CCNZ National Awards 2015

CIVIL CONTRACTORS NZ / HIREPOOL

CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015 Connexis Company Training & Development Awards Z People Awards

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CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015 CCNZ / HIREPOOL

CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015 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 GENERAL MANAGER & EDITOR Kevin Lawrence DDI: +64 9 636 5710 Mobile: 021 512 800 Email: kevin@contrafed.co.nz CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Patrick Watson – Digital Quill ADVERTISING / SALES Charles Fairbairn DDI: +64 9 636 5724 Mobile: 021 411 890 Email: charles@contrafed.co.nz ADMIN / SUBSCRIPTIONS DDI: +64 9 636 5715 Email: admin@contrafed.co.nz PRODUCTION Design: TMA Design, +64 9 636 5713 Jonathan Whittaker

Civil Contractors New Zealand established the Construction Excellence Awards in 1978 as a means of recognising excellence in the civil engineering, construction, maintenance and contracting industry.

Hirepool has been a proud sponsor of the awards since 2003.

Civil contractors who are members of CCNZ compete for the awards annually. The winners are presented with their award at a gala awards dinner held in conjunction with CCNZ’s annual conference.

In 2105 the annual conference and awards were held in Wairakei, Taupo.

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015 p2 Judges’ comments

Category 1

Category 5

Projects with a value of less than $0.5 million

Excellence in the maintenance and management of assets

4 Civil Construction 6 BridgeIT New Zealand 8 Downer New Zealand 10 Wilson Contractors 12 Groundfix

46 I nfrastructure Alliance: Downer New Zealand and Hamilton City Council

Category 2

48 Downer New Zealand: Nelson City Council Road Maintenance

Printing: PMP MAXUM

COPYRIGHT Articles 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 Contrafed Publishing.

ISSN: 0110 1382

Projects with a value between $0.5 million and $5 million 14 Downer New Zealand 16 Construction Contracts 18 Geovert 20 HEB Construction 22 Maungatua Contracting 24 Fulton Hogan (Civil North) 26 Steve Bowling Contracting

Category 3 Projects with a value between $5 million and $30 million 28 Brian Perry Civil 30 Connell Contractors 34 McConnell Dowell 36 Ross Reid Contractors

Category 4

Category 6 Excellence in routine maintenance

Z People Awards 50 Emerging Leader finalists 51 Training Development finalists

Connexis Company Training & Development Awards Up to $10 million turnover 52 Construction Contracts 53 J&R Consulting $10-$25 million turnover 54 Blakely Construction 55 Texco Group

Projects with a value greater than $30 million

$25 million+ turnover

38 Fulton Hogan HEB Construction Alliance 40 Higgins Contractors 42 Memorial Park Alliance 44 United Civil Construction

56 Goodman Contractors 58 Hawkins Group 60 Isaac Construction 62 Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team

AUGUST 2015 1

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Celebrating Construction Excellence

CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

WINNERS

We thank awards judges Paul Bishop, Dave Macdonald, Peter Hay and Steve Hart.

Their comments on the winning entries are summarised below.

Category 1: Projects with a value of less than $0.5 million WINNER: McLaren Falls Pedestrian Bridge for Western Bay of Plenty District Council – Bridge IT NZ The pedestrian suspension bridge at McLaren Falls came about through Bridge IT in collaboration with Tiaki Engineering developing an innovative solution that met the council’s needs and provided a visually appealing footbridge spanning 35 metres at an affordable price, say judges Paul Bishop and Dave Macdonald.

The bridge needed to be constructed within the tight constraints the site had. This led to an incremental construction design with the superstructure constructed off site and in component sizes enabling them to be installed across the river from the single crane location available.

Bridge IT’s strong focus on health and safety mitigated the risks around working at height and heavy lifting, say the judges. The company also ensured environmental risks around the pristine site were managed well during construction.

A job to be proud of and a council that is grateful to Bridge IT’s initiative, say the judges.

Category 2: Projects with a value between $0.5 million and $5 million WINNER: Kotuitui Whitinga Footbridge for Whangarei District Council – Steve Bowling Contracting (SBC) Local Whangarei company Steve Bowling Contracting won the tender for design and construction of the Kotuitui Whitinga footbridge, part of a walk/cycle combined use facility linking the Hihiaua peninsula with Whangarei’s town basin.

The design and quality of the completed bridge and local team makeup met the council’s aspirations, say judges Dave Macdonald and Paul Bishop.

SBC, its designers and subcontractors developed a strong and collaborative relationship to ensure the design and construction details were fully integrated.

There were a number of key stakeholders involved and great public interest. SBC managed these interfaces well by keeping in touch with these groups, involving them and letting them know what was going on.

The end result is an iconic bridge that forms part of the council’s focus on encouraging public use of the central port area and SBC can be proud of its part achieving that goal, the judges say.

Category 3: Projects with a value between $5 million and $30 million WINNER: Waitaki Bridges Replacement for NZ Transport Agency, Waitaki – McConnell Dowell Constructors The Waitaki Bridges replacement by McConnell Dowell is a fine example of what can be achieved by client, contractor and stakeholders working together to provide new infrastructure for both the benefit of the local community and the national roading network, say judges Peter Hay and Steve Hart.

They congratulated NZTA for its foresight in recognising the potential benefits that could come from the ECI (Early Contractor Involvement) form of contract in dealing with the range of design, construction and stakeholder issues needing to be addressed.

McConnell Dowell ensured those potential issues were not only dealt with but turned into positives for all concerned through a combination of practical management and innovation.

The success of this approach can be seen in the many congratulatory comments from stakeholders, with NZTA highway manager Colin Knaggs saying “their sincere commitment to the local community and environment enhanced our performance as a project team”.

2 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

Category 4: Projects with a value greater than $30 million WINNER: Tauranga Eastern Link for NZ Transport Agency, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty – Fulton Hogan / HEB Construction Alliance Congratulations to NZTA, Fulton Hogan and HEB and the wider team for a job well done and something you all can be very proud of, say judges Peter Hay and Steve Hart.

“Since being awarded the design and construction of the 21 kilometre Tauranga Eastern Link in 2010, the Fulton Hogan HEB Construction Alliance has delivered this four lane highway in a careful, safety first approach, ahead of time and under budget. It has exceeded NZTA’s expectations and enhanced its reputation in the community.”

The judges pointed to clever approaches to complex issues. These included developing a sand bag filling frame for 40 bags at once, saving some 50 days, and developing a “hairpin” to secure large diameter steel pile casings together.

The judges also complimented the other finalists on the quality of their entries and the construction excellence of their projects.

Category 5: Excellence in the maintenance and management of assets WINNER: Infrastructure Alliance for Hamilton City Council – Downer New Zealand An unincorporated joint venture between Hamilton City Council and Downer New Zealand to manage the Hamilton roading network is the first of its kind for a Local Authority.

The council and Downer have been leaders in bringing this concept into the Local Authority arena and stand to reap the benefits in years to come, say judges Paul Bishop and Dave Macdonald.

Council is reported to be very pleased with the results so far. Delivery of work under target has resulted in a large amount of extra work being carried out. Better coordination of works and liaison with other service providers and pooling of resources and knowledge has also resulted in significant cost savings for the city.

Both Downer and council staff speak highly of the working environment and the collaboration that exists between them. Subcontractors are also included as important members of the group.

Category 6: Excellence in routine maintenance WINNER: Nelson City Council Road Maintenance – Downer New Zealand The Nelson City Road Maintenance contract is a nine-year old traditional contract that has evolved over time into an informal partnering relationship between the Nelson City Council and Downer New Zealand.

This project shows what can be achieved when all parties work together in an open way to achieve the objective of the contract and the overall aims of Nelson City Council, say judges Paul Bishop and Dave Macdonald.

“An atmosphere of confidence and trust exists between the parties and the council has enjoyed significant cost savings together with an enhanced profile within the community for the way in which works are delivered across the city.”

Council is very happy with the results and has rewarded Downer by extending the contract for a further two years beyond its original expiry date.

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AUGUST 2015 3

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

WALL-TO-WALL CHALLENGES overcome in lakefront project As guests at Queenstown’s five star Rees Hotel soak up the panoramic views of Lake Wakatipu, most are completely unaware that they’re perched high above an equally breathtaking feat of structural engineering.

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: Lakefront Subdivision – Retaining Wall, Queenstown CONTRACTOR: Civil Construction

4 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

In

2014, New Zealand owned and operated firm Civil Construction was contracted by developer Beech Cove Properties to construct a cantilevered retaining wall directly in front of the four storey Rees Hotel in Queenstown.

Built using galvanised UC (universal columns), the retaining wall serves an important purpose. Supporting dozens of preexisting piled columns from subsiding, it has allowed the client – Beech Cove Properties – to erect a residential home on what had previously been unusable land.

Construction began in earnest in October 2014. Completed

by November 2014, the project saw Civil Construction bring its many years of civil engineering skills to bear in solving some unique and challenging engineering and human faceted issues.

The close proximity of the UC retaining wall to the preexisting piles, for instance, meant that anchoring of the wall and installation of the ‘whalers’ was far from straightforward.

Moreover, there was very little room for error with a mere 40 millmetres’ horizontal and vertical tolerance.

The smart minds at Civil Construction quickly nutted out solutions to these technical challenges.

CATEGORY 1: Projects with a value of less than $0.5 million

Where alignment of the UC columns was concerned, a custom jig was built and employed. This ensured the UC columns were straight as a die and accurate to the nth degree.

A custom built auger was also used for the excavation works.

A staged approach to construction was undertaken, with, ultimately, 33 UC columns driven into the earth at depths ranging from 3.2 to 4.8 metres.

Civil Construction general manager Paul Horrell says close attention was paid to the structural integrity of the preexisting piled columns throughout, with daily monitoring undertaken. And in the finest tradition of measure twice, cut once, continuous checking of the set out of the wall was undertaken as each new section was added.

The attention to detail of the build and monitoring was so scrupulous that, despite Queenstown experiencing an earthquake during construction, no movement in the wall was recorded whatsoever.

Quite apart from the technical challenges inherent in the project, Civil Construction also had to account for other, more ‘human’ factors. The most significant of these was that construction works had to be sensitive to the nearness of the Rees Hotel.

As one of the busiest hotel and apartment complexes in all of

Queenstown, the hotel operated at full occupancy throughout the entire project. To minimise disruption to guests, work was only permitted between 10am and 5pm.

Here, Civil Construction’s planning prowess came to the fore.

“Critical to the success of the project was coordinating the delivery of materials from suppliers, as limited working hours each day were available,” says Paul. “Visual appearance was equally as important because each time the private residence was entered, the retaining wall would be visible.”

Beech Cove Properties director Ian Singleton has nothing but praise for Civil Construction’s first-class approach to the build of the retaining wall, saying it was completed in a timely manner and with great workmanship.

“Civil Construction showed good project management, innovation and problem solving skills throughout the construction of the wall.”

The upshot, says Ian, is an “outstanding final product”.

In fact, the design of the retaining wall has proven so aesthetically pleasing that it has become something of a talking point – a feature of the subdivision comparable in its own unique way to the majesty of the landscape that surrounds it. l AUGUST 2015 5

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

BUILDING A BRIDGE

between public safety and council budgets Since 2011, concerned Bay of Plenty residents have been campaigning for a new pedestrian bridge over McLaren Falls, located between Tauranga City and the summit of the Kaimai Range.

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CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

WINNER CATEGORY 1

PROJECT: McLaren Falls Pedestrian Bridge, Bay of Plenty CONTRACTORS: Bridge It and Tiaki Engineering

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nce solely the stomping ground of ‘in-the-know’ kayakers, swimmers and picnickers, tourists have flocked to the McLaren Falls in droves – especially after Lonely Planet described the area as a ‘must see’ destination.

In the summertime it was believed that approximately 1000 vehicles used to cross the old, single-lane, steel truss road bridge that led to the waterfalls. Right next to them, with a 10 metre drop on either side, were pedestrians also making their way to the attractions beyond. With the noise of the falls muffling the sounds of cars’ engines, it was a dangerous and congested spot.

Complicating an already complicated issue was the fact that the bridge also attracted thrill-seeking bridge jumpers.

All in all, the site was a recipe for disaster. It had already been the scene of numerous injuries and a fatality (in 1995 when a man jumped off the bridge).

Upgrading the bridge became a priority for many – the biggest pushes coming from the McLaren Falls Environmental Enhancement Group and the Western Bay of Plenty District Council (WBOPDC).

Unfortunately, however, existing budgets did not meet collective desires, and solutions to upgrade the bridge

CATEGORY 1: Projects with a value of less than $0.5 million

often exceeded half a million dollars, far beyond the council’s allocated budget.

That’s when Bridge It (BINZ) and Tiaki Engineering entered the picture with a $250,000 solution. Impressed by their design idea and construction experience, the council gave the project the go-ahead and it was built between March and August 2014.

The design is a lightweight, 35-metre suspension bridge alongside the existing one-way bridge. Look at it today and you’ll see it consists of two independent towers constructed from steel pipe and seven prefabricated concrete panels, with timber walkways up to the bridge deck.

Not only is this suspension bridge the safest option, it complements the existing steel road bridge and matches the surrounding infrastructure.

When considered in light of the location’s difficult and environmentally-sensitive area, and the winning approval it has subsequently received from a scrutinising public, it’s a remarkable engineering feat by all accounts.

Project manager Campbell Upperton says this is BINZ’s biggest and most complex, clear span bridge to date.

“The existing site was very tight with minimal room for materials and equipment,” he says.

“It was also imperative to the public the road be left open for the majority of the project as it was a main arterial route for the school bus and commuters, not to mention main access for

Fonterra trucks doing daily pickups. This meant planning and timing was vital on this project.”

For the entire construction, the road could only be closed for a maximum of three days. And, from 8.30am till 5pm, all equipment had to be set up and then packed up. This naturally meant the entire structure had to be prefabricated.

“Thorough planning prior to on-site construction meant we were able to manage the complexities well. The steel structure was fully assembled at the workshop based in Katikati. This included fabricating all the towers, bracing elements and concrete panel,” says Campbell.

“Ultimately we and Tiaki wanted to design a structure with a point of difference. The towers on a suspension bridge are typically vertical. Leaning those in at opposing ends gave the bridge an elegant and more modern look.

