NZ Contractor 1712

NEW ZEALAND’S CIVIL CONTRACTING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

DECEMBER 2017 - JANUARY 2018

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INSIDE: Kapiti Expressway –­ construction of second stage underway Troublesome Manawatu Gorge – the four options reviewed Christchurch International Airport – an ongoing development A day with a crane driver – contracting careers in focus

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CONTENTS

CONTRACTOR

30

INSIDE: Regulars 4 Editorial 6 Upfront 8 Contractors’ Diary 16 On the cover 60 Classic Machines 64 Innovations 66 Civil Contractors NZ update 66 Advertisers index

Comment 52 Peter Silcock CCNZ 54 Rob Gaimster Concrete NZ 55 Brett Martelli Heaney & Partners 56 Rod Auton Crane Association of New Zealand 57 Nick Deligiannis

Hays Recruiting

58 Rob Stummer

IFS New Zealand and Australia

Highlights / Features 18 NZTA Conference

Highlights from the 18th NZ Transport Agency and NZIHT conference in Tauranga.

22 Kapiti Expressway

The second stage is is now underway. Contractor takes a look at what's involved.

30 Four options for troublesome gorge

The NZTA identifies four alternative routes to the slip-prone Manawatu Gorge.

ON THE COVER

34 Career profile: A day with a crane driver

Smith Cranes' Queenstown manager, Tupuarangi Kopa, talks about being in the crane business.

40 Technology: Recent trials test road markings

Newly developed road marker products are lasting longer on road pavement surfaces in this country.

42 Technology:

What full automation can

do for asphalt plants

Despite their compact stature, Cat’s smallest machines still give operators like Eastern Earthmovers the edge. Excavating underneath houses and in confined urban sites remains a manageable and efficient process with a mini excavator like the Cat 301.7D CR. See page 16

Imagine a future where asphalt pavement production is entirely automated.

46 H istory: Christchurch International Christchurch's Airport has been an unfinished project in terms of ongoing development.

We trace it's history and recent expansion.

60

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 3

CONTRACTOR

EDITORIAL

You are doing what with my money?

The NZTA and NZIHT put on a little conference every year with a focus on roading and it’s a rich feast of technical knowledge, acronyms and corporate speak.

I have to admit – some of it goes right over my head, but then I am not a roading engineer. Most of the presentations are very interesting and we will publish them over the next few issues.

As with all conferences, you always hear something that makes you sit up and think ¬ wow, that’s right, I have never thought of it that way. My light bulb moment at the 18th NZTA gathering in Tauranga came when Road Transport Forum chief Ken Shirley said: “Government will have you believe that they’re the payers, but governments don’t have any money – the only money they have is what they take off you and me and businesses.”

Yet you don’t get a hint of that when the government starts spending our money based more on political ideology than administrating the country, as it is employed to do. As Margaret Thatcher said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

It breaks me out in a sweat just thinking of the resources and money (both taxpayers and private companies) spent on the East West Link project design that was touted as ‘as a priority project for the long term growth of Auckland and the economic development of New Zealand’. Even the Environmental Protection Authority and an independent Board of Inquiry was involved.

Yet the new government hadn’t been sworn in before it said it will can the whole thing for reasons that can only be described as ‘ideological’. Imagine running your own business like that?

The year is at end. A busy one for our readers, thanks to major roading projects that are already in progress and repairs to the country’s infrastructure after Mother Nature gave it another kicking.

It surprises me that we have a Minister of Climate Change (and it may as well be King Canute, if you don’t subscribe to the theory of anthropogenic climate change), but no minister for natural disasters, which is strange in a country with such a rich natural disaster record and a very effective ‘cleaning up’ industry.

On the subject of natural disasters I was surpised to learn (page 12) that, since disaster records first began here, more people have been killed by landslides than by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunami combined.

And guess who cleans these landslides up – you guys, because you are the only ones with the gear to do so. Related to landslides Hugh de Lacy has done a wonderful job of explaining the four alternative routes to the slip-prone Manawatu Gorge. A decision from the NZTA is due now, and none under consideration involves the existing road.

The landslides, he also explains, have been going on in the gorge since the first foot and horse track was punched through in the crumbly south side of the gorge in the late 1860s, but have been bigger and taken longer to fix, with the biggest in 2010, which closed the road for 450 days.

As the last Contractor of the year we have packed the contents with a variety of stories for you to read over the holidays, from a feature on the second stage of Kapiti Expressway from Peka Peka to just north of Otaki (called the PP20 Project), to a story on a young crane driver in the first of our industry ‘career’ features.

So, time for our end of the year toast.

To our readers, our advertisers and our talented contributors, all of us at Contrafed Publishing say many thanks for your support and services this year and wish you a pleasant and safe break over the summer.

See you next year and, meantime, keep on shifting dirt for a greater nation.

GENERAL MANAGER David Penny DDI: 09 636 5710 Mobile: 021 190 4078 Email: david@contrafed.co.nz REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS Mary Searle Bell, Richard Campbell, Hugh de Lacy, Cameron Officer, Richard Silcock.

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

Contributions welcome Please contact the editor before sending them in.

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

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

www.linkedin.com/NZcontractor @NZContractormag nz contractor magazine nz contractor magazine The official magazine of Civil Contractors NZ www.civilcontractors.co.nz The Aggregate & Quarry Association www.aqa.org.nz The New Zealand Heavy Haulage Association www.hha.org.nz The Crane Association of New Zealand www.cranes.org.nz

The Ready Mixed Concrete Association www.nzrmca.org.nz

A LS O P U B L I S H ES

Local Government, Quarry & Mining and Water New Zealand magazines.

4 www.contractormag.co.nz

EDITORIAL MANAGER Alan Titchall DDI: 09 636 5712 Mobile: 027 405 0338 Email: alan@contrafed.co.nz

Rural Contractors New Zealand www.ruralcontractors.org.nz

Alan Titchall, Editorial Manager

CONTRAFED

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CONTRACTOR

UPFRONT

Building bridges by printer Dutch officials have toasted the opening of what is being called the world’s first 3D-printed concrete bridge designed for cyclists built in the Dutch southeastern town of Gemert.

Work on printing the bridge, which has some 800 layers, took about three months after starting in June and it is made of reinforced, pre-stressed concrete, according to the university.

“One of the advantages of printing a bridge is that much less concrete is needed than in the conventional technique in which a mould is filled,” say the builders.

“A printer deposits the concrete only where it is needed.”

The eight-metre bridge spans a water-filled ditch to connect two roads, and in conjunction with the BAM Infra construction company was tested for safety to bear loads of up to two tonnes.

Meantime, a Dutch start-up called MX3D has begun printing a stainless steel bridge, of which a third is already completed. The aim is to finish printing by March and lay the bridge over an Amsterdam canal in June.

Celebrating health and safety at Site Safe evening Businesses and individuals leading the way in health and safety have been recognised at the Site Safe Evening of Celebration, held in Auckland last month.

The annual event attracted more than 300 guests and announced the winners of the 2017 Site Safe Construction Health and Safety Awards, as well as hosting the Site Safe Certificate in Construction Site Safety graduation.

Among the winners Fulton Hogan HEB Joint Venture won the Vertical Horizonz Safety Innovation Award for large organisations with its innovative pipe lifting beam and truck deck fall restraint system.

The judges said the clever idea was a simple and effective solution which challenges standard practice and has already produced significant benefits, helping to eliminate risks and improve health and safety outcomes.

The system, which was developed for the Waikato Expressway project, eliminates the need for Hiab drivers to work at heights while unloading large pipes from their trucks. It also includes a new truck deck fall restraint system for preventing falls while loading or unloading smaller pipes.

Project manager Tony Adams said one of the biggest risks they faced on the project was workers using ladders on truck decks.

“It was an accident waiting to happen.

“We made some simple improvements and invented this practical approach to what has historically been common risk.”

6 www.contractormag.co.nz

This year Site Safe had a record number of more than 240 graduates, many of whom attended the official graduation ceremony at Alexandra Park. By participating in a range of Site Safe courses, students earn NZQA credits towards the Certificate in Construction Site Safety qualification, which leads to lifelong learning and the development of leadership skills in health and safety.

The event also recognised Site Safe’s newest Life Member and former chairman, Peter Mayow, who was presented with a special trophy celebrating his life-long contribution to health and safety.

UPFRONT

CONTRACTOR

Construction company sentenced for fall

Rob Gaimster, Nick Smith and Glenda Harvey.

Concrete New Zealand steps up The New Zealand concrete industry has come together to promote concrete as the resilient construction material of choice.

Concrete New Zealand (NZ) was officially launched on 28 August 2017 at a Parliamentary function in Wellington hosted by the then Minister for Building and Construction, Nick Smith.

“Concrete NZ is being launched at a time of unprecedented construction activity, with work across all sectors forecast to remain strong for the immediate future,” says Concrete NZ chief executive Rob Gaimster.

“The idea of a single consolidated association for the concrete industry emerged several years ago. As an industry, we want to be better placed to promote excellence in all things concrete, in an efficient and effective manner that provides better value for all.”

Founding member organisations of Concrete NZ are the Cement & Concrete Association of New Zealand (CCANZ), the

New Zealand Concrete Masonry Association (NZCMA), the New Zealand Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NZRMCA), Precast New Zealand (PCNZ) and the New Zealand Concrete Society (NZCS).

“As a consolidated association, this new organisation speaks with collective authority on behalf of its members,” says Concrete NZ chair Glenda Harvey.

“Stakeholders within government and amongst professional groups can now liaise with a single concrete industry association.”

Through a pan-industry work programme Concrete NZ will strive to improve perceptions, raise standards and promote quality through its consolidated voice.

Areas of activity will include regulatory advocacy, knowledge transfer and Standards development.

“We are very excited about what Concrete NZ can help its members achieve in the future,” says Glenda.

WorkSafe New Zealand is reminding workplaces to ensure their workers are using their health and safety equipment correctly.

This comment follows the sentencing of McKee-Fehl Constructors in Wellington District Court. WorkSafe prosecuted McKee-Fehl over the injury to a contractor at a Wellington demolition site in March 2016. The worker fell 3.9 metres onto a concrete floor, resulting in significant head injuries.

WorkSafe’s investigation found that although workers were using a fall restraint harness system onsite, the supervision and training of the harness use was inadequate.

The incident draws attention to the difference between group controls and individual controls when mitigating risks.

“Individual controls, like a harness, only look after individuals and rely on active judgement by the user for them to work safely. Training, inspection and equipment maintenance are critical for these measures to be effective,” says WorkSafe manager Technical Programmes and Support, Simon Humphries.

The WorkSafe investigation found that the company had failed to ensure that the hazard of a fall from height was appropriately managed, and was fined $39,500 and ordered to pay reparations to the victim of $58,421.

1,081 Extractives 328 Port

543 Consulting

1,738 Water & Farming

612 Energy & Petroleum 248 Defence

INDUSTRY CONSENTS

244 Waste

951 Manufacturing

14,277 Council & Government

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 7

CONTRACTOR

UPFRONT

Kaikoura District Council’s rebuild Kaikoura District Council’s Rebuild Programme means a lot of work for contractors as it restores infrastructure and community facilities to at least pre-earthquake levels of service.

The job is expected to take up to three years and to cost in the region of five times council's pre-quake annual expenditure.

"It's a big job," says Kaikoura District Council rebuild director, Will Doughty. "There are currently 83 separate projects within the programme, covering local roads, bridges, stormwater, wastewater and drinking/tap water systems and council-owned buildings and community facilities. We've already achieved a lot – emergency fixes were in place quickly after the earthquake, planning and investigations are now almost complete and our procurement and funding agreements are in place.”

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Water Upper Central treatment North Island $30m Late 2018 plant Earthworks and site preparation Civil works for residential subdivision Civil works for residential subdivision

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Upper South Island

$17m

Late 2018

Canterbury

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Pacifecon currently holds information on over 4000 civil projects with a combined value of over $52 billion. If you would like more information on these projects, or realise that a subscription to the Pacifecon building intelligence service would be a useful way to increase your market share and productivity, go to www.pacifecon.co.nz, or phone 09 445 0345. Inclusion of a project does not mean it will proceed to the scale and timeframe indicated above. It is, however, the best available picture at the time.

www.pacifecon.co.nz

A word for Mike DeLuca Last month Michael (Mike) DeLuca died after a very short battle with an aggressive cancer.

Mike was semi-retired after spending 40 years working with J Swap Contractors in Matamata. He was employed in 1977 by Joe Swap, and was the company’s first civil engineer employee. At the time, the number of staff totalled about 20, and over the decades this number has grown to around 500.

Joe’s grandson, Michael Swap in his eulogy shared his memories of a man he has known his whole life.

“Mike’s reputation in the contracting game has become somewhat of a legend,” says Michael Swap. “Engineer to contracts that have worked with Mike showed him great respect, and engineers that had not worked with Mike would be anxious to do so, as they would of heard of the DeLuca legend from the older engineers in their office.”

One of Mike’s key roles was for the firm’s tenders.

Mike won and constructed hundreds of tenders for J Swap over the years. And was exceptional at it too, by all accounts. Michael Swap says; “He was in his element when preparing a price for a tender – the laugher and stress is like an addiction. I loved it and I know Mike did too.”

His aggressive and driven work side was in complete contrast to his loving and caring family side, he adds.

“He loved nothing more than ringing a client’s engineer at 4:55 in the afternoon, saying there needed to be a variation given to carry on work at 5:00 the next morning.

“He would then invite the engineer to meet with him on the job at 4:30am so work would not be delayed at 5am. More often than not, the engineer would approve the variation over the phone there and then.”

However, Michael says, work came a distant second to Mike’s devotion to his family.

“Mike and I travelled thousands of miles together in my ute over the years, attending site visits and meetings. Always, as we returned home from where ever we were, Mike would tell me a proud story of someone in his family.

“Recently, Mike and I were traveling home from looking at a job – it was a good hour back to Matamata, and the whole way I listened to his excitement for his newly expected, great-grand-children, and his pride knowing what a great father his grandson would become.

“We have lost a great friend, colleague, and mentor.”

CONTRACTORS’ DIARY 2018 Date

Event & Venue

Contact

2018 12-13 Feb

Floods Slips & Coastal Erosion Management Conference. Wellington

21-22 Mar

Road Infrastructure Management Forum. Palmerston North Convention Centre bit.ly/IPWEA_RoadInfrastructure

bit.ly/CONFERENZ_FloodsSlips

13-15 Apr

National Diesel Dirt & Turf Expo, Panthers' Penrith Grounds, West Sydney

www.dieseldirtandturf.com.au/about

1-4 Aug

Civil Contractors NZ Annual Conference 2018, Hamilton

www.ccnzconference.co.nz/

27-30 Nov

Bauma China 2018, The Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC)

www.bauma-china.com/

Please send any contributions for Contractors’ Diary to alan@contrafed.co.nz, or phone 09 636 5710 8 www.contractormag.co.nz

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Auckland North Raymond Beetge 027 559 0820

East Cape & Hawkes Bay Heath Stewart 029 247 3929

Auckland Central & West Greg Vaughan 027 559 0346

Kapiti Coast, Wellington & Wairarapa Dean Gough 027 438 1850

Auckland South Bryce Mason 021 682 403 Waikato James West 029 299 8909

Nelson, Marlborough & West Coast Scott Bonnington 029 200 8382 Canterbury Matt Holloway 029 208 0423

Rotorua & Bay of Plenty Shayne Kennedy 029 200 7270

Otago Brent Duncan 029 222 4682

Central North Island Paul Roche 021 954 376

Southland Pete Shaw 021 277 6597

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CONTRACTOR

UPFRONT

New software for asbestos management

Concrete Industry Apprentice of the Year Will Wara of Formstress Precast in Auckland collected the 2017 Concrete Industry Apprentice of the Year award at the New Zealand Concrete Industry Conference back in October.

