Well another Covid Level 4 lock down has been and gone and now we move into what appears to be a bumper season for the Civil Construction industry. We recommend you ensure your email registration is up to date to allow streamlined delivery of information from the CCNZ National office to us directly.
We appreciate it can be difficult to keep up with changes at times like this, but there is support out there. A range of financial support programmes have been announced by the government over the last three weeks, including a reinstatement of the wage subsidy, a COVID-19 resurgence support package, a Leave Support Scheme and others. It's also wise to remember your team may need support too in this time of uncertainty. Organisations like Mates in Construction are just at the other end of the phone on 0800 111 315 or in The Lunch Room.
CCNZ both Nationally and locally will keep working to provide members with the latest knowledge and advice as it becomes available. For those who are struggling, a problem shared can be a problem solved, so I encourage you to reach out to your CCNZ Regional Manager or anyone from the Committee with any questions, concerns, or thoughts so we can make the best of the current situation.
On a positive note there have been engagement with CCNZ from our local councils on how the proposed water reform will impact us as an industry. We have provided a letter which is available upon request, to outline the concerns and benefits we anticipate the Water Reform may bring.
CCNZ’s executive Council and National Office staff have been closely monitoring the Water Reforms, they have had speakers go into the Executive Council meetings from Internal Affairs who are running the reform and have been working closely with Water NZ, Infrastructure NZ and others.
CCNZ had invited both Local Govt NZ and Water NZ to be part of the “Pipeline of work panel” at our 2021 Conference but unfortunately that was impacted by the bomb scare. If you are interested in information relating to the proposed changes I have included a couple of links below to bring you up to speed.
Here is the link to the Infrastructure Commissions report on Water Reform with gives a good overview
https://infracom.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Water-Reform-Special-Report-.pdf
Also if you have some time watch Alan Sutherlands presentation to the Infrastructure Commissions Symposium https://vimeo.com/showcase/8567034 the full interview is 52 mins but even if you watch the first 20 mins you will get a good feel for things.
Sam Paterson Branch Chair
Christchurch City Council
Ron Clarke, Technical Services & Design Manager at Christchurch City Council, is retiring after more than 43 years with the Council. Everyone here at CCNZ wish Ron all the best in his well earnt retirement.
Christchurch City Council want to reiterate that GETS is the procurement platform for CCC. It is important that members are signed up and contact details are correct to ensure messages are getting to the right people. They would prefer contractors to have a generic email address for tenders if possible.
The review of the CSS has been completed and changes uploaded on the web. There are further changes to Part 3 coming and the appendices will be uploaded in the near future. Next on the list is the review of the IDS. It will have a focus on correcting errors and updating landscaping and has a target to be out before Christmas.
The CCC Communications committee is Harley Haywood, Craig McKenzie, Sam Patterson and Chris Hughes. Please feel free to touch base with the CCC Communications committee to raise any queries with the Council.
Ashburton District Council
ADC has been successful in obtaining two shovel ready projects. The new $50M Civic and Library Building and $9M Waste Water Relief Sewer Scheme, currently under construction and due for completion in March 2022.
This is great news for the District, as of February less than 50% of shovel ready projects had commenced across the country.
A significant project for ADC will be the Methven Water Treatment Plant, which is to be procured later this financial year. The Three Waters capital expenditure programme is worth approximately $12M, this is a 30% increase in spend from the previous year, with a similar spend likely in 2023. ADC are concerned that Local Contractors will not be able to meet the demand and/or that they will be enticed out of the District by other opportunities. ADC is yet to decide their procurement model for this work. However, they are very focused to ensure they provide opportunities for Local Contractors for the reasons mentioned above. There is also likely to be opportunities for members outside of the District to support this expenditure.
There is a further $1M to be spent on road rehabilitation, likely to be procured through the Road Maintenance Contract. A further $1M will be spent on footpaths and other minor roading projects, with the procurement process yet to be decided.
It comes with no surprises that both Ashburton and Methven Townships are experiencing high levels of growth, which is providing other opportunities for members. It was also great to hear that ADC were very happy with members performance on their network.
