Construction | Higgins Contractors Waikato
The mechanics of expansion Higgins Contractors Waikato is a specialist roading contractor with a dedicated Waikato team and the backup and resources of a large parent company behind it. The company is part of the Higgins Group of companies, which grew from a small contracting business established by Dan Higgins in the 1950s. It has grown to become one of the leaders in the civil construction industry operating throughout the North Island and upper South Island.
When Dan Higgins was joined by sons Pat, Michael and Bernard, the business began expanding during the 1960s and 1970s into other areas of civil construction, including quarrying, aggregates, concrete and bitumen supply, in addition to its expertise in pavement construction, spray sealing, asphalt paving and drainage. Since then Higgins has been involved in a number of significant projects, from state housing subdivisions, urban and rural roads, the Wellington port container terminal and airport runway construction in Tonga, Wellington, Ohakea, Palmerston North and Napier, to elements of the Auckland central motorway system. In spite of its growth, with around 900 people employed during the height of the road construction season, the Higgins Group remains a family owned and operated business and is still headquartered in Palmerston North. It has key operations in 11 centres throughout the North Island. Services supplied through these business units include construction and maintenance of motorways, highways, urban and rural
authorities. Throughout the Waikato, Higgins Contractors is busy resurfacing to extend the life of roads, rehabilitating sections of roadway where the surface has outlived its useful life, reshaping roads to improve flow and safety, and carrying out general ongoing maintenance and repairs. Higgins Contractors Waikato has a Roading NZ-certificated asphalt manufacturing plant on site at its premises at 50 Gallagher Drive in Hamilton. The plant was built in 2008. “Having the asphalt plant gives us the quality control of our own product, which means we’re not so reliant on any outside supplier,” Carson says. Higgins supplies the complete spectrum of asphalt mixes, from hard-wearing fully compacted surfaces to open mixes designed for lower noise and better water dispersion. Higgins also undertakes sub-divisional work and can offer a comprehensive service with project management, earthworks, drainage, utilities, pavement construction and surfacing all being carried out in-house.
Parent company backing Carson says being part of the Higgins Group is a big plus for both the Waikato branch and its customers. “We’re lucky that we have branches in Tauranga and Auckland and we have backup and resources that we can call on,” he says. “We quite often help each other out on contracts to balance workloads and optimise the resources in the region.”
Above: The $7 million Taupir Link project is designed to be a safety improvement of SH1B through Taupiri to the intersection with SH1. The road will be a temporary link to connect the Ngaruawahia Bypass from where it connects to SH1B. Right: Higgins Contractors Waikato began work on the Taupiri Link, north of Hamilton, in November 2010.
roads throughout New Zealand and the Pacific region.
Working in the Waikato The Waikato branch of Higgins Contractors was purchased by the company in 2004, and was previously Glover Contractors. Branch manager Glenn Carson leads a team of around 50 fulltime permanent staff running an operation that includes chip sealing, asphaltic concrete, earthworks, construction and drainage. “Our core work is roading work, with a very strong tendency towards the bitumen surfacing industry with resealing and asphalt manufacturing and laying,” Carson says.
State Highway 2, Maramarua
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28 | June/July 2011 www.centraltoday.co.nz
A significant part of Higgins’ contracting business is the maintenance and resurfacing of existing roads on behalf of NZTA and local
The Higgins advantage lies in the ability to handle all aspects of the contract, from earthworks to drainage, subgrade improvement and shaping, pavement construction, pavement stabilisation and rehabilitation, kerbing, traffic services and signage, sealing, asphalt paving, roading and road maintenance. Higgins pioneered the use of new technology to improve road making and maintenance in New Zealand. Dan Higgins was among the first in the industry to make use of equipment such as fantail spreaders and bitumen sprayers to speed up road laying and deliver better quality. Higgins still leads the way and probably has the most up-to-date fleet of road making machines and equipment in New Zealand. The construction activities of the Higgins Group are supported by a number of manufacturing divisions and companies that supply materials to Higgins, as well as other clients. They include Higgins Concrete, Higgins Aggregates, Higgins Bitumen, Approach Signs and Penny Engineering.