Recently appointed to the role of foreman, Will says he is motivated by the challenge of leading a team and seeing colleagues improve their skill through his support. Greg Johnston of Formstress Precast says, “Will has progressed quickly through the ranks due to his attitude and enthusiasm.”

Will’s BCITO training advisor, Fred Paul, is also keen to acknowledge Will’s professional and personal talents, highlighting his “excellent leadership qualities”.

Will has finished his Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) Level 2 National Certificate in Concrete Core Skills, and is approaching the completion of his Level 3 National Certificate in Precast Concrete.

“The Concrete Apprentice of the Year award recognises someone who is making a valuable contribution to their industry; it gives them the chance to be celebrated by their peers, and also the opportunity to be a role model to those who may be considering an apprenticeship. Of course these achievements can’t happen without the dedication and support of employers who train our future leaders,” says Warwick Quinn, chief executive, BCITO. Concrete New Zealand chief executive, Rob Gaimster says: “Concrete NZ and BCITO launched the Concrete Industry Apprentice of the Year award last year for all those enrolled in, or who have recently completed, one of BCITO's concrete apprenticeships, with the mission to celebrate high achievers.

“The calibre of the entries in 2017 was exceptional, covering those that work (and train) in precast concrete, placing and finishing, concrete production and concrete construction.

Judging this year was a very challenging, but rewarding experience.

“Will shone through as a highly commendable trainee who warranted recognition for his technical ability in precast concrete production, as well as his enthusiasm to acquire new skills, and his exemplary communication and leadership qualities.

“The Concrete Industry Apprentice of the Year award has gained great momentum since its inception, and will be pivotal to our industry celebrating excellence of apprentices, the importance of trade training and the value of employer and family support.”

10 www.contractormag.co.nz

New regulations requiring all New Zealand workplaces to identify asbestos and have an asbestos management plan by April next year has seen the creation of a unique software management program.

Building Materials Information System (BMIS) has been developed in New Zealand by Engeo to create and maintain an asbestos management plan to meet these new requirements.

Tom Davies, senior asbestos expert, who along with Reuben Williams created the BMIS system, says failure to prepare an asbestos management plan or keeping it up-to-date could result in a fine of $50,000 for a company and $10,000 for an individual.

“There are existing management systems that may offer an online asbestos register but not much more.

“We wanted to create a true management tool that not only identifies asbestos buildings and asbestos areas inside the building, but also has the ability to track the state of the asbestos over time, ways the asbestos risks are being managed, support information on the removal of asbestos, asbestos awareness training and health monitoring while also producing a live document where updates are made available immediately to all workers onsite.

“BMIS does all of this intuitively while being simple to manage.”

He adds that BMIS is incredibly easy and cost efficient to operate.

Once an asbestos survey is complete, all that needs happen is for the relevant information to be entered into the system and the program takes care of the rest. Updates are just as easy to complete.

“Contractors that turn up to site can then access all the important parts of the management plan via a QR code.”

The BMIS software, support and resources needed to manage asbestos in buildings starts at $150 per year.

Further information: Tom Davies, senior asbestos expert, Engeo, ph 022 156 3602.

Reversing infrastructure The ministers for the new coalition hadn’t even been signed in when the new left government declared that the intense preparation work on Auckland’s East-West Link will stop in favour of a light rail to the airport.

As CCNZ chief Peter Silcock says, why replace a large project that is very close to starting with one that requires years of planning and consenting?

“We are concerned about the impact of halting a $1 billion project due to start in just 10 months’ time for the construction industry and the benefit of Aucklanders. Both East-West and light rail to the airport are major civil construction projects which take years of planning and involve lengthy consenting and property acquisition processes.

“The decision is disappointing because it creates a significant hole in the work programme, especially in Auckland. We are not advocating for East-West over light rail to the airport because both projects fill important needs but the reality is that they are at very different stages.

“The East-West link was due to be tendered early next year so several of our contractor members will have committed significant time and money already to preparing for that process and aligning teams to be able to put their best bid in.”

UPFRONT

CONTRACTOR

A big day for Auckland The annual Big Boys Toys event draw thousands of visitors to Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds this on November 10th-12th.

CCNZ’s Auckland Branch sets up every year an external area it promotes as “The Construction Zone”, where, amidst a range of activities, its annual Excavator Operator Competition takes place. Not only were the professionals on show, but amateurs are allowed a crack too.

Tai Poutini Polytechnic sponsors the kids exacavator, with its staff and students helping run this popular operation.

The overall winner of the exacavator competition was Nick Cain from Higgins (score of 280), who will now represent Auckland at the National competition at Feilding next year.

Competition veteran Brian Hoffmann (pictured right) also scored highly this year (268). You can watch a short video of the event on our web page: bit.ly/BigBoysToys_ Contrafed Thanks to Regan Burke from CCNZ’s Auckland Branch for securing this clip.

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CONTRACTOR

UPFRONT

Watch that slip!

Well done Kiwis The Makatote rail viaduct renovation project (featured in Contractor March 2017 issue and online here: bit.ly/MakatoteViaduct) took out the award For Structural Heritage at the Institution of Structural Engineers’ 2017 Structural Awards, held in London last month.

The winners were chosen from a shortlist of 45 pioneering global projects that showcase the ingenuity and expertise of the engineers behind them.

A diverse range of structures, from temples to tourist attractions, were recognised across 14 categories which singled-out engineering excellence and highlighted the important role played by structural engineers in the building journey.

The judging panel, made up of a distinguished group of industry experts, commented on the ‘ elegant, non-intrusive detailing of the strengthening procedures’, such as new tension rods hidden behind existing structural members, meaning that the heritage aspects of the viaduct have been fully maintained, while enabling increased loading from modern railway traffic. The judges were of the view that the engineers – Opus International Consultants and TBS Farnsworth (for client KiwiRail) – have given a new lease of life for an iconic heritage viaduct.

The Christchurch Arts Centre – Block C was also commended in the Structural Heritage category, and the seismic strengthening of the Majestic Centre in Wellington, received a commendation in the Sustainability category. Both projects were completed by engineers Holmes Consulting.

Big scale project A US$18 billion mega-project will expand Hong Kong International Airport from the current two-runway system into a three-runway system.

The project includes reclamation of 650 hectares of land, construction of a third 3.8 kilometre runway, a new passenger concourse, expansion of the existing Terminal 2, provisional of a new 2.6 kilometre automated people mover, a new, high-speed baggage handling system along with the construction of other associated airport support infrastructure and utilities.

Upon completion of the 3RS, Hong Kong International Airport will be able to serve 30 million additional passengers annually.

HKA consulting and services has entered into a five-year framework agreement to lead a consortium delivering planning, programming, risk and building information modelling (BIM) expertise along with delivery partners: Equib (risk management), Logikal (project performance management), Waldeck (digital twin solutions), and BIMS Group (BIM technology).

12 www.contractormag.co.nz

According to GNS Science and disaster records landslides are an “underappreciated” natural hazard which have killed more folks than earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunami combined. According to the government agency there have been, since records started, 700 deaths from landslides against the tally for the other three perils of 620.

GNS Science engineering geologist Chris Massey says that on average there are three deaths a year from landslides.

“So landslides are a real problem. It's not just the people they kill, but also the damage to property and infrastructure.”

Over the winter of 2017, Wellington has been tested with more than 450 slips, including two large ones that forced two families to quit their homes.

The website GeoNet also says there were about 400 slips on artificial slopes on the Wellington City Council road network every year.

GeoNet reports that there have been more than 2000 claims for damage from landslips in Wellington since 1990.

Of concern is Wellington's ‘built’ environment on top of steep-sloped greywacke, which has been tested in the past with high intensity rainfall events, but not by a large earthquake generated by the region's closest faults – the Wellington fault and the Hikurangi subduction zone off the east coast of the North Island. In hilly Wellington, a lot of the land has been modified to accommodate buildings, roads, and infrastructure.

“These modified slopes, because they've only been constructed since the 1930s,” says Chris, “have never actually seen a really strong earthquake … and we really don't know how they will perform under a really strong earthquake.

“Not like the earthquake we've had recently in Wellington but a really strong earthquake, something like a Kaikoura type of earthquake.”

• See backpage for Last Word photo of a dramatic slip in Auckland.

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CONTRACTOR

UPFRONT

Connexis Transition to Work programme Alan Titchall talks to Robbie Paul, civil industry manager at Connexis about the agency’s Transition to Work programme.

The Connexis’ Transition to Work youth programme was ramped up this year to meet with the growing demand for skilled workers in the civil industry. When did the scheme originate and why?

The programme was first developed in 2013 to assist with recruitment of staff for a drilling company that won UFB installation contracts throughout the North Island. The first intake was 12 youth from Hastings. In total, 30 were recruited into the company.

This first programme was run at the Youth Quest residential facility on the outskirts of Hastings. Basic industry skills were taught to prepare them for work in the industry.

This programme included a two-day health and nutrition and cooking module. Following the training, the programme self-catered as groups were established to prepare and cook meals for the duration.

How does it work?

It is a collaborative approach between Connexis, companies, MSD and the NZ Defence Force, who have enabled us to train, feed and house the trainees in one location.

Connexis assists with applicant selection, drug testing and PPE fitting along with programme design that meets the required life skills, compliance, and technical training.

The industry partner tells us how many staff are required, when they need them ready to start work, and what skills they require to complete the job.

Candidates accepted for employment come to the programme knowing they have a job on completion of their two-week residential programme. All candidates are also enrolled in the New Zealand Certificate in Infrastructure Works Level 2.

How are they selected?

When a company applies for a programme, the following questions are asked: how many people are required on the project; what skills are required when they start work on day one; and what day do they start?

A presentation day is set up to inform possible candidates on the industry, what the company specialises in, the jobs on offer and the process for applying.

Applications are received, and candidates informed on interview dates and time. Pre-interviews include drug testing and PPE sizing.

The company then informs Connexis of its selections.

What is their average age?

The average age is 19.

What sorts of backgrounds do they come from?

The candidates are unemployed youth either referred by MSD, Iwi or Pasifika churches.

14 www.contractormag.co.nz

How are family involved?

Families are included at the beginning during the industry presentation. It is important they understand what is on offer and the commitment required by all to ensure the candidate has a successful career in the industry.

Where does the programme take place?

The programme takes place at the Waiouru Military Camp or an agreed alternative location.

The Defence Force is able to provide the administrative necessities to run the programme. These include accommodation, meals, lecture rooms and areas requiring minor maintenance tasks.

These tasks are used to reinforce the training including: building the team; safety and compliance; and knowledge and technical use of equipment.

Who was the initial ‘funding’ partner?

Te Puni Kokiri provided cadetship opportunities to allow Maori access into the industry.

How many potential workers are involved in each stage?

The programme caters for eight to 12 candidates. We have run 15 programmes to date. These are normally run for one employer although we have combined a programme before.

At different stages during the programme, up to six different trainers will deliver training in their specialist areas.

Do they all succeed? What is the drop-out rate?

Everyone that completes the programme starts work. The retention rates exceed 90 percent with withdrawals due to health and security issues and reference checks.

Where do the successful ones get jobs and who selects them?

This programme is demand driven so the jobs are up front. It’s important when discussing the programme with the employer that there is a career plan in place.

How many intakes will you have over the next year?

Some 10 programmes are proposed. The industry requires an increase of 3600 per year to 2021 to fill the skills gap.

How are the workers from the first intake doing?

The guys from the first programme are now qualified with the National Certificate in Directional Drilling Level 3 and in team leadership roles.

The success of these guys is due to the positive mentoring culture and personal development programme within the company.

New gear for the new year.

At Hirepool we are continually investing in new gear so we can provide you with modern, efficient and reliable fleet for your civil projects.

hirepool.co.nz | 0800 15 15 15

CONTRACTOR

ON THE COVER

Compact Cat

doesn’t sweat the small stuff

WHILE RICHARD COWDELL of Eastern Earthmovers has plenty of

large-scale gear in his machine fleet, the smallest piece of kit he currently owns – a 1.7-ton Cat 301.7D CR mini hydraulic excavator – is also one of his handiest weapons.

“The mini digger is usable in all sorts of situations,” he says.

“Because it’s on rubber tracks, we can drive it across concrete floors without any worries. In fact, I have driven it through houses in order to get to work sites at the back of properties on more than one occasion. But it’s easy to do because it’s so small, and it won’t make a mess of the floor either.”

Richard says the Cat 301.7D CR is perfect for the sort of tight spots his company’s service portfolio often translates to, such as when working underneath houses or up against fence-lines.

Another bonus of its size is that the machine can be transported on a mini tipper truck or even a tandem trailer, making it much simpler to move between job sites when the pressure to complete multiple tasks is on.

In fact, Richard can lift the machine easily using a big excavator, and it has been lifted into hard-to-reach places by a Hiab truck crane on occasion.

16 www.contractormag.co.nz

Eastern Earthmovers, which Richard has helmed for 17 years, specialises in a number of primarily urban residential tasks, such as section clearing, house and foundation excavations, hole drilling, and minor demolition.

The Manukau headquartered company now boasts 12 staff and no less than 16 Cat machines, including rollers, bulldozers, compactors and a variety of excavators, right up to 20-tons.

“We’ve always had a good run out of Cat gear, so we keep going back,” says Richard.

“We’ve always found Goughs to be very good to deal with, and the beauty of buying new machinery means that we get great after-sales support and service. Generally speaking we get good reliability out of our Cat gear, but we know that Goughs are at the other end of the phone if we needed something sorted out.”

The local Cat range of mini hydraulic excavators extends to eight separate models, with Richard’s Cat 301.7D CR sitting at the micro-range point in terms of size and power.

Gross power of 17.9kW (24.3hp) means that the little machine will shift plenty of dirt when required, but thanks to its small footprint and zero tail-swing design, it can get into the sorts of spaces bigger

Despite their compact stature, Cat’s smallest machines still give operators like Eastern Earthmovers the edge. Excavating underneath houses and in confined urban sites remains a manageable and efficient process with a mini excavator like the Cat 301.7D CR.

“Some of the bigger machines stick around on the fleet longer than others, but with companies like Cat updating their gear from year to year, it makes good business sense to keep up with current models.”

machines can’t go near. An extendable undercarriage is a standard feature on the machine, allowing for narrower passage between excavation tasks, but a sure-footed wider stance when working.

Standard or longer-reach sticks can be optioned for the Cat 301.7D CR, giving contractors the choice of either 940mm or 1100mm of reach, making Cat’s mini excavator line-up a favourite for trenching and utilities installation. Meanwhile, at the rear the machine’s standard dozer blade offers up a dig depth of 390mm and a lift height of 271mm.

The compact Cat 301.7D CR’s standard canopy roof features two solid hoisting points; with just 1.7-ton to lift, a larger excavator can manoeuvre it over obstacles and into place if needed. That roof can be added to with an optional rear panel insert too, in order to keep the worst of the elements away from the operators back out in the field.

Speaking of the hot seat, while the Cat 301.7D CR is on the small side, the operator doesn’t suffer unduly with a cramped driving position. Like Cat’s larger machines, a fair amount of thought has gone into the ergonomics of the seat and controls, which are designed to be safe and easy to use.

Also blueprinted across Cat’s entire range of excavators

regardless of their tonnage, are easily-accessible service points and hydraulic oil reservoirs, along with the proven durability of Cat’s quality steel body panels. A 50kg counterweight designed specifically for Cat mini excavators is also available as an option.

Richard’s Cat 301.7D CR – which has worn the Eastern Earthmovers Ltd livery for around a year now – replaced an older Cat machine of similar dimensions that had been in the company’s fleet for three years previously.

“We try not to let our diggers get too old,” he says.

“Some of the bigger machines stick around on the fleet longer than others, but with companies like Cat updating their gear from year to year, it makes good business sense to keep up with current models.

“If you’re always working with a new machine you’re going to get the benefit of improved technology, performance and increased reliability.”

