the year. Connexis will be partnering with industry to support the success of these events and encourage more women to try their hand at a trade within the infrastructure sector.

• For further information please go to www.ultimit.co.nz

Panel discussion at the Women in Infrastructure Awards - four females that have worked successfully in trade roles within male dominated industries share their experiences.

From left to right: Wendy Lawrence – NASA Astronaut, Lisa Albiston – ABB, Marianne Rogers, Project Manager – McConnell Dowell and Civil Trades Regime, Rachel Brown, Project Manager – Ultimit:

Guest speaker NASA Astronaut Wendy Lawrence;

Kimberly Jupp of McConnell Dowell, joint winner of the Industry Shining Star Award, with Wendy Lawrence – NASA Astronaut

Women in Infrastructure award winners: Kimberly Jupp – McConnell Dowell, Aroha Mclean – Northpower, Wendy Lawrence – NASA Astronaut, Lisa Albiston – ABB, Emma Scobie (Girls with Hi-vis attendee at Powernet)

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AUGUST 2015 47

CONTRACTOR TRAINING

Growing great leaders A new leadership and development strategy is enabling McConnell Dowell to grow its next generation of managers and supervisors. The initiative recently launched in Auckland with a programme for leading hands and supervisors, which led to a First Line Management Level 3 qualification. Following the success of the pilot, it is anticipated that further programmes will be developed and rolled out across the country.

MCCONNELL DOWELL IDENTIFIED a need to increase leadership skills at all management levels during a recent review. It then engaged Leadership Development New Zealand to develop a First Line Management programme.

Industry training organisation Connexis supported the programme.

The programme aimed to improve the performance of leading hands and supervisors in four core skills – communication, managing people, conflict management/resolution and maximising team performance. Participants included office, project and field staff and ranged from new employees through to people with many years of experience. All had been identified as new or potential leaders, but with no formal leadership training or qualifications.

Performance improvement consultant Terry Lewis and the team at Leadership Development New Zealand developed a programme for the group to help them understand key leadership concepts and techniques. The group applied these skills to their improvement projects with the aim of adding value to an existing business process.

Lewis says that the objective of the programme was to create a win-win for employer and employee with measurable results.

“When looking for projects, for example, we were specifically looking for ones that would add something to the quality of the businesses outcomes, working environment, worker satisfaction or the product and services of the business. There was also a big focus on individual issues and areas for growth – as members of team, team leaders and individuals.”

Lewis continues, “Another outcome of the programme was inter-team communication, which is extremely important. In large businesses with multiple teams and departments such as McConnell Dowell, people often end up intentionally or unintentionally working in silos. The programme enabled us to bring those silos together and to increase understanding and communication across teams.”

The programme was delivered over a series of 10 full day sessions, with three weeks between each. The timing allowed participants to take their learning and apply it in the workplace (and in their own lives). Participants completed assessments 48 www.contractormag.co.nz

throughout the programme, and delivered an individual presentation to the rest of the group, senior management and guests at the last session. Each participant had a dedicated mentor from within McConnell Dowell (usually their line manager) to support them in their learning.

Lewis says, “It was a pleasure to work with McConnell Dowell on this initiative. The programme demanded a real commitment from the business, and they didn’t disappoint.

Everyone – participants and their line managers – was really engaged, which was fantastic. One of the KPIs for the initiative was that the whole group not only attended the course, but completed the National Certificate in Business (First Line Management) Level 3 qualification. I am delighted that this was achieved.”

McConnell Dowell learning and development manager Anand Naidu believes that the company is already benefiting from the programme, “while participants have also come up with innovative ideas that could benefit our business in future”. He explains: “The McConnell Dowell Leadership Development strategy focuses on four stages of management. These are: leading hand/supervisor, aspiring leaders, senior leaders (predominantly engineers) and executive leaders (senior managers and directors). Following the success of the First Line Management pilot we’ll gradually be rolling out leadership programmes for all management levels. McConnell Dowell is no different to the rest of the industry in that we need to adapt to the changing workforce. Identifying and growing our future leaders now will ensure we have the skills we need for the future.”

Details of non-trainees in the photo are as below: • Roger McRae, general manager, McConnell Dowell • Anand Naidu, learning and development manager, McConnell Dowell • Annette De Wet, customer service account manager, Connexis • Brian Bedggood, facilitator, Leadership Development New Zealand • Terry Lewis, performance improvement consultant, Leadership Development New Zealand

FOR ALL U SAL NIT EO S RH IRE

CONTRACTOR TRAINING

Kris Fannin of Tai Poutini Digger School with students.

Youth careers day at MOTAT On Wednesday 24 June, a group of year 11 to 13 high school students were given the opportunity to gain hands-on experience of the construction, civil engineering, trucking and agriculture industries at MOTAT. SUPPORTED BY COMPANIES from various industry sectors, this partnership between the schools, MOTAT and corporates, is an innovative way to engage the students in a safe, supportive worksite environment and offer them a valuable insight into potential career options. Here they can find out how it really feels to be a member of the New Zealand workforce.

Presented by Alistair McIntyre, the author of popular children’s book Doug the Digger and founder of the Youth into Industry initiative, the programme gets the important messages across – the importance of a good educational foundation, making healthy choices and developing life skills – in a fun and interactive way.

McIntyre has made it his life’s work to entertain, inspire and educate others through his own experiences and he is committed to encouraging young people into employment.

He notes, “Many students who struggle with traditional learning methods are at-risk youth who could easily hit a downward

50 www.contractormag.co.nz

spiral” however, he explains “these youngsters can quickly be brought back on course if given the opportunity to connect with learning methods which they understand and can relate to. This serves to raise their confidence levels and ultimately leads to them becoming positive members of society.”

MOTAT education and experience programme manager, Brent Hemi, says, “MOTAT is constantly seeking to collaborate with organisations such as Youth into Industry to showcase its transport and technology collection in a creative and handson way. It’s through programmes like this that the museum can educate students on New Zealand’s proud history of ingenuity as well as inspire them to become the innovators of the future.”

To ensure students know exactly what is expected of them in the workplace, Industry Careers Day includes a toolbox meeting at the start of the workshop. The importance of applying themselves with a positive attitude to learn skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic is emphasised in order to

Far left: Sheraleigh Waru Papakura High School with Alistair McIntyre.

Left: Simon from Tai Poutini Digger School explains the plate compator to William Kaihe and Roy Potaha Papakura HS.

give students the best possible opportunity of gaining future employment.

One of the many advantages of Industry Careers Day is that students get to meet real people working daily across various industries; this helps them to understand the expectations of employers and allows them to make informed decisions regarding their future career paths and what they need to do to achieve their personal goals.

During the course of the day students will gain experience in several disciplines including health and safety compliance,

workplace safety awareness, weights and measures and vehicle safety compliance. They will also learn more about the operation of mini excavators and other industrial equipment.

“Each category will consist of interactive activities and industry representatives will be on-hand to share their expertise and help students complete the associated paperwork,” says McIntyre.

• MOTAT is currently working closely with McIntyre and secondary schools around Auckland to determine which student groups would benefit from attending Industry Careers Day at MOTAT.

AUGUST 2015 51

CONTRACTOR TECHNOLOGY

Smart highways of the future JAMES CARELESS looks into the ‘smart’ and energised future of the world’s highways.

52 www.contractormag.co.nz

The “Glowing Lines” concept employs light- emitting marker lines that are recharged by the sun during the day and emit light for up to 10 hours at night.

SOLAR-POWERED SELF-LIGHTING roadways, with induction lanes

that charge electric cars as they drive.