“Tying into the existing road bridge was also a factor. Often when you place two large structures in such close proximity one can diminish the other’s aesthetics. By designing the structure using predominantly steel triangulations the structure harmonises well with the steel truss road bridge running parallel.”

Provided basic maintenance inspections are routinely carried out, the lifespan of the completed product should be in excess of 100 years – proving good value for council spend and an overall safer McLaren Falls. l AUGUST 2015 7

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Back to the future

with historic Christchurch bridge repair Generations of people have enjoyed crossing over and punting under Christchurch’s historic Armagh Street Bridge. Thanks to Downer New Zealand’s sterling repair work, the bridge can now be enjoyed for many more years to come.

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: Armagh Street Bridge Repairs, Christchurch CONTRACTOR: Downer New Zealand

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feature of the Christchurch cityscape since 1883, the arched Armagh Street Bridge suffered terrible damage in February 2011’s earthquake. Sadly, it was rendered impassable to pedestrians and vehicle traffic, including Christchurch’s famous tramway.

Most significantly, the earthquake caused yawning cracks on the brick ‘soffit’ (underside) of the bridge, as well as on its ‘extrados’ (outside arch). Approaches to the bridge and original cast iron balustrades also sustained damage.

Enter the bridge’s white knight – Downer New Zealand. Ably overseen by site engineer Tom Harding-Ilott, all repair works were undertaken by the Downer team under the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) alliance.

Downer and a bevy of subcontractors got stuck into the repairs in March 2014. Core structural repairs saw a sophisticated method of crack stitching and cross pinning used.

This involved the drilling of 12mm stainless steel threaded rods into the brick at a 45 degree angle. And 6mm stainless steel bars were installed in the bridge’s mortar joints to tie new brickwork into old. Rounding out the crack repairs was a specially blended, injected mixture of cementitious grout.

The work was not without its challenges. Chief among these

CATEGORY 1: Projects with a value of less than $0.5 million

were the need to dam the Avon River to provide repair access; the need to source imperial bricks to match the bridge’s original materials; and dismantling and repairing cast iron balustrades that had remained untouched for 130 years.

The damming was environmentally challenging as the area of the Avon River spanned by the bridge is a trout spawning area. This was mitigated, however, thanks to close contact with Environment Canterbury.

Tom notes that the original bricks used for the bridge were in imperial measure and no longer in production. Downer overcame this by sourcing suitable replacements from an earthquake-damaged building (marked for demolition on nearby Colombo Street). Fortuitously, the bricks were exactly the same dimensions, colour and a good match for strength.

“The task of dismantling, cataloguing, repairing and reinstating the balustrade panels was extraordinarily fiddly,” he says. This was because each panel was interlinked with the next and fragile once load was removed. Add to this the fact that each panel was a whopping 250 kilograms.

As many of the repairs were being carried out on the underside of the bridge, a key health and safety risk was bricks and debris falling onto workers. To prevent this the Downer team developed an innovative propping structure, designed to support ‘a tonne of bricks’.

Undertaking the balustrade panel refurbishment also had numerous unknowns. There were no drawings of the panels and they hadn’t been altered since their installation in 1883.

To ensure each piece went back into its exact position Downer

generated a numbering system to keep track.

Other challenges Downer overcame included the safety of pedestrians, having to navigate two high voltage cables that crossed the bridge, coordinating works with other nearby rebuild projects and, of course, cold and inclement weather.

Because Armagh Street Bridge is a protected structure, extreme care needed to be taken to preserve its historical integrity. Downer’s understanding of the heritage expectations of the project was beyond compare, with one of the heritage consultants attached to the project describing it as among the best and most efficiently managed earthquake repair and conservation programmes she had ever worked on.

Impeccable planning saw the $526,000 project completed a whole two months ahead of schedule in November 2014.

The success of the Armagh Street Bridge repair was unquestionably down to Downer’s close collaboration with its stakeholders. As Tom describes it, “we went out of our way to ensure that all were understood, heard, kept informed and ultimately satisfied with Downer’s approach during these works”.

Ross Herrett of Christchurch City Council agrees, saying the project was an excellent example of collaboration that enabled the completion of a complex repair – on time, under budget, with a high quality result.

But this was so much more than just a bridge repair.

Restoring Christchurch’s much-loved Armagh Street Bridge connection to the central business district and having the tramway recommence operation over its span was salve for a wounded city. l AUGUST 2015 9

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Water boys ramp up technology to overcome gravity

Costs, contours and cattle were top of mind for Tony Wilson when he took on the job to design and build an upgraded stock watering system on Flagstaff Station in Southland.

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: Flagstaff Water Scheme, Southland CONTRACTOR: Wilson Contractors

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levation, accessibility for construction, cost and a reliable flow during all seasons were crucial factors to the success of Wilson Contractors’ project for a Southland farming business.

Client Arthur Innes introduced the company to the project by identifying some of the areas where he required stock watering. The team next evaluated the proposed sites and then tried to figure out how they might install a completely gravity-fed system.

“Initially, handheld GPS equipment was used to survey the elevations of pipelines to determine pressure,” says principal Tony Wilson. “During the design we found that Google Earth elevation readings matched our handheld equipment almost exactly. [Fortunately] this saved many hours traversing the site and allowed us to quickly make changes to the design.”

But that doesn’t mean the project was all smooth sailing.

Among just some of the many challenges was the fact that the water trough locations were higher than the water source.

After considering how to deal with this, Tony figured his options included: installing a power supply to pump water,

CATEGORY 1: Projects with a value of less than $0.5 million

using more expensive solar-powered pumps, or using the elevation of the water source to drive a ramp pump.

Ultimately, the ramp pump technology was selected as the best option.

“We had carefully designed water-storage facilities. The pump moved water 100 metres vertically up the hill to storage tanks where stock troughs were gravity fed over the Midway Block of Flagstaff Station close to Athol.

“Taking this approach would allow our client to manage his farming operation with greater flexibility and reliability. This is because he’d have improved water supply over a larger percentage of the property.”

The project started in May and ended in September 2014. It cost only $50,493 and has since won praise from all corners, most importantly from the client.

The build was also one of this year’s Hynds Construction Awards winners.

Tony says the overall project cost was helped by a number of factors, especially the client’s relationship with a local helicopter company, which the contractors used to fly the storage tanks into position (rather than use excavators to carry them).

Costs were also reduced because of the cheaper but heavily manual way they laid the pipelines.

“Our total crew consisted of a CAT D8 bulldozer and two labourers. We found that laying out the pipeline and prejoining lengths made the physical ripping section of work much shorter,” he explains. “This meant the costly equipment was required for fewer hours. [Also], we were able to very efficiently pull in the cables with a reduced crew, allowing another team member to commence other aspects of the job.”

Apart from the hard graft of heavy manual labour across steep terrain, the realities of the build being situated on a working farm presented other difficulties.

“During the first weeks of the project we were asked by the client to alter the staging of our work to accommodate his farming system. As he had stock coming onto the property for winter grazing he asked if we could focus on installing the bulk of the gravity-fed part of the system first, as this services the lower flats where most of the winter crops were planted.

“What’s more, the site is very steep in places so we made the decision on-site to create safe working platforms as the risks and potential for harm was very high.”

Despite these obstacles, health and safety remained paramount and there was not a single incident recorded.

Multiple site visits have since been carried out and confirm the pump is working to all desired specifications. l AUGUST 2015 11

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Groundfix flexes technical muscle in spectacular slab repair When the basement car-park slab in central Auckland’s Vodafone building started showing signs of structural distress, more than a few alarm bells went off. However, thanks to the skill of Groundfix things were remedied quickly and effectively.

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CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

HIGHLY COMMENDED CATEGORY 1

PROJECT: Basement Carpark Remedial Works, Auckland CONTRACTOR: Groundfix

12 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

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etween August and October 2014 specialist ground engineering firm Groundfix went about the task of installing 68 tension piles to hold down the enormous basement slab in Vodafone’s building. The piles (each with a capacity of 500 kilonewtons ultimate limit state) were driven between eight and 10 metres deep.

The job was complicated by the fact the basement had to remain a functioning car park throughout the works. At no point was the number of car parks allowed to drop below 75 percent of existing capacity. Other stringent client requirements revolved around noise levels, dust and deliveries.

From an engineering perspective, a major issue faced by the project team was the presence of ground water. In fact, the water table was two metres above the top of the basement slab. To get around this, a bespoke dewatering system was devised – made up of well points, an extraction manifold, a pumping station and exhaust water pipework.

Importantly, the well points were constructed in ‘dead areas’ created by internal building support columns, stairwells and ramps to help minimise the impact on car parking spaces.

Groundfix director Justin Wilson points out that if the dewatering process had failed the entire project would have

CATEGORY 1: Projects with a value of less than $0.5 million

been compromised. Multiple redundancies were therefore built into the dewatering system, including an alarmed control panel, two electric water pumps and a diesel powered water pump.

“The second electric pump and diesel pump were designed to provide redundancy,” says Justin.

High pressure pipe bungs were also used to help further reduce the risk of dewatering failure. The manifold system employed by the project team removed the requirement to move water extraction hoses around the car park as works progressed and also allowed for live connections into the pumping extraction system.

For its part, the exhaust water pipework took extracted groundwater from the pumping station to a discharge chamber in an adjacent underground car park.

Drilling was a necessary feature of the construction works. Before the tension piles could be installed a modified diamond drilling rig was used to cut pile holes. Here, Groundfix displayed considerable innovative prowess. Not only did the project team adapt its drilling techniques to reduce excessive noise, it also turned on a dime when the drilling process threw up unexpected issues.

With two holes (for example) course gravel was discovered 1.5 to two metres underneath the slab. This turned out to be an old back-filled sump pit. Groundfix injected grout via tremmie pipe to fill the voids. Once the grout had set, these holes were re-drilled to full depth.

Top of mind for Groundfix was that the top layer of reinforcing within the slab had to remain undamaged. Groundfix came up

trumps by keeping the cored holes as small as possible and using a state-of-the-art steel reinforcement mapping tool. The result?

Absolutely no steel in the top layer of the slab was disturbed.

Other construction challenges were presented by the complex head arrangement of the tension piles. Special hat brackets were fabricated to help get around this issue. Not only this, a unique waterproofing arrangement was employed for the tension pile heads, says Justin.

Significant efforts were also made to reduce the environmental impact of the works. One initiative was to reduce the borehole diameter, which reduced both the volume of cement grout required and plant power consumption. Other environmental measures included a recirculation system for waste water and using low emissions equipment on site.

From the outset, the building owners, project management personnel, consultants (including structural / geotechnical engineering advisors) and Groundfix established excellent lines of communication.

Building co-owner Newcrest was especially impressed with Groundfix’s ‘phased’ approach to the construction works.

Development director Lincoln Fraser says doing things this way greatly minimised impact on the building’s tenants as well as the general public and that “by adopting an open, honest and very clearly communicated approach Groundfix made the works hassle free”.

“We were particularly impressed with the attention to detail and the clean, tidy and safe manner in which the guys operated and [their] positive can-do attitude.” l AUGUST 2015 13

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Downer raises the mark

taking flood protection to a new level If news reports are to be believed, one-in-100-year floods are becoming increasingly common in New Zealand. It’s lucky then that the iconic St David Street to Union Street stretch of Dunedin’s Water of Leith has been re-engineered to cope with a one-in-200-year event!

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: Leith Flood Protection Scheme, Dunedin CONTRACTOR: Downer New Zealand

14 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

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or Otago Regional Council, the need to improve flood protection in central Dunedun was essential. The combined flows of the Water of Leith and its Lindsay Creek tributary have flooded the local area and central business district on several occasions, causing millions of dollars of damage.

So, after years of negotiations and planning, a tender was issued for a flood protection scheme that would see the existing river channel demolished and new embankments constructed.

The historic St David Street Bridge was to be lengthened, and an attractive network of retaining walls, stairways and concrete paths built to link grassed terraces.

The winner of the tender was Downer New Zealand. Led

by Downer project manager Braydon Kelly, considerable people power was assigned to the job. Many balls had to be juggled. There were no less than 290 individual line items on the build programme. Important, for example, was the need to be sensitive to the heritage character of adjacent Otago University buildings; not to mention keeping a legion of university and local authority stakeholders happy. Top of mind also was the wellbeing of the river – a body of water

CATEGORY 2: Projects with a value between $0.5 million and $5 million

supporting a tremendous variety of aquatic life.

With up to 10,000 students passing through the site at peak periods, one of Downer’s first steps was to build a temporary bridge to help free flow of movement. This was important says Downer’s bid manager Joe Connolly, as it meant work could go ahead relatively unimpeded.

To meet deadlines, Downer ran multiple work activities concurrently – bridge extension, in-stream works and embankment works. Excavation, drilling and laying of the precast wall sections proved especially hard and time-consuming, says Joe. But with the help of rock breakers and a 70 tonne crane this was neatly completed.

Ten micro piles were installed under the new bridge pier.

Built off site as a precast unit, the new section of bridge was lowered into place in a delicate operation. It was a perfect fit!

A key consideration with the bridge work was maintaining the integrity of 1500 pairs of copper data cables, fibre optic cables, HV power and a 450mm watermain. The cables control everything from building access to IT data, phone and emergency alarms on the Otago University campus. Again, thanks to Downer’s care and attention, this was not a problem and essential operations continued to run smoothly.

Some of the works involved excavating and breaking up the river banks and pouring concrete underwater in stream flows.

To aid in this, sections of the river were temporarily dammed and de-watered, with a piped passage installed to downstream

levels. No detail was left unchecked, with the pipe even having a ‘fish ladder’ for salmon to swim upstream.

Key to the project was the engagement and management of several key subcontractors including Hall Brothers for earthworks, Wainwright Stonemasons for bluestone works and United Scaffolding for the temporary bridge.

Eagle eyes were focused on weather conditions during the project. As Joe notes, “While the Leith can be a babbling brook one day, within 12 hours the flow can increase over 100-fold.”

This actually happened midway through the project, with the remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Ita tearing through the site.

This put a dampener on things for a short while, but planning allowed it to stop major work from being washed away.