With an emphasis on constant improvement at every point in the range, even Gough Cat clients who rely on the American manufacturer’s smallest machinery can trust that they’re investing in rugged and reliable equipment. l

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 17

CONTRACTOR

NZTA CONFERENCE

Delivering our highway network The 18th NZ Transport Agency & NZIHT conference at Trinity Wharf Tauranga was another rich discussion for our roading engineers. Alan Titchall was there.

I WONDER IF the person who came up with the title of this year’s NZTA/NZIHT conference knew about the origins of the saying ‘Stand and Deliver’?

Up until about the mid 18th century it was a ‘highway robbery’ demand, before being replaced with the less subtle ‘money or your life’, prompting Spike Milligan to quip – “take my life please, I am saving for my birthday”.

Anyway, I digress. The themed NZTA/NZIHT roading conference at Tauranga was aimed, of course, at doing the opposite of ripping the public off and was delivered with the mantra, ‘Making the customer the centre of thinking for the operation of New Zealand roads’.

This event is the ‘thinking’ roading engineer’s annual feast of roading technology and systems discussions, acronyms and corporate jargon. The term ‘customer’ has replaced what we used to call the ‘client’ and before that the ‘road user’. It has also become synonymous with the terms ‘journey’ (which replaced ‘road use’) and ‘safe’ as in – ‘safer journeys for our customers’.

Blame a lack of policing, road design, or the nut holding the wheel, but ‘safe’ and ‘roads’ have not been a successful marriage over the past year, if the fatality and injury rate on our roads is any guide.

It was for this reason that a highlight of the conference were the two keynote presentations by industry outsiders 18 www.contractormag.co.nz

who directly represent most of the NZTA’s roading ‘customers’. They were Simon Douglas, the national manager of policy and research at the NZ Automobile Association, and Ken Shirley, the CEO of the Road Transport Forum.

There was also lots of good juicy technical presentations that we intend to publish in this magazine in the new year.

Meantime, in this issue we bring you the highlights of Ken’s presentation from the view of trucking customers and another on a new (in this country) French asphalt product from Road Science that was delivered by Darcy Rogers, the company’s technical development manager.

Introducing EME Darcy Rogers, technical development manager for Road Science, made a presentation to the NZTA/NZHIT conference on an asphalt product that drew enormous interest.

Highlights by Alan Titchall.

Darcy Rogers, Road Science

WE THINK EME is a real game changer for structural asphalts in New Zealand and it is really just a very, very, high modulus, very stiff asphalt and we believe it’s going to offer a lot more value to our customers and that structural asphalts base.

EME was developed 30 years ago in France and is an acronym for ‘High Modulus Asphalt’ in French. So we’re not renewing the build here we are just taking technology that was developed a long time ago and slowly made its way around the world, ending up in Australia. We’ve jumped on the band wagon there and helped introduce it into New Zealand.

Because it’s so hard and stiff, and very high modulus, it has a much longer life than conventional structural asphalt and we can actually apply a lot thinner application than with a conventional mix.

This allows less disruption and, in a lot of cases we’re not having to work with granular material.

We certainly think it offers more for less to our customers.

EME is a structural layer so it sits in between your basecourse and the surfacing layers and uses a very, very hard grade binder that we’re actually able to manufacture in New Zealand through some of our capabilities down in New Plymouth.

That’s one part of the product. The second part is about performance based mix designs and with EME the grade doesn’t matter, you can make whatever you want.

With grading it is about maximising the performance of the grade binder you put in there. If you’re talking mix for a conventional asphalt, you are trying to get really good aggregate interlocks. The strength of the asphalt directly relies on the aggregate getting really good interlock with those particles. With EME you’re more reliant on the strength of the binders.

High modulus In the case of EME we’re normally getting about three times higher modulus than what you can achieve with a conventional mix so in some cases you’re getting up to 14,000/18,000 mega pascals. So, if you’re a pavement engineer you might get excited when you hear these kinds of numbers.

In practice what that means is we’ve made it a lot stiffer so if you put the same truck loading it’s bending half as much as conventional mix and normally that translates to about 10 times the fatigue time. So, you can take 10 times more traffic loadings before it’s going to fail the same way as a conventional mix.

Or, say, we can reduce the pavement thickness by 30 percent and get the same fatigue life as the conventional mix

but get savings in terms of mix quantity and construction time.

We’ve actually been using this stuff for over a year now and introducing it over a period time on a number of sites.

And the first site we targeted was the State Highway 2/58 project in Wellington. We didn’t just jump straight into this project, we did background work. The proposed design for this project was originally 210mm of asphalt over granular which involved a 160mm base layer with 50mm surfacing.

When we put it through our design process looking at what we do with EME, we managed to reduce that asphalt depth down to 150mm, or 30 percent thinner – 100mm of EME with 50mm of surfacing.

The first area we tackled was in Aotea Quay and the road that runs parallel to the waterfront.

What we’ve got there is the main freight depot, so out of here we’ve got a lot of slow moving, heavy vehicles both coming in and out of this intersection and the structural asphalt had erupted after five years. So not the best outcome for the customer.

It was due to be replaced and so we thought this was a good opportunity to trial the design we proposed for State Highway 2/58, and make sure we could construct it and also make it through our asphalts plant and confirm the properties we had developed in the lab.

We did exactly the same as we proposed for the State Highway 2/58 out of the lab and that material has been down for over a year, and we haven’t seen any sign of distress.

We also did another job at Wellington International Airport where asphalt was actually rutting six months after being applied under very slow taxiing aircraft loadings.

Normally we only use EME as a structural layer but in this case we were able to use it as a wearing course as well. EME is quite rich in bitumen so you don’t get much texture but if that’s not a functional requirement at the airport. So we did full depth EME application here. So far its lasted over 10 months and is already out performing the conventional mix that was used in the past.

So, through those two projects we were able to gather enough evidence to prove that we could construct the EME and also make it through our plant.

Since then we’ve gone ahead and done State Highway 2/58 using the design we spoke of earlier and that’s been a real success for us.

So now we consider this material as just kind of business as usual for us, as we’re well past the trial phase, it’s got a lot of proven history, and it’s part of our standard tool box of treatment selection.

Paving crews don’t need to invest in any special equipment to use it and they love using it because it is rich in bitumen and very easy for them to handle and use.

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 19

CONTRACTOR

NZTA CONFERENCE

The view of a major road user

Ken Shirley, the CEO of the Road Transport Forum.

These are highlights from a presentation by Ken Shirley from the Road Transport Forum, made to delegates at the NZTA & NZIHT conference last month, with its ‘customer’ focus. By Alan Titchall.

An important customer The Road Transport Forum is the voice of the New Zealand road freight industry which involves 22,600 people and has a gross turnover of about $6 billion.

So roads are very important to our industry and we couldn’t be a business without them.

The key advantage of trucks as a means of distribution really rests on one word ‘flexibility’ – geographic flexibility.

Our ‘warehouse capacity’ in New Zealand actually has eight or nine axles that rumble along the road.

It’s not constrained by railway timeframes and shipping schedules and can be responsive to unforeseen changes in volume, type, origin and destination.

Other transport modes don’t have that ability to adjust quickly and that’s where that flexibility comes in, and we are adaptable to specialist and unusual assignments. When you think about it, trucks are the only way to reach most factories, stores, restaurants or homes.

Only about three to seven percent of the road freight task is contestable by rail and this is what a lot of public commentary just doesn’t understand.

A main road funder While we are a main road user, we’re also the payers of our roads. Government will have you believe that they’re the payers, but governments don’t have any money – the only money they have is what they take off you and me and businesses.

We have the $1.93 billion petrol excise duty, road charges of $1.43 billion a year, motor registration of $23 million, with the total at the moment about $358 billion.

We’re anticipating there is going to be a massive lift in petrol excise duty, over and above the regional fuel tax in Auckland and the road user charges, because the fund needs more money.

We accept as an industry that as the payers of the tax that the economic argument for mass public transport, whether it’s buses or trains, does provide relief to congestion in certain areas and there is benefit to road users in that.

Traditionally however, there has never been the capital works for public transport and that’s what’s has changed. The clear message we’ve got is that they intend to build the likes of light rail rather than fund roading capital works. That is actually a breach of what has been part of the fund, so that could be quite interesting.

We strongly support the Road Control Authority’s draft guidelines for equal funding of low volume roads.

20 www.contractormag.co.nz

Essentially, they are developing a form to allocate cost to ratepayers of different primary industries in accordance with their level of annual heavy traffic use and loading, which is appropriate and right in principle.

There’s a couple of local authorities going the other way and use a permit system which they charge for. That is wrong in principle and the Land Transport Act doesn’t provide for that.

Road pricing I think is a key issue for the future as there’s going to be huge challenges with funding infrastructure.

The pay as you go system has got its limitations, and means the current crop of tax payers are paying for this year’s expenditure and most infrastructure, whereas you should be looking at spreading it over multi-generations because it has a multi-generation benefit.

That’s why I think we’re going to see more public-private partnerships and all manner of things as you’ve seen in Transmission Gully and elsewhere around the country. That can only be good.

Issues with roading authorities Issues heavy transport has with road control authorities include the replacing of one-way bridges in rural New Zealand – we would like much greater activity there.

We also want better access to ports and better planning.

Ports are just part of the logistics chain and so often we don’t have the planning and connectivity reports. I know many people in this room are conscious of it and many groups are working towards it but we have a history of disregard to facilities for loading and offloading, and parking for trucks.

Sylvia Park [a large shopping complex in Auckland] has the biggest supermarket complex in the country, yet the planners made no provision for truck ways, and no provision for truck parking and offloading. That’s just not good enough.

Also, the alternative HPV approach, we have issues there in terms of route alternatives because we get road closures quite frequently in this country and our people just haven’t got the option of going anywhere.

We have to have plans with the Road Control Authority to show where those alternative routes are and there has to be better management communications when there are incidents to make sure those alternatives can be exercised.

HPV permitting is also a pain in the butt for everyone – there’s got to be a better way. There should be one central point for permits. And I know NZTA is doing a lot of work towards that with improved regional collaboration to minimise multi-permitting.

Above left: Steve Browning from Downer with Dawn Inglis, chair of The Roading Efficiency Group.

Roading issues for members Vegetation control is a big issue with our folk. The people who trim vegetation that block signs are all doing it from a car’s perspective. There’s numerous examples where the contractors just don’t trim the vegetation from the trucks’ perspective and they need to.

Livestock, effluent dumps… This is a really old chestnut, but it’s a real problem.

We signed up to a deal with the livestock community 12 years ago where we would put holding tanks on the trucks and farmers would stand their stock for a few hours so they weren’t full of black stuff and it wasn’t dropped off the truck.

Local government said it would build effluent pump sites.

Well – as an industry we put in our truck tanks but there’s a woefully inadequate provision of effluent dumpsites and, of course, who wants an effluent dumpsite in their backyard? Often they are built in the wrong place because it’s a compromised decision.

Unfortunately farmers have been very slow in ‘standing’ their stock, so some cattle are taken straight off the grass and onto the truck. One animal drops 10 litres of effluent every hour, and if it’s on the truck for four you very quickly fill the effluent tank.

And there’s only one place it can go if there’s no dumpsite.

Rest areas Truck rest areas are totally inadequate. Again, I don’t think there’s enough consideration for truck rest areas. Rest areas are prescribed, you have to stop.

Trucks often need to check loads but some of these areas can’t handle three 50 max units in a row. We need at least 60 metres plus and many of them don’t meet that.

Our people also hate rumble strips on the edge because a lot of our travelling is on the left out of necessity and they really, really don’t like them or see the need for them.

There’s the recent situation on the Kapiti Expressway where the road had only been open for about six months and they took them out. I did the calculations – this was about $270,000 worth of expenditure.

I also understand that the policy is you don’t put them in urban areas because of the noise factor. Well, the Kapiti Expressway strips went right through Paraparaumu, so something went wrong. As a roading funder we don’t like to see that kind of wastage.

Roundabouts A big issue for us are roundabouts. We have far too many roll-overs in this country. We have the highest roll-overs per kilometres travelled in the OECD. That is a disgrace and, yes, speed is a very big factor, but I can say there are numerous roundabouts around the country that are not fit for purpose and I’m talking about brand new ones, just designed, just built.

We have the classic East Taupo roundabouts on the Taupo bypass that have been open five or six years. We were consulted on these and we told them it wouldn’t work, they were too small. No one listened. They built them and suddenly realised they don’t work and it cost $9 million to replace them.

It’s just not good enough.

We feel there is not enough input in the design stage for people who understand heavy vehicle dynamics. It’s a highly specialised skill and knowledge. There’s very few people in the country with it and if you don’t put that input in you miss it at your peril. It’s always the trailer that goes first – tips the vehicle over and it can happen at very, very low speeds so there are very key design factors in that.

Road surfaces and widths These are generally poor nationwide, rough and pot-holed, shiny surfaces, excessive remedial works often after the job’s been completed and a big part of the freight task is predictability and steady roll.

We’re not interested in a new speed limit of 110, when we were on the committee to discuss that speed review and they said probably put the heavies up to 100, we said no leave it at 90, we don’t want to go faster than 90, it’s the optimal in terms of fuel consumption and wear and tear on the vehicle. What we’d like to do is be able to stay at good speed more steadily, fewer traffic lights, fewer holes, fewer roadworks which can be very, very disruptive to the freight task.

Carriageway widths… we feel that they are quite inadequate. We don’t have adequate shoulder periods. I think most people from overseas look at the shoulders in our roads and they’re aghast at how small they are.

The shoulder widths that we would like to see are sort of 1.5 to two metres. Once the truck goes off the shoulder and gets into the rough it can be very hard to bring it back on. Often the roll-over actually occurs this way, because the trailer will not come back onto the carriage way.

Australian relationships At question time Ken was asked if the Road Transport Forum has an association with trucking groups in Australia and are they having similar user issues over there?

The Australians do, but not to the same extent. Other than comparisons with Tasmania, we have quite a different topography to most of Australia.

We overuse AusRoads as a standard. Another is performance based standards – the PBS. We just picked up the PBS for Australia and our whole Vehicle Dimensions and Mass (VDAM) rule is based on this PBS. We suddenly realised the Australian one is not really appropriate and now New Zealand is developing its own PBS. DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 21

CONTRACTOR

PROJECT

Second stage of the Kapiti With the construction of the second stage of the Kapiti Expressway now underway. Richard Silcock takes a look at what’s involved.

IMAGES BY MARK COOTE PHOTOGRAPHY

AFTER A TRANCHE of work involving some 12

months of final design, construction planning, consents, site clearing and enabling works, the physical work for the 13-kilometre second stage of the Kapiti Expressway, from Peka Peka to just north of Otaki is now underway.

Known as the PP2O Project it will join the 18-kilometre first stage of the expressway (Mackays to Peka Peka was completed and opened to traffic in February this year – refer Contractor, March 2017) and provide in total an uninterrupted 31-kilometre stretch of fourlane highway along the Kapiti Coast.

This second stage will include nine bridges, the longest being over the Otaki River, a span of 330 metres. One point six kilometres of the main trunk railway line is to be relocated to allow for the alignment and a number of new 22 www.contractormag.co.nz

local and arterial roads are to be constructed to provide access to and from the expressway.

Fletcher Construction and Higgins in a joint venture (JV) are carrying out the construction planning and main work, with Goodman Contracting providing the earthworks and Brian Perry Civil the bridge piling and structural work. The JV will also work closely with KiwiRail over the track realignment. The total cost for the project will be $330 million.

Design work is being done by consultants Beca, with Opus acting as the NZ Transport Agency’s principal advisor to the project.

Tonkin & Taylor is providing environmental and ecological input and Studio Pacific the landscaping and urban design.