Asphalt pavement that stores solar energy, using it to melt off now and ice when the temperature drops … or perhaps that energy can be used elsewhere to heat buildings! And if that’s not enough, how about harnessing the physical flexing and releasing of asphalt pavement caused by passing traffic to generate electricity?

These are just some of the futuristic ideas for the asphalt highway of tomorrow, now under development today. Here’s a closer look:

The incredibly ‘smart highway’ Back in the 1980s, the ‘Intelligent Highway’ concept was all the rage. But the advances then being proposed focused on making cars more intelligent in the operation; the roads remained the same.

Fast forward to today: Designer Daan Roosegaarde and Dutch construction firm Heijmans have banded together to create the ‘Smart Highway’ a series of projects where the road – not the car – does more than just sit there. A case in point: The “Glowing Lines’ concept employs light-emitting marker lines that are recharged by the sun during the day, and emit light for up to 10 hours at night. This isn’t vaporware: As of April 2014, two 500 meter long stretches of the N329 provincial highway near Oss, Holland, have been equipped with Glowing Lines.

Roosegarde has lot of other exciting highway ideas that he and Heijmans are developing into working prototypes. For instance, the Electric Priority will recharge the batteries of electric cars driving on it, by transferring energy wirelessly to the car through magnetic currents. (Magnetic ‘transmitter coils’ within the roadway will induce power generation in a magnetic ‘receiver coil’ inside vehicle car, which will transfer this power back to the car’s battery.)

Meanwhile, temperature-sensitive ‘dynamic paint’ can be used to make illuminated warnings visible only when relevant.

For instance, when the outside temperature gets close to a freezing point on a bridge, a dynamic paint warning about potential slippery conditions can appear.

Roosegaarde’s ideas for Smart Highways don’t end there. They include addressable ‘Dynamic Lines’, which can be remotely triggered to show either solid or dotted lines depending on the amount of road traffic – and interactive street lamps that only come on when cars approach – and can flash when cars are AUGUST 2015 53

CONTRACTOR TECHNOLOGY

Electrical engineer Scott Brusaw and wife Julie (pictured right), are behind the Solar Roadways concept using hexagon-shaped solar-powered road surface ‘panels’ loaded with LEDs. Depending on how they were configured, these ‘solar road panels’ allow sunlight through their textured glass surfaces and into their solar collectors by day, and then use it to light road markings at night. They can also heat themselves to remove ice and snow as needed.

going too fast. As for all that wind generated by passing cars, Roosegaarde envisions using that moving air to spin small wind turbines along the curb; creating the power to illuminate the shoulders at the same time.

“Daan Roosegaarde was amazed that we spend so much time and money on the technology of cars, yet the highway has not changed for the last 100 years,” explained Jamaica den Heijer, Studio Roosegaarde’s director of business development. “He presented all of these ideas when he gave a lecture, and the director of Heijmans, a large construction company in the Netherlands, was present and contacted Daan afterwards.

Then they met and the Smart Highway project was born.”

Capturing roadway heat There’s nothing like a mid-summer barefoot stroll across South Las Vegas Boulevard (home of the Las Vegas Strip) at noon to reinforce the point that sunlight makes asphalt pavement hot!

But making this heat actually do something beyond scorching your feet; now that’s a challenge!

A British firm called ICAX (www.icax.co.uk) has developed a way to do just this; specifically to transfer the heat energy captured by sunlit roadways and then transfer it to “thermal banks”. This is done by installing a network of fluid-filled pipes under the road. The asphalt’s heat is transferred to the fluid, which is then pumped into tubes buried under insulating earth. The dirt retards the heat loss; providing a reservoir of heat that can be extracted by buildings equipped with heat pumps during times of cold weather. ICAX calls this concept 54 www.contractormag.co.nz

“Interseasonal Heat Transfer” (IHT).

Beyond providing buildings with low cost heating, IHT can be used to rewarm roadways during winter, by pumping the thermal banked fluid back into the under-roadway pipes. The released heat can melt snow and ice on an ongoing basis; keeping roadways clear even during snow storms.

“This concept is already in use at Heathrow airport, to keep the tarmac clear of ice and snow all year round,” says Dr Heather Dylla; director of sustainable development at the National Asphalt Pavement in Lanham, Maryland. “It is a powerful demonstration of how much can be done with asphalt paved surfaces when a creative engineering approach is applied.”

A similar concept has been tested by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. They placed a pipe network just below an asphalt pavement, and filled it with water. The asphalt transferred heat to the fluid, which was then available as a hot water source or to generate electricity. A bonus: Extracting heat from the roadway helps prolong its life span, by reducing cracking due to expansion and contraction.

The astounding energy-generating roadway Asphalt Pavement 101: Paved roadways vibrate as cars and trucks drive over them. What if all that vibrational energy could be somehow harnessed; perhaps to generate electricity, for instance?

This concept is not only possible: It has already been proven.

A 2011 pilot study into roadway “vibration energy” generation

by Holland’s University of Twente and the Dutch province of Overijssel) used piezoelectric roadway materials to convert vibrations into measurable power. Basically, the ongoing compression and decompression of piezoelectric crystals in the roadway material generates electricity.

The University of Twente study, which used a piezoelectric embedded strip across the N34 provincial motorway near Hardenberg, showed that enough energy could be generated to power wireless motion detectors to trigger stoplights. The 2013 paper “Piezoelectric Roads in California” written by Stanford University’s student Rex Garling (http://large.stanford.edu/ courses/2012/ph240/garland1/ ; cited by NAPA) estimated that a 20 mpg car using $4/gallon gas on a one kilometre stretch of piezoelectric-equipped roadway would generate about 0.19MJ of electricity. Based on current West Coast electricity charges, this would be about 1/20th of the gasoline cost burned to cross this length of roadway. $0124 cents of gas; $.0064 power created.) “At this rate, the road will generate a revenue of $33,565 per year,” Garland wrote.

A solar option Imagine lining a roadway in part, or in full, with hexagonshaped solar-powered road surface ‘panels’ loaded with LEDs. Depending on how they were configured, these ‘solar road panels’ allow sunlight through their textured glass surfaces and into their solar collectors by day, and then use it to light road markings at night. They can also heat themselves to remove ice and snow as needed (via built-in heating and drainage elements), and perform a number of other power-related tasks;

such as creating illuminated ‘crosswalks’ 24/7.

This is the idea behind Solar Roadways (www.solarroadways. com). Spearheaded by electrical engineer Scott Brusaw and his wife Julie, the Solar Roadways project has received funding from the U.S. federal Highway Administration for both its Phase I and Phase II prototypes. They’ve raised $2.2 million on the Indiegogo.com crowdfunding campaign site for their project; not bad considering that the Brusaws were only asking for US$1 million. Currently, Solar Roadways is about to complete its Phase II project by paving a prototype parking lot with its solar road panels.

The beauty of solar road panels is that an entire road does not have to be paved with them. Instead, they can be integrated with existing asphalt pavement construction; providing cutting-edge capabilities in tandem with the proven durability and cost-effectiveness of asphalt pavement.

The roads of the future are coming The ideas described above illustrate how much is being done today to advance the functionality of tomorrow’s roadways. As the proven experts in road construction and science, members of the asphalt industry are ideally placed to capitalize on these advances, and to marry them with the many improvements in asphalt paving (e.g. warm mix asphalt, reclaim asphalt pavement recycling) that the industry has already pioneered.

“There is a lot of research being done to capture and store energy from roads,” says NAPA’s Dr. Dylla.

“It will be interesting to watch them advance and to see how the science is put into practice.”