Finished in December 2014, it took a calendar year for the Leith flood protection scheme to be completed. The project was done on schedule and, thanks to some innovative construction, came in $300,000 under budget at $4.1 million.

Otago Regional Council’s director of engineering, hazards and science Gavin Palmer acknowledges the skill and experience demonstrated by Downer.

“We’re highly satisfied with the effectiveness and the results of Downer’s construction management processes. The end result is that the university and the general public have a beautifully landscaped area that adds to the attractiveness and versatility of the campus and benefits from enhanced flood protection.” l AUGUST 2015 15

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Bees and fish and pipes ... a suburban tale

What do you get when you take an upmarket residential neighbourhood, an embassy, the odd bee and fish, and an old sewer pipe? For Lower Hutt’s Construction Contracts at least – a challenge!

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CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

HIGHLY COMMENDED CATEGORY 2

PROJECT: Sewer & Stormwater Renewal, Wellington CONTRACTOR: Construction Contracts

16 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

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or a number of years Wellington City Council had long known that the public sewer that serviced properties between Homewood Avenue and Nottingham Street in Karori required renovation. However, with many of the 1920s’ houses having been constructed over the public main, updating it would be no easy task.

Many solutions had been considered over the years, but none were given the green light; that is until Construction Contracts’ (CCL) proposal won the tender in late 2014.

David Howard of CCL says a realignment clear of all structures was designed and the opportunity was also taken to renew parts of the local stormwater system.

“This project involved renewing approximately 260 metres of 160 OD HDPE SDR 17 sewer pipe and some stormwater improvements. The value of the project was approximately $700,000,” he says.

Sounds easy enough, but with the work effectively having to take place in local residents’ yards (one of whom happened to be the Thai Embassy), strong project management and excellent stakeholder engagement skills were essential.

CATEGORY 2: Projects with a value between $0.5 million and $5 million

“A difficult project like this doesn’t get done by accident.

It tested all of our technical skills in pipe laying, including pipe ramming, pipe bursting, directional drilling and open trenching,” says David.

“We held many individual meetings with residents, some of whom were staunch in their opposition to the project. We eventually managed to gain their confidence and negotiate suitable working arrangements to get the job done.”

By all accounts, CCL went above and beyond when it came to keeping everyone happy.

Some of the more notable stories around maintaining good relationships included monitoring the health of a resident’s pet fish in a fishpond during pipe ramming, calling bee keepers when a swarm descended near a property, and watering one of the resident’s plants while he was out of town.

Wherever possible, CCL also had a professional gardener remove plants and stored them so they could be reinstated later on. Where this wasn’t possible, it replaced them.

In addition to face-to-face meetings, CCL also used its company website to alert residents about project progress.

As for the build itself, David says one of the major risks for the project was the underpinning of the house and structure foundations at six different locations prior to installing pipe.

“This was done to prevent movement in the houses as we were to install the new HDPE pipe close to existing dwellings.

The underpinning design was prepared by consulting engineers CHP,” explains David.

“The underpinning at 120 Karori Road, SSMH3, was the most technically difficult as support to existing retaining walls was needed. The pile was to a depth of 3.4 metres, in rock with no machine access.

“We had to hand excavate this pile which required hand tools to break rock and tested our manual handling skills.”

Other build innovations included pipe ramming short sections of earth and doing some DIY on the Smythe drilling head. A grinder was used to reshape it, so as to improve rock cutting.

All in all, not an easy job, but a satisfying one. And considering it was completed in 16 weeks, it proves CCL is the ‘go-to’ specialist for complex and unique drainage projects, especially if there are fish involved. l AUGUST 2015 17

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Geovert reaches for the sky to safeguard a scenic treasure It takes people with nerves of steel to dangle 300 metres up an active rock slip. Fortunately, specialist geotechnical construction firm Geovert employs just such a breed – otherwise the Diana Falls stretch of Haast Pass would not be as safe as it now is.

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: SH6 Diana Falls Slip Rockfall Protection, Haast Pass CONTRACTOR: Geovert

18 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

In

September 2013, a fierce rain event saw thousands of tonnes of rock tumble into the gorge below Diana Falls in the Haast Pass. The slip tragically claimed the lives of two Canadian tourists, cut off State Highway 6 and isolated communities in the furthest reaches of the lower West Coast.

The New Zealand Transport Agency was keen to put things right. That’s when Auckland-based Geovert and partner Geobrugg entered the picture – combining expertise in steep and treacherous terrain with cutting-edge rockfall protection technology.

The $3 million solution saw a system of rockfall catch fences, attenuators and mesh drapes placed across the length of the 40 degree slope. Overseeing this dangerous operation was Geovert project manager Mat Avery, who says the design of the project was nothing short of “groundbreaking”.

This was the largest single rockfall protection installation in Australasia, using a world-first combination of a single 3000 kilojoule and two 5000 kilojoule rockfall barrier attenuators.

One of the biggest issues faced during the project was intense rainfall aggravating the slip. An astonishing four

CATEGORY 2: Projects with a value between $0.5 million and $5 million

metres of rain fell during the April to November 2014 construction period, including a 300 millimetre weather bomb in the first days of work. As if this wasn’t bad enough, temperatures ranged from 26 degrees to a bone-chilling minus 10 with snow putting a stop to work several times.

Frequent rock falls led to rework and safety delays and the project team had to have their wits about them. At times, boulders (some the size of a house) would dislodge and either smash into the road below or clear it completely.

To mitigate this risk, a rock-rolling register was developed where rock movements were recorded. Automated monitoring systems were also installed, many of which, ironically, ended up being demolished by falling rocks.

As if wayward rocks weren’t bad enough, the project team also had to be wary of lightning strikes and tree fall. These risks were taken extremely seriously, with no staff allowed to enter the forest above the site and a policy of ‘tools down’ in the event of electrical storms.

The first step for Geovert involved ‘scaling’ the slip, and not just in a rope climbing sense. ‘Scaling’ refers to the manual removal of loose material using hand tools and airbags.

Ultimately, over 733 man hours were spent scaling an estimated 735 cubic metres of debris from the slip face.

Helicopters were a key instrument in Geovert’s toolkit. Over 100 hours of Wanaka-based Alpine Helicopter’s time was used to fly materials to and on site. Some individual items weighed a metric tonne, testing pilots’ flying skills to the limit.

Despite the project’s unique environmental and safety challenges, the installation process itself was actually very streamlined.

“Using [the] helicopters to deliver posts to pre-installed base plates we could have them fully installed in less than four minutes. Using multiple teams one could be completing fine adjustments on one post while the second team was preparing for the installation of another post,” says Mat. It became clear during installation however that ground conditions were highly variable in places. The attenuators and associated kit had to be anchored into stable rock.

The problem was the presence of large voids and floating boulders in the slip. These needed to be drilled through and stable rock located beneath. A time-consuming process to say the least!

And it wasn’t all plain sailing. “On numerous occasions we lost anchor points, had damage to plant, lost days of site preparation, lost post anchors, and on one occasion a staff member suffered a near miss from rockfall,” Mat says.

The stretch of road below Diana Falls was finally reopened to 24-hour traffic on November 5, 2014. The New Zealand Transport Agency was overjoyed.

It had taken Geovert 205 days to complete the highly specialised rockfall protection scheme. This was a superhuman feat it can rightfully be proud of. But more importantly motorists can be assured that this part of the spectacular Haast Pass is now safer than ever before. l AUGUST 2015 19

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Lyttelton’s new town square provides food for the soul It’s well known that the 2011 Christchurch earthquake wrought a trail of destruction across the city. Less well known is the fact that community spaces can help restore people’s health and wellbeing after devastating natural disasters.

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: Albion Square, Lyttlelton CONTRACTOR: HEB Construction

20 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

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ecently built Albion Square, located in the middle of Lyttelton, is a standout example of what is being achieved in the Canterbury earthquake rebuild – one that has rejuvenated the hearts and minds of quake-weary townsfolk.

The powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake in 2011 saw the Square’s namesake – historic Albion Hotel – suffer irrevocable damage. It was torn down and the place where Albion Square now sits became a spartan, unofficial community hub and gathering place.

That was, until Christchurch City Council bought the land and tendered to formally create a community space for the port town.

Awarded the contract in March 2014, civil construction company HEB Construction approached the build of Albion Square with sensitivity and keen engagement with the local community to understand their wants and wishes.

The end result is a landmark town feature, sparkling with perfectly sculpted terraces, red rock retaining walls, an intricately paved stage, fruit trees, herb gardens and an interactive playground for kids.

The icing on the cake is the Lyttelton War Memorial

CATEGORY 2: Projects with a value between $0.5 million and $5 million

Cenotaph – lovingly repaired and relocated to the top of the Square – as well as a traditional carved entranceway aptly named Ohinehouroko (place of peacefulness).

HEB Construction business development manager Ian McNally says construction of the $2.4 million Albion Square was complex, with multiple work fronts across several levels.

Construction was undertaken on a close-fitting urban site during a cold winter. On top of this, there were tight client deadlines. And a curve ball was faced early on with contaminated soil found on parts of the site. These issues were all handled with aplomb, as befitting HEB’s decades of civil construction experience.

Extensive and intricate formwork was required for the construction of the steps and terraces, says Ian. “Multiple curves of different dimensions meant that prefabricated formwork was out of the question, so these were built on site in a precise but especially time-consuming manner. In the end, numerous individual pours were required.”

Approximately 250 square metres of exposed aggregate pathways were put together, alongside 500 square metres of paving, he says.

A number of specialist subcontractors were involved in the project, including carpenters, stonemasons, paving specialists and metal fabricators. Ian says good relationships were developed with all subcontractors, not to mention an army of

suppliers, local groups and other key stakeholders.

A town square wouldn’t be complete without finishing touches designed for maximum comfort; so a number of top quality furnishings were also built and installed, including prefabricated seating units, bollards, drinking fountains, balustrades, handrails and timber decking.

In a nod to sustainability, reclaimed timber from Lyttelton’s former Cattle Jetty was used for the Square’s pergola, seats and planters.

Underscoring HEB Construction’s commitment to involving the local community, pupils from Lyttelton Primary School were invited to help plant the raised gardens with shrubs and herbs.

According to the school, this has helped instil an important ‘sense of ownership’ of Albion Square among the children.

The works have been widely acclaimed, with the client – Christchurch City Council – singling out HEB’s dedication to stakeholder management and “no surprises policy”. That the project came in on time and under budget was also appreciated.

The ribbon on the Square was officially cut in November 2014, just in time for commemorating the centenary of New Zealand’s entry into World War One. But it’s safe to say that the citizens of Lyttelton had fallen in love with it well before then. It’s not hard to see why. This thriving community hub is sure to provide good times well into the future. l AUGUST 2015 21

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Still waters run deep

in Central Otago irrigation scheme A best-of-breed irrigation scheme completed in November 2014 means there’s now more than enough water to go around for client shareholders in the small central Otago farming settlement of Tarras.

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: Tarras Irrigation Scheme, Otago CONTRACTOR: Maungatua Contracting

22 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

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he Tarras Irrigation Scheme takes water from the Clutha River at a rate of 830 litres a second and pumps it through a network of pipes to supply a number of agricultural demand points.

Valued at $3.66 million, the contract for the scheme was awarded to Wanaka-based Maungatua Contracting – a family business with over 50 years’ experience in civil construction and earthworks.

Maungatua Contracting was tasked with completing the whole kit and caboodle – covering design, planning, consents, supply and construction, earthworks and commissioning. This was no small task, but the firm approached things with relish and enthusiasm.

The scale of the newly minted Tarras Irrigation Scheme can best be described as immense. Involving the construction of a 74,200 cubic metre reservoir, the project saw kilometres of piping installed across five privately owned farms and four public road crossings. Eight and a half kilometres of power cabling was also installed.

Split into eight stages, construction of the vast earthen reservoir was first cab off the rank. Shortly after, the scheme’s

CATEGORY 2: Projects with a value between $0.5 million and $5 million

bore field was constructed and four separate pipeline builds began. Rounding out the work saw the construction of sidelines and air valves; after which rigorous pressure testing and pumping was undertaken.

The objective was to produce an irrigation scheme that was simple and easy for the client shareholders to operate and maintain. To help achieve this Maungatua Contracting teamed up with South Island firms McNeill’s Pumping and ElectraServe.

Key to success was open and honest lines of communication.

Point person was Maungatua Contracting project manager Kane Duncan, who was responsible for overall project delivery. Kane maintained close contact with stakeholders and suppliers throughout, notably Hynds Pipe Systems and Humes for pipe materials supply.

Client spokesperson Simon Maling from Terraces Irrigation says they’re very satisfied with the scheme.

Simon was especially impressed with Maungatua Construction’s professional approach in the face of some unique challenges, including the need for the build to cross farmland at different stages of cropping and for construction to be completed in a limited timeframe during an unusually wet winter.

A key consideration was meticulous planning to minimise disruption to the public. There wasn’t a single instance where the public were unduly affected by construction, says Kane, and local farmers were kept fully informed at all times.

Work needed to happen within a kind of Goldilocks Zone.

Unfortunately, because of farmers’ grazing plans it couldn’t

happen too early; nor could it happen too late. This put a complete twist on the entire construction project, says Kane.

From May through to August, Maungatua Contracting was unable to cross any farmers’ paddocks while winter feed was being grazed. However, following a meeting with neighbouring farmers and affected property owners, work was programmed to work in with farming activities.

To speed things up, a system that could lay up to 230 metres of pipe each day was adopted. This was based around a group of six workers all with specific tasks and responsibilities.

Delegation of duties also sped up progress where excavation was concerned, and Maungatua Contracting smartly modified its excavator for ramming and boring purposes.

Because of the time constraints, Fulton Hogan was subcontracted for seven weeks to install some sections of pipe. This too helped put Maungatua Contracting well ahead of the eight ball.

The build saw Maungatua Contracting flex some considerable innovative muscle. Features that were improvised during the course of the project included having bore service lines able to isolate in the event of power failure.

From a cost saving and resiliency perspective, the reservoir was also designed to be able to pump water at night power rates and have 24 hours’ capacity in the event of a power cut at the river.