The work is being done under a design and construct contract and the Transport

THE FACTS This section of the four-lane expressway will comprise: • Two partial interchanges • Six kilometres of new local roads • 1.6 kilometres of rail realignment • Nine bridges (the longest is the 330-metre bridge over the Otaki River) • 42 culverts • Over 1.5 million cubic metres of earthworks • 210,000 tonnes of sub-base • 180,000 tonnes of base-course • 4000 tonnes of steel • 17,500 cubic metres of concrete.

Expressway underway Agency say the JV team was chosen because they had delivered the first section of the expressway to a very high standard, within budget and ahead of the scheduled completion date while meeting environmental requirements and maintaining an excellent rapport with the local communities.

This new section of expressway will follow the existing SH1 route from Peka Peka north to Te Horo before breaking new ground to cross the Otaki River over a new bridge and bypass the township of Otaki to the east before reconnecting with SH1 to the north of the town.

Project director for the JV, Andy Goldie says they will have upwards of 300 people working on the project.

He says their main focus at this stage is

north of the Otaki River where vegetation clearance, house removals (some 20 houses were either relocated or demolished) is pretty well complete.

“We’ve started on the bridges that will cross over the railway line,” says Andy. “This needs to be done because we need to move the track north of the Otaki Railway Station (the historical station will remain in its current position) to the west to allow for the new alignment.

“The earthworks have also commenced for the new rail corridor and the Goodman’s team will work through the summer period to maximise the good weather and get this work done,” he says.

“The most significant part of the project is likely to be the construction of the Otaki

Pictured: Pouring concrete for prefabricated RE panels, ready to be used for the bridge abutments at the work site near Otaki.

This second stage will include nine bridges, the longest being over the Otaki River, a span of 330 metres. One point six kilometres of the main trunk railway line is to be relocated to allow for the alignment and a number of new local and arterial roads are to be constructed to provide access to and from the expressway.

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 23

CONTRACTOR

PROJECT

Excavating peat bog.

Geotechnical investigations indicate the ground composition over the length of the project varies from sand, river gravels and alluvial topsoil to some peat bog at the southern end.

24 www.contractormag.co.nz

River Bridge. Work has commenced with earthworks, ground improvements and bored piles being driven to a depth of 25 metres for the foundations.

The 10-span bridge will comprise of 100 bridge beams, 18 insitu concrete columns and a concrete deck slab.

“We can expect some challenges as we progress the expressway but nothing too unusual from a civil engineering perspective,” says Andy. “Building the bridge over the Otaki River could present some challenges as it will be constructed within the riverbed and carry the risk of the river flooding and inundating works. Mitigating this risk will be achieved by accelerating the construction and staging the work so that all ground level work within the riverbed is completed during traditionally low river flows.”

Other work has seen concrete, exposed aggregate RE panels being fabricated and stored in preparation for the bridge abutments at the work site near Otaki.

Geotechnical investigations indicate the ground composition over the length of the project varies from sand, river gravels and alluvial topsoil to some peat bog at the southern end.

Goodman has a team of up to 60 people working the site operating a range of

equipment, from 40-tonne dozers, twin elevating earth-scrapers, 50-tonne excavators, and a fleet of 40-tonne dump trucks. Most of the plant is equipped with sat/nav machine control to minimise survey work.

Stan Goodman, managing director of Goodman, says they are working up to 12-hour shifts and expect to move some 1.5 million cubic metres of earth, most of which will be used for cut-to-fill or landscaping bunds.

“We expect the total earthworks for the project will take over two years to complete,” he says.

Consultation has been a big part of the time spent in preparing for the expressway. The Transport Agency, the JV and their design partners have consulted with the local councils, community liaison boards, the local community and iwi (there are five Maori hapu in the Otaki area and they are represented on the management team) and taken on board their concerns in the design, planning and resource consents process for the project.

Consultation is also taking place with interested stakeholders over the safety and traffic movement around the Peka Peka interchange and providing an improved junction for the roads leading into it, and the possibility of adding a south-bound off-ramp, and possibly connections at Te Horo.

CONTRACTOR

PROJECT

Above: Clearing bush and chipping tree branches along the alignment.

This section of the expressway is expected to be completed by late 2020 or early 2021. It, along with the first section and the Transmission Gully motorway which it joins at Mackays Crossing near Paekakariki (due for completion in 2020), will form part of the four-lane Wellington Northern Corridor from Wellington Airport to Levin, a distance of some 110 kilometres.

26 www.contractormag.co.nz

Environmental management plans have been prepared and include provision for sediment control using silt fences and decanting bunds, dust mitigation using water trucks and wheel washes, and noise minimisation by erecting barrier fencing and squawkers.

Following the study of bird life along the Otaki River (there are dotterel breeding and feeding grounds), scouring the bush for lizards, trawling streams for eels, mudfish and inanga, and searching for rare land snails, a number of ecological controls have also been put in place to safeguard the local wildlife.

“Ahead of the diggers and other machinery starting, a huge effort has been made to find and relocate these protected native species,” says environmental manager for the project, Alice Naylor.

“Reducing environmental/ecological impacts is now a priority for road projects so care and mitigation has been an important part of our planning process,” says Alice. “For example, construction near the river will be scheduled to work around the breeding season of the dotterels and we will be creating new nesting areas upstream.

“Culverts for stream diversions are being designed to allow fish to move freely up and down streams, and old rotting logs will be relocated to provide ‘homes’ for species such as lizards and the rare snails,” she says.

“We will also be monitoring dust, noise and ground vibration to ensure minimal disturbance for nearby residents.”

In addition to this ‘all-care’ approach an

extensive planting programme is planned.

This will include an indigenous forest, wetland restoration, and 38 hectares of riparian planting along the length of the expressway.

With some parts of the alignment likely to pass over some areas of historical interest a team of archaeologists will work with the project team to investigate specific places of interest as the work progresses.

This section of the expressway is expected to be completed by late 2020 or early 2021.

It, along with the first section and the Transmission Gully motorway which it joins at Mackays Crossing near Paekakariki (due for completion in 2020), will form part of the four-lane Wellington Northern Corridor from Wellington Airport to Levin, a distance of some 110 kilometres.

“This expressway project forms an integral part of Wellington’s Northern Corridor and has been identified as having a key role in supporting the region’s economic growth and productivity potential by cutting journey times and improving access into and out of the city and making travel to key destinations such as the airport, port and hospital more efficient,” says Glen Prince, the Transport Agency’s acting portfolio manager.

“As a part of our planning process we wanted to ensure this corridor will be resilient to disruptions like severe storms, vehicle crashes and earthquakes by constructing a robust and safe highway between Wellington and the south-western area of the North Island.”

Left: Turning of the first sod (July 2017), from left: then Minister of Transport, Simon Bridges; MP for Otaki, Nathan Guy; and the Mayor of the Kapiti Coast DC, Guru Gurunathan and local iwi.

Below: Ecologists inspecting the Otaki River for dotterel nests and a well camouflaged dotterel amongst river stones.

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 27

CONTRACTOR

PROJECT

28 www.contractormag.co.nz

CONTRACTOR

PROJECT

30 www.contractormag.co.nz

FOUR OPTIONS

for troublesome gorge On the eve of making a final decision, the NZTA has identified four alternative routes to the slip-prone Manawatu Gorge and none involves the existing road. Hugh de Lacy reports.

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 31

CONTRACTOR

PROJECT

EVERY FIVE YEARS or so the fractured and splintering

greywacke rock that comprises the cliffs on the south side of the Manawatu Gorge gives a bit of a heave and dumps hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of spoil across the road that connects the east and west sides of the lower North Island.

It’s been going on pretty well ever since the first foot and horse track was punched through in the crumbly south side of the gorge in the late 1860s, followed by a road for wheeled vehicles in 1872.

And lately the landslides have been bigger and taken longer to fix: a monster came down in 2004 that closed the road for 70 days, then in 2010 the biggest ever until that time closed it for 450 days.

In April this year the gorge moved again with two 15,000 cubic metre slips coming down, and over the next three months further slips resulted in the road being closed indefinitely from July.

Now it’s been decided it’ll never open again – at least not as a state highway – and to replace it the NZ Transport Agency has put up four options for roads going over the ranges instead of through them by way of the gorge.

An announcement on the preferred option is expected early this month (December).

The decision to abandon the gorge road as a state highway was influenced in part by the failure of the mammoth effort to remove the 2010 debris when, for the first time, machinery was taken to the top of the cliff in the hope that cutting it back in the worst places would solve the problem long-term.

A pair each of bulldozers and diggers from Higgins Group, which had held the gorge road maintenance contract for 20 years, crossed miles of farmland to reach the clifftop and start pushing down rubble which previously could only be shifted by water-bombing from helicopters.

That single clearance operation cost the NZTA $16 million, plus another $5 million for upkeep of the Saddle Road.

And for the next five years, until they turned wayward again in April, the cliffs cooperated and 7000 traffic 32 www.contractormag.co.nz

movements a day wound through the gorge.

The gorge looks like a giant fault-line running east-west through the ranges, but it’s not: there are plenty of fault-lines in the area but they run north-south, and it was the river, rising in the hills around Norsewood on the eastern side, which cut the gorge between the Ruahine Ranges to the north and the Tararua Ranges to the south.

The railway that runs along the north side of the gorge is nowhere near as prone to slips as the road on the south side, though one in 2010 closed it for 10 days, and in 2013 another closed it for three hours and badly damaged the milk train that ran into it.

The rail line’s relative stability over the years raised the suggestion that it was because picks and shovels were used to build it, rather than the dynamite that was liberally employed on the 17 kilometres of road on the other side of the river.

It’s a seductive theory but, even allowing for greywacke’s capacity to fragment, it’s an unlikely one.

Dynamite was in fact freely used on the rail line too – indeed the two big tunnels and the bridge approaches could not have been built without it – and the volumes of spoil that collapse onto the road are too vast to have been fragmented by explosives.

Instead, the difference between the two sides of the gorge is entirely geological: the structure of the rock on the rail side is far more stable than on the road side, and crucially is less steep and with fewer overhangs.

So after millions spent on its upkeep, the Manawatu Gorge road has been abandoned at least for the time being, and in the meantime east-west road traffic has the choice of either the Pahiatua Track for those headed for the Wairarapa, and the Saddle Road for those headed to Hawkes Bay. Of the four options for permanent alternatives to the gorge road, three are to the north of the gorge and one to the south, and all will take at least five years to build.

They are: Option One: A new road across the Ruahine Range north of both the Saddle Road and the Te Apiti windfarm, running for

Saddle Road.

15.7 kilometres, costing $350-$450 million and taking five to six years to complete.

Option Two: A major upgrade of the Saddle Road to bring it up to state highway standard, covering a length of 13.8 kilometres, costing $300-$400 million and with a completion time of five to six years.

Option Three: A new road south of the Saddle Road, costing $350-$450 million to build, extending 12.4 kilometres and with a five to six year construction period.

Option Four: A new road south of the gorge offering the most direct travel to and from the south-west of the island, 19.2 kilometres long, costing $450-$550 million and taking six to seven years to complete.

NZTA’s offering no hints as to its own preferred option, but on the face of it numbers two and four would seem the most likely, with the upgrading of the Saddle Road perhaps having the edge over the southern connection.

Excluded from the final options were a range of ideas with costs ranging up to $2.5 billion.

One involved running the road through a deep box cut in the gorge which would reduce its length to 12.6 kilometres at

a cost of $1.9-$2.5 billion, but would take at least 15 years to build and posed damage to cultural and ecological sites.

A second was for a gorge viaduct, taking the road out from the cliffs for 14.2 kilometres at a cost of $1.1-$1.4 billion, with a completion time of six to seven years, but at the risk of both consenting delays and residual slips.

Then there were the long and short tunnel options for the road through the gorge at a cost of $1.7-$2.2 billion and a completion time of eight to 10 years for the long tunnel version, and $1.2-$1.5 billion with a completion time of six to seven years for the short one.

One suggestion that drew the early support of local authorities came from a consortium of civil contractors in the region who wanted to raise the road through the gorge by 15 metres, cutting a 20-metre wide fall zone between the road and the cliff at a projected cost of $165-$195 million.

In the end though it was the four less spectacular options that NZTA opted for after extensive consultation with local authorities, industry groups and the small town communities for whom a road over the ranges is key to their economic viability.

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 33

“Sometimes we block our cranes so high you can drive a car under them”

Tupuarangi (Tip) Kopa, manager of Smith Cranes’ Queenstown.

34 www.contractormag.co.nz

CAREER PROFILE

CONTRACTOR

A day with a

crane driver Cranes punctuate Queenstown’s skyline as the town revs into overdrive on infrastructure projects to satisfy unprecedented tourism demand.

Denise McNabb talks to Smith Cranes’ Queenstown manager Tupuarangi Kopa about being in the crane business in this resort town.

AN ICY WIND blows off the Remarkables’

snow-drizzled peaks, chilling the Wyndham Gardens’ hotel and apartment suites construction site taking shape near the airport.

Tupuarangi ‘Tip’ Kopa, 39, and his small crew know Queenstown can be cold, even in spring, but working outdoors year round has long hardened their resolve against the elements.

Tip, Smith Cranes’ Queenstown manager, checks the front wheels of the 70-tonne orange crane, jacked high off the ground on large wooden blocks for stability on the uneven ground.

“There is nothing level around here,” he says.

“Sometimes we block cranes so high you can drive a car under them. Knowing how to jack them to a safe but practical level is down to experience and having common sense and good instinct.”

Steel sheets hooked onto the 50-metre boom are hoisted to the fourth floor of the five-storey block of 55 apartment suites.

The crane is part of the company’s 80-strong fleet of high-tech machines imported mainly from Germany, ranging in weight capability from five to 600 tonnes.

The tonnage category of cranes is the weight a crane can lift, not the crane’s weight.

Tip says a crane can be half the weight of its actual load so this must be countered by attaching large slabs of cast iron to the back of the crane. The further away the object is to be lifted, the bigger the amount of counterweight is needed.

“It’s a precise calculation and the most skilled part of being a crane operator,” Tip says.

The 600-tonne crawler is the company’s largest crane and, like the tower crane, has to be disassembled for transportation between jobs. It is presently at the Mataura Valley milk plant at McNab, near Gore in Southland installing an 80-tonne rotating boiler.

Crane companies need Ministry of Transport permits to move cranes and drivers must have the requisite licence for the types of mobile cranes they drive.

Tip says some of the bigger cranes are not permitted to cross bridges.

Council bylaws and regulations must be followed and traffic flows considered by travelling at night or off-peak.

Operator shortage Tip says the industry needs more crane drivers. It attracts overseas workers. Many landed in Christchurch to work on the earthquake recovery.

His firm recently added a female worker, who has worked with heavy machinery, to the four-man Queenstown team.

Crane operators don’t need school qualifications, but receive training to certification level once in the industry.

“Anybody can walk off the street and work as a crane operator as long as they have initiative and a good dose of common sense,” says Tip. He got his start after his parents booted him out of his hometown in the Hokianga in the Far North.

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 35

CONTRACTOR

CAREER PROFILE

Every crane has its own qualification, ranging from the truck loader or knucklebone crane (Hiabs) to spider, overhead gantry, tower, mobile, crawler, mini crawler and non-slewing (pick and carry) cranes.

36 www.contractormag.co.nz

“I was bored and mixing with the wrong crowd,” he says.

At the age of 21 he landed in Queenstown where he would later marry Linsey and have two children.

He secured a job at building supplies merchant Carters where stacking timber with Hiabs gave him a taste of crane work.

After gaining his Hiab certificate he worked casually for Smith Cranes before fulltime employment in 2007. Three years later his boss, Tim Smith, made him area manager.

Smith Cranes, one of the country’s larger operators, has its own training programme and accredited assessors who meet the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) crane certification criteria.

Other crane companies also do training and there are specialist training schools that are NZQA accredited and compliant with the Department of Labour’s WorkSafe

NZ standards.