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AUGUST 2015 55

CONTRACTOR BEST BUSINESS

Negotiated contracts vs tenders Canterbury-based Dave Sewell is one of only two Gazelles International business performance coaches in New Zealand.

AS A TRADESPERSON in an unprecedented build environment, there are multiple challenges. Competing with companies buying contracts does not help.

I have been working with numerous clients, helping them move away from tenders and into negotiated contracts. This allows them to have greater control over the work, often deliver greater quality and it removes a whole heap of uncertainties.

Christchurch-based Simon Construction director Izaac Simon knows firsthand that working under a negotiated contract removes a lot of risk for both the builder and the client.

“When you go in with a tender, you have to account for all the unknowns, so you factor them in, then you have to consider escalation, the availabilities of subbies who often bump their prices up due to demand, thus the price is front-loaded to deal with situations you don’t even know if you will have to manage.”

Izaac says when pricing a negotiated contract, you don’t need to cater for all contingencies, so the client is not having to pay big premiums for unknowns.

“You get paid for what you do and then deal with each unforeseen issue as it comes up via a variation.”

I have seen many projects stall in the pricing stage because no one holds the all-powerful crystal ball. I advise clients to use and strengthen their trade relationships. If a builder can get involved in a project right from the beginning, they can have input into pre-construction planning, which can return savings. Then throughout the negotiated contact, any issues can be dealt with in a factual way, in good faith and ensuring the best outcomes are achieved for everyone.

Most importantly, the builder needs to know each sub trade will do its part of the job properly and on time. A negotiated contract is harder to manage but, in many cases, it is the superior business

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56 www.contractormag.co.nz

model in this current climate.

With many companies buying contracts, those wanting a future that extends well beyond the rebuild, then it is working relationships, trust and integrity in the marketplace now that will help that happen. With negotiated contracts, there is 100 percent clarity and communication.

Izaac says with the level of complex jobs post quakes, like a technically difficult, heritage rebuild or renovation on unpredictable land, pricing via a tender is immensely difficult.

“A contract is a good way to proceed, so then as things come up, you negotiate the best variation and then proceed. We work with people who trust us and we are transparent in our pricing and are committed to finding the best solutions.”

He says it does mean he is capping his margin up front, but he also knows he is not going to lose out if a project blows apart because of a few uncontrollable surprises.

When you have a trusted team of sub trades and suppliers around you, then you can enter more easily into negotiated contracts, knowing each party will provide their best price (not necessarily the lowest) and will deliver quality work when they say they will.

The key piece of advice in all this, is know your numbers. You must know what your margins are; you must learn from back costing; and effective, transparent working records are mandatory.

You also need to know what future work is in the pipeline, make sure you do not over commit and that your supporting trades are in that same position. Communication and trust form the basis of a good negotiated contract and it’s from this platform of stability that a trades business will thrive well past the current building boom. www.davesewell.co.nz

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CONTRACTOR BEST BUSINESS

The challenge with association memberships A number of powerful generational, cultural and economic forces are colliding to create a perfect storm that will make the next five to 20 years some of the toughest ever faced by associations.

By BELINDA MOORE from Strategic Membership Solutions.

ARE YOUNGER MEMBERS joining your association and then leaving after a year or two, or not joining at all? Are you struggling to get people to your events? Are you battling to recruit quality volunteers? Is your board full of men aged over 50? Are competitive organisations forming around you?

Association leaders need to effectively position themselves to deal with these challenges and take advantage of the opportunities they bring. Following are some of the major issues that association leaders should be addressing now for the future success of their associations.

Baby Boomers are retiring Baby Boomers started their adult lives determined to change the world and they have certainly done so. During their working lives they have been the most likely to join, the most likely to renew, and the most likely to volunteer with associations. Perhaps more importantly, they are more likely to join an association with the understanding they will need to work to assist the association to achieve its goals.

The fact that Baby Boomers are generally willing to contribute their time and expertise to develop the associations they choose to join has strongly contributed to the rise in the number and strength of member-based organisations from the 1970s onwards.

58 www.contractormag.co.nz

If your association is to thrive into the future, you must be attractive to all generations. Your entire organisational culture needs to reflect a generationally diverse, welcoming and engaging community.

Skilled staff and volunteer leader shortages In Australia the number of Generation X individuals is around 4.4 million, which is much smaller than the number of Baby Boomers at 5.3 million, and this poses a couple of challenges for associations.

The exodus of experienced Baby Boomers from senior roles into retirement means we are going to experience a shortage of talent at senior levels across all sectors, which creates an issue for associations seeking both paid staff and talented volunteer leaders.

For associations, where salaries are not on a par with the for-profit sector, this may result in a struggle to attract senior staff capable of navigating their association through turbulent times.

The quality of association boards will also be affected as the reluctance of Generation X to upset their work-life balance, combined with their smaller numbers, will create a much smaller pool of potential volunteer leaders to call on.

Associations are heavily geared towards Baby Boomers Because Baby Boomers are so actively involved in their associations, the products and services, communication channels and decision-making structures within most associations are geared almost entirely towards this group. This has seen associations concentrate their financial and time resources towards Baby Boomer orientated activities at the expense of investing resources into products and services geared towards younger people.

Creating an organisation that appeals to younger generations means instilling an innovative, proactive, and member responsive culture throughout the entire organisation. This isn’t just starting a Facebook page. It isn’t setting up a Young Professionals group that isn’t resourced nor connected to anywhere else in the association. It definitely isn’t a board made up almost entirely of white men over the age of 50. The kind of change required needs to be embedded throughout your entire organisation.

Generations X and Y Generation X grew up during times of high divorce rates where it was very likely that both parents were working. They are highly independent, and very protective of their work­ life balance.

Generation Y grew up with the internet and a constant barrage of messages from a variety of media. They are highly educated, innovative, entrepreneurial, cause driven, marketing savvy and globally focused. They are very aspirational and are attracted to successful brands.

Generations X and Y have vastly different expectations to Baby

Boomers when it comes to association membership. To justify the investment of time and/or money into an association they want to see very clearly defined, tangible and compelling value – and not just when they join. Younger members are constantly reassessing the value of the organisation to them so your value needs to be regularly reinforced even after they join.

Younger members are also much less willing to be a part of an association that needs work. They would rather be associated with a responsive, innovative, socially aware organisation that they perceive to already be successful. If they can’t see that in your organisation they will look elsewhere.

Associations need to understand the value they can deliver to their members. Are members looking for a fantastic career, a great lifestyle, a happy family, a successful business, a healthy planet, or something entirely different? Find out what their aspirations are and proactively provide tangible products and services to help your members more quickly and effectively achieve them.

The value returned to each member needs to far exceed the membership fee invested. This may mean a more creative suite of products and services, or restructuring of membership fees.

If your association is to thrive into the future, you need to clearly understand what value you can deliver to younger members and be able to strongly provide that value. In addition you must understand the best means of communicating that value to both prospective and existing members in such a way that it motivates them to join and engage with your association. www.smsonline .net.au

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CONTRACTOR COMMENT

Resilience – building for the future PETER SILCOCK, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, CIVIL CONTRACTORS NEW ZEALAND

RESILIENCE IS EMERGING as a major driver in civil construction in the wake of natural disasters here in New Zealand, yet most construction jobs, whether they are large or small are still dominated by the initial price of construction.

The increased focus on sustainability and the growing realisation that climate change will bring more extreme weather events to New Zealand means that in the future more attention will be focused on resilience and value for money rather than the lowest price.

