Gisborne upgrades, Hawke’s Bay roads shine at regional awards

14 Nov 2019

An arterial road connecting the growing regions of Hawke’s Bay to export facilities, improvements to Gisborne’s inner city, and safety upgrades and maintenance on Hawke’s Bay roads were recognised at the CCNZ Hawke’s Bay East Coast Branch Hirepool Construction Excellence Awards at Church Road Winery on Friday 1 November.

East coast contractor Ritchie Civil took out the award for projects between $200,000 and $1m for its work in a project to widen the Gladstone Road Bridge in Gisborne, which was widened by 1.5 metres to create a three-metre-wide shared path and improve safety for walkers and cyclists. This award followed a win in the same category at last year’s awards for Ritchie Civil’s work on the Horoera bridge to the historic East Cape Lighthouse.

Fulton Hogan received two category awards. The first was for its Gisborne Inner Harbour Project, which won Best Project in the $1M to $3M category for its work establishing the inner harbour as an attractive destination in the leadup to the Tuia 250 commemorations. Fulton Hogan’s SH50 Manga-o-nuku Bridge No.3 Guardrail retrofit won Best Project under $200K for improving safety on the State Highway 50 bridge, which had previously been a dangerous bottleneck.

Higgins also won two award categories, including the major category award for works over $3 million for its work on Te Ara Kahikatea (Whakatu Arterial Link), a roading project which connects the main Whakatu export packing and processing zone with export facilities.

The other award was presented for roading maintenance under the Hawke’s Bay Network Outcomes Contract. It recognised Higgins’ ‘outstanding’ ratings for health and safety, customer satisfaction, sustainability, assurance and value – achievements recognised by NZTA as being in the top 10 per cent nationwide in terms of customer satisfaction.

Dan Mepham of Gair Contracting was also announced as the winner of the Hawke’s Bay East Coast Regional Excavator Operator Competition at the evening.

The awards dinner was well attended, with the Church Road Winery filled to capacity by representatives of civil construction companies from across the region, sponsors, suppliers and guests of honour including guest speaker Korrin Barrett and CCNZ President Tim Ford.

The winners are:
Projects with a value up to $200,000

Winner: Fulton Hogan – Manga-o-nuku Bridge No.3 Guardrail retrofit
The one-lane Manga-o-nuku Bridge near Tikokino on State Highway 50 required an upgrade to improve safety and replace the guardrails on either side of the bridge.

Fulton Hogan were called in to perform the work, widening the bridge, replacing the guardrail, improving roadmarking for driver wayfinding and vastly improving safety at what had been a dangerous country road bottleneck.

Projects with a value between $200,000 and $1m

Winner: Ritchie Civil – Gladstone Road Bridge, Gisborne
Gladstone Road Bridge was originally built in 1925 and holds Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Category 2 status.

Ritchie Civil worked with Concrete Structures Ltd to develop a clip-on featuring replicas of the original concrete balustrades at both ends of the bridge, with the middle railings spanning the Turanganui River now visible through see-through handrails, opening up a great view of the river for those travelling across the bridge.

Projects with a value between $1m and $3m

Winner: Fulton Hogan – Gisborne Inner Harbour Project (Stage 2)
Fulton Hogan received this award for stage 2 of the Gisborne Inner Harbour Provincial Growth Fund project, which took five months to complete. This $2.9m development involved the removal of contaminated soil followed by a stormwater upgrade and streetscape project.

Specific work included enhancements to new and upgraded parking, a new toilet, green spaces with landscaping, improved lighting and pedestrian and cycle-friendly connections.
Cultural elements were thoroughly thought out in collaboration with Eastland Port and Ngati Oneone and woven throughout the space to feature its role as a cultural heritage destination in the leadup to Tuia 250 commemorations in November 2019.

Category four – Projects with a value greater than $3m

Winner: Higgins – Te Ara Kahikatea (Whakatu Arterial Link)
Te Ara Kahikatea is the arterial route constructed by Higgins to link the main Whakatu processing zone with export facilities. Consultation and collaboration make this more than just a well-constructed project completed on time and budget.

Pre-engagement ensured industry, iwi and residents were able to give input, giving residents buy-in and ownership of the project and understanding of its outcomes. Council proposed two endpoints for the new road. A committee was formed with members from all key stakeholder groups. They led the design, with engineers providing support and responding to questions and ideas.

This collaborative process enabled the project to take places of cultural importance and critical private and public infrastructure into account. The process did not end with the design phase, and continued throughout construction, which was complex due to the need to work around orchards and fruit growing seasons.

The committee and the wider affected community were actively encouraged to be involved during archaeological finds, provided with 24-hour access to construction managers who could answer questions and respond to concerns with relevant and timely updates.

The process ended with a collaborative naming of the road: Te Ara Kahikatea – reflecting the kahikatea trees that grow across the district and featuring the intertwining root system of the trees as a metaphor for the strongly interconnected process used to design the road.

Excellence in the Maintenance and Management of Assets

Winner: Higgins – Hawke’s Bay Regional Network Outcomes Contract
The Hawke’s Bay region’s 479km of State Highways are maintained and operated by Higgins. This includes maintenance, management and service delivery.

The performance ratings achieved have seen the team earn an additional two years tenure, on top of the original seven years awarded by the New Zealand Transport Agency in 2016. In 2018-2019 an Outstanding rating was achieved for Health and Safety, Customer, Sustainability, Assurance and Value. Programme delivery performance was 100% for SCRIM and Pavement Renewals and 98.2% for Surfacing Renewals

Hawke’s Bay East Coast Regional Excavator Operator Competition
Overall winner: Dan Mepham, Gair Contracting (pictured competing in the 2018 National Excavator Operator Competition)
Second place: Graham Taka, M.W. Lissette & Kimberly Contractors
Third place: Nick Stevens, M.W. Lissette & Kimberly Contractors
Best on Course: Steve Woodward, Fulton Hogan

Thanks to our sponsors
The Hawke’s Bay East Coast Branch is extremely grateful to the event sponsors, in particular the event’s Principal Sponsor Hirepool, for making this successful event possible.

The event was also sponsored by AB Equipment, CablePrice, Connexis, Earthwork Solutions, Gair Contracting, Gough Cat, Humes and Unison Networks.

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