WorkSafe NZ publishes an approved Code of Practice for crane design, manufacture, supply, safe operation, maintenance and inspection.

All aspects are covered in six months of learning and practical experience. Crane operators must also keep a comprehensive log of every activity during the period before being tested over three days. Their log is also reassessed to make sure everything has been done properly.

Every crane has its own qualification, ranging from the truck loader or knucklebone crane (Hiabs) to spider, overhead gantry, tower, mobile, crawler, mini crawler and nonslewing (pick and carry) cranes.

There are also dogman and rigger courses.

The dogman slings loads and directs the lifting and placing operations of a crane while the riggers organise the heavy lifting and

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DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 37

CONTRACTOR

CAREER PROFILE

“There are high risks that go with the job.

“It can be terrible operating cranes in high winds, but safety is paramount and you have to be precise.”

38 www.contractormag.co.nz

moving of large objects.

“Most crane operators do dogman and rigger work as you have to do both courses for mobile crane qualifications,” Tip says.

Depending on the type of crane operation a certificate can cost from $600 to $1500. The starting level is usually with a class 2-class 4 drivers’ licence.

“When I started out you didn’t need a ticket to drive a Hiab but today you run the risk of being personally liable if you cause an accident without it,” Tip says.

He considers crane driving the reward for the hard graft of digging and carting blocks and moving other heavy objects.

Naturally, the job requires a good level of fitness, not being afraid of heights and sound knowledge of cranes. All employees are drug tested before and during the job and workers at Smith Cranes must have a Site Safe passport.

A crane operator earns $18 to $35 an hour for working on small machines to $60 to $70 an hour for the larger cranes, according to the Crane Association of New Zealand’s 2016 rates.

With two staff and a crane on the Remarkables site plus three cranes in the town working on the Juicy Hotel construction and the ‘I Fly’ wind turbine that simulates

flying, Tip and his team are busy.

“We mix it up to give staff variety,” he says.

Commercial buildings make up the bulk of the work, especially placing pre-cast concrete slabs, but there is also piling and foundation work, precast concrete civil works, earthquake recovery and ports services.

More unusual jobs Tip’s team have done include rescuing a bus off the side of the Remarkables after its brakes failed, removing a Cessna plane from the airport after it caught fire, and relocating a house in Cromwell.

They also had to remove a septic tank off a body after an accident, a job that required staff counselling from the fire service.

Tip thanks his lucky stars that he has never toppled a crane, although he knows a crane driver who did and nearly lost his life.

“There are high risks that go with the job.

“It can be terrible operating cranes in high winds, but safety is paramount and you have to be precise.”

He wouldn’t trade his job for the world, but has an interesting antidote for hard work.

When not in a hard hat, or steel-capped boots, he is an extra actor at Queenstown model and talent agency, ICAN. And he’s pretty chuffed about two lucrative advertising gigs he landed.

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CONTRACTOR

TECHNOLOGY

Recent trials test road markings After a lot of research, newly developed road marker products are lasting longer on road pavement surfaces laid by roading contractors in this country. Richard Silcock explains.

IN A THREE-YEAR research project that originally started back in 2010, the NZ Transport Agency has been testing a range of products used for marking road centre lines, directional arrows and compulsory stop lines etc.

The research has shown that a number of newly developed road marker products, which were provided by various manufacturers and suppliers for the research project, are performing well and are generally lasting longer on the predominate types of road pavement surfaces laid by roading contractors in this country.

A 150-metre stretch of road at Silverstream in the Hutt Valley, north of Wellington was originally selected as the field trial site and horizontal strips or lines of the various types of road marking products under review were applied to the pavement to test their durability, longevity, visibility and composition. However, due to some misunderstanding the test area was resurfaced by the local council midway through the three-year trial period.

In November 2013 the trial was resurrected, this time on a section of SH1 south of Te Horo on the Kapiti Coast as well as 40 www.contractormag.co.nz

at the previous site at Silverstream.

For this ‘second’ trial five different manufacturers and suppliers provided 68 road marking products ranging from paint to adhesive tape, all of which had to comply with the internationally approved road marking colour palette of yellow and white.

Each product was applied on two different types of road surface for this trial, asphaltic concrete at Silverstream and chip-seal at Te Horo. Trialling of the products on two different road surfaces was seen as important as it helps to ascertain how each product performs on each surface.

Four test strips of each product were applied to the road surface, two on a ‘virgin’ road surface and two over markings that had been applied several months earlier to ascertain if this increased the longevity and visibility of the markings.

Each of the product strips was placed across the width of a traffic lane to ensure maximum vehicle crossings and to accelerate the testing and wearing process so that the trial results could be ascertained sooner.

The research and technical work for the project was

carried out for the Transport Agency by the Opus Research laboratory in Petone, which set up the trial sites and carried out the field inspections and subsequent analysis.

Each strip was checked after 24 hours of the products being laid, and then after 500,000 vehicles had passed over them, after one million vehicles, and again in October 2014 when it was calculated 1.5 million vehicles would have passed over with most of the research analysis taking place at the same time.

The marker strips showing the best results earlier in the trial period were again inspected in September last year after an estimated five million vehicles would have passed over.

The products were all laid at the same time so that the performance of each could be compared following their exposure under equal conditions and checked against the trial criteria of skid resistance, visibility in both daylight and at night, wear from vehicle tyres, and deterioration from weather, colour fading or darkening.

“This research has enabled us to see how safe, visible and durable each of the 68 products performed over a period of time, under differing weather conditions, on differing pavement surfaces and traffic counts,” a Transport Agency spokesperson said.

“We carried out this research as the road marking products are just as important as the reason for the road markings themselves. The product has to be bright enough to be seen in the daylight and at night in both wet or dry weather

conditions and be sufficiently durable to withstand high traffic pass-over volumes over a reasonable period.”

As a result of this trail a 3M product was found to be the best overall in meeting the performance criteria and was shown to be the most easily applied, was durable and resistant to skid and showed good visibility over the trial period.

“We carried out this research as the road marking products are just as important as the reason for the road markings themselves.”

The trials also found that product applied over the top of existing road markings increased its longevity and visibility.

The Transport Agency last carried out similar research some 10-15 years ago prior to this trial and is pleased that the newer products are lasting longer even with the increase in traffic volumes.

The agency maintains a list of specifications for road marking products along with a list of products that have been trialled successfully under New Zealand conditions and are approved for use on the state highway network as of August 2017.

The trials were funded by the product manufacturers and suppliers.

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42 www.contractormag.co.nz

TECHNOLOGY

CONTRACTOR

What full automation can do for asphalt plants Imagine a future where asphalt pavement production is entirely automated. By James Careless.

CONJURE UP self-driving trucks hauling raw materials to a fully-automated asphalt plant; unloading them in sensor-monitored, weight measurement holding areas. Think of the materials and fluids stored in these areas being constantly monitored by sensors tracking their humidity, temperatures, and other vital characteristics; with all this data being fed into and analysed by the plant’s asphalt mixing control software in real-time.

When it is time to make asphalt – as called up by an operator from a set of mix formulas on file – the appropriate ingredients are conveyed into the mixer, including RAP (Recycled Asphalt Pavement) and RAS (Recycled Asphalt Shingles). Everything is mixed precisely, with the control system constantly keeping the asphalt mix at the most optimum temperature.

Once ready, the mixed asphalt is loaded into more self-driving trucks – each with their customer and destination logged into their onboard computers – and sent down the road to job sites, for automated transfers into asphalt paving equipment.

Futuristic? Definitely. But with the exception of self-driving trucks, the degree of automation sophistication outlined above is not far from being within the asphalt pavement industry’s grasp. The current state of hardware and software in modern asphalt plants could elevate their process control to this level.

“You can automate just about everything,”

says Peter Ensch, CEO of WEM Automation in Milwauke, USA, a maker of automation-control systems for the asphalt industry. “It really depends on how far you want to go.”

This said, “I have never seen a ‘fully automated’ plant,” notes Malcolm Swanson.

He is president of Astec, a maker of fullyautomated portable and stationary asphalt plants. “I have seen extensively automated plants, which are about 70 percent automated,” he explains.

“But 100 percent automation is probably possible.”

One thing appears certain: “In the past five years, all of the major manufacturers that build asphalt plant automation systems have moved towards an extensive automation model,” says Terry Young, president of the asphalt industry consulting firm T2ASCO. “That’s how much progress has been made in marrying modern information technology to asphalt plant management.”

This said, many asphalt pavement plants are still using relay-based, push button manual control systems that require realtime human intervention at all times. This is because “most asphalt plants are fairly simple to operate”, says Malcolm. “They do not have the driving need for automation that an electrical power plant does, where a human operator couldn’t stay on top of their job without the support of automated systems.

“Blending of materials such as aggregates, asphalt, RAP, and RAS is about the only thing

When it is time to make asphalt – as called up by an operator from a set of mix formulas on file – the appropriate ingredients are conveyed into the mixer, including RAP (Recycled Asphalt Pavement) and RAS (Recycled Asphalt Shingles).

Everything is mixed precisely, with the control system constantly keeping the asphalt mix at the most optimum temperature.

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 43

CONTRACTOR

TECHNOLOGY

“In the past five years, all of the major manufacturers that build asphalt plant automation systems have moved towards an extensive automation model,” says Terry Young, president of the asphalt industry consulting firm T2ASCO. “That’s how much progress has been made in marrying modern information technology to asphalt plant management.”

44 www.contractormag.co.nz

an asphalt plant does that must necessarily be automated,” he adds. “For that reason, that is the only automation that many plants have.

Most of the other equipment and processes have either remote manual control or single loop automation rather than integrated automation.”

The benefits of full automation Even though it can be costly to fully automate a ‘mainly manual’ asphalt plant, the results justify the cost. “There is a good return on investment due to improvements in throughput and quality,” says Peter Ensch.

This is because a fully automated plant requires far fewer employees to create consistent hot mix and warm mix asphalt products.

“We have customers who are operating fully-automated asphalt plants with three people,” Peter says. “They are able to do everything they need to do with this level of staffing.”

For instance, full automation allows human operators to specify which asphalt mixes they want made; using the plant’s computercontrolled systems to get the recipe right every time. “Full automation also checks to make sure all required motors are operating properly, all feed ingredients are flowing properly, and can even start motors that need to be started that the operator has forgotten, or can warn or even shut down the operation if certain upset conditions occur,” says Terry Young. “Full automation can also track and trend historical data to help diagnose plant and mix problems.”

Automation can save money by “minimising out-of-tolerance mixes between mix changes”, Terry adds. “As well, it reduces the ramp-up/ ramp-down times of production and heating

equipment; cutting energy consumption while improving the quality and consistency of mixes.”

The possibilities for automating an asphalt plant also include elements that don’t directly affect the mix, but do have an impact on the bottom line. For instance, putting bar codes or RFID (radio frequency identification) tags on incoming trucks, their site access can be managed by machine-based scanning systems that control inventory receipt and management, for instance; no human input required.

“Even plant safety systems can be improved using automation; for instance, by using sonar sensors to detect the location of trucks under a bank of silos ensures mix cannot be dropped anywhere but in the truck box,” says Gerry Huber. He is associate director of research at the Heritage Research Group, which works with asphalt plants owned by the Heritage Group in Indianapolis.

Looking ahead Astec’s Malcolm Swanson is impressed by the current station of asphalt plant automation.

But as he noted earlier, much, much more can be done.

A case in point is the moisture levels of outdoor-stored aggregates and RAP, which affect the quality of an asphalt mix. Currently, most plants take occasional moisture readings on individual feeder belts before injecting liquid asphalt into a belt, then use these captured values as if they were constants in formulating that specific mix.

“The real moisture contents of the materials are constantly changing throughout the day due to a number of different causes,” says Malcolm. “If we can set up real-time belt sensors to monitor aggregate/RAP moisture

levels during conveyance, such data will eliminate the moisture-related variations that force every contractor on the planet to inject a little more liquid asphalt than is called for in the specification just to be sure he is never out of spec, due to injecting too little asphalt.”

Similar automation-based solutions could keep up with the variable liquid asphalt content of RAP, he adds, and adjusting burner

fire rates based on real-time temperatures to reduce energy usage.

These are just some of the present and future benefits of extensive automation for asphalt plants. Collectively, they are revolutionising the very nature of asphalt production – and paving the way towards asphalt plants achieving full automation in the foreseeable future.

Based in Chattanooga Tennessee, Astec, Inc is a manufacturer of continuous and batch-process hot-mix asphalt plants and a world leader in the production of both warm mix and hot mix asphalt equipment technology.

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CONTRACTOR

HISTORY

CHRISTCHURCH Top: Aerial view showing the aircraft hard stand apron area in front of the new terminal building and the resurfaced taxiway in the foreground.

(Photo: CIAL) Right: A South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand (SPANZ), DC-3 ‘Viewmaster’ in front of the terminal shortly after the introduction of this airline’s scheduled services, in December 1960. (Photo: Geosmart Limited)

46 www.contractormag.co.nz

INTERNATIONAL an ongoing story Since its inception in 1936, Christchurch International Airport has been an unfinished project in terms of ongoing development. Richard Silcock traces the history and recent expansion of this piece of regional infrastructure – our second busiest airport.

DURING THE EARLY to mid-1930s, with the increasing interest in aviation by the public, government and many local authorities some 30 grass surface landing ground sites around the country were approved by government for development and the Public Works Department (PWD) – the forerunner of the Ministry of Works – was requested to undertake the planning and physical work for their construction.

Christchurch City Council (CCC) recognised the benefits of establishing an aerodrome near the city to provide for the rapidly growing number of small airlines that were operating both a mail and a restricted passenger service around the country.

Following consideration of two possible sites (the other being New Brighton), Harewood was chosen as the best location for an aerodrome due to the “stony robust ground”. In 1936, 227 hectares of land was purchased by the council for £3000 despite, according to a Christchurch Press report, some local residents voicing their concerns over the potential for

noise from “planes zooming overhead”.

The 915-metre grass strip, designed and constructed by PWD along with a basic small wooden terminal building was used by commercial operators flying routes to the West Coast and around the South Island.

At the official opening (the airport was not officially opened until May 1940), it was stated the earthworks and the levelling of ground had cost two shillings and six pence per yard and a total cost of £20,000.

The Press reported: “Harewood is now a key aerodrome for New Zealand … it has allowed Christchurch to be well connected to the rest of the country.”

With the advent of WW2 the aerodrome was largely taken over and used by the RNZAF as a training base and a number of camouflaged additional buildings including hangars, control tower and accommodation barracks were built.

Following the end of the war and the closure of the air force base a further 260 hectares of land was purchased and in addition to the grass runway, two stabilised metalled, DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 47

CONTRACTOR

HISTORY

Aerial photo showing the cross directional runway construction in progress, September 1950.

(Photo: VC Browne & Son) Right: An aerial view of runway extension formation work in June 1983. (Photo: Christchurch Star) Far right: Sir Robert Muldoon (Prime Minister) operates a giant light switch to officially open the runway extension in July 1984.

(Photo: Christchurch Star)

cross-directional runways along with parallel taxiways were constructed in late 1949/early 50s by the Ministry of Works (MoW). Most of the earthworks were done using MoW designed earth-scrapers hauled by dozers with the excavation varying in depth to a maximum of 900mm. Pitrun filling was laid in layers and compacted by rollers with fivepercent Halswell loess being added to the top layer. British Pavements laid the topcourse and chip sealing. The main runway was 2012 metres in length and the other 1737 metres to enable larger aircraft such as DC6s to land.

By the early 1950s it became the first designated ‘international airport’ in New Zealand with flights to Australia.

A wooden hangar was converted into a terminal for passenger processing and lighting installed along the runways.

In 1956 the airport was renamed Christchurch International Airport with all reference to Harewood Aerodrome discontinued.