Network resilience is one of the key themes highlighted in the recently released NZTA National Land Transport Programme 2015-2018. It says: “A resilient transport system helps the Transport Agency to be responsive to unforeseen events and provides customers with confidence that they will be able to undertake their journeys in a timely manner.” The document goes on to say: “New Zealand’s topography, climate and exposure to seismic events mean that there will always be a risk of network disruption.”

It is hard to disagree with those comments and they mean that NZTA, like other agencies, is shifting its focus as it realises the benefits of lower maintenance costs and reduced outage/ closure times. The fact is if we want to improve our capability to respond and recover from adverse events we need to build more resilience into our civil construction today. It is sobering to think about how long the Canterbury recovery has taken. Just compare Canterbury’s terrain to that of Wellington and thinking about the costs and time for recovery if a similar event hit our capital.

Planning for the clean-up and recovery is important but the big question is what can and should we be doing in Wellington today to reduce the likelihood of slips and subsidence and the potential impacts of a tsunami?

Of course civil construction resilience is not just about adverse events it is also about how we cater for the changing needs of New Zealanders and New Zealand businesses. Issues like high density urban areas, traffic congestion, public transport developments, trade flows and water storage are just a few examples.

Building resilience into any construction job starts at the planning phase and is all about building durability and flexibility into the asset. We need to be planning for the long-term useful life of the asset including its maintenance, further development or extension and even its redundancy.

We need high quality information and forecasts to inform those plans – for example what will the population be, where will they live, what will the frequency and scale of adverse events be? We need to plan not just to cope with the present day, or five years down the track but for a long-term future.

We all know that we can’t always afford today what we may

need in the future. But, if we consider what that future is likely to look like then we can build in the ability to expand or reduce capacity in the future.

Auckland Harbour Bridge, which reached its capacity soon after it was built, is a good example of not building for the future.

While, the clip-ons have done the job, would the solution have been different if we had planned for that increased capacity in the first place?

Of course this is not just about roads; we need to be thinking about services as well. The increased population density in our cities and increased high rainfall events require additional services such as water storage, water supply capacity, waste and stormwater systems and treatment facilities. Promoting increased housing density and infill housing in well-established suburbs close to the city centre is a sound strategy but we need to plan and cater for the demand for more services. For example, the greater concrete and building coverage on sites can dramatically increase the demands on our stormwater systems.

Materials can also play a role in our resilience. Using materials best suited to the situation can substantially improve flexibility and durability. To be fit for purpose materials need to cope with both day-to-day and adverse events. For example, building with the right materials that can cope with changes resulting from an earthquake like polyethylene pipes for water supplies.

As a construction industry we need to be looking for new innovative materials and systems that will provide that resilience both in terms of ongoing maintenance and in adverse or extreme events.

Finally, a key aspect of our resilience is having the right people, equipment and businesses to build and maintain civil assets.

We need individuals who understand the basics for design or construction rather than relying upon computer solutions. Without people who are experienced on the ground we will not have leaders who can step up and take on new projects and importantly take a lead role in the recovery following adverse events.

As an industry we need to do more to attract bright, young and enthusiastic people into the civil construction business so we can all build a strong succession plan.

We also need to maintain and build the resilience of the industry by having healthy market concepts that employ a range of contract types and sizes appropriate to the service being procured. By building the strength of the businesses involved in all aspects of civil construction we will build New Zealand’s resilience. As a country our investments in dams, roads, bridges and other infrastructure are an investment in the future. The return on that investment will in future be judged by its resilience.

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

60 www.contractormag.co.nz

Breach of permit changes welcomed JONATHAN BHANA-THOMSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, NZ HEAVY HAULAGE ASSOCIATION

CHANGES HAVE RECENTLY been made to the Vehicle Dimensions and Mass Rule relating to the enforcement process and fines associated with overloading offences for loads travelling on overweight permits. These came into force on 8 July, and they have been received with a sense of relief more than anything.

They have been a long time coming and to finally see them come into law does away with huge penalties that simply did not fit the offence.

The headline change for the heavy haulage industry is the removal of the ‘null and void’ clause which essentially treated the operator as if they didn’t have a permit, by voiding any permit that they held if any condition was breached. These overloading fines were calculated from the normal maximum weight of the transporter and so fines in the region of $30,000 were not unusual.

Note that the fines we objected to were not about loading over the gross weight of the permit but rather where an individual axle is overloaded.

Changes sought for many years The NZ Heavy Haulage Association had been pushing for reform to the way that these fines are calculated for many years, and Warwick Bell, the current heavy haulage sector convenor on the Association’s board, has been personally pushing for changes to this since he first entered the sector more than 20 years ago. He has stated that while there needed to be a penalty relating to overloading of overweight loads, the vast majority of the time, this is simply because an overweight load is placed either slightly forward or behind the optimum point. Sometimes this can be a matter of 30 centimetres difference, and while an individual axle may be overloaded, this is well within the gross loading of the vehicle as listed on the permit.

So under this new regime, any overloading fines will be calculated by comparing the weighed up weight with that stated

on the permit. Under the new regime, the permits will now remain valid, rather than being voided. However there are some circumstances when the permit will be made invalid, and these include: • Travelling off the specified route on the permit (unless directed to by NZ Police or a road controlling authority) • The permit is illegally altered • The vehicle or the person operating the vehicle are not those described on the permit.

In these circumstances there are still be large fines that could be imposed.

Critical conditions In addition there is now a range of ‘critical’ conditions identified on an overweight permit that attract a $2000 infringement fine, which is a new offence. In addition, overloading offences can be calculated which add to this.

The critical conditions are that the vehicle must not: • Exceed the maximum permitted gross weight stated on the permit • Exceed vehicle design limits – such as the GVM • Breach a travel restriction for travelling over a bridge (BESS).

However for the operator who has a permit and is otherwise complying with bridge restrictions, they will no longer be treated as a criminal who has no intention to comply with the law.

Role of the Association It does need to be stated that without the lobbying effort from the Association, that this change would not have come to pass for the heavy haulage industry. We are proud of what we have achieved for our sector through our persistence and tenacity.

While some of these changes to major rules can seem to be an insurmountable mountain, the taste of victory is sweet when it has been pursued for some time.

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CONTRACTOR COMMENT

Managing the ‘miracle mineral’ STUART ROBERTSON, PARTNER, and KIMBERLEY HAYWARD, SOLICITOR, KENSINGTON SWAN’S MAJOR PROJECTS AND CONSTRUCTION TEAM

BACK IN THE GOOD old days (pre-1980) asbestos was the material of choice for insulating houses against heat or noise and was once known as the ‘miracle mineral’ because of its fire-resisting properties. It was used extensively in industrial buildings, plant and civil works, most notably water mains.

As more has been found out about the toxic qualities of asbestos, it has become a significant issue to contractors throughout New Zealand. The discovery of asbestos can cause delay and increase costs; not to mention the danger to workers and the public. Strict health and safety requirements need to be followed, and if breached could result in harm to those who are exposed to the substance as well as a hefty fine.

Common areas of risk Brownfield sites: A brownfield site is a common term to describe land that has been previously used for industrial or commercial purposes. Due to its history, a brownfield site presents risks that it may be contaminated with hazardous waste or pollution, and sometimes asbestos.

There are numerous brownfield sites around the country.

One example is Sylvia Park shopping centre in Auckland which is situated on land that was occupied by extensive army stores buildings between 1943 and 1992. These buildings were originally constructed by the US Army which used asbestos in the roof and cladding.

