Capital's civil construction awards hotly contested

Connecting New Zealand

Capital's civil construction awards hotly contested

26 May 2022

There was a hot contest for the CCNZ Wellington Wairarapa Branch Awards, which were held at Harbourside Function Centre in Wellington on Saturday 21 May. The awards were attended by around 200 people from across the region's civil construction industry.

The awards were kicked off with humour and style by guest MC Ben Hurley, as well as addresses from CCNZ Chief Executive Alan Pollard and CCNZ Wellington Wairarapa Branch Chair Noel Sulzberger, who summed up the 2022 finalists with his comments.

“This year's awards featured a range of projects above and below ground which have made a spectacular difference for the region. Congratulations to all the finalists for their hard work, dedication and commitment to excellence."

One of CCNZ's newest members, Abseil Access, won the AB Equipment Award for Projects under $600,000 for its Pakuratahi Suspension Bridge, which spans the northern Hutt River, providing access to a well-loved track through native forest across a deep river valley in Kaitoke Regional Park, near the popular Rivendell site used for filming in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

This award category was hotly contested, with entries from Goodmans and Daniel Renshaw Drainage scoring highly, and Mills Albert collecting a Merit Award for a Climate Resilience Project at Te Awa Kairangi Site 6.

The Asmuss Award for projects between $600,000 and $2m went to PCL Contracting for its work on the channel drainage system for the new Transmission Gully - Te Ara Nui o Te Rangihaeata highway north of Wellington, with an honourable mention going to Daniel Renshaw Drainage for drainage at a major NZ Post development.

There was also a lot of competition for the GBC Winstone Award for Projects over $2m, with E Carson & Sons project on Jervois Quay facing off against strong finalists, including Downer NZ's project to double-track the rail line from Trentham to Upper Hutt and a centre-city rising main upgrade by G.P. Friel.

Despite the close contest, G.P. Friel took the award for the Featherston, Whitmore and Bowen Street Rising Main Upgrade project, carried out a stone's throw from Wellington's parliament buildings.

Downer's Trentham to Upper Hutt project was recognised with the John Carson Memorial Award for Health and Safety, for its innovative work with digital shields to protect operators and improve efficiency by preventing incursions into the rail line. Hynds won the Associate Member of the Year Award, while PCL took out the Hynds Contractor Image Award.