The 1950s also saw the airport gain international exposure as the host for the ‘Great London to Christchurch Air Race’ 48 www.contractormag.co.nz

which was won by an RAF Canberra jet in just-under 24 hours, and as the base for the United States Antarctic Operations.

With the increase in passengers a 6000 square metre ‘permanent’ terminal was constructed in 1957-60 by Fletcher Construction. The main runway was further extended in 1963 to 2442 metres and the apron enlarged by Isaac Construction to allow for commercial turbo-prop and jet aircraft to operate, with Qantas being the first airline to operate a 707 jet service to Sydney in 1965.

The runway extension had a 630mm pitrun sub-base and a chip-seal pavement depth of 930mm. Several years later the entire runway was resealed with hot-mix asphalt by British Pavements.

A dedicated international arrivals and departures hall was added to the terminal in 1966 and NAC (the governmentowned domestic airline which later merged with Air New Zealand) began the first Boeing 737 flights out of the airport in 1968.

Above: Christchurch International Airport after a heavy snowfall in 2012. The cross directional runways can be seen in the middle distance. (Photo: CIAL)

Below: Fulton Hogan works on resurfacing one of the runways.

Maintenance and resurfacing of runways is done at night to avoid disruption to air services.

(Photo: CIAL)

The main runway and taxiway was completely restrengthened and resealed in 1973 by Fulton Hogan and British Pavements to allow for ‘heavy’ Boeing 747 ‘jumbo jet’ and DC10 aircraft.

Further extensions to the terminal were completed in 1975 and in 1979 Air New Zealand constructed a large hangar and engine testing complex for servicing its fleet. By 1980 five international airlines were operating into and out of the airport.

The main runway was again further extended in 1984, providing a total length of 3288 metres which allowed airlines to operate direct B747 services to Los Angeles via Hawaii, Singapore, Bangkok and on to London.

The contract for the earthworks included the filling in of a large rubbish dump with river gravel, realigning and reconstructing Harewood Road to allow for the extension and creating a runway pavement depth of 950mm. Isaac Construction was awarded the contract which included asphaltic surfacing of the extension.

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 49

CONTRACTOR

HISTORY

Isaac Construction Company machinery working on the apron extensions in 1960. The nearly completed international wing of the new terminal can be seen in the background.

(Photo: Mannering & Donaldson Ltd)

Additional airlines started using Christchurch Airport in 1987-88, resulting in further extensions to the terminal and the introduction of air bridges. In April 1989 a supersonic Concorde passenger jet made a scheduled stop-over as part of a world tour.

A completely new international terminal was built in 1998 creating an additional 28,000 square metres of floor space and was again expanded in 2004 along with additional aircraft hard stands and air bridges to accommodate A340 aircraft and more recently A380s.

With Jetstar commencing services in 2005 a further expansion began in early 2006 with the construction of a multi-storey car park, a new 45-metre high cone-shaped control tower and a new $20 million regional passenger lounge.

A massive project commenced in 2009 on replacing the old domestic terminal, expanding the international terminal and integrating both into a single building with state-of-theart technology and many more service facilities. The whole project was managed by Coffey’s and the building constructed

by Hawkins and Mainzeal.

In addition, a new taxiway was incorporated into the aircraft parking apron to allow for more efficient movement of aircraft.

Isaac Construction was again involved in the aircraft apron.

Works included 80,000 square metres of new and resurfaced pavement, installing a new stormwater drainage system and the fabrication and construction of a 300-metre steelframed covered pedestrian walkway, along with lighting and communication cabling.

This redevelopment took three and a half years to complete at a cost of $237 million. It was officially opened in April 2013 and has subsequently won a number of industry awards.

Since 2002 Fulton Hogan has been involved with tarmac maintenance and resurfacing and in some areas has been 50 www.contractormag.co.nz

applying the pavement sealer Gilsonite (hydrocarbon bitumen) which has proven to be effective against harsh weather conditions such as extreme temperatures, rain and snow and has the potential to extend pavement life by up to 15 years.

Further extension of the two runways is in the planning stage, with the potential for the main runway to be extended to 3600 metres and the other extended onto land presently occupied by the Harewood Golf Course (CIAL has already purchased this land) making it up to 2000 metres long to allow for ‘long-haul’ flights to operate fully loaded in norwesterly wind conditions.

Passenger throughput at the airport has now reached 6.57 million per annum while aircraft movements totalled just under 95,000 last year. The new integrated terminal is 77,591 square metres, while the total land area of the airport now covers almost 1000 hectares – a massive increase since the original 227 hectares purchased by the council in 1936. Over 6000 people work on the airport campus and 13 scheduled airlines regularly fly into and out of the airport, with the heaviest aircraft being the Airbus A380s (at 575 tonnes maximum take-off weight [MTOW]).

The airport terminal was relatively unscathed by the earthquakes of 2010/11 with no damaged incurred to the runways, which can be attributed to the foresight of originally choosing the Harewood site for its comparatively solid ground.

The airport is owned by CCC (75 percent) and the NZ government (25 percent) and is managed and operated by Christchurch International Airport Ltd (CIAL).

Further expansion of the airport is planned to take place by 2040.

• Credit: The writer acknowledges the assistance of CIAL, Archives NZ and the Christchurch Press in providing material for this article.

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50 years

CONTRACTOR

COMMENT

Seeking clarity on infrastructure pipeline PETER SILCOCK, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, CIVIL CONTRACTORS NEW ZEALAND

OVER THE PAST year many clients have asked CCNZ – ‘do contractors have the capacity and capability to deliver our infrastructure development programme’?

Getting clarity about the future work programme

Often the focus is on whether we have enough people because issues of staff shortages and immigration are highlighted in the media.

It is a fair question to ask. Each time our answer has been the same – if you provide good visibility of the work that you have coming up, engage with the contracting industry and have a focus on quality rather than lowest price then contractors will develop the capability and capacity to do the work.

We also like to remind people that this is not just about the people on the ground. Delivering a high quality project also requires funding and financing, it requires the right equipment, technology and machinery and the right inputs such as steel, aggregates, concrete and pipes.

Put simply, that consistency of work and a clear view of what is coming up (a pipeline of work coming to market) gives contractors the confidence to invest in people, plant, technology and equipment.

We have often said that the current surge in investment in infrastructure is simply making up for years of under investment by successive governments during the 80s, 90s and early 2000s and we have stressed the importance of avoiding a boom bust cycle.

The recently formed Labour/NZ First coalition has set itself and the industry a formidable task including building 100,000 new affordable homes in 10 years, a significant investment in regional rail and a $1 billion Regional Development Fund. These things give us confidence that this government understands the need and benefit of investing in infrastructure.

It was therefore unfortunate that one of the first infrastructure specific announcements made by the new government was that the East West link in Auckland would not proceed and that the government would “refresh” the ATAP (Auckland Transport Alignment) process.

The ATAP process has only recently been completed so why does it need a refresh?

At the same time, there are few details regarding when the new housing rail and regional development work will come to market and the second tranche of the Roads of National Significance

from large multinationals to family businesses

is important for all civil construction companies,

and to the people that they, subcontractors and service suppliers employ, train and develop. has been put on hold except for the critical Manawatu Gorge replacement.

The future pipeline of work has very quickly become murky and it looks like a significant sinkhole could open up in front of us.

CCNZ supports further investment in public transport and affordable housing but would also like to see continued investment in improving our national highways network. The reality is that the East West link was due to start next year while “refreshing the ATAP process” and getting the planning and resource consents for Auckland’s light rail projects could take years.

At the time of writing this we have asked for a meeting with ministers to discuss how we can assist the government to deliver its ambitious agenda and at the same time provide a clearer picture of the forward work programme. Including; • the infrastructure required to support the Kiwibuild programme, • the likely timing of rail developments, • how the regional development fund will be spent (eg. can it be used to upgrade or rebuild our ageing regional water infrastructure) and • quickly clarifying what capital investments will be made in our state highway network.

Given the ambitious programme we would also like to share our ideas about how we can accelerate the process to get this work to market and completed.

Getting clarity about the future work programme is important for all civil construction companies, from large multinationals to family businesses and to the people that they, subcontractors and service suppliers employ, train and develop.

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

52 www.contractormag.co.nz

CONTRACTOR

COMMENT

Innovate or stagnate ROB GAIMSTER, CEO, CONCRETE NEW ZEALAND

WE FIND OURSELVES in strange times. Construction is at almost

unprecedented levels and the ‘job sheet’ remains full for the majority.

Yet, we hear of businesses struggling, and in some instances going under. We are also in the uncertain position of waiting for policy implementation from the new government, while at the same time nervously waiting for the boom to (inevitably?) transition to bust.

Regardless of the outcome, one thing is certain – the need to ‘innovate’ remains a priority in a rapidly evolving and increasingly competitive environment, where the failure to develop answers in response to constant or emergent questions will most likely mean coming in second place.

What is innovation? Definitions abound, but in general terms ‘innovation’ can be seen as “the application of better solutions to meet new requirements or implicit needs”.

Over recent years ‘innovation’ has evolved into ‘disruptive innovation’, and is broadly interpreted as an “innovation that creates a new or disrupts an existing market and value network; displacing traditional market leading companies, products, and coalitions”.

Over recent decades the generally risk-averse construction industry has tended to adopt innovation that is more incremental than radical.

However, despite being seen as a late adopter, the construction industry can point to its recent acceptance of the Industry Transformation Agenda, a BRANZ-led project for collaborating, organising and prioritising projects to effect meaningful change as an indication of a commitment to innovation.

Similarly, the concrete industry sometimes suffers from being seen as reluctant to innovate, primarily because many consider concrete ‘old technology’. However, this is definitely not the case.

I have written on numerous occasions about concrete-based technologies that are transforming the way that buildings and infrastructure are designed and constructed.

Advances in cement and admixture technology have been dramatic over recent decades. Investment in research has led to improved manufacturing processes and additives that reduce environmental impacts and allow designers to exploit concrete.

Echoing innovations in its constituent materials, concrete itself is undergoing constant development. The umbrella term high performance concrete captures features that include higher strengths, enhanced abrasion resistance and durability, improved resistance to chemical attack, and greater ease of placement.

There are however, two concrete-based innovations that have the potential to seriously disrupt the construction and concrete industries in New Zealand and in so doing dramatically enhance productivity. These are 3D concrete printing and ductile cementitious composite.

As covered by Jia and Lendrum from Callaghan Innovation

54 www.contractormag.co.nz

at the 2017 Concrete Industry Conference in Wellington, 3D printing of concrete, also known as cementitious additive manufacturing (CAM), is advancing quickly with a range of sample structures having been constructed by academia and commercial interests.

The authors note that while the global 3D printing market is being driven by the strong demand from automotive, medical, military and aerospace sectors, construction is regarded as the next main area with the potential to embrace 3D printing.

The two most important printing technologies used in concrete construction are fused deposition modelling (FDM) and three-dimensional printing (3DP).

While there are limitations in terms of building code coverage and the need for materials development, the immediate future will see 3D concrete printing adopted for temporary structures and architectural features.

Beyond that, structural applications for 3D concrete printing will emerge, such as the ‘world’s first 3D-printed bridge’ designed and built by engineers from the Technical University of Eindhoven and construction company BAM Infra.

As seismic structural design moves beyond ‘life safety’ towards ‘building survivability’, recent innovations in damage resistant design using concrete systems, such as PREcast Seismic Structural System (PRESSS) and base isolation, are leading the way.

There is however, an exciting new seismic-resistant, fibrereinforced concrete developed at the University of British Columbia (BC) and set to pique the interest of engineers and property owners here in New Zealand.

Termed eco-friendly ductile cementitious composite (EDCC), the material is engineered at the molecular scale to be strong and ductile, enhancing the earthquake resistance of a seismically vulnerable structure when applied as a thin coating on the surfaces.

EDCC also combines cement with polymer-based fibres, flyash and other industrial additives, to enhance its sustainability credentials.

Along with being added as an official retrofit option in BC’s seismic retrofit programme focusing on schools, other EDCC applications include resilient homes, pipelines, pavements, offshore platforms, blast-resistant structures, and industrial floors.

Change is inevitable. Concrete, including its constituent materials and systems, has and continues to compete strongly with alternative building materials to design solutions that address current and anticipated requirements.

No one can predict the future, but I’m confident that the concrete industry’s growing appetite for innovation today will yield results that advance New Zealand’s built environment tomorrow.

LEGAL

CONTRACTOR

Protecting against insolvent preference claims BRETT MARTELLI, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, HEANEY & PARTNERS

MEDIA REPORTS OF massive building price spikes abound. This

can cause developers to “go under”. The insolvent transaction (preference) provisions of the Companies Act 1993 say that it is unfair for one creditor of an insolvent company to be paid in preference to all others.

Therefore, a developer’s liquidators may claim back payments by insolvent developers to the building contractors for the work the contractors carried out before liquidation. The liquidators must prove that there was a transaction (usually a payment) “by” the insolvent company which enabled the contractor to receive more in the liquidation than it would have otherwise.

This article is a refresher on how the Court of Appeal recently interpreted the insolvent transaction provisions and how building contractors might protect themselves from insolvent transaction/preference claims.

The facts In 2005, Ebert Construction Limited (Ebert) contracted with a developer named Takapuna Development Ltd (Takapuna) to build 64 apartments in Auckland. To finance the construction, Takapuna entered into a loan agreement with BOSI. On 3 November 2005, Takapuna entered into a “direct agreement” with Ebert and BOSI whereby: • On receipt of approved progress payment certificates, BOSI was required to pay the progress payment amounts to Ebert directly.

• B OSI could terminate Takapuna’s facilities, but only if it first paid any due progress payment claims to Ebert.

• Takapuna also irrevocably authorised BOSI to make advances pursuant to the loan agreement for the purpose of paying Ebert.

In April 2008, Ebert completed construction of the apartments.

In November 2008, Takapuna acknowledged that it was still

A developer’s liquidators may claim back payments by insolvent developers to the building contractors for the work the contractors carried out before liquidation. indebted to Ebert. Takapuna issued two drawdown notices on BOSI to pay Ebert whereby BOSI paid $1.063 million to Ebert.

BOSI recorded the payments as advances to Takapuna.

On 21 November 2008, Takapuna entered into liquidation and the liquidators claimed the payments under the insolvent transaction sections of the Companies Act 1993.

The High Court ordered Ebert to pay the $1.063 million to Takapuna (amongst other things) on the basis that the payments should be treated as having been made by Takapuna and therefore capable of being insolvent transactions.

Ebert appealed and the Court of Appeal held that the payment from BOSI to Takapuna was neither a transaction by Takapuna nor an insolvent transaction, cf Ebert Construction Limited v Sanson & Anor [2017] NZCA 239 [8 June 2017].

In coming to those conclusions, the court noted:

Not a transaction “by” Takapuna • A transaction’s substance is more important than its form and the substance of this transaction was that BOSI was directly liable to Ebert as principal, not just Takapuna’s agent. Significantly, the obligation was not dependent on Takapuna not being in breach of the loan agreement with BOSI. BOSI was entitled to terminate the direct agreement in certain circumstances, but it could not do so without meeting Ebert’s progress payment claims up to the date and Ebert would then have the right to terminate the construction contract unless satisfactory substitute payment arrangements were made.

• The essence of a voidable preferential payment by Takapuna would be that the funds (or asset conveyed) came from resources available to Takapuna to pay its general creditors. Critically, BOSI was obliged to make these payments to Ebert and its facility could not have been used by Takapuna to make payments to any other person. Therefore, it would be artificial and inconsistent (for the purposes of section 292) to treat the payments as having been made by Takapuna.

Not an insolvent transaction • To be an insolvent transaction, the payments must have enabled Ebert to receive more towards satisfaction of a debt owed by Takapuna than Ebert would receive, or would be likely to receive, in Takapuna’s liquidation.