The more difficult challenges for civil contractors are old buildings that have already been removed and the possible presence of asbestos is not immediately obvious. If the correct demolition procedures were not followed, then the ground could easily have become contaminated. In these circumstances the contaminated site may not always show the tell-tale signs of residue, odour, or discolouration.

Water mains: Asbestos is frequently found in water mains across New Zealand. A 2008 case study of North Island councils estimated that asbestos water mains made up more than 30 percent of water mains in Whangarei, Hamilton, Tauranga, Gisborne, Taupo, Napier, Hastings, New Plymouth, Palmerston North and Wellington.

Asbestos pipes are usually fine if left undisturbed. However, they are susceptible to catastrophic failure from ‘hammering’ which occurs when valves are incorrectly operated. A few years ago hammering caused an asbestos based water main under a furniture store to burst, resulting in a loss of $1 million to the store owner.

Water mains are also vulnerable to indirect interference, such as the force produced by directional drilling operations.

Directional drilling, or thrusting, moves the excavated material upwards or sideways. This sideways movement can pose 62 www.contractormag.co.nz

significant risk to adjacent asbestos water mains.

Remediation of asbestos water mains can be easily performed through in-situ sleeving, or pipe bursting and replacement. This method poses very little risk to workers and the public because the old asbestos-based pipe remains encapsulated within the ground. However, a recent incident occurred in Christchurch where workers removing concrete around a damaged asbestos pipe failed to take appropriate steps to protect the public or themselves. To the contractor’s credit the site was immediately shut down and there was no need for WorkSafe to issue notices.

Natural disasters: Earthquake damage to materials, and the resulting clean-up/repair, can cause the release of asbestos fibres from previously non-friable materials. Concerns have been raised that in the immediate aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes, clean-up procedures and home remediation works did not always follow appropriate guidelines to ensure that asbestos exposure was avoided. However, these issues appear to have largely been addressed with most contractors adopting recommended best practice.

The above risk areas highlight some of the ongoing issues facing civil contractors. So what can do you do?

Identifying asbestos It is not always possible to identify whether asbestos is present purely by sight, although a number of seasoned contractors may be able to identify high risk building products from past experience. Testing a sample in an approved laboratory is the only sure way to find out if a material contains asbestos. These facilities are readily available.

Due to the constant risk it would be sensible to ensure that your contract contains a provision describing the process if hazardous materials such as asbestos are discovered.

Removing asbestos Despite there being strict health and safety regulations surrounding the treatment of asbestos, there is no set procedure on how asbestos is to be contained or disposed of. The most common methods for dealing with asbestos are: • Sealing: where paint is applied to the surface to stop the release of asbestos dust.

• Encapsulation: where the material containing asbestos is coated with a material that soaks through and hardens, stopping the release of loose asbestos fibres.

• Enclosing: when a barrier is constructed around the material containing asbestos to contain the asbestos.

• Removal: there are a number of specialist firms offering asbestos removal services.

Legal regulations to be aware of There is currently no prohibition on conducting work on or around asbestos-based materials. Instead, the Health and Safety in Employment (Asbestos) Regulations 1998 impose specific requirements for managing the risks of asbestos in the workplace.

The Regulations apply to: • All employers whose employees work with asbestos.

• Anyone who controls a place of work in relation to the employees working there.

• A principal who controls a place of work in relation to any employees of, or self-employed, contractors and subcontractors carrying out work for the principal contractor (except for residential work).

The phrase ‘work with asbestos’ includes obvious activities, such as cleaning, handling, disposing of, processing, and storing asbestos. It also includes less obvious activities, including the demolition or maintenance of anything, including buildings or parts of buildings, that contains asbestos.

The Regulations specify that: • Employers/ Contractors/ Principals must take all practicable steps to suppress the release of asbestos fibres into the air.

If this is not possible and there is likelihood that asbestos dust may become airborne, employers must make sure that employees are provided with, wear, and use, protective clothing and equipment.

• Asbestos is to be stored and disposed of in a particular manner.

• Contaminated clothing needs to be laundered accordingly.

• Warning notices must be present at any site where asbestos is found.

• Restricted work involving asbestos must be carried out by a person who holds a certificate of competence.

The regulations also provide that every person who fails to comply with the regulations can be liable on conviction to a fine of up to $250,000.

What should you do?

With the high prevalence of asbestos, and the significant risk it poses to health and safety, it is essential to seek professional advice if you happen to discover asbestos on your site.

Before you get to that stage it is important that you are aware of the risks asbestos poses and have provided for the allocation of these risks through the contractual arrangements.

Search the history of the site and if appropriate carry out tests before submitting your tender. If there is still a risk that asbestos may be present, then be sure to either tag out of any contamination risk, or price for this risk.

If you are working in a known risk area, for example in an old building or around an old water main, ensure the safety of your employees, contractors, and the public. If you become unsure of how to deal with the material, seek professional advice quickly.

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RECOGNITION OF YOUR PRACTICAL, WORK-BASED SKILLS

AUGUST 2015 63

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CONTRACTOR CLASSIC MACHINES

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The Allis-Chalmers 645 Notable as Allis-Chambers’ most successful wheel loader, 1000 645s were purchased by the US Military in the mid-1960s and were their standard medium wheel loader for some considerable time. BY RICHARD CAMPBELL WHILE ALLIS-CHALMERS was responsible for a lot of ‘firsts’ in the track type tractor industry, it tended to be somewhat of a follower when it came to wheel loaders.

However, when it introduced its first articulated wheel loader, the model TL645, it was a real beauty and fully justified all the research and development that Allis-Chalmers had put into it.

Introduced in 1965 after a five-year testing period, the model 645 was a medium-sized machine with a 2.5 cubic yard bucket, suited for all manner of applications, be it construction, aggregate handling, industrial or if equipped with log forks, forestry.

A little background In the late 1940s, the Tractomotive Corporation of Deerfield, Illinois was manufacturing small rigid frame, rear wheel steer loaders using Allis-Chalmers agricultural tractors as a chassis.

These loaders were very efficient and second only to Hough’s wheel loaders in 64 www.contractormag.co.nz

popularity.

Tractomotive also built hydraulic rippers, pipelayer attachments and complete loader packages that were fitted to Allis-Chalmers track type tractors.

Allis-Chalmers track type tractors with Tractomotive loaders fitted to them were identified by the suffix G in their model number designation eg, HD-6G, HD-9G, HD-11G etc.

This marriage of convenience was so successful that Allis-Chalmers decided to buy the Tractomotive Corporation outright in 1959.

By the 1960s several of Allis-Chalmers’ competitors were introducing articulated steer machines into their product ranges and these loaders were taking off in a big way, impinging on Allis-Chalmers’ wheel loader sales.

The decision was made to launch the 645 by Allis-Chalmers management after successful testing of prototypes on a number of job sites.

For several years after its introduction,

the wheel loader was known as the TL-645 in homage to its designers, Tractomotive Corp.

This designation was quietly removed after 1967.

Power was provided by an AllisChalmers model 3500 six-cylinder, turbocharged diesel putting out 150 flywheel horsepower and connected to an Allison 2-speed powershift transmission with high and low ranges, effectively giving four speeds forward and reverse.

Nominal bucket size was 2.5 cubic yards but smaller or larger sizes (up to 3.5 cubic yards) could be fitted depending on material density.

A notable feature of the 645 was the steering angle, which exceeded that of all its competitors.

Allis-Chalmers’ main competitors (Michigan, Hough & Caterpillar) all had 40 degree steering to either side whereas the 645’s steering angle went to 45 degrees either side of centre.