The upshot of this fascinating and innovative project is a first-rate irrigation scheme that will see the client shareholders’ land well-watered for years to come. l AUGUST 2015 23

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Pedestrian bridge restores Onehunga’s

precious coastal connection

L

ocals now enjoy crossing an elegant pedestrian In the 1970s the South Auckland suburb of Onehunga footbridge constructed by Fulton Hogan (Civil North) sadly lost its connection to the coast. The construction as part of Auckland Council’s Onehunga foreshore of State Highway 20 had irrevocably severed local restoration project. access to Manukau Harbour. Decades later, The bridge itself is the most visible part of the work, but Onehunga’s precious coastal connection is back. it’s the more prosaic elements – some unseen – that really

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: Onehunga Foreshore Restoration, Auckland CONTRACTOR: Fulton Hogan (Civil North)

24 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

make the footbridge shine. Included in the recipe book was 2000 cubic metres of wall abutment, 501 square metres of precast cladding panels and 432 square metres of precast deck panels.

Throw into the mix a colossal steel truss, an inordinate amount of timber cladding and the late addition of anti-throw screens (useful in stopping objects from being tossed off the bridge) and you’re really looking at something special.

The ink on the contract had barely dried when Fulton Hogan (Civil North) began work. This was truly a team effort, with the firm working alongside subcontractors, suppliers and partners, including Tonkin & Taylor and design partners URS and Isthmus Group.

Isthmus, for example, worked with URS’ engineers to develop the steel truss system, and with Tonkin & Taylor to develop the

CATEGORY 2: Projects with a value between $0.5 million and $5 million

form of the bridge’s abutment mound and cladding.

Fulton Hogan (Civil North) project engineer Nariman Behzadi says over 400 shop drawings were produced, reviewed and approved for the structural steel work, precast panels and cladding.

Weighing in at 113 tonnes, the central span of the bridge is 48 metres long. The total length of the bridge is nearly twice that, at 80 metres. At six metres wide, there’s more than enough room to swing a cat.

In a nod to the area’s maritime history, the $4.8 million footbridge features a handsome hardwood timber balustrade on both sides. There’s also a concrete deck supported by two attractive concrete piers.

Crossing an incredibly busy stretch of State Highway 20, one of the chief expectations on the project team was to minimise impact on motorway users. Hardly surprising, as the bridge crosses the main route to the airport and Auckland traffic is a flood at the best of times!

Roads had to stay open at all times during construction.

The only closure allowed was during the placement of the steel truss. Following six months of careful planning and consultation with stakeholders, the steel truss was lifted by the ultimate in big boys’ toys (a monstrous Grove GMK crane) during a night-time closure of the motorway – this after twice being postponed because of high winds.

Challenges to be worked around included varying ground conditions, a perilously close gas main, scope changes and local fauna – the work site being home to a dotterel habitat.

Luckily, the highly challenging technical parts of the project were made easy, says Nariman. This was due in no small part to project team members who had cut their teeth on other major road-related builds.

Finally, but no less importantly, an innovative landscape design was developed to mesh in with the local coastal environment. In keeping with the geography of the region, a volcanic blend of colours, coastal forms and plants was used.

Throughout, collaboration was integral to the success of the project. A ‘culture’ was adopted that saw important stakeholders – notably Auckland Council, the New Zealand Transport Agency, iwi and the local community – kept engaged and fully informed. Project engineer Nariman describes this as “a transparent, open book process”.

Fulton Hogan (Civil North) aimed to achieve zero harm on the project. This was achieved thanks to effective leadership and strict adherence to safety.

Blending seamlessly into the surrounding landscape, there’s no question that the end result is aesthetically pleasing. So much so that the bridge has variously been described as a ‘stand out’ compared with the many cable stay designs that currently pepper Auckland’s motorway network. l AUGUST 2015 25

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Far North footbridge

creates connection between town and peninsula It’s fair to say that the estimated 1000 people a day who traverse Whangarei’s new Kotuitui Whitinga footbridge would be highly impressed by its striking design. But should they care to delve a little deeper it becomes clear that the engineering of this unique structure is also something to be admired.

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CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

WINNER CATEGORY 2

PROJECT: Kotuitui Whitinga Footbridge, Whangarei CONTRACTOR: Steve Bowling Contracting

26 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

O

pened amid great fanfare in September 2014, the $1.83 million Kotuitui Whitinga footbridge crosses the Waiarohia Stream, linking the Hihiaua peninsula with Whangarei’s picturesque town basin.

Forming an important part of the town’s Hatea Loop walkway, it also reinforces a wonderful sense of place for the Whangarei community through metaphorical representations of ‘journey’, ‘light’, ‘movement’ and traditional Maori food gathering.

Local company Steve Bowling Contracting (SBC) won the tender for design and construction of the footbridge in January 2013. One of the unique aspects of the project was SBC’s 100 percent use of local consultants and contractors from the Whangarei district.

No less than nine local firms were used. Richardson Stevens Consulting Engineers, for example, did the structural engineering, with the architectural concept developed by HB Architecture.

As Steve Bowling says, “This [footbridge] was built by Northlanders, for Northlanders.”

At 100 metres long, the Kotuitui Whitinga footbridge has a 12-metre central opening section for boats to pass through.

Ultra fast, the opening section takes only one minute to open

CATEGORY 2: Projects with a value between $0.5 million and $5 million

or close. With a width of 2.5 metres there’s ample room on the S-shaped footbridge. Graded for maximum comfort, it even features two special ‘withdrawal’ spaces for people to pause and take in the spectacular views.

As with all projects of this size success was, ultimately, in the planning. Because the footbridge was constructed in a tidal marine environment particular attention was paid to reducing environmental impacts, with an environmental planner engaged and close involvement throughout from Northland Regional Council.

From an engineering perspective, temporary staging was needed at the outset to get the all-important piling work underway.

Staging was done first on the south side of the stream, then, once the first half of the bridge had been completed, from the north side. This was important because the channel had to remain open and clear for marine traffic throughout the project.

The positioning of the piles was critical as these were needed to fit the superstructure of the bridge together. The piles were sunk in a 25 to 35 metre layer of soft marine mud with a firm gravel lens at a depth of 10 metres. More than fit for purpose, they were dynamically tested to make sure the necessary bearing capacity was achieved.

Climate was a quirk dealt with stoically by SBC. Incredibly, during construction two storms caused floods which washed down a significant amount of debris from upstream. Fortunately, SBC had developed a design and construction methodology that

saw a significant amount of construction done off site. This not only allowed much of the work to go ahead in a controlled workshop setting, it also reduced the environmental risk of the project.

The project has won plaudits from all corners, including the client (Whangarei District Council), stakeholders and the general public.

Mark Seakins from the council is not shy to sing the praises of Steve Bowling Contracting.

“We were very impressed with how they took the architect’s vision and turned this into reality on site. This required some challenging engineering and construction, particularly given that the bridge structure is curved both horizontally and vertically, which gave no room for error.

“The fact that the bridge came together without problems in a challenging marine environment was a credit to the construction team,” he says.

Other stakeholders included local hapu, who were involved in the project from start to finish.

Marine users, nearby businesses, Northland Regional Council and, of course, the general public were other important groups kept abreast of project progress. From all accounts, they’re more than pleased with the final result.

With feedback like that, and the obvious popularity of the footbridge among walkers, runners and cyclists, there’s no question that Kotuitui Whitinga has proven to be a significant attraction – one embraced by the people of Whangarei. l AUGUST 2015 27

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Concrete solutions for concrete problems One of Brian Perry Civil’s most recent projects – an upgrade of Golden Bay Cement’s Portland berthing facility – wouldn’t have been too difficult had it not been for one thing – the work site was 1.3 kilometres from land.

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: Portland Berthing Facility, Northland CONTRACTOR: Brian Perry Civil

28 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

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or onlookers, the crews regularly making their way to and from the Golden Bay Cement’s (GBC) Portland berthing facility might well have been preparing for a D-Day type invasion. After all, to get the job done, Brian Perry Civil (BPC) had to employ planes, trains and barges.

In spite of these sizable logistic difficulties this major build – which included the installation of several piles during a shutdown in early January – went off without too many hitches. And, unlike D-Day, there were no casualties involved.

In fact, of the close to 12,000 man hours BPC itself clocked on the job, when all was said and done not a single accident needed to be recorded with WorkSafe.

BPC project manager Luke Clark explains that shutdown windows needed to be planned meticulously so that the construction did not impact on everyday loading activities at the facility.

Fortunately robust upfront planning, strong experience and hard work offset all the potential risks of a delayed project.

The project was successfully completed in April 2015.

To meet this timeframe, Luke says that the material had to be helicoptered to the site, barged (five kilometres from Whangarei) and trained (with an 800 kilogram limit) to the site.

“Material then had to be installed by the team on the Jack Up Barge. A key driver for the project was the 17-day window

CATEGORY 3: Projects with a value between $5 million and $30 million

where the ship was in dry dock in early January,” Luke says.

“During this time the team pulled out all the stops to ensure the critical new piles and fenders were installed for the ship’s return.

“In this period we had to complete the three critical casing installations, cages and concrete in the bottom plug, scaffold the face, weld fender cleats and spool brackets on, attach fenders, shift barges and all other equipment out of the way.”

A good incentive to get all this completed in the required timeframe was the implications of not doing so – which, among other things, would have stopped 30,000 tonnes of cement leaving the port each month. As you might expect, that would not have made the client happy.

“If we did not achieve this we would have had to move and then work around the ship and barge movements [their schedules change daily]. This would have involved setting up temporary fender lines [extra piles] and a huge delay to the programme,” Clark says.

“If we delayed the ship or barge there would be huge consequences not only for the project but for GBC supply North Island-wide, as they cannot keep up with demand by road and the cement stocks would have run out.”

Apart from the narrow time constraints, the team experienced other logistical issues too. In fact, at one point the casings

were delayed. They were supposed to arrive on November 24 and the shipments had to be split into three 11.8 metre lengths.

However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the majority didn’t turn up until December 18. It then required four to five days to paint and splice the 23.8-metre casings. Given their size and weight only one could be completed at a time, which added undue pressure on the work programme.

Luke credits his team and all contractors involved for getting the job done efficiently and without drama. Careful planning, vast technical know-how and hard work no doubt also played a role.

Now that the job is complete, BPC’s main client is also singing the contractor’s praises.

General manager of GBC Ian Jones says: “The project has been a resounding success against all of its objectives. From a safety and environmental perspective, all staff were kept safe and environmental stakeholders were impressed with the delivery.

“From a programme perspective the works were delivered on time and the important three week shut-down window was achieved. From a budgetary perspective the BPC effort has bettered the budget and resulted in a cost saving for the collective team.”

A testimony that even D-Day leader Eisenhower would have been proud of. l AUGUST 2015 29

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Stormwater artery

keeps industrial heart of Mount Maunganui beating While stormwater systems perform a simple function, laying them can be far from easy. Connell Contractors knows this only too well – navigating everything from a four-lane highway to a penguin colony during its build in and around the Port of Tauranga.

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: Stormwater Upgrade, Tauranga CONTRACTOR: Connell Contractors

30 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

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amilton-based Connell Contractors was given the challenging task of putting together a 500-metre pipeline that would take stormwater from Mount Maunganui’s industrial area to Tauranga Harbour.

From the town’s shipping channel, the pipeline had to cross two sea walls, a log yard, rail tracks, heavily-trafficked port roads and a four-lane highway. A bevy of critical services also needed to be relocated, including 33 kilovolt power, water mains and fuel lines.

The $7.98 million project was undertaken between February and December 2014. Complex and risky, Connell Contractors was more than up to the job.

Heading up a formidable list of challenges was having to conduct operations in a busy and dangerous port environment; not to mention orchestrating a large number of consultants, subcontractors and suppliers. One of the trickier parts of the project happened at the harbour outfall.

Project manager Dave Connell says this was down to the “gravity pipe” having existing stormwater flows introduced as work progressed. Sheetpile walls were built to isolate this and other pipes from the high tide. Stormwater was then pumped over. The pumps struggled to handle rainfall at times, so pipe bulkheads were used to let the pumps catch up.

CATEGORY 3: Projects with a value between $5 million and $30 million

To limit contamination, pumped discharges entered the harbour through decant bins that kept solids in and liquids out.

In one of many innovations, wellpoint tubes were used to deal with the presence of groundwater sitting two metres below surface level. These tubes were poked into the ground and pumps sucked out the offending water.

Sections of pipe were laid in depths of up to five metres. The 1.8 diameter sections were so colossal that it took a 10-tonne forklift to move them.

Crossing road and rail lines was a cinch thanks to a sophisticated method of tunnelling called pipe jacking. This was made possible with specialist assistance from directional drilling firm Smythes.

To channel existing fuel lines around the new stormwater pipes, the project team designed a special duct that was delivered in two sections and stitched together on site.

From day one, scrupulous conditions were placed around environment, dust and sediment control. Connell Contractors wisely adopted a risk management approach – best exemplified by the adage ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’.

“There was no room for error anywhere on site. A fuel spill or concrete wash would flow to the harbour with little time for containment and there was significant risk of contamination through a burst hydraulic hose or similar,” says Dave.

“Construction threw up all kinds of unforeseen problems including penguins nesting in the sea wall and discolouration of discharges due to high levels of tannins in the port stormwater.”

Mitigation saw pumps put behind secondary wall containment systems known as bunds. These quickly proved their worth

when a pump set suffered an electrical fault and caught fire.

The Fire Service turned up, using foam to put out the fire.

Thanks to the bunds, all foam residue was contained.

At times, construction was hampered by heavy rain. In all, 300mm of rain fell. The works were under water several times. “[To mitigate this] we placed temporary weirs in front of the pipes with drainage metal to prevent the ingress of sand when heavy rain was predicted,” says Dave.

“Staff were rostered to monitor the site in bad conditions.

High winds especially from the west had the potential to move a significant amount of sand. However, our dust control system and well-maintained haul roads coped well.”

The proof in the pudding is that Connell Contractors never once fell foul of its strict environment and resource consent conditions.

Important to the success of the project was keeping stakeholders involved and updated, including road users and nearby residents. Dave says all requests were accommodated – including one from a blind person who lived two kilometres away but was disturbed by compactor vibrations.

The project developed “excellent relationships” with its iwi monitors and the general public were notified about operations through local radio, newspaper and electronic signboards.