• Again, the court noted that because of BOSI’s direct contractual obligation to pay the progress payment to Ebert, this would never be the case. This was because Ebert was always entitled to seek to recover against BOSI whether before or after liquidation. That was the principal benefit to Ebert of the direct agreement.

Conclusion Contractors will be pleased with the Court of Appeal’s decision. However, the same result may not necessarily apply to all direct payment agreements. Had the direct agreement not created an obligation on BOSI, the payment would have been voidable by the liquidator.

Contractors should analyse the substance of any direct payment agreements to ensure that they contain the same key features as the agreement in this case – the third party is under “a direct liability” to the contractor.

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 55

CONTRACTOR

COMMENT

The road to success is paved by upskilling your team ROD AUTON, EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CRANE ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND

UPSKILLING HAS many advantages, from improving team

member motivation to saving the company money – and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Allow them to develop their own career path and then offer them time and resources to help them achieve their goals. You can offer them training pretty much anywhere from classroom to online learning, to virtual learning or even on their smartphone.

Why upskilling should be your focus and the specific benefits you will reap from upskilling your team: • Team members who are challenged to develop and grow are often the happiest ones at an organisation. By investing in your team, you are making a solid investment in morale and productivity, and team members who are challenged to grow outside their role tend to get a bit excited about what may be around the corner for them.

• I f you have happy employees, you are far more likely to have happy customers. Content team members are typically more invested in the company and will promote

56 www.contractormag.co.nz

the corporate brand within the organisation and to your customers. Typically, happy customers tend to be loyal customers.

• Loss of staff impacts on your bottom line, not only because you have to replace them but because as they walk out the door, they take all of their knowledge and experience with them.

The creation of robust upskilling in your organisation requires a strategic plan that will help you to gain buy-in from your management team as well as the team members themselves.

Include in your strategy a Personal Development Plan that includes competencies that the team member wants to improve on and skills they want to gain. Empowering your employees, to come up with their own plan is the key to the success of the upskilling programme. Allocate time for your team member to upskill, allow them to leave early to attend class or provide time and a quiet space to take the class online.

The first step could be, that a team member may have on his/her NZQA Record of Learning a number of unit standards across a broad range of subjects. By mapping their current learning against New Zealand qualifications, your team member may already have a New Zealand Certificate or may have to complete one or two unit standards to achieve the New Zealand Certificate. Then begin by assessing the gaps in your current employee’s knowledge because a unit standard is the minimum training required, and your business can only benefit from training to full qualifications.

You may be looking at the expense of upskilling training and decide it is not worth the investment. It doesn’t have to cause a tremendous financial setback. You can upskill team members through ITO incentive programmes or on-the-job training from competent supervisors. There are many options that reduce costs like online learning content, virtual reality simulator training, microlearning (short web-based training modules that cover a topic in five to 10 minutes), ‘Lunch and Learns’ (lunchtime training sessions with a complimentary meal or brown bag bring your own session).

Finally, use other team members as mentors or subject matter experts (SMEs). This allows the mentors or SMEs to develop their leadership skills as they pass on their knowledge to others. The SMEs can apply practical, real-life scenarios to difficult processes to enhance the learning. You can also utilise the SMEs to develop your microlearning programmes.

By taking the time to invest in upskilling your team, you will find that you are developing loyalty and they will stay with you and help your organisation to grow and thrive.

The road to success is by upskilling your team.

COMMENT

CONTRACTOR

Executives share their best career progression advice NICK DELIGIANNIS, HAYS RECRUITING

YOU’RE AMBITIOUS, talented and possess top technical

and soft skills. But that’s not enough to progress your career. While it seems almost everyone has an opinion on how to best work your way to the top, it’s those who have succeeded in doing so who are perhaps best qualified to give advice.

That’s why we asked six executives from Airtasker, Mirvac and Vista Group, amongst others, for their best career progression advice. Here we share their insights, based on their own personal experiences.

Find a sponsor There was clear agreement between these executives that you need to find a sponsor. Siobhan O’Toole, founder, scale up expert and career mentor said, “You need to find someone who’s going to give you air coverage, someone who’s actually going to talk about your achievements and roll them up to the higher level.”

Mahesh Muralidhar, head of people operations at Airtasker, agrees, adding that you must be open. “Trust that people want to help you,” he says. “The people around you are usually more successful if you’re successful.”

Know the share price Siobhan also mentioned that it’s important not to silo yourself. “Success is in the intersection of capability,” she says. “You can’t just be a specialist in one area.” So develop your commercial acumen, get to know the broader business, including its objectives and the role other departments play in achieving those objectives, and understand what impacts the organisation’s share price.

Build key relationships internally and externally Swati Singh, general manager technology at Mirvac, adds that the right relationships help you progress. “In today’s environment you’re not just working with people within your organisation,” she says. Swati advises you to build relationships with your team, key stakeholders outside your own department and externally within the wider business sector.

Be a good mentee Mahesh says a mentee must know exactly what they’re looking for in a mentor, since the latter provides their time and guidance. “A mentee should be clear about the questions they want answered and understand what exactly they’re looking to get from a mentor. It’s not just a broad relationship. Be clear about the support you’re looking for.”

Treat others with respect Evan Bateup, chief people officer at Vista Group, says the people you work with have a huge influence on your career progression too. “Treat people with respect, from the receptionist to the CEO.” He also advises you to always be yourself so that you represent your true personal brand.

Plan your progression Of course, you can’t get to where you want to be without a considered plan in place. Aurelie Le Gall, business director at Hays says, “Focus on one task at a time and set yourself some objectives with a specific timeline so you get it done.”

Erin McLoughlin, head of HR at Hays, expands further by suggesting you ask your manager or mentor what you can do to develop. “Be really open and consider what you can do to put practical steps in place to take action.”

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DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 57

CONTRACTOR

COMMENT

Does the industry need to be more tech savvy?

ROB STUMMER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, IFS NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA

IN TALKING TO construction companies about technology,

they often tell us how keen they are to attract millennials and improve the technology engagement of their workforces.

That was one of the big takeaways from a recent construction industry roundtable we hosted in Sydney.

Attendees told us that by finding technology champions, including millennials, they can influence technologyresistant “dinosaurs” and drive adoption of new systems.

Attracting millennials is a great idea, with new technology set to change the face of construction as we know it. Roundtable participants told us, for example, that they expect traditional “man and machine” jobs will soon start being replaced by robots and other advanced technologies.

In this changing environment, the industry needs new skills and talent. Companies stand to benefit enormously from the energy and innovation younger workers can bring.

But what’s the best way to attract them? And is it really the answer to construction companies’ technology issues?

Generational change by itself will not transform the construction industry, but it should certainly be encouraged.

Five constraining factors IFS sees five information technology related factors constraining Australian and New Zealand construction businesses in their performance and ability to innovate.

Poor visibility of project performance, lack of onsite data collection, double handling of information, delayed project actuals and forecasts, and inefficient management of people, safety and compliance are all holding companies back.

Most companies could improve their competitiveness right now with modern, integrated enterprise software providing a single, centralised system to connect business, people and processes. This would address the main IT issues constraining their businesses and also set them up to adopt disruptive technologies.

Hiring more tech-savvy workers, however, is not enough in itself to drive the changes construction companies need. Some degree of digital transformation will be required, both to attract the millennials that construction companies are looking for, and to stay competitive.

Promoting new technology Construction companies at the roundtable told us that their IT teams needed to get more creative with enabling technology to better attract and retain talent. This meant taking on board the latest in consumer technology and applying it to the business.

A few companies described how they were promoting the use of new technology. They found it relatively easy to put shiny new devices in the hands of their field staff, for example. One firm had purchased Microsoft Surface Pros to give staff access to information in real time and take photos on site.

But companies said they often struggled to drive adoption of new business systems. They found it difficult, for example, to replace the Excel spreadsheets that are used across the industry to manage people, safety and compliance. These make onboarding of staff costly 58 www.contractormag.co.nz

and cumbersome and result in business bottlenecks that negatively affect projects.

Overcoming resistance to change Senior employees were often resistant to more efficient enterprise systems, with the mentality, “If it works, why change it?” But spreadsheet solutions are not working. One of our Australian customers has seen average staff onboarding costs fall from nearly $1000 to under $100 with an enterprise workforce management solution, with significant improvements in staff retention rates.

Firms cannot assume that if something is good for the company, that staff will automatically embrace it. One of the companies at the roundtable was looking at smart ID tags and perimeter tracking to monitor staff time and attendance and identify new people on-site for induction. Privacy issues, however, quickly put a stop to that.

By the end of the roundtable, participants agreed that strong leadership was required to drive top-down change to adopt the modern business technology that millennials and other tech-savvy workers are looking for to make their working lives easier.

Providing a good user experience Support for the latest mobile devices is only the start. You also need enterprise software that provides a good user experience – not just access to a bunch of Excel spreadsheets – to make everyday tasks easier. Without that, tech-savvy

workers will only get frustrated and disheartened and companies will still lack the real-time data and efficiencies they need.

In the construction industry, the key to success appears to be starting with modern enterprise solutions that offer benefits to companies and their staff, and building up from there.

Another local customer, for example, has implemented an IFS enterprise solution to increase visibility and control over project costs and revenues. As a result the company has increased efficiencies in managing contracts, subcontractors, purchasing and materials, and can deliver better services to its customers.

A range of improvements – including consistent processes, a modern user interface and a single repository for all information – has streamlined many everyday tasks. Staff including quantity surveyors and site managers report significant time savings accompanied by benefits to staff morale and team dynamics.

Organisations like this have no difficulty attracting millennials to come and work for them. These younger workers thrive in an environment where a combination of enabling technology and staff empowerment leads to constant improvements in how things are done.

Generational change by itself will not transform the construction industry, but it should certainly be encouraged.

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 59

CONTRACTOR

CLASSIC MACHINES CL

M

A

ASSIC

C H I N E S

The Tournacranes While a great many of Le Tourneau’s inventions were designed for earthmoving purposes, some of his creations had very practical applications elsewhere. By Richard Campbell.

Above: LeTourneau Model B Tournacrane of the US Army Air Force lifts a Consolidated B24D Liberator bomber at Patterson Field, Dayton, Ohio, August 1942.

This is a load of some 35 tons. The US Air Force and US Navy were very quick to realise the usefulness of Tournacranes and purchased many over the years.

Note that this is a leversteered Tournapull and not one of the electric-control variety.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

THERE IS A very old saying: “Necessity is the mother of invention.”

This is particularly relevant when describing the development of the Le Tourneau Tournacranes and their evolution.

Le Tourneau designed and built his first proper crane around 1933-1934 in direct response to a need in constructing his new manufacturing shop buildings. It was fabricated from box and channel section steel welded together (of course) and had a nominal capacity of around 10 tons at close radius.

Riding on steel wheels, the crane was operated by cable control from the back of a track type tractor to which it was attached. It was highly effective and despite being a ‘trailertype’ crane, was very manoeuvrable. The word was not long in getting around about this useful crane and soon orders began to roll in from customers who also wanted one.

At the time, almost all cranes were based on a rigid crawler frame and had very slow walking speeds. It was also recommended that they not travel with a suspended load.

Never slow in picking up on an opportunity, Le Tourneau refined his design a little and began manufacturing the cranes for sale.

Equipped with either steel or Le Tourneau’s

60 www.contractormag.co.nz

newly developed low pressure pneumatic rubber tyres, the cranes sold in great numbers and gained a reputation for their strength and reliability.

The crane could be used on rough ground without surface preparation and could travel with a load suspended.

Towed Tournacranes were soon available for use behind Caterpillar tractors from D4 to D8 size. The towed Tournacrane was eventually phased out in 1953.

With the introduction of LeTourneau’s revolutionary Tournapull in 1937, this opened up a whole new opportunity for crane development and sales. One of the added beauties of these cranes was they could traverse ground where a standard truck-mounted or crawler crane just couldn’t go, and could do it with a suspended load to boot.

Tournacranes were offered for sale to suit all of the new Tournapulls – Model A, Model B, Model C and the Super C. These new cranes were fabricated from welded tubular steel and operated from the Tournapull’s own PCU with lifting capacities ranging from 10 to 30 tons.

Even the military were interested in the new self-propelled Tournacranes, realising correctly, their great potential. The United States Army

1. Attached to the back of a 4G series Cat D4, a standard 20-foot Tournacrane lowers stormwater pipe at the Phoenix, Arizona airport in 1946. The crane had a maximum lift of 10 tons at short radius which is not bad at all for a Cat D4 and considerably better than many dedicated crawler cranes of the period.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

2. Hugh Dryden stands proudly in front of his new Model C Roadster Tournapull with Model C Tournacrane. This machine was used to move eight and 10 ton concrete blocks from the casting yard to the breakwater at Wellington Airport during its construction 1953-1959. This is a relatively light load for the Tournacrane, which had a maximum capacity lift of 20 tons. It is the only known Tournapull/Tournacrane combination to be imported into New Zealand.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

3.T he ex-Dryden Tournacrane at Rob Marsh’s yard at Whitford, Auckland in 1981. It still wears the lettering of its last owner, JR Williamson, on the boom.

Rob Marsh rescued this machine from a yard in Penrose where it had languished for years and nursed it back to operation.

It eventually went to New Plymouth. Where is it now?

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 61

CONTRACTOR

CLASSIC MACHINES

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1. A US Navy B-70 Tournapull and MB-1A Tournacrane combination. A very impressive looking beast, the unit was powered by a GM 12V-71 diesel and had an Allison powershift transmission.

Rated capacity of this machine was 40 tons.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

2. Babcock & Wilcox, well known boilermakers and engineers, used this Model C Tournacrane as a yard crane in their manufacturing facility.

The later Model C Tournacrane had a lift capacity of 25 tons at close radius and was powered by a GM 8V-71 diesel engine.

This unit is one of several that the company owned.

Photo dates from 1966.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

3. Even at full extension this Model B Tournacrane is still capable of lifting over 25 tons.

This is due to the distance between the pivot point (rear wheels) and the front of the tractor unit where there is considerable weight. The machine is also capable of trundling along with a load in this configuration, and over uneven ground. Very impressive capabilities i ndeed.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

62 www.contractormag.co.nz

Air Force (USAAF) ordered several Model B Tournacranes for use at large bomber bases where they were employed as crash removal machines, being able to clear a runway much faster than by current means of the day. As an example, a Model B Tournacrane could lift a B-24 Liberator bomber no problem at all and trundle off with it to the base’s repair facility (or scrap pile).

A special crane was developed for the airtransportable Model D Tournapull which was designed for the US Army in 1944. This crane had a lift capacity of five tons and, following the end of WWII, was continued in production for the civil version of the machine, however very few were actually built.

Following the War, the new generation of electrically controlled Tournapulls began to appear. These added a whole new dimension to the Tournacrane by introducing one of the very first modular concepts for construction equipment.

To expand on this modular concept, we have to take a look at how the post-1946 Tournapull tractors were designed.

The Tournapull itself was a self-contained tractor unit to which trailing devices could be attached. All one had to do was choose the trailed item to be mated to the Tournapull, insert and tighten up four large bolts and plug in the electrical harness cable and brake air line. It was as easy as that.

Average switch-over time from one trailed item to another was around two hours, with the correct blocking equipment and tools.

This allowed the contractor great flexibility in the use of his machine as one Tournapull could fulfil the roles of motor scraper, rear dumper, flat bed trailer or crane without the contractor having to purchase four separate, dedicated machines.

It was an idea years ahead of its time.

All four new Tournapulls, Model A, B, C and D had their own crane attachment. This was a great time for LeTourneau as it had a pretty captive market for off-highway cranes as no other manufacturer’s offerings came close to the Tournacrane’s capabilities.

One of the added benefits of electric operation was a more precise control over the crane’s functions than was previously possible with a PCU. If the former model cable control unit’s brake bands were a little worn, this could (and did) result in the suspended load shifting downwards by gravity at inopportune moments.