In this form, the 645 was manufactured

2

1. Factory photo of a Fiat-Allis 645-B model, the last production variant.

This machine has the three cubic yard bucket with teeth and Michelin tyres; both were optional attachments. The narrow operator’s station is apparent in this view, as is the great visibility.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

2. No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you, this 645 is really painted gold! To mark the sale of its 100th Allis-Chalmers 645 loader, the dealer in Colorado, USA ordered a specially painted machine to mark the occasion. It is seen in operation for its new owner, Grand County in 1969.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

3

up to 1972 when an upgrade of the design was undertaken.

Principal changes included a new engine, the model 3500-II and the introduction of Allison’s new “soft-shift” modulated transmission.

Bucket capacities and tipping loads remained the same.

Throughout the upheaval of the Fiat buy up, the 645B continued in production (as the Fiat-Allis 645B) and was finally declared obsolete in 1981 after some 6200 had been produced.

The model 645/645B was the most successful and numerous wheel loader ever manufactured by Allis-Chalmers.

The United States Military purchased over 1000 Allis-Chalmers 645s during the mid-1960s and it was for some considerable time, their standard medium wheel loader.

3. While not of the highest quality, this photo does serve to emphasise what sort of a load an Allis-Chalmers 645 could lift. Armed with log forks, this 645 is at work on the skid in Malaysia. Extra counterweight has been installed to keep the 645’s bum on the ground. The sharply sloping rear hood is well illustrated in this image.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

From the useless information department Allis-Chalmers 645s were only painted in the company’s original “Persian Orange” AUGUST 2015 65

CONTRACTOR CLASSIC MACHINES

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1. F airly early production Allis-Chalmers 645 (wearing the original logo) assisting to set 24-inch concrete water main in Belleville, Ontario, Canada.

The machine has a standard factory cab and 2½ cubic yard GP bucket. One wonders what OSH would make of the crane attachment these days!

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION 2. L oading

out in central New Zealand, a near-new Fiat-Allis 645-B with Ensign log forks tops off a logging truck with thinnings. The machine has a factory cab and rides on the optional 20.5x25 tyres. Muffler has been modified to lie down giving the operator a better view and less likelihood of being removed by errant tree branches!

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

colour during the first six months of production, all subsequent machines leaving the factory in “Hiway Yellow”.

Addenda Following the roll-out of the 645 in 1965, a slightly smaller machine, the 545 was added to the range later that same year, and in 1967 the larger model 745 was put into production (the model 545 was redesignated the 605 in 1971).

The last Allis-Chalmers articulated steer loader to appear was the huge model 945 in 1973.

The Model 645B loader described BRIEF SPECIFICATIONS ALLIS-CHALMERS 645B Engine:

Allis-Chalmers 3500 Mark II 6-cylinder, inline turbocharged diesel rated at 158 flywheel horsepower at 2200 rpm.

Transmission:

Allison TT series 2-speed full powershift transmission with hi & low ranges giving 4 speeds forward and reverse.

Brakes: Air operated expanding shoe on all wheels.

Tyres:

17.5x25, 12-ply L2 standard.

Top Speed:

23mph (kph).

Steering:

Full hydraulic, 45° each side of centre

Turn Circle:

34’ 11” (outside of bucket)

Std Bucket:

2.5 cubic yard general purpose

Tipping Load:

10 tons (straight), 8.2 tons (full turn)

Breakout:

30,790 lbs

Length:

20’ 9”

Width:

8’ 7” (with 2.5 yd GP bucket)

Height:

10’ 5” (to top of cab)

Op Weight:

12.8 tons

As mentioned earlier, the original Allis-Chalmers 645 was powered by an Allis-Chalmers model 3500 6-cylinder diesel.

A change was made to the engine’s fuel system in 1972 with the discontinuance of the previously used Roosa-Master fuel injection system, replaced by a Simms system.

In this configuration the engine produced 158 flywheel horsepower, slightly up on the previous engine.

Allison provided the powershift transmission, a twin-turbine “soft-shift” TT series which gave the 645B a top speed of around 23mph (37kph).

Brakes were full air operated shoe type with a Cardon-shaft park brake.

Articulation point was in the dead centre of the machine.

This meant that the wheels always tracked even though the machine had quite a long wheelbase.

Rear axle oscillation was 11° up or down and a torqueproportioning element was standard equipment in the differentials.

Standard tyre size was usually 17.5x25 L2 but there were other options including a wide base 20.5x25 tyre for softer underfoot conditions.

Allis-Chalmers followed standard industry practice of the time and utilised a parallelogram type bucket linkage with dual lift and tilt cylinders.

Cab The operator sat on the rear half of the machine.

66 www.contractormag.co.nz

3. In sub-zero temperatures, an Allis-Chalmers 645 loads out road grit to be spread on icy roads near Medicine Hat, Canada. One of the endearing features of the 645 was its ability to work year-round with little maintenance doing all manner of jobs. A real workhorse of a machine.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

4. Some of the 1000-plus Allis-Chalmers 645M wheel loaders delivered to the US Army Mobility Command during 1968-1969 await assignment. This was a huge deal for Allis-Chalmers and was won after intensive evaluation by the US Military. The 645Ms differed only slightly from a standard production 645, one of the principal differences being the installation of a Drott 4-in-1 multi-purpose bucket.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

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5. With many thousands of hours under its belt, this Allis-Chalmers 645-B awaits its next owner in a used equipment lot in the Pacific Northwest. It is unusual in having a non-standard cab and rides on 17.5x25 rubber.

The log fork is manufactured by Young, a very popular brand of equipment in Oregon & Washington.

PHOTO: INTERNET

4

Due to the design of the chassis, which was quite narrow, there wasn’t a great deal of room in the cab but the operator had great visibility all round, thanks to a sloping rear hood, present on all 645s from day one.

Cab entry was from the left side only and the operator sat on a well padded but non-suspension seat.

Allis-Chalmers provided a full set of instruments on a panel in front of the operator and bisected by the nonadjustable steering column.

Transmission controls were to the left on the steering column and operating controls to the right.

A transmission disconnect pedal allowed partial braking and redirection of pump flow to the hydraulics for faster bucket cycling.

Optional equipment Wheel loaders are incredibly versatile

5

tools and the Allis-Chalmers 645 was no exception having a wide range of optional equipment available to equip it for any task. Different size buckets, small side booms, rippers, log forks, snow blowers and a snow plow were all available as were the previously mentioned optional tyres.

There was also extra counterweighting available should the machine require it.

For the operator there was a heater and air conditioner, air suspension seat and a full cold weather pack including extra insulation.

The New Zealand connection New Zealand distributor at the time, Cable Price, sold hundreds of 645 wheel loaders into the New Zealand marketplace for all manner of jobs.

Unfortunately, records no longer exist for exactly how many were sold and there were also several private importations of the type, adding to the total.

The 645 was particularly popular in the forest and during the ’60s and ’70s it would be very unusual to visit a skid site and not see an Allis-Chalmers 645. They were everywhere.

Following Fiat’s absorption of AllisChalmers in 1974, things started to go downhill somewhat for Allis-Chalmers.

Parts were hard to get for older machines, and rather than rebuild the existing AllisChalmers engine, many owners made the decision to repower their machines with either Isuzu or Perkins diesel engines.

With a new “heart” under the hood, many of these loaders racked up enormous hours providing long years of useful service for their owners.