The last word goes to a highly impressed client. Tauranga City Council’s Clark Butcher enthuses about the practical and productive way that Connell Contractors went about its job; also applauding its “constructive and confident” approach.

The fact that the job was done on time and well within budget was also sure to have gone down tremendously well! l AUGUST 2015 31

hirepool.co.nz | 0800 15 15 15

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

‘Weathering steel’ bridges cement river’s sparkling reputation In 2014, a rickety pair of timber bridges on the Waitaki River bowed out after 132 years of service.

In their stead emerged two magnificent ‘weathering steel’ constructions – a first for the South Island that will keep locals and tourists well serviced for another century.

3

CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

WINNER CATEGORY 3

PROJECT: Waitaki Bridges Replacement, Otago CONTRACTOR: McConnell Dowell

34 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

T

he $20.1 million road bridges (with pedestrian walkways) connect the hamlets of Kurow and Hakataramea. Built and engineered by civil construction firm McConnell Dowell, bridge design was courtesy of URS with geotechnical expertise from Tonkin & Taylor.

McConnell Dowell’s engineering solution had to account for the variable nature of the Waitaki River. This body of water experiences high water flow and is prone to flooding.

Under the hood of the bridges are piles that consist of 1.8 metre diameter concrete filled cylinders. Positioned along the length of both bridges, the piles are driven to a depth of 22 to 25 metres. They connect to bored concrete piers with moment transfer below river bed level.

Project superintendent Mike Simpson says the piling solution supports granular river bed materials and is large enough that natural obstructions can be broken up and removed.

Topping off the ‘steel ladder’ bridge construction are precast concrete planks and in-situ concrete decks. The upshot is two bridges that are arguably stronger than the eddies swirling beneath them!

Uniquely, beams and decks are high strength ‘weathering steel’, especially sourced from China. Mike says these form a protective rust patina to almost eliminate corrosion.

“The rusting process starts in the same way as conventional

CATEGORY 3: Projects with a value between $5 million and $30 million

steel, but the specific alloying elements in weathering steel produce a stable rust layer that adheres to the base metal.

Over time – two to five years – the orange-brown appearance changes to a characteristic dark brown,” he says.

A side benefit is that the “earthy tones” of the steel will blend naturally into the surrounding landscape for the lifetime of the bridge.

Building bridges can be challenging at the best of times, not least because of climatic conditions. One of the more unpredictable aspects of the build was coping with high winds whistling down the Waitaki Valley. To get around this, beam lifts were done off the project’s temporary bridge first thing in the morning – while things were calmer.

There was no question the old wooden bridges had reached the end of their functional life, but they were still historically significant. As part of the job, McConnell Dowell had to deconstruct the old bridges and abide by strict preservation conditions set down by Heritage New Zealand.

When it came to removing old timber piles, McConnell Dowell developed a system that vibrated the piles out without snapping them off. This allowed full recovery without any being washed away and undermining river flows.

Two sections of the old wooden bridges were then erected on Kurow Island as tangible evidence for future generations.

Community engagement was a focus for McConnell Dowell from day one of the build. Public concerns were carefully listened to and, as a good corporate citizen, it went the extra mile to involve locals in what was happening.

Among other local initiatives, the firm constructed cycle

tracks and widened car parks on the island between the two bridges; replaced and enlarged a nearby boat ramp; hosted community functions; and even built a play bridge at the local preschool – much to the youngsters’ delight.

Local resident Sandy Cameron more than captured community feeling. “[We] felt embraced by McConnell Dowell and the community has embraced them. They have been quite exceptional,” she says.

Extra care and attention was paid to the environment during the build. Importantly, a proactive and open relationship was formed with Environment Canterbury, which monitored inriver works.

Among other environmental controls, a dedicated fuel/ chemical storage area was created on site with concrete bunding and roofing to contain spills. Erosion and sediment control measures were also used to prevent discharge into the river.

“We used biodegradable hydraulic oil in our vibration hydraulic hammers to minimise any pollution from burst hydraulic lines,” says Mike. And special care was taken when working with concrete, by de-watering to a concrete skip.

Delivered ahead of schedule and within budget, the ribbon was officially cut in November 2014 with a grand opening.

It’s clear that McConnell Dowell has engineered two highly functional bridges. This alone is enough for a standing ovation.

The fact it was done in a way that reflects the heritage and pristine natural beauty of the Waitaki Valley is call for an encore. l AUGUST 2015 35

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Building the missing link to the Millwater subdivision You can barely go a day without hearing about the Auckland housing crisis and the residential developments that are intended to fix it. What’s less discussed, however, is the infrastructure that these developments will eventually depend on. Enter Ross Reid Contractors, which recently built a privately funded motorway connection between one of these developments and Auckland city.

3

CATEGORY

PROJECT: Wainui Road Interchange, Auckland CONTRACTOR: Ross Reid Contractors

36 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

I

t’s a bit complicated, but here’s how the story goes. Ross Reid Contractors was engaged by WFH Properties to carry out the Wainui Road interchange works, a $16.9 million contract. Even though this was public infrastructure, the client had to fund this project to gain access to the land it owned on Wainui Road.

This convoluted situation is a result of Auckland Council not being willing to release the land for development until this interchange was completed and operational.

WFH and Highgate funded the project so that they could carry on with their development plans. The land they owned is one of the government’s Special Housing Area (SHAs) – land areas earmarked for the fast-track development of affordable housing.

Basically, until the interchange was built, 900 lots owned by the client were on stand-by.

Among other things, Ross Reid’s project included slip remediation works, the strengthening of the Wainui Bridge abutments, the upgrade and widening of 1.5 kilometres of the Millwater Parkway, upgrades to Wainui Road, street lighting installation, service relocation, and pavement construction (some of which took place within a live traffic corridor).

Works started on 17 March 2014 and ended on 13 May 2015.

Now built, and approximately 30 kilometres from Auckland’s CBD, the 700-metre-long ramps and roundabouts will serve

CATEGORY 3: Projects with a value between $5 million and $30 million

the Millwater subdivision, which will in time house 10,000 people, plus the 60-hectare Highgate Business Park (which will accommodate a further 500).

The interchange may also one day link to a second SHA development at Silverdale North.

Ross Reid business development manager Prutvi Kumar says the company’s crews had to work throughout the winter to meet project deadlines.

“We had to do this in live traffic and in winter. Initially we had programmed to carry out the works by installing temporary barriers on the State Highway and single lane closures of the Millwater parkway and Wainui Road. However, to reduce costs and time we changed the traffic management on Millwater parkway to road closure,” he says.

“Also, to avoid disruptions on the State Highway we installed permanent guard rails, as per design, and reduced the requirements of temporary barriers. Auckland Motorway Alliance/NZTA accepted our proposal and we installed temporary barriers for a short duration when the tie-in works were carried out.

“The soil column installation for the slip remediation on the on-ramp batter was carried out in the winter months. We changed the construction methodology by installing concrete columns instead of stabilising the soil to avoid quality control issues. The soil columns were drilled and filled with concrete immediately and the works were completed in a very short duration.

“The pavement construction in the winter months was [also] very difficult [so] we discussed with consultants regularly and

changed the pavement design several times to avoid delays.

The pavement was constructed with various design options.

“We had three days off at Christmas. The road was formed on Wainui Road, asphalted for the traffic, to avoid disruption through the Christmas break. That was a milestone.

“When the weather was fine we undercut the subgrade and improved it by replacing with aggregates. When the ground condition was wet we stabilised the surface with lime and cement and covered it immediately with aggregates and carried on with the pavement construction.”

Prutvi says a lot of effort was put into stakeholder management. This was especially important because of the many service providers involved, which included NZTA, Auckland Transport, Chorus, Vodafone, Vector and Auckland Council.

“For example, NZTA and Auckland Transport were consulted during the development of traffic management plans and on approval we implement the plans,” he says.

“Adequate signage was also installed to notify the public of what we were doing. We monitored the disruptions to the public and minimised disruptions, as some of the tasks were carried out during night.”

Taking into consideration the project timeframes, existing infrastructure, cost constraints, and weather, Ross Reid and subcontractors Fulton Hogan and Woods had the collective experience, resources and attitude to get the job done on-time, to budget and to government requirements.

It’s unlikely that prospective home buyers making their way out to look at the new subdivisions will ever stop to think about the roads that got them there. But they should. l AUGUST 2015 37

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Innovative approach to

a build of national significance Fulton Hogan HEB Construction Alliance first broke ground on the NZTA’s TEL project in November 2010.

Two hundred and forty two weeks later the $335 million design and build project is done and dusted, four months ahead of schedule and considerably under the client’s initial budget.

4

CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

WINNER CATEGORY 4

PROJECT: Tauranga Eastern Link, Tauranga CONTRACTOR: Fulton Hogan HEB Construction Alliance (FHHCA)

38 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

T

EL is one of the New Zealand Transport Agency’s (NZTA) Roads of National Significance and the sheer scope of the work completed is daunting.

In its simplest expression, TEL involved building 21 kilometres of four lane median highway, a six kilometre upgrade of existing highway, 15 kilometres of tolled motorway, an electronic freeflow tolling system, eight bridges, and the installation of new interchanges, overbridges and underpasses.

Sound straightforward? Nothing on that scale ever is. For one thing the project was littered with challenges, including complex ground conditions, a build environment (which included significant amounts of high voltage power lines, major gas and water mains and variable substrata), and a destructive fire (which required part of the Domain Road Bridge to be deconstructed and rebuilt).

Fulton Hogan HEB Construction Alliance also had to deal with approximately 23,000 vehicles daily travelling through one major intersection.

The project’s statistics alone are impressive. For example, it required over three million metres of earthworks, approximately 550,000 square metres of new road to be laid and a design that incorporated some 300,000 plants.

Project director Andrew Johnson says the whole team had to be innovative in a number of ways. Looking back, he says what

CATEGORY 4: Projects with a value greater than $30 million

is particularly impressive is the way they approached pavement construction, filling sand bags, and using dairy waste as a dust suppressant.

“We varied our pavement design, depending on the ground conditions underneath,” he explains. “[When we thought it was needed] a more flexible pavement using foamed bitumen was used in peat-based areas. In sand and tephra-based areas we used structural asphaltic concrete.

“When faced with the need to fill 40,000 sand bags with cement stabilised filling fines, the zone management team and work crew developed a bag filling frame capable of filling 40 bags at once, eliminating a huge amount of manual handling risk,” Incidentally, the sand bag machine also won the NZ Workplace Health and Safety Awards in 2014 and reduced the wall construction programme by an estimated 50 days.

“Another idea we’re proud of is when the team developed an idea of using car-jacks to provide a simple, reliable and costeffective method of anchoring the extensometers between three metres and 10 metres into the ground. This allowed us to effectively monitor settlement.”

Not regularly talked about, FHHCA also took a novel approach to preventing dust, opting to use dairy waste as a dust suppressant.

“Equinox winds each year (during October / November) provided a challenge. We had to keep dust down on the 21-kilometre-long site. One of the ways we controlled this was by using dairy effluent from nearby dairy farms to spray over sand areas to stabilise them when not being worked on.”

To monitor this, the BOP Regional Council carried out environmental monitoring every month, with the project continually achieving a top rating.

“This way of stopping the dust reduced the total number of water carts required, resulting in project savings of over $55,000,” says Andrew.

FHHCA was also vigilant when it came to preserving the environment and culture. For example, it allowed archaeologists to work for three months at the Paengaroa site (after significant archaeological sites were identified), and had iwi monitors present on site whenever topsoil was stripped.

NZTA staffer and TEL senior project manager Wayne Troughton says TEL is a great success, largely because of FHHCA’s innovative approaches to the build and excellent stakeholder engagement activities. “[For example] they used lightweight embankments for the Domain Road interchange and expanded polystyrene (EPS) instead of a more expensive bridging design. They also designed a mono­pitch cross fall in the areas where there were flooding issues with spill weir from neighbouring drains,” he says.

Both initiatives helped reduce costs and, more importantly, enabled resilience in the highway network. Not a bad review from a satisfied client. What’s more important is the fact that TEL is today a much safer, easier and quicker way to travel between Tauranga and Paengaroa.

It is reducing congestion on State Highway 2 and supporting regional growth.

As for FHHCA, the only remaining question is ‘what could possibly be next?’ l AUGUST 2015 39

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

A bluster of a build in Ohariu Valley

Scenically located about a 30-minute drive northwest of Wellington’s CBD, the majestic views from the Mill Creek Wind Farm Project are almost as spectacular as the engineering accomplishments that underpin the project.

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: Mill Creek Wind Farm, Wellington CONTRACTOR: Higgins Contractors

40 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

T

he Mill Creek Wind Farm Project was one that had been in development over many years, with Meridian’s final resource consent only being granted in August 2011.

In June the following year Meridian Energy awarded Higgins Contractors the contract for the civil works component.

Despite the many restrictive consent conditions, the challenging ground conditions of the local Ohariu Valley, and a tight programme, Higgins handed over every portion of the project on time (all civil works construction were completed in October 2014).

The civil works for the contract were generally grouped into two distinct phases – external works, which included formation of an access road through the Spicer’s forest and widening of Ohariu Valley Road, and core site civil works, which involved the construction of the main 18 kilometre access road, a 16 metre-long single span bridge, a multi-plate arch structure, construction of 26 turbine foundations and laying electricity supply fibre optic communication cables.

This would be Higgins’ fourth involvement in wind farm developments and, at the time of construction in 2013/14, it was the largest civil construction project in the Greater Wellington region.

CATEGORY 4: Projects with a value greater than $30 million

To give you a sense of scale, at the peak of work an average 10,000 litres of diesel were being used per day (with a maximum of 13,000 litres). It’s also estimated that over 800,000 cubic metres of earthworks were moved. A Higgins spokesperson says a lot of the complexity of the project stemmed from the geological conditions, which varied substantially throughout the site.

“Geotechnical information provided with the tender information did not fully represent the variability of materials that was encountered, nor did it allow us to fully appreciate how the materials would perform across the site,” he says.

“For example, the working teams came across large sections of unsuitable silty clay and highly erodible silty sands on the seaward ridges, which were prone to scour in some areas and affected the soil bearing capacity.

“We mitigated this risk by undercutting these areas by up to one metre and infilling using rock rip rap.