The multi-disc brake units on the new Tournatorque electric motors eliminated this scenario entirely. In fact, the only way the load could be lowered was by the operator flicking the switch or if the cable broke!

In 1953, LeTourneau sold his company to Westinghouse Air Brake Co. Production of the Tournacrane attachments continued under the new regime, the only difference being the company logo, which now read “LeTourneauWestinghouse”. This would later be changed in the mid-1960s to the more simplified “Wabco”.

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Due to the excellent design and performance of the cranes, Westinghouse made very few adjustments to the line over the years. However, the 1960s saw an upsurge in the number of crane manufacturers building off-highway type cranes. The likes of Austin-Western, Pettibone and Grove all introduced rough terrain cranes during this time period and these would be later followed by other manufacturers.

This had a direct impact on LeTourneauWestinghouse’s sales and demand for the Tournacranes began to decline.

The electric control Tournacrane was officially removed from production during 1967 when Wabco introduced its new 200 and 300 series scraper tractors. These were hydraulically operated, and due to the design of their gooseneck, would not accept interchangeable attachments. The era of the Tournacrane had come to an end – but not quite.

Wabco had one last go at creating a mobile crane out of a Model 222G tractor unit equipped with an all new crane. Only a handful of these were built before the idea was put to rest.

The New Zealand connection One example of a Model C Tournacrane is known to have been imported into New Zealand. This was originally sold to Dryden Construction of Auckland and used at Wellington Airport to move concrete blocks and tetrapods from the concrete casting yard to the travelling crane which placed them along the breakwater.

This was sent back to Auckland after assignment and was eventually sold on to JR Williamson. It languished for many years in a yard in Penrose before being bought by Rob Marsh who restored it back to life and sent it to work in New Plymouth.

Its ultimate fate is unknown. Anybody out there fill in the blanks?

For the model collector Not one example of a model Tournacrane exists in any scale to the very best of the author’s knowledge.

In fact, models of LeTourneau/Wabco equipment per se are practically non-existent.

This probably has something to do with stupid licensing rights, but it is hoped that something may be done to resolve this oversight.

4. Fully equipped Cat D9G lifted by a Wabco lettered Model B-70 Tournacrane. Photo was shot at Wabco’s plant in Rydalmere, Sydney, NSW in 1967. This is one of the last Tournacranes produced (if not the last) at this facility. PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION 5. Factory picture of a standard Model D Tournacrane. Although it looks fairly harmless, the little Model D could lift 10 tons to 33 feet and had a maximum reach of 35 feet. Power came from a GM 4-71 diesel engine rated at 143 horsepower. The crane could be removed and replaced with a scraper or dumper in just over two hours.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

6. An exceedingly rare pair, two 1944 vintage Model D Tournapulls, one with a model Q Tournacrane and the other with a flat bed Tournatrailer. This particular type of D Tournapull was built to a US Army requirement for an air-transportable machine. The whole unit could be fitted into a Douglad C-47 Dakota or Curtiss C-46 Commando and air dropped directly into where it was needed. Final assembly only took around an hour.

PHOTO: AUTHOR’S COLLECTION

DECEMBER 2017 – JANUARY 2018 63

CONTRACTOR

INNOVATIONS

New Terex flat top newest addition to tower crane family

Terex Cranes has added the newest addition to its growing tower crane family, the Terex CTT 472-20 flat top tower crane.

This new Terex 20-tonne class crane expands maximum jib length to 80 metres and increases load charts over previous models offering the same lift capacity on the whole jib length, with a maximum load at the full length of the jib tip of four tonnes.

“Fresh off the introduction of our new hammerhead tower crane at CONEXPO-CON/ AGG, we offer our customers the new CTT 472-20, an extremely versatile and robust flat top tower crane with great features requested by our customers,” says Marco Gentilini, vice president and general manager for Terex Tower Cranes.

“The CTT 472-20 gives the market a flexible solution to meet complex lifting challenges. With Terex fully committed to the tower crane business, we are accelerating new tower crane product development to meet our customers’ needs.

“This includes a new tower crane cabin that will advance operating efficiency and comfort for our new CTT 472-20 crane.”

Offering a 470 ton-meter load moment, the new CTT 472-20 crane delivers extremely high lift capacities throughout its load chart and 11 different jib configurations from 30 metres to 80 metres to meet varying jobsite needs. Its hoist, slewing and trolley speeds allow operators to quickly and precisely move and position heavy loads. All jib sections

come preassembled with a lifeline for quick, safe installation at height, while galvanised jib walkways deliver long-lasting quality.

The CTT 472-20 can be configured with H20, HD23 and TS212 Terex mast section or thanks to the transfer masts with the combination of them.

“Here, Terex offers superior value for the customer, as this gives companies operating multiple Terex tower crane models the ability to efficiently manage component inventory and cost effectively meet their tower needs,” adds Gentilini.

The new CTT 472-20 flat top tower crane offers a very competitive maximum freestanding height to reduce erection time and lower costs. Optimised for transport, these tower segments come preassembled with aluminum ladders for fast erection and increased durability.

The new CTT 472-20 is the first tower crane model to include the new Terex cabin that will be installed on all flat top, hammerhead and luffing jib models. It puts the operator in the lap of luxury with a fully adjustable comfort seat and joystick controls with short stroke length providing a pleasant and comfortable working environment.

strength the Doosan Loaders provide when loading trucks at his quarry. With powerful breakout force and quick response time the Doosan Wheel Loaders are designed for the tough jobs. For a big performer, the Doosan DL420 is agile and smooth and provides a superior lift capacity and enough traction to penetrate hard materials no matter the task.

“Doosan are not the most expensive neither are they cheap, but they sit nicely in the middle of the market when it comes to value for money. This is good for the likes of

an owner/operator because not only do they get a powerful performance driven machine but also peace of mind with a four-year warranty to go with it.”

Few machines match the easy maintenance of Doosan Wheel Loaders.

Regular maintenance is short and simple, while long service intervals reduce the amount of downtime.

For further information call 0800 30 30 90 for the location of the nearest nationwide AB Equipment branch.

Doosan DL420 wheel loader Recently delivered to Mangawhai quarry operator, Lake Road Quarries, by New Zealand distributor AB Equipment was a Doosan DL420 wheel loader.

This particular model was chosen because the trucks that are now coming into Lake Road’s yard to load up are getting bigger and the company needed a machine that would match the trucks for height and provide more productivity.

Quarry manager Martyn Knight has worked in quarries for as long as he can remember and knows a thing or two about the industry.

Lake Road Quarries brought him in to assist with future proofing the business by putting systems and processes in place that will assist with its long-term competitiveness.

“In this instance, we needed a bigger loader and the Doosan DL420 fitted the bill perfectly. What we get with this loader is quick turnaround, stability and reliability in one complete package,” says Martyn.

Martyn is also aware of the power and 64 www.contractormag.co.nz

INNOVATIONS

CONTRACTOR

RUC managing system Teletrac Navman has released RUC Manager, a NZTA-approved electronic Road User Charges system, which further streamlines the RUC compliance and rebate system.

RUC Manager is the newest addition to the comprehensive Teletrac Navman suite. The NZTA has approved Teletrac Navman as an Electronic System Provider (ESP) and appointed it as an agent for the collection of Road User Charges (RUC) using its new RUC Manager platform and Electronic Distance Recorder.

Teletrac Navman RUC Manager along with the Electronic Distance Recorder will allow users to manage, purchase, display and update road user licences in real-time. RUC Manager automatically tracks vehicle distance and calculates off-road activity, enabling accurate, NZTA-approved RUC rebates.

“The work Teletrac Navman undertook to develop RUC Manager to meet specific New Zealand regulatory requirements and gain ESP approval is a mark of our commitment to our long-standing customers and to the transport industry as a whole,” says Ian Daniel, vice president and managing director Asia Pacific, Teletrac Navman.

In July 2017, Teletrac Navman reached the milestone of tracking 100,000 vehicles across Australia and New Zealand.

“Globally the transport market is highly competitive.

Businesses must perform under pressure, so solutions which help them to better manage costs, improve service, address safety, capture and analyse data, and address compliance requirements are extremely important.”

To receive NZTA approval Electronic System Providers must go through a rigorous development and testing process to prove the quality and reliability of the system.

“Teletrac Navman has completed the NZTA testing process and meets the standards for recognition as an ESP. The standards are designed to ensure that the technologies and systems tested are robust, reliable, and make compliance easier across many industries including transport, agriculture, forestry, trade and civil services,” says John Freeman, manager revenue assessments, NZTA.

New portable power-hub The new Projecta ‘Portable Power-Hub’ is designed to provide fast and convenient power anywhere and anytime, no matter what the location; remote campsite, caravan park, on the water or on a worksite where mains power isn’t available.

The PH125 Power-Hub turns a humble 12V battery (up to N70Z) into a convenient, versatile and user-friendly device capable of powering and charging a wide array of appliances and electronic equipment simultaneously via 10 power outlets.

Included is a 240V AC socket providing clean ‘Pure Sine Wave’ power (300W), which is a must for sensitive equipment such as laptops, and DC terminals for applications requiring a high rate of current, which includes jumpstarting a car.

Other outlets include USB (2x2A), cigarette lighter (2x10A), Engel (1x10A), a 50A heavy-duty and Merit sockets (2x15A), and all are protected by automatic resetting circuit breakers.

The unit is designed with outdoor use in mind and features moulded gutters in the top housing to drain water away from the electrics. Waterproof covers are also used to shield the plugs and sockets while still allowing the cords to remain plugged in through special slots when the cover is closed.

For further information go online to www.projecta.co.nz.

Long-range scanning solutions Teledyne Optech long-range scanning solutions are now available from Position Partners, which now distributes the Polaris long-range 3D laser scanner, along with Maverick and Lynx mobile mapping platforms in this region.

Geospatial solutions provider Position Partners has announced a distribution agreement with Canadian-based mass data capture manufacturer, Teledyne Optech. The new partnership will see Position Partners distribute the Polaris series of long-range scanners as well as Teledyne Optech’s mobile mapping solutions.

“Teledyne Optech’s range of high accuracy, long-distance scanners are ideally suited to the mining, engineering and construction markets, making them a great fit for our customers,” says Martin Nix, Position Partners CEO.

Teledyne Optech’s Polaris model is a terrestrial 3D laser scanner that can deliver high accuracy point clouds up to distances of 1.6 kilometres. Ideal for mining, civil engineering and other long-range applications, the Polaris also includes a built-in camera for 360-degree photography and geo-referencing for survey information.

For mobile mapping applications, the Maverick is a uniquely portable system that weighs less than nine kilograms and can be assembled on any vehicle fitted with a roof rack or other suitable frame in less than 15 minutes. Unlike other solutions that require significant installation time and expertise, along with external computers to record data, the Maverick is an allin-one setup that is ready to work in minutes!

DECEMBER 2017 - JANUARY 2018 65

CONTRACTOR

CIVIL CONTRACTORS NEW ZEALAND

CCNZ update Welcome to new Contractor member

Building Nations Conference

TCD Civil Construction, Auckland Branch

CCNZ President, Brian Warren, and CEO, Peter Silcock, attended the Infrastructure New Zealand Building Nations Conference in Wellington. Key points from the conference were: • The civil construction industry needs to focus on training our own and needs a more collaborative approach to make the most of the skills we have.

• NZ needs a national level governance structure to better monitor and ensure that new infrastructure improves our resilience. The location and way we are constructing buildings and infrastructure today may be adding to our resilience problems.

• Scottish Water was presented as a model worth considering in terms of a national water manager that has delivered better services at a lower cost.

• The Scottish Futures Trust was presented as a model to better prioritise infrastructure investments and provide expertise to agencies undertaking major infrastructure developments.

• The difference between financing and funding (funding is usually the big issue).

• The use of asset recycling to fund new infrastructure as has happened in New South Wales.

CCNZ Media Release: Govt scrapping Auckland’s East-West link CCNZ’s concerns were raised in a media release in response to the new coalition Government’s announcement that work on Auckland’s East-West Link will stop in favour of light rail to Auckland Airport. It was acknowledged that the development of public transport, particularly in Auckland, is a major priority, there is however concern for Aucklanders and the construction industry about the impact of halting a $1 billion plus project due to start in 10 months’ time.

Funding for women’s leadership development – up to $8000 available Building on significant developmental momentum achieved earlier in the year, Women & Leadership New Zealand is administering a national initiative to support the development of female leaders across New Zealand’s construction and engineering sector.

The initiative is providing women with grants of between $3000 and $8000 to enable participation in a range of leadership development programmes.

The scholarship funding is provided with the specific intent of providing powerful and effective development opportunities for construction and engineering sector women; however the funding is strictly limited and has to be allocated prior to the end of 2017.

Find out more and register your interest by completing the Expression of Interest form (www.womenandleadership.co.nz/ associations.html) prior to December 15, 2017.

Safety Incident Alert: Worker killed by exploding wheel and tyre Last month a worker was killed after being struck in the face by an exploding wheel and tyre. Initial inquiries indicate that the worker attempted to weld up a small leak in the truck wheel while the tyre was still pressurised. The welding caused an internal combustion and blew the wheel off the tyre. The wheel hit the worker, killing him instantly before travelling through the roof and landing 23 metres away.

Shared by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland.

Aussie Ombudsman looks at payment terms for subcontractors The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman is looking at the payment terms and conditions for subcontractors working on government projects, following a recent inquiry into payment times.

Ombudsman Kate Carnell said: “It’s not good enough to leave responsibility with a head contractor and overlook small businesses that do much of the work. Cashflow is king. A lack of cashflow is the leading cause of business insolvency and this underscores the importance of prompt payments.”

The initial inquiry recommended: • The Australian government requires its head contractors to adopt the payment times and practices of the procurement policy through the supply chain and entities, with performance against best practice benchmarks.

• The Australian government procures from businesses that have supply-chain payment times and practices equal to or better than its practices.

ADVERT ISERS IN D EX AB Equipment

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Hirepool 15

Synergy Positioning

CablePrice 13

Kiwirail 59

Transdiesel OBC

CCNZ 52

Loadscan 41

Tidd Ross Todd

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Connexis 11

Osborne Sales & Lease

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TRS Tyre & Wheel

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CS Vue

Power Equipment

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Youngman Richardson

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Ditch Witch Gough Group

66 www.contractormag.co.nz

7 IFC OFC, 5, 9, 16-17

Powerpac 37 Prime Pump

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LAST WORD IN PICTURES

INNOVATIONS

CONTRACTOR

The massive slip that took out the side of an Auckland car park in Birkenhead in October. The 50 metre wide slip didn’t harm people or property as it had been closed previously due to an existing crack.

The slip took out 25 car parks and huge volumes of soil mixed with tarmac, drains and stormwater debris poured down Rawene Reserve, wiping out native bush.

The land is part of a strip of Waitemata Chaos, a greasy clay prone to slipping and had been moving for some time.

According to GNS Science landslides have killed more folks than earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunami combined, with 700 deaths from landslides against the tally for the other three perils of 620.

Photo by Kade Croft.

DECEMBER 2017 - JANUARY 2018 67

Going flat tack for the perfect flat track?

Roy’s unexpected form at the Turangi mixed pairs roll-up was creating quite a stir. (And more than a little rivalry between Gladys and Jean)

WIN ME! To celebrate the addition of Ammann’s range of light compaction equipment to the TransDiesel family we’re giving away a thumping great

ACR 60 Rammer!

Weighing just 62 kilos, the ACR 60 is highly manoeuvrable, with managed vibration levels that belie it’s high production capability.

Powered by a 4-stroke engine, the ACR 60 is an entry level rammer ideally suited in a range of worksites including building, plumbing and civil applications- for both private and commercial use.

Enter online at info.transdiesel.com/flat-track *Terms & Conditions apply. Entries close 31 January 2018. See website for entry details.

0800 848 267 // transdiesel.com