For the model collector As is unfortunately usual in the model collector’s world, there are no models available of this important machine in any scale AUGUST 2015 67

CONTRACTOR MOTORING

BY PETER GILL

A steal at US$4.5m

I was busy polishing the beast the other day when the little bell rang that signals an incoming email. It was from a journalist colleague in Germany telling me that she had discovered what’s claimed to be the world’s largest dump truck. It’s called the Liebherr T282B. As I am sure some readers will know, Liebherr is a Swiss-based company that manufactures heavy

machinery for the mining and earthmoving sectors. The 282B weights 203 tons unladen. It can carry a 356 ton load. The 90-litre engine itself weights 10 tons and spins out 3650hp. Price is about US$4.5 million. I understand that both Caterpillar and BELAZ brands would seek to challenge Liebherr for the title of biggest. One thing I am sure of. Some beasts are just too big to polish.

The feminine touch When I was appointed the opera columnist for Popular Mechanics Magazine (I think you have mentioned that before Pete? – Ed) I began to notice the kinds of cars that divas favoured. They loved those early Mazda MX5 sports cars, the ones from the 1990s. Hairdressers seem to like them too. It was indeed a feminine car when first introduced in 1989. Its 1.6 litre engine was barely adequate, but the car was a runaway success. Since then, it has received power and performance upgrades at regular intervals and has been given testosterone injections. It has grown to be a very successful car for Mazda with nearly a million built. The fourth generation MX5 is now on its way to our showrooms.

In its looks, it manages to combine a sense of purpose and 68 www.contractormag.co.nz

prettiness. A new entry level 1.5 litre engine will be available which with modern technology manages to be more powerful than the 1.6 unit of the 1990s. The other engine is a 2-litre unit. I no longer feel the need to wear pantyhose in order to qualify to drive one.

Mentored by Giorgetto I have already mentioned my 1987 Subaru Vortex coupe how fellow motor-noters and people in the motor trade extracted the urine at me mercilessly and saw it as the ugliest, silliest car in the world. The other day I was leafing through my personal library and came across a beautiful book I’d forgotten I had, on the creations of seminal car stylist Giorgetto Giugaro, only to find that the famous one had given Subaru the idea for the Vortex with a beautiful one-off creation he did for Maserati in 1971. It goes by the rather un-Italian name “Boomerang”. The single unit built was sold into private ownership in 1974, and pops up at motor shows to this day. The severe mocking I suffered would have been enough to drive a weaker man to the sherry bottle.

BLAME THE SHERRY My first thought was to change my brand of sherry when I saw this apparition in the Nevada desert. It’s a piece of art work or sculpture created by an artist called Mike Ross. It’s made of two 18 wheeler road tankers. People may enter at the bottom and climb right up through the inside of the sculpture and exit through a portal at the top. Mike is apparently well known for his public art works. Could be that he too may care to review his brand of sherry.

in It’s allay the wold yo u h d g e t h e ba You’re spoilt for choice if you’re looking for a new ute these days. Latest new model release is the current iteration of the Nissan Navara, which has become a very highly equipped ute, boasting a very strong towing capacity, being 3500kg for a braked trailer. The engine in the top end variant is not a twin turbo diesel putting out 120kW. Then there’s a single turbo with 120kW. You can also ask for a petrol engine but nobody does, not in today’s utes. As utes go, and I have test driven them all, the Navara is the one that seems do it best for me. Some say it got its name because Nissan had a whole lot of name badges left over from when it used to manufacture the excellent commercial van called the CARAVAN. So they cut off the C, turned the badge over and put it on backwards.

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Ph 027 946 2828 www.torrentfloodgates.co.nz AUGUST 2015 69

CONTRACTOR INNOVATIONS

Modern pavement stabilising aid The country features 83,000 kilometres of road, including 61 percent sealed roads and 39 percent unsealed. About $3.2 billion has been allocated for state highway and motorway network expenditure in 2015-16, with only 15 percent earmarked for renewal and maintenance of the remaining local roads, and even less for unsealed roads.

NZTA policy does not allow subsidies for sealing of existing gravel roads, which means all funding must come from rate payers.

With increasing heavy traffic from forestry and dairy industries, and population growth in rural areas, it is becoming increasingly expensive for local council engineers and contractors to develop cost effective strategies to maintain unsealed roads to an acceptable standard.

As budgets remain limited and the cost of fuel, specialist machinery and gravel resources continues to rise, innovative engineers are turning to a field proven alternative to traditional lime and cement stabilising that alleviates much of the “headache” of unsealed road maintenance for all council and rural landowners.

The PolyCom Stabilising Aid has been designed and manufactured in Australia and is said to be a modern pavement stabilising aid that is effective in almost all pavement materials. Applied using traditional plant (i.e. grader, roller and water cart), PolyCom preserves the dry strength of materials that traditionally fail when wet to create a stronger, longer lasting pavement that prevents cracking, separating and lamination by remaining flexible. A PolyCom treated pavement is re-workable at any time.

PolyCom is complex by design with simplicity of application in mind. Supplied in two kilogram packs that can stabilise 50 cubic metres, or a compacted area of 500m2 at 100mm depth, transport to site is minimal – in fact, a utility will carry enough material for large applications of many thousand square metres. There are no time constraints and no need for a specialist stabilisation contractor, as any council crew can apply PolyCom. With the addition of PolyCom, improvements to running course strength and wearability, water resistance and rolling resistance are naturally achieved. A recent lifecycle comparison between an unsealed road treated with PolyCom and an untreated road revealed a reduction in maintenance requirements by up to six times.

By incorporating PolyCom into existing unsealed roads, council maintenance and re-sheeting programs require fewer resources, and

The photo shows the contrast between a treated and untreated, unsealed road section on a moist day after several months with identical traffic conditions. The light area is the PolyCom treated section, which is still tight and stable with minimal loose surface material. The darker area is the untreated section showing a greater degree of loose material with resultant more difficult driving conditions and reduced visibility from excess dust.

maintenance levels can be significantly extended, says the company.

In some cases, re-sheeting can be eliminated altogether by reusing and improving material already on site as opposed to importing it.

• Contact tpms@tpms.co.nz for more information or visit www.earthcoprojects.com.au.

CONTRACTORS’ DIARY Date Event

Venue

Contact

5-7 Aug

Civil Contractors NZ

Wairakei Resort, Taupo

www.nzcontractors.co.nz

7 Aug

Road Controlling Authorities Forum

Wellington International Airport Conference Centre www.rcaforum.org.nz/node/101

12-14 Aug

NZ Heavy Haulage Conference

James Cook Hotel, Wellington

www.hha.org.nz

20-21 Aug

NZCID Building Nations Symposium

Air Force Museum Wigram, Christchurch

www.nzcid.org.nz

15-18 Sep

Coasts and Ports 2015 Conference

Pullman Hotel, Auckland

www.coastsandports2015.com

16-18 Sep

Water New Zealand Conference

Claudelands, Hamilton

www.waternzconference.org.nz

21-22 Sep

Auckland Transport Summit

Pullman, Auckland

tinyurl.com/auckland-transport-summit

29-30 Sep

NZ Coatings & Corrosion Conference Ellerslie Events Centre, Auckland

www.conferenz.co.nz/conferences

28-29 Oct

2015 NZ Bridges Summit

tinyurl.com/nz-bridges

Pullman, Auckland

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

70 www.contractormag.co.nz

Big Red makes big impact

New electric Z boom The Genie Z 33/18, the first compact electric Z boom lift designed for both indoor and outdoor maintenance applications, will be available from Youngman Richardson & Co later this year.

Sales and marketing director Ed Richardson says the new versatile articulating Genie boom lift model has a new look and feel, improved ergonomic design features and a combination of up and over lift capabilities.