ADC are not in favour of the Water Reform, generally unhappy with negative message coming from Central Government to New Zealanders about how water is managed by Local Authorities. They feel strongly that their network is well funded and managed.
Kaikoura District Council
From a forward pipeline perspective, KDC expenditure for the next three years is an average of $10m per year, which made up largely of backlogged roading projects. This then this drops off to an average of $6m per year for a prolonged basic maintenance phase because they rebuilt most of their vulnerable assets after the 2016 earthquake.
KDC is also unusual in the 3 waters reform arena, because they will have rebuilt and upgraded most of the 3 Water assets by early 2022. Therefore, CCNZ will meet with KDC in September to understand their position and direction with regard to the Three Waters reform, following the current 8-week Local Authority consultation period.
The KDC 30-year infrastructure strategy, developed as part of the Long Term Plan section 101B of the Local Government Act 2020, is based on a delivery scenario which is perhaps best described as an ‘enhanced status quo’ where the primary focus is on very consistent and reliable delivery of sound basic levels of service to roading and 3 waters assets.
The general form of this projection is that once the elevated costs over the next 3 years are passed (which are largely attributable to construction of the Clarence Valley Bridge and addressing backlogs in respect of road surface and pavement renewals) the overall pattern of total expenditure for the remainder of the 30 years is relatively consistent, with annual renewal requirements consistently less than depreciation. This relatively favourable position is believed to reflect the following factors:
a) Because of the relatively small scale of the Kaikoura District and its population, many key infrastructure assets were constructed later than in other Districts, resulting in those assets having greater residual lives at this time.
b) The rebuild works following the 2016 earthquake resulted in the replacement and/or upgrading of a substantial proportion of KDC’s assets, in particular assets that because of their advanced age were more vulnerable to damage.
c) There is as yet no strong trend of population growth or other factors that require significant upgrading of asset capacity.
Excavator Comp 2021 – Following the cancellation of the 2020 Canterbury Excavator Competition due to Covid 19, plans are well underway for an exciting 2021 competition. A venue and date has been confirmed (Road Metals Quarry Rolleston – 2nd Oct 21) with new plant being supplied by our longstanding sponsor Cable Price.
The format will be kept the same as it has been in previous years, with fantastic prizes for all categories (Novice and Experienced) for 1st – 2nd & 3rd along with a BBQ Lunch. Drinks will be provided following the Excavator Competition from 3:30pm which have been kindly sponsored by Road Metals, travel back to CHCH will also be provided. The CCNZ team is excited to be able put this event on and look forward to seeing our top Canterbury excavator operators in action.
EMILY PEACOCK
CCNZ EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER
It gives me great pleasure to be heading up the committee for the shining light of the annual social calendar for the CCNZ Canterbury & Westland branch for this year’s 2021 Contractors of the Year Awards.
This year being held at the prestigious MonaVale Iris Lawn and respective Manor on Saturday November 6th – starting at 6PM. This year our annual Black Tie event is taking the next step in elegance with full silver table service at our exclusive event – Full 3 Course Dinner – our amazing MC (the crowd goes wild) James McOnie and the amazing LA Confidential to end the evening dancing the night away – Our way of giving back and celebrating our community with awards to shine the spotlight on our amazing members.
Entries are now live and available online and on the CCNZ website and Facebook page or by contact
canterbury@civilcontractors.co.nz and closing September 16th.
Along with our normal categories this year we are welcoming back the “Supplier of the Year” open to all suppliers who are members.
We look forward to seeing you – tickets will be released End of September
Early Bird Tickets Go Live Monday September 13th with limited seats available - $170PP
More information here>>
Links from the attachment:
• Free advice floodbylaw@ecan.govt.nz
• Information on bylaw https://www.ecan.govt.nz/your-region/your-environment/river-and-drain-management/flood-protection-and-drainage-bylaw/
• Application form https://www.ecan.govt.nz/your-region/your-environment/river-and-drain-management/flood-protection-and-drainage-bylaw/authority-form/
• Consents advice https://www.ecan.govt.nz/do-it-online/resource-consents/understanding-consents/application-advice/pre-application-meeting-and-other-advisory-requests/