“These same geological conditions affected some of the turbine foundations. These areas required digging out and back filling with cement stabilised basecourse prior to constructing the base.

“The management team had to weigh up the risk between increased construction costs versus failure to achieve the completion dates. In the end the decision was made to meet the contractual completion dates.”

With working farms left, right and centre, allowing for business continuity was also a major concern for Higgins and various management plans had to be put in place.

“The wind farm was constructed through four separate hill country sheep and beef farms. At times the construction of access roads, the delivery of materials, and all the other elements that go into building a wind farm, conflicted with the day to day operations of the farms,” he says.

“In particular two important issues for the landowners were the installation of the permanent fencing and the location and finished quality of permanent waste sites.

“To manage risk we met frequently with the landowners to explain what was occurring and to seek their input. We also enabled our fencing subcontractor to deal directly with the farmers.”

Considering the extent of the project (total man hours exceeded 200,000), Higgins is also proud to report no lost time injuries and a total injury frequency rate of 5.8. This is largely attributable to the fact that the project management team recognised during the construction phase of the works that a step change was needed to address the number of near miss and medical treatment events which were occurring.

As a result of this, a dedicated health and safety manager was employed to work alongside the construction team.

Subcontractor audits were also undertaken and Higgins worked alongside its suppliers to assist them to improve their overall level of compliance.

All in all it is an impressive project that, while largely hidden from Wellington’s urban area, has all the essentials of a perfect wind farm.

It also has a pretty neat view. l AUGUST 2015 41

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Centenary project pays tribute to

the men in the trenches When the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park and Underpass was officially opened in Wellington a few months ago, the WWI slogan ‘Together We Win’ might well have been ringing in the ears of all involved in its successful design and build.

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: Pukeahu National War Memorial Park and Underpass, Wellington CONTRACTOR: Memorial Park Alliance (MPA)

42 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

To

say there was a lot of pressure to get the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park and Underpass finished and completed on time would be an understatement.

The park and underpass was going to be the government’s centrepiece WWI centenary project and the date for its use was fixed.

Thousands of New Zealand and Australian eyes were anticipating the memorial events that were to take place there. Not only that but, once built, the physical space would stand as a constant tribute to the more than 300,000 New Zealanders who served their country in the conflict, and the 30,000 who died.

Construction workers on the job never had to ask their supervisors when the project had to be completed by – they could just check their calendar for the national holiday.

In sum, there was a lot at stake.

The park and underpass was designed and constructed by the Memorial Park Alliance (MPA) of NZTA, HEB Construction, Downer New Zealand, Tonkin & Taylor, and Aecom (formerly URS).

Against many odds, the goal of early delivery was achieved with the underpass (Arras Tunnel) a month early and the park three weeks early, well ahead of Anzac Day – 25 April 2015.

Collaborative planning and committed teamwork succeeded inside an inflexible deadline of 33 months, despite the

CATEGORY 4: Projects with a value greater than $30 million

challenges of a narrow central Wellington site between educational, residential and memorial buildings.

Innovations resulted in significant cost and time savings, notably containerised wastewater cleaning, tunnel safety systems pre-testing and refined tunnel alignment to reduce stormwater inflow and minimise service disruption.

The Arras Tunnel involved the design and construction of a 300-metre-long, 18-metre-wide and 12-metre-deep, cut and cover trench to form a 130-metre-long tunnel in an inner urban environment.

Working in a collaborative way, MPA has overcome major challenges presented by depth of excavation and proximity of existing structures, traffic and immense public interest.

The size of the job was formidable.

Approximately 40,000 cubic metres of soil was excavated to form the cut and cover trench, all of which was immediately removed from site. In total, 95 concrete piles were installed to connect the tunnel floor slab to bedrock. The piles were 10 to 30 metres deep, depending on the level of the bedrock.

Major structural work also included extensive temporary retaining walls with 13-metre-long tie backs and permanent 12-metre-high cast in situ concrete tunnel walls.

Substantial site utilities management included careful protection of a 900mm watermain, a 33 kilovolt power cable, and two historic 1.5-metre-high oval brick sewer lines.

Duncan Kenderdine of the MPA describes a number of the build’s milestones.

“The underpass was constructed through a buried greywacke ridge. Each end of the underpass exits through alluvium and colluvium deposits. This geology gave rise to a number of risks

around liquefaction during seismic events,” he says.

“Tension piles were used to prevent the underpass floating during liquefaction and to prevent post seismic event settlement. Significant pile testing was undertaken to determine the most appropriate and cost-effective design.

Initial testing was on straight shaft piles which failed at 20 percent of the required design load.

“After some iterations a bell-shaped pile was designed, constructed using a custom-made belling tool and tested.

“The belled pile exceeded the design load requirements and in fact meant the number and length of piles could be reduced.”

Due to the high level of public and government scrutiny, the MPA also took the unusual step of contracting an independent research company to measure stakeholder and community trust.

Outstanding stakeholder effort resulted in the 2014 NZTA GEM Award for ‘Connecting with Communities’.

The project was also completed with zero harm from high potential events despite up to 220 people on a complex construction site no larger than three rugby fields adjacent to State Highway 1.

NZTA chief advisor Peter Spies says the entire project ran smoothly and he was impressed by the collaborative nature of MPA. “The Memorial Park Alliance has been our most successful alliance to date and has demonstrated that a pure programme alliance can deliver successfully in very challenging circumstances. This approach offers a working model able to take on the ever greater challenges, risks and uncertainty which are becoming more commonplace in today’s market.” l AUGUST 2015 43

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

No need to burn the midnight oil when United Civil is involved In 2012, New Zealand’s only oil refinery – Refining NZ – started a $365 million project to replace an aging semi-regeneration platformer. The project has come to be known as ‘The New Venture — Te Mahi Hou’.

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CATEGORY

PROJECT: The New Venture, Te Mahi Hou Project, Whangarei CONTRACTOR: United Civil Construction

44 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

F

ollowing a rigorous selection process, United Civil Construction was formally appointed in early 2013 as the civil works contractor on Te Mahi Hou. Since then, everything has been on track, on time and to budget.

In the very broadest of terms Te Mahi Hou is a new processing plant being constructed in an area previously occupied by large product storage tanks.

In engineering terms it’s the placement of 2750 cubic metres of concrete into one large mat foundation. It will see equipment manufactured in over a dozen countries around the globe and assembled and incorporated into works performed on site by New Zealand contractors.

Once complete, the new works will be designated ‘E Block’ and will rise to a height of around 90 metres above grade, changing the landscape of the skyline at the entrance of the Whangarei Harbour.

The project will enable Refining NZ to process not only more, but a wide range of crude oils more efficiently.

Initially expected to be operational in late December 2015, workers have made excellent progress in recent months. It is now expected to complete early to mid-November.

Refining NZ CEO Sjoerd Post says the credit for the expected early delivery rests with the project team continually

CATEGORY 4: Projects with a value greater than $30 million

delivering to world-class standards.

“Te Mahi Hou is a significant undertaking for Refining NZ. Its success to date is down to a highly professional team who’ve leveraged their major project know-how from recent expansions, to coordinate engineering design across three separate locations, secure critical components from across the globe and package them at Marsden Point through excellent project management and construction,” he says.

United Civil managing director Andrew Campbell explains many of the construction innovations have come from the work crews themselves.

“Employees were encouraged to come up with ways that would make their work safer and more efficient and these ideas would then be filtered, further investigated and often implemented,” he says.

“For example, a predetermined construction methodology from America, which would have required extensive amounts of sheet-piling and a more linear construction schedule, was abandoned in favour of ‘bath-tubbing’ the site and using smaller machines avoiding the need for piling.”

This has allowed works from other multiple trades to start much earlier in the project timeline.

“Additionally, hanging the concrete specification for a 16 metre-high heavily reinforced reactor tower to self compacting concrete (SCC), provides for a very high quality outcome.”

Other innovations saw the crew building reinforcing cages at grade and then lifting them into preassembled forms.

The minimised time spent working at height, reduced overall construction time and significantly reduced steel fixing and crane hire costs.

That the civil works have been completed in full compliance with the schedule is an additional feather in United’s cap.

In fact, the work has earned the praise of an international project peer review panel – all without any lost time injuries in the 270,000 man-hours United has worked. In total, the overall construction schedule saw 13,500 activities, adding up to a total of 1.3 million construction man hours.

Not a bad result when your site is a hazardous, busy, highly flammable and operating oil refinery (where excavated soils have often been saturated and contaminated with hazardous hydrocarbons).

Refining NZ project director Jack Ariel says the quality of work results from a meticulous planning process and a seamless execution that has been second to none. l AUGUST 2015 45

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Hamilton’s Holy Trinity

a collaboration of client, contractor and consultant Infrastructure Alliance, a partnership between Downer New Zealand, Hamilton City Council and supply chain partners, is proving that a new way of doing business is also smarter business.

5

CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

WINNER CATEGORY 5

PROJECT: Maintenance, renewals and management of Hamilton City Council’s council-owned assets.

CONTRACTOR: Infrastructure Alliance

46 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

I

nfrastructure Alliance (IA), an unincorporated joint venture with its own identity, is leading the way in asset management, collaboration and innovation.

Tasked with a scope of services covering maintenance, renewals and management of all Hamilton City Council’s (HCC) council-owned transportation assets, IA’s collaborative working agreement sees client, contractor and consultant all rolled into one.

A key function of IA is the coordination of all third party works (eg, utility operators) to ensure that projects are delivered in a single intervention; reducing disruption to customers.

Work includes, but is not limited to, pavement, drainage, streetlights, footpaths, roadmarking, kerb and channel, traffic signals and electronic signs.

It is also responsible for amenity works including street sweeping, CBD and shopping centre cleaning, litter removal, vegetation control and landscaping maintenance.

Lastly, IA also performs the regulatory function of traffic management coordination, and corridor access requests.

Having now been in action for nearly two years IA has already achieved significant savings – all of which have been reinvested back into the network. Not bad when the project has an annual

CATEGORY 5: Excellence in the maintenance and management of assets

value of $16 million. IA says much of the savings stem from a financial model where all actual costs are reimbursable.

Alliance manager Doug Carrasco says this approach benefits everyone and that, when efficiencies are achieved, the savings are reinvested back into the network.

“The financial structure of the contract, which is cost and not profit driven, drives the team to find better ways of achieving more. Ultimately, efficiency and effectiveness are achieved through a truly collaborative approach,” he says.

This streamlined approach to work doesn’t come with compromised work quality. Indeed, an internal IA team slogan is ‘Would I be happy with this outside my house?’; not too hard to answer when all the team members just happen to be locals.

Non-Civils operations manager Shaun Peterson says, “Gone are the days when one crew visits a site and leaves a broken pole behind because ‘it’s not our job’. Standard practice is now, for any crew when visiting a site, to check and clear drains, remove any rubbish, or if work is outside their scope, to log it with the office team for follow up.”

This model also rings the death knell to the idea of subcontractor contracts. Supply partners have no end date in their agreement and are integrated into the pain / gain pool.

Doug says that during the first nine months of work, budgets were substantially underspent. These cost savings have allowed for numerous benefits to Hamilton residents, such as an extra 10,000 square metres of thin asphalt surfacing, an extra 5000 square metres of footpath renewals, the conversion of 10 sets of outdated quartz halogen traffic signals to LED, and two annual footpath washes of the CBD (which had previously

been put on hold due to budget constraints).

Outside of these remarkable savings, another hallmark of IA’s operations is its hi-tech Safety Visualisation Tool.

Asset Management team leader Simon Fendall says, “We completed hi-definition video data collection of all the kerbs and footpaths and centrelines of the road corridor. This data was then overlaid on Google maps to provide the IA team with a virtual view of any part of the network instantaneously.”

A single point in time capture of the network allows the team to look back and determine what state the asset in question was in. This allows for the comparison of states over time and, when there are claims, to check that an asset has always been there.

“One of the benefits of this is that we can respond to customer requests with an additional level of specificity and accuracy,” says Simon. “[For example] when a customer calls in the team is able to bring up the location of the fault, through video, describe the location and fault severity back to the caller, and as various forward-works programmes are overlaid, they are able to inform the caller of the likely time frame in which the issue will be rectified.”

How’s that for customer service?

With an expected project completion date of 2023, IA has big plans.

So far, its collaborative working agreement seems to be paving a future direction for other contract work of this type; the obvious winners being the client, the suppliers and the public. l AUGUST 2015 47

CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

Life is a highway

with Downer managing the road ahead Some say life is one big road with lots of signs.

If that’s the case, Downer New Zealand would be the one you’d want to maintain it.

6

CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015

WINNER CATEGORY 6

PROJECT: Nelson City Council Road Maintenance CONTRACTOR: Downer New Zealand

48 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

Y

ou want proof? How about, for starters, Downer’s recent re-awarding of the contract to maintain 262.5 kilometres of sealed roads and 22.5 kilometres of unsealed roads in the Nelson region. The project is worth $2.8 million per annum and has an extended end date of September 2015.

The contract with Nelson City Council (NCC) also includes fault identification and programming, contribution to forward work programming, completion of pre-seal repairs, resurfacing, drainage and bridge maintenance, traffic management and road marking.

In sum, Downer’s job is to maintain a safe road network for all road users in the wider Nelson area. Contract manager Kim Keown says the job is more than just about roads.

“These are the roads that our friends, families and neighbours, travel on every day. Being able to maintain the city’s roading network is something we’re very passionate about,” Kim says.

A key part of the job involves using Road Assistance and Maintenance Management (RAMM) for contract claiming and routine maintenance management.

Kim explains that the team are highly skilled in this system, with the ability to call upon national expertise.

“Downer’s field operatives are competent in the use of Pocket RAMM and the team regularly receive RAMM training. NCC also benefits from the ability for real time reporting as well as

CATEGORY 6: Excellence in routine maintenance

prompt response to customer requests.

“A key factor of this contract is 24-hour incident response.

All trucks, patrol vehicles, the supervisor’s vehicle, and most heavy vehicles are fitted with radio transmitters on the network, and base radios are installed in all depots.

“Forepersons and all supervisory staff have cell phones, and depots have phones and internet access. This ensures our team have great communication coverage, so we can respond and update on incidents safely and efficiently.”

All Downer’s work is carried out by local crews and the agreed programme of works has been successfully completed on time each year.