Its high efficiency and excellent manoeuvrability will allow it to meet the needs of a variety of lightweight application job sites, he says. “It will be well suited to situations such as inside airports and shopping centres and in addition to routine outdoor maintenance tasks, will also be an excellent machine for the rapidly growing warehousing sector.”

The Genie Z boom lift can operate at a maximum working height of 11.84 metres, has a horizontal reach of 5.56 metres and an up and over clearance of 4.34 metres and stows down to only 1.50 metres in width and 4.7 metres in length. Drive speed is 5.95kph.

The Big Red range of LED driving lamps is now available from NARVA. The lamps feature 3x 10W LEDs and produce bright white light of 6000 kelvin with a low current draw of just 2.2 amps at 12V. They weigh just 1.5 kilograms apiece and are said to promise virtually maintenancefree operation throughout an expected life of more than 50,000 hours.

Heading up the new range is the 220mm round lamp with its ‘free form’ reflector technology which captures and focuses the light, producing a powerful spot beam capable of projecting white light up to 500 metres.

Suited to the 4WD market, these lamps have aluminium bodies, virtually unbreakable polycarbonate lenses, stainless steel mounting hardware and a lens protector. An additional feature is an in-built LED park light function.

Also joining the Big Red line up is a range of LED light bars designed for work and leisure applications. The six models in the range are capable of providing light outputs from 2000 to 18,200 lumen.

Each light bar is pre-wired with a waterproof connector and is sealed and waterproofed to IP67 rating. Optional mounting accessories are available for the light bars, including cross sliding brackets and bull bar mounts.

Miller’s new tilt coupler A new fully hydraulic quick-hitch tilt coupler, offering features not available on other models – and which exceeds safety requirements for quick hitch couplers – has been released by Miller Australia.

Benefits of Miller’s new PowerLatch Tilt quick coupler – available in models suitable for carriers from 3.5 tonnes to 21 tonnes – include the ability to change attachments in a horizontal position rather than having to crowd the excavator’s attachment cylinder, and a full 180° tilt ability.

Miller attachments are represented by Nimrod Engineering, email Mark Harrington mark@nimrod.co.nz, website www.nimrod.co.nz.

AUGUST 2015 71

CONTRACTOR CIVIL CONTRACTORS NEW ZEALAND

Our current and ongoing activities News pages, covering the association’s latest news, views, activities and intentions.

WorkSafe safety guidelines Work Safe NZ has published on its website Good Practice Guidelines for ‘Writing health and safety documents for your workplace’. http://www.business.govt.nz/worksafe/tools-resources/writinghealth-and-safety-documents-for-your-workplace/guide-to-writinghealth-and-safety-documents.pdf These guidelines describe a five stage process to help you write health and safety documents for your workplace. These include forms, plans, policies, checklists, posters, signs and other material explaining to workers.Regulation development continues for General Concepts and Worker participation and representation

Transport of dangerous goods Recently a contractor received an infringement notice when his workers were carrying two 9kg gas bottles on the back of a ute. The tanks were securely strapped to the head board of the Ute however the red diamond labels were not visible and the police officer did not inspect the bottles to determine if they were adequately labelled.

The bottles had tags fixed to the valves indicating that they had been inspected when filled and the name of the filling company. The diamond labels were present albeit damaged and in one case severely damaged.

The infringement notice was for a whopping $10,000.

Contractors be warned that for the sake of some relatively cheap labels they should ensure labels are in good condition and clearly visible. CCNZ suggest ensuring two labels are fixed to gas bottles so they can be clearly seen.

Director fined $25,000 for ignoring prohibition notice Ranjit Singh, the sole Director of Nihal Homes (NZ), was convicted and fined $25,000 at the Auckland District Court under section 43 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act. Singh ignored a prohibition notice issued after asbestos was found at a worksite in Symonds Street.

Back in March 2014 a WorkSafe inspector visited the worksite after being notified by the Auckland Environmental Health team that the worksite had tested positive for asbestos. Singh was at the worksite when the prohibition notice was issued, where it was explained to him that no more work could continue. He was advised of this on two more occasions.

The prohibition notice was clearly visible. It was attached to a fence around the worksite and stated that no further work could continue

until the notice was lifted by an inspector.

On 22 March 2014 Mr Singh went to the worksite with a contractor who removed a wooden ramp from the site. A neighbour told Singh that he was not supposed to be there and that the site was closed.

The neighbour then advised WorkSafe.

On 24 March 2014 when the inspector spoke to Singh he replied that; “I was just removing stuff from the site so it would not get wet.”

The Judge was clear that removing the ramp required physical exertion by the contractor and the transportation of the ramp was a necessary part of the contractor’s work. The Judge was satisfied that the removal of the ramp constituted work and was in contravention of the prohibition notice.

“WorkSafe inspectors issue prohibition notices if they believe there is a likelihood of serious harm to any person,” says Keith Stewart, WorkSafe’s Chief Inspector. “In this case, the worksite had tested positive for asbestos. Prohibition notices are issued to keep people safe and should not be ignored.”

Rail Safety Week 2015 – it’s a date!

Rail Safety Week is fast approaching and this year KiwiRail is keen to hear from anyone who would like to do something to mark the week.

Now in its 9th year, Rail Safety Week runs from 10-16 August and aims to improve awareness of the need to be safe around the rail network and understanding of what safe behaviour is.

Megan Drayton from TrackSAFE NZ says while rail safety is promoted year round, Rail Safety Week is a big opportunity to get maximum public exposure of a cause that is close to all of us in the rail industry.

“If anyone would like to be involved during the week, whether that means running their own public events, or simply promoting the week on their Facebook page or websites, we would love to hear from them.

“We can supply imagery for websites/Facebook pages and posters will be available to download as well.”

KiwiRail plans and coordinates the activities and works closely with TrackSAFE NZ and other organisations such as NZ Police and NZ Transport Agency.

Please contact KiwiRail Senior Communications Advisor Tammy Dickinson tammy.dickinson@kiwirail.co.nz if you would like to be involved in promoting the week.

Please visit www.tracksafe.co.nz for general rail safety information.

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ZX17U-5 / ZX26U-5

ZX33U-5 / ZX38U-5 / ZX48U-5 / ZX55U-5 / ZX65USB-5

(New Models)

120315_Hitachi_Light_Excavators_V2

SPECIFICATIONS MAKE

MODEL

WEIGHT kg

WIDTH Blade mm

BUCKET m3

DIG DEPTH mm

BREAKOUT kgf

POWER hp @ rpm

FLOW L/min

Hitachi

ZAXIS 17U-5

1880

980/1280

0.044

2190

1630

14.4 @ 2400

2 x 19.2

Hitachi

ZAXIS 26U-5

2570

1500

0.06

2590

2300

19.7 @ 2200

2 x 35.2/ 1 x 17.6

Hitachi

ZAXIS 33U-5

3510

1550

0.11

3130

2770

28.4 @ 2400

2 x 38.4/ 1 x 22.8

Hitachi

ZAXIS 38U-5

3960

1740

0.11

3460

2760

28.4 @ 2400

2 x 38.4/ 1 x 22.8

Hitachi

ZAXIS 48U-5

4900

1960

0.13

3630

3270

37.8 @ 2400

120

Hitachi

ZAXIS 55U-5

5210

2000

0.13

3830

3760

37.8 @ 2400

120

Hitachi

ZAXIS 65USB-5

6470

2000

0.18

4120

4190

45.7 @ 2000

144

For more information please contact your local CablePrice branch or visit www.cableprice.co.nz.

Models shown are for illustration purposes only and may or may not include options available in New Zealand.

Weights noted are for cabin units. (Excludes ZX17U-5 and ZX26U-5)

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