“After working for nine years on this contract there has not been a single Long Term Injury [LTI] recorded,” says Kim. But this doesn’t mean the company isn’t continually striving to make things safer, better for customers, and more cost effective for the client. For example, all of Downer’s NCC road Maintenance staff have completed the Downer / Transport Agency ACE training, which is designed to make the company more customer focused.

“So as to be ahead of the game, we [also] regularly call upon the Christchurch surfacing team and we benefit from their experience and knowledge during resurfacing programmes.

“We’re also using the new ‘Should I Seal’ [SIS] online tool developed by Downer’s road science division. This gives us clear advice on when to spray bitumen and emulsion.”

As Nelson is known for its stormy events and periods of heavy rain (especially the Maitai Valley Road, which regularly floods), Kim’s crew draw upon their extensive local knowledge and proactively monitor the weather through MetService.

Rumour has it she has even set up an emergency room in Downer’s offices with a NCC map.

“When we need to, this is where we plot where our people are and note down activities. We do things like, for example, sump clearing, to prevent flooding. We’re also experienced in mitigating and responding to slips, road blocks, and fallen trees.”

Ultimately, though, Kim says a lot of the company’s good name comes down to employing competent staff and providing them with the equipment and training to work safely.

To keep the project running smoothly and efficiently Downer has also taken on a few local subcontractors.

These include Kerb and Concrete, which performs various maintenance activities; Ezi Sweep, Downer’s sweeping subcontractor; JC Contracting, which helps with bridge works, painting and service adjustments; and RTL, Downer’s signs supplier.

JC Contracting managing director Fred Gear says his company’s relationship with Downer has been strong for over nine years and is getting stronger every year.

“Their managers demand high standards of completed work which in turn ensures the capital invested by Nelson City Council benefits all in the community and enhances our region,” says Fred.

NCC investigator and contract supervisor Roy Miles says Downer goes above and beyond what is expected.

“They continue to provide excellent outcomes for council, and our wider community. They continue to deliver good service at a good cost. Additionally, health and safety is at the forefront of all operations which is particularly important when working in the public domain,” says Roy. l AUGUST 2015 49

Z PEOPLE AWARDS 2015 in partnership with CCNZ

The future today Z People Awards – Emerging Leader category finalists Chris Ashton.......................McConnell Dowell and The Well-Connected Alliance for NZTA Brent Cations.....................City Care Construction Tom Harding-Ilott............Downer New Zealand

Chris Ashton Chris has worked ‘from the ground up’ over the past 15 years in the construction industry to his current position as tunnel construction manager at the New Zealand Transport Agency’s Waterview Connection – the largest road infrastructure project in New Zealand.

He is a highly motivated and able tunnel construction manager with strong leadership skills and sound tunnelling, engineering and management experience on infrastructure projects of great scale.

He has recently been appointed to

succeed Iain Simmons as construction manager, tunnels, Waterview Connection.

This is a very senior position where Chris will implement a number of important regulatory changes. He will be responsible for a crew of over 200 people, for emergency incident management and for ongoing regulatory inspections of the tunnels.

Chris has earned a reputation as someone who is ready to take on those responsibilities as a true emerging leader in the industry.

Brent Cations Brent works for City Care Construction as a project manager. In his time there, he has received support and training to develop the skills to deliver projects with great results, and he also trains teams to achieve these results too.

Brent has worked his way up to his role, which has given him a solid understanding of what it takes to get things done – including time and cost constraints. He uses this knowledge to lead crews and give

clients confidence the job can be delivered.

He makes sure all the right plans and tools are in place for the project to succeed. He also solves issues calmly, focusing on how they can go forward to fix the problem.

Within the City Care Civil Division he has been involved in creating the Water Enhancement Division. This started out as a two-man team four years ago, and now has multiple crews with a wide range of experience.

Tom Harding-Ilott Tom joined the civil construction industry about five years ago. He is working in Downer New Zealand’s South Island Projects team where he started as a cadet and now is a site engineer.

He is currently seconded to Downer’s Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) to repair key infrastructure damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes. He has run his last three sites independently, being responsible for on site crews and subcontractors of up to

50 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

10 personnel.

Most recently, he led repairs of the Armagh Street Bridge, a historic 1883 bridge that suffered numerous large cracks. Prior to that he repaired the Dunbars Reservoir, a 3500m³ fresh water storage tank, and completed repairs to the four-lane Waltham Road Rail Bridge, a busy level-two bridge over KiwiRail lines.

Tom has aspirations of becoming a civil project manager within five years, working on large-scale civil projects.

The Z People Awards were developed by Civil Contractors NZ, with support and sponsorship from Z, to recognise the outstanding achievements of individuals within the civil construction industry.

Z People Awards – Training Development category finalists Cowan Henderson.......................Christchurch Ready Mix Concrete David Kingham..............................Fulton Hogan Conrad McLean.............................City Care Construction

Cowan Henderson Cowan is a quantity surveyor at Christchurch Ready Mix Concrete where he started as a labourer for the Civil Contracting Division.

Toward the end of 2012, he was supported by his manager to study Quantity Surveying at CPIT. During his study he continued to work 30+ hours a week on-site and 30 hours of classes.

Then an opportunity for promotion came up, and Cowan was successful. He

worked pricing and project managing two driveway gangs while learning quickly to manage resources, subcontractors and staff.

Now Cowan has successfully finished his Diploma, and is tendering and running a range of work from $20,000 to $1,000,000 and building relationships with companies all across Christchurch. He is part of an office team of three, leading a staff of 30 that is growing.

David Kingham David is a graduate engineer at Fulton Hogan. He is currently working on Minor Safety Works contracts around the wider Bay of Plenty. With upwards of five different sites open at one time it involves a large amount of organisation to make sure the construction phase is running smoothly. He is responsible for staff supervision and management, planning and programming, set out, quality and safety on this contract. These works are

on programme with a zero harm record, and the works package is $1.2 million, over three months.

David’s goal has always been to get exposure to every component of the contracting industry and through summer work and graduate rotations he has worked in: laboratories, quarries, asphalt, sealing, field testing, structures and now civil construction and project management.

Conrad McLean Conrad works as asset supervisor in the Roading Maintenance Division of City Care. In this role he has helped manage a $6 million maintenance contract and is responsible for a crew of five, including up to 10 sub-contracting staff.

He has developed a love of learning during his years at City Care, where he started as part of the pre-apprenticeship programme, and has completed many qualifications, including a National Certificate in Civil

Construction Works, Concrete, Kerb and Channel. He has also completed a National Certificate in Civil Plant Operation, Earthworks. He is currently completing a NZ Diploma in Civil Engineering at CPIT. Through his extra qualifications, he has progressed from skilled labourer to operator, then 2IC roles. His training ethic has also helped him develop personally, and he has completed a National Certificate in Fitness in his own time.

AUGUST 2015 51

CONNEXIS C OMPANY TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AWARDS 2015

Finalist: Up to $10 million turnover

Training for all levels is just good business Based in Naenae, Lower Hutt City, Construction Contracts is a medium-sized civil, drainage and water contractor that employs around 30 full-time staff. It was also the proud winner of the 2014 Z Energy Company Training and Development Award.

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onstruction Contracts (CCL) co-owner David Howard firmly believes that “training is the future for the industry” and he is committed to getting his staff driving licences, first aid, Site Safe and temporary traffic management training.

As testament to this commitment, CCL has weekly in-house “Smarten Up” training and is signed up to nine new Connexis training qualifications. Currently, 100 percent of CCL’s staff are doing training, including National Certificates with Connexis, and National Certificates in Drainlaying through the Plumbing, Gasfitting, Drainlaying and Roofing Industry Training Organisation.

CCL’s training programmes cover a wide variety of subjects, ranging from driving lessons for junior staff through to business mentoring for the company directors. Team leaders are also supported through Dale Carnegie Leadership Training and sent to Toastmasters to gain public speaking confidence.

In addition to this, the company directors have a business mentor and meetings are held weekly to improve the management and governance of the company.

David says his staff get a lot of pride with their qualifications.

“Some of them are the first in their whole families to have received any sort of formal qualification,” he says.

Apart from on-the-job training, CCL encourages all staff to go further than just what’s required and to also get formal recognition of their skills with industry-recognised qualifications.

At present, one staff member is completing some leadership training, eight are studying towards National Certificates in Infrastructure Works and five are working towards a National Certificate in Water Reticulation, Level 4.

52 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

This approach to life-long learning is for all levels of the organisation and David himself has signed up for financial training with Ice House. Furthermore, the management team members make themselves available every Tuesday night to help the guys with their qualifications. It’s a real commitment being displayed and in the past four years alone, over 20 CCL staff have completed qualifications.

David explains that CCL has a “wall of fame” where the qualifications gained by staff are displayed.

“Everyone who visits us can see how proud the guys are of the qualifications they have gained,” he says. “We’ve got a number of long-serving staff who have gained qualifications through Recognition of Current Competence (RCC), which recognises existing knowledge. We hope to do more of this going forward.”

David and CCL management are particularly proud of the way staff train others – all of which helps to create an internal culture of support and ongoing improvement.

“We encourage a supportive culture where questions are welcomed and skills and knowledge are shared. The company skills matrix shows at a glance who is skilled to do what and who can train others.

“From time to time we have skills-based quizzes for the guys to complete. The CCL initiatives also help with succession planning. Good people are hard to find so we put a big effort into recruiting, training and retaining staff. We are constantly encouraging new team leaders and project managers from within the company talent pool. Succession planning and training is critical to this,” David says.

Which, of course, just makes good business sense. l

CONNEXIS C OMPANY TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AWARDS 2015

Finalist: Up to $10 million turnover

J&R proves education comes from within Acutely aware that the construction industry is in short supply of skilled and experienced workers, directors of J&R Contracting Peter Goldsmith and Jonno Weber take training seriously.

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ellington and Penrose-based J&R Contracting, which incorporated in 1997, is a mid-sized directional drilling and trenching company. It boasts an enviable reputation for doing excellent work, up-skilling workers and pushing staff on in their careers with the company.

Much of this success has to do with a focused internal culture for lifelong learning and innovative teaching methods.

“We’re lucky to have a good mix of age and youth, with training being a key responsibility of the experienced team members,” says company director Peter Goldsmith.

“Our skilled team is developed predominantly from within.

We’ve strong values around quality in everything we do and we’ve mindfully focused on developing the staff to reach their potential.

“We see these training costs as an investment in the future of our staff and the company.”

J&R currently employs close to 52 employees, six of whom are presently completing the National Certificate in Water Reticulation (Planned & Reactive Maintenance Technician), and another two are completing the National Certificate in Infrastructure Works Supervision (Level 4) with a strand in civil works and utilities.

Additionally, over the past three years approximately 24 staff have completed certificates through Connexis in Civil Construction and HDD Drilling.

“We encourage everyone to be involved in training whether it be a nationally recognised certificate or in-house,” Peter says.

One education initiative that is particularly innovative is J&R’s ‘Codesafe’ programme – a QR code based system with

embedded safety training videos. The programme is viewed by all new employees as well as at internal meetings.

How it works is that each piece of plant and machinery has a QR code sticker on it so the training videos can be viewed at any time. Sitting in the backend of the software is a sophisticated database which keeps a log on how often and who views these videos.

J&R’s other in-house training is done on a regular basis and covers topics such as incident reporting, hazard management, manual handling, working around mobile plant and working around underground services.

Modules are internally developed and team leaders take new staff under their wing to teach them all aspects of the business, depending on their skill set and interest level.

Ask Peter what he’s most proud about in terms of training, however, and he’ll tell you it’s literacy training, which J&R implemented in conjunction with Skills 4 Work.

“We put six employees through this course. The guys either didn’t finish high school or English is their second language,” he says. “Four of these employees are team leaders and foremen.

This has helped them out immensely with filling out our site paperwork both electronically and manually. Their confidence levels with both written and oral communication have gone sky high. This has also helped three of them complete their HDD training with Connexis.”

All in all, J&R’s approach to training shows up the faults of the old maxim that says ‘a little education is a dangerous thing’. Rather, in J&R’s case at least, it’s a profitable and rewarding one. l AUGUST 2015 53

CONNEXIS C OMPANY TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AWARDS 2015

Finalist: $10 – $25 million turnover

BCL is ahead of the class with 100 percent pass rate Created in 1995 by Woody Blakely, Blakely Construction has grown over the past two decades into a successful and respected civil construction company in Canterbury.

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lakely Construction (BCL) is committed to providing an experienced, adaptive and passionate construction team, led by a strong management team.

Its approximately 80 personnel deliver projects in a safe and cost-effective manner, and sitting behind that work is a heavy company investment in the professional development of all staff. Indeed, every staff member has a training manual which is reviewed on a yearly basis and reviewed by senior management twice yearly in accordance with career path aspirations.

On-the-job training is provided within the teams’ daily work practices and with regular in-house training sessions, with off-site formal training courses with Connexis, Site Safe and other preferred training providers.

Since 2012 BCL has become heavily involved with Connexis.

The first year it set internal training charts against unit standards and made modifications where needed. The very next year trainees were on board – starting with 23 staff on the path to reaching their different qualifications. In July 2014 it enrolled 33 staff of which 22 were new enrolments. Thirteen staff were also on training over that period. BCL has since seen 10 staff this year attend a Connexis course.

Due to all these efforts, BCL is seeing much success.

Internally, uptake of moving from one course to the next level is 100 percent. The team are also really seeing the benefit of the programme and there is the added incentive of reward in the pay packet when they complete a level.

Moving forward, BCL must also be at the forefront of technological changes and has a staged rollout of taking technology out into the field, particularly for quality work and data capture. While there is some resistance to this, Connexis training is certainly helping smooth this transition.

Ultimately BCL equates company growth with people 54 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

growth. And, from the 2012-2014 period the company almost tripled in size of staff and quadrupled turnover.

Its current challenge is to find the time to allow for all this staff training, but in-house training is certainly helping to accomplish this. These training events focus around safety and upskilling of the team in a variety of processes, including: concrete cutting, water pipe fitting procedures, thread taping and fire extinguisher use.

BCL takes pride in the fact that no matter where its staff’s employment journeys may take them, if they leave BCL they’ll be better trained – which will help the industry and New Zealand grow. l

CONNEXIS C OMPANY TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AWARDS 2015

Finalist: $10 – $25 million turnover

Texco does the heavy lifting when it comes to training Texco Group is a proud, family-owned business and has been operating in the Canterbury region for 35 years.

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exco Group has a staff of 130 who work across its four companies which specialise in excavating, drilling, steel and engineering. This breadth and diversity of work means Texco is well resourced and each operational branch regularly gives support to the others so as to provide complete client solutions.

When it comes to workplace training, Texco has a record matched by few. In fact, the Texco Group won the 2014 Contractors’ Federation Training Award. But that doesn’t mean it’s resting on its laurels and it’s clear it works hard to equip its staff with the right qualifications and training to be competent in the jobs they perform.

All staff take part in training and are actively encouraged to have input into company training needs. Owner of the Texco Group of Companies John Townshend says they want staff to be equipped to not only get the job done, but to improve in their careers and the company’s competencies.

“All our staff take part in training and are actively encouraged to have input into our company training needs,” he says.

When developing training plans, each staff member is looked at individually across five categories, which include: • Compliance: Health and safety, first aid, confined space, welder qualifications and chainsaw operation.

• Longterm: National certificates in civil construction, heavy vehicle operation, crane operation and drilling. This category also includes apprenticeships in heavy fabrication and drainlaying.

• Shorterm: PE pipe welding, survey and setout courses.

• Driver licensing: Class 1F to Class 5F, endorsements and bess tickets.

• Personal development: English and maths tutoring, supervisory and leadership training, budgeting advice and support.

Texco’s success in training stems largely from its ability to

create a culture where those with experience are willing to help those without.

“We wouldn’t be able to achieve the high level of completion with our trainees if it were not for the commitment and dedication of our senior staff,” John says.

Some of the more visible examples of this include verifying workbooks for national certificates, providing on-the-job training, mentoring and preparing staff for heavy truck driving tests.

Texco also employs a dedicated training coordinator whose role is not only to facilitate training compliance but also ensure each individual trainee is in the best position to successfully complete their training. In some cases, this can even include one-to-one tutoring.

Another part of the training coordinator’s role is to provide complete support for staff. Due to the nature of the industry, this can often include settlement support for migrants and budgeting advice.

Ultimately, the company looks at training in two ways – to meet requirements and to improve company capabilities.

One recent example of the latter was when Texco analysed its height safety training for drilling crews.

“We needed specific training at heights on our cranes and drill rigs and we worked closely with a provider to give us a unit standard customised to be carried out onsite and our own drill rigs,” John says.

During 2015, Texco will continue with its tradition of strong development with three core focus areas: helping migrant staff up-skill, greater mentorship of trainees (particularly for heavy truck licences) and transitioning senior operators and site supervisors into leadership roles.

“We’re not just ticking boxes. We’re doing what’s right for the team and for us,” John says. l AUGUST 2015 55

CONNEXIS C OMPANY TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AWARDS 2015

Goodman invests in the future with lasting commitment to training The breadth of civil engineering and contracting work done by Waikanae-based Goodman Contractors is nothing short of astonishing.

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rom wind farms to Roads of National Significance; residential subdivisions to railway and airport work.

Throw into the mix gabions (rock walls), forestry work and river stop banks, and it’s clear that Goodman has been there, done that.

Making projects like these shine requires a barrow full of know-how. Key to Goodman Contractors’ success has been having the right people. But, more importantly, Goodman places great stock in staff training and development. Training is so important it’s been integrated into “everyday business”, with the company even employing two staff trainers.

56 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

An impressive 100 percent of Goodman’s 157 staff receive training of some sort. This includes internal training. All up, 35 percent of staff are involved in external training, with some even working towards formal infrastructure and engineering qualifications via either Connexis, MITO or Competenz.

Recently, dozens of Goodman staff completed an alphabet soup of training – in areas ranging from spill response, bulk earthmoving, first aid, gas awareness, hydraulics and GPS machinery control. Goodman isn’t resting on its laurels there however, with future training set down around machineassisted tree felling, hazardous handling, knuckle boom operation and high harness work among others.

Nowhere is the phrase ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ better exemplified than at Goodman. Much of the firm’s internal training documentation is interspersed with images – visual cues that greatly help with understanding. So far this year, at least 40 internal training sheets have been created.

In fact, Goodman’s dedication to training is so absolute it’s even developed its own detailed internal training qualification.

This is a three-stage process which operators go through for all types of machinery owned and used by Goodman Contractors.

It’s not just industrial and labouring staff benefiting from the firm’s lasting commitment to training. All areas of the business are catered for. Behind the scenes, office and administrative staff are taking advantage of HR, health and safety and software training.

It’s no secret that training can make employees feel more valued and likely to stick around. Goodman has concrete

Finalist: $25 million + turnover

evidence, having experienced a positive correlation between training and staff retention. As the company says: “It’s about staff members seeing a progression available for them.”

And there are plenty of pathways for those keen to advance at Goodman. Labourers, for example, are able to work their way through the ranks to become an operator or part of the drainage or environmental team. From there, if they’re especially driven, supervisor level beckons and, ultimately, management. The path is similar in the workshop, with keen labourers able to step through the levels to apprentice,

tradesperson, supervisor and management.

This ‘pathway’ approach is working tremendously well, with almost all supervisory positions being filled internally – proof positive that Goodman staff are seizing the day and taking advantage of opportunities available to them.

With such a comprehensive suite of training and development on offer, it’s fair to say that Goodman Contractors has a firstclass knowledge base. But more than this, there’s little doubt the company’s investment in training is helping its staff perform better than ever before; ensuring they’re kept on the cutting edge of industry developments. l

CCNZ ANNUAL CONSTRUCTION AWARDS RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE IN CONSTRUCTION SINCE 1978

www.civilcontractors.co.nz

AUGUST 2015 57

CONNEXIS C OMPANY TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AWARDS 2015

Hawkins’ employees reap rewards of blended learning Start work at privately-owned infrastructure and construction firm Hawkins Group and from day one you’ll find yourself immersed in a learning and development environment combining on-the-job, online and classroom-based training.

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awkins Group has been going strong for over half a century, making a name for itself in some of the country’s largest and best known construction projects. Part of the reason is that its 700 staff are given valuable ‘blended learning’ opportunities.

Blended learning is a standout feature of Hawkins Business School – the company’s learning and development framework.

What this means, in a nutshell, is that its employees are exposed to learning content through a mixture of face-to-face and digital / online methods.

Hawkins is constantly striving to improve its Hawkins Business School framework. New elements are always being developed and implemented. Next year, for instance, it’s likely that a calendar of short courses will be added to the classroom content. Other options being looked at include courses on sales, leadership, negotiations and personal effectiveness.

Over 800 classroom days are being taught this year. Two of the most significant classroom-based programmes are the Hawkins Management Programme and Hawkins Project Excellence.

58 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

Delivered in partnership with the University of Auckland Business School, the Management Programme develops leadership and management capability in Hawkins’ “current and future business leaders”. Running for eight months, the programme features six dedicated modules. Employees involved in this programme spend a total of 13.5 days in the classroom and, as part of their studies, complete a group project related to “current business improvements”.

The company’s Project Excellence Programme is delivered in partnership with cross sector organisation Constructing Excellence and is attached to NZQA’s framework. Project Excellence is an industry technical-based programme covering off five modules including supply chain management, construction management and project management.

The Hawkins Management and Hawkins Project Excellence programmes are both tremendously well utilised, with approximately 70 staff taking part.

Online learning is important for Hawkins; partly because of the firm’s geographical spread in New Zealand and abroad; partly because the company recognises that some people learn

PHOTOS: ALEX WALLACE

Finalist: $25 million + turnover

better by engaging with technology.

On day one of employment, staff are given access to an ‘on-boarding website’. This provides new staff with valuable orientation information and keeps track of employees’ progress with required online learning tasks.

Let’s not forget that Hawkins’ online learning management system has a library of content that can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The company’s online tools don’t stop there.

Also used is a product called Hawkins Development Programme for staff performance and development reviews.

Hawkins even offers online self-help resources for employees

and has recently launched internal webinars broadcast the length and breadth of the business. Two webinars have so far been run – one on BIM (Building Information Modelling), the other on ‘disruptive technology’.

Quite apart from the fact that, on average, Hawkins’ direct annual investment in learning tops $1000 per employee, evidence of the company’s innovative and forward-thinking approach to learning and development can be found everywhere.

Add all this together and it’s clear that the well-used maxim – people are your number one asset – is one that Hawkins Group holds dear to its heart. l

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CONNEXIS C OMPANY TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AWARDS 2015

‘Hitting the books’embedded in Isaac Construction’s culture If there’s one thing Isaac Construction understands well it’s that premium construction products and services can’t be delivered without having well trained and qualified staff.

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his mantra has seen Christchurch’s Isaac Construction excel in its core business of civil construction and drainage, bituminous surfacing, transport, quarrying, professional contract management and civil laboratory services.

Ninety-five percent of Isaac Construction’s 210 staff undertake some form of training in any given calendar year. This includes basic competencies like first aid, confined spaces and traffic management; as well as staff being actively encouraged to go for additional drivers’ licences and endorsements.

Isaac Construction widely encourages and assists its staff in gaining recognised qualifications including trade certificates and, in some cases, postgraduate tertiary study. There’s no question this is a win-win situation – the company lifts its human capital while staff benefit from enhanced work performance and career opportunities.

At the moment, for example, a number of team members are working towards formal qualifications in first line management, pavement surfacing, infrastructure pipe laying, water reticulation, civil plant operation, infrastructure works, infrastructure works supervision, quarry plant operation and site management.

Other more theoretical courses being undertaken include accounting for non accountants, erosion and sediment control,

60 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine

tendering for projects, successful project management, Telarc signing accreditation for laboratory testing, understanding NZS3910:2013 conditions of contract, survey and set out, drainage construction and environmental risks of construction.

Isaac Construction is serious about growing and futureproofing the construction industry. One way it does this is by providing entry level graduate opportunities – offering training in partnership with, among others, the New Zealand Institute of Management and New Zealand Institute of Highway Technology.

Another important way the company fosters talent is by undertaking first line management training to prepare field staff for promotion to foremen and senior supervisory and management roles.

It’s no secret that construction can be a risky business from a health and safety perspective. Isaac Construction is well aware of this and takes extra care to make sure staff know how to safely operate all manner of machinery and equipment. As well as this, surfacing staff are schooled in basic bitumen safety and there’s an in-house cable strike prevention programme, delivered electronically.

For those who need it, the strands of Isaac Construction’s suite of training initiatives are knitted together with specific courses aimed at helping staff improve their communication skills. This helps those who need it to undertake the literacy

Finalist: $25 million + turnover

components of trade qualifications. These courses, by the way, are extremely well credentialled – having been developed with the assistance of the Tertiary Education Commission and Leadership Development New Zealand.

One of the many positive side effects of Isaac Construction’s focus on training (especially personal development initiatives) is “greater [staff] engagement and a willingness to ask questions and voice opinions”.

The company has also noticed a pronounced lift in the number of staff proactively asking for more opportunities to undertake training in all forms.

It’s plain to see that Isaac Construction is experiencing a myriad of tangible benefits by positioning training as a strategic imperative. Not only is the company investing in its own future, it’s helping to lay the foundations for an overall more robust and successful New Zealand construction industry. l

AUGUST 2015 61

CONNEXIS C OMPANY TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AWARDS 2015

Training and development hard-baked into SCIRT’s alliance agreement The Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) is well known for its first class post-quake infrastructure work. Less well known is that training and development is a lynchpin of its alliance agreement with funding partners CERA, Christchurch City Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency.

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ver five years the SCIRT programme will complete hundreds of rebuild projects in conjunction with its external delivery teams – City Care, Downer, Fletchers, Fulton Hogan and McConnell Dowell.

SCIRT engages approximately 1400 people from a variety of organisations including over 80 civil contractor firms that work closely with these delivery teams. That’s a lot of people, and it’s fair to say that training is the glue that binds everyone together.

Importantly one of SCIRT’s alliance objectives is to “lift the capability of the sector wide workforce” and leave a legacy to industry.

First and foremost, SCIRT encourages team members to work towards qualifications across the NZQA infrastructure spectrum. Examples include Infrastructure Works Level 2 through to the esteemed CPENG professional engineer.

SCIRT’s operational workforce is enthusiastic about embracing external training opportunities. The proof is certainly in the numbers, with over 20 percent working towards an NZQA qualification. Now that’s a feather in the cap, especially given the industry standard is five percent.

For SCIRT’s performing partner teams, the more they

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encourage and engage their workforces into NZQA qualifications the more work they get. How’s that for an incentive?

Secondly, SCIRT operates a dedicated training centre. Led by five highly experienced civil trainers, the centre has seen over 65 team members complete National Certificates and more than 1010 Unit Standards assessed. The trainers also deliver short courses, which have so far attracted a whopping 6000 attendees.

Between them, SCIRT trainers have 200 years of civil construction experience, meaning those being trained are in incredibly good hands.

Among other courses, the training team runs a SCIRTspecific Site Safe course. And, in a nod to SCIRT’s exemplary corporate citizenship, new industry entrants are supported through an innovative ‘ready for work’ course called FORREAL! FORREAL! has proven to be a highly popular way to prepare incoming industry talent. It works under the umbrella of NZQA Infrastructure Works Level 2, and sees trainees complete a six to eight week pre-employment programme. They then move into employment and complete training under the wing of a SCIRT trainer.

Finalist: $25 million + turnover

SCIRT enjoys a close relationship with industry training organisation Connexis. So much so that a memorandum of understanding was signed in 2012 to leverage the unique opportunity the SCIRT alliance provides for industry to speak with one voice and engage in qualification development.

To top it all off, SCIRT is wholly committed to making sure staff are given the opportunity to build careers. This includes offering, in collaboration with Connexis, a first

line management and crew leaders programme. These are subsidised for subcontractors and emphasised in partner KPIs. Four years on, the task of rebuilding Christchurch’s earthquake damaged infrastructure remains vast. However, with organisations like SCIRT taking a leading role we can be confident that major rebuild projects are benefiting from skilled people and are going ahead as smoothly as possible. l

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