Civil Contractors New Zealand’s Canterbury/Westland Branch held its 2021 Excellence Awards on 8th of April Digitally.
Here is a link to the stream from the night:
Civil Contractors New Zealand congratulates this year’s award winners:
CATEGORY A
WINNER: LIDDELL CONTRACTING for Crooked River Bridge Strengthening
What started as an investigation into bridge structural integrity turned into an urgent structural strengthening.
In partnership with a structural engineer, Liddell Contracting installed and underpinned new abutments, scour proofed piers and repaired and strengthened pier caps, deck bracing and holding down bolts on the Crooked River Bridge on a key Council road near Lake Brunner. The work was complex and challenging but was delivered quickly with minimal road closure and excellent value for money.
CATEGORY B
WINNER: DORMER CONSTRUCTION for Big Ben Irrigation
An off-shore client determined to do the right thing environmentally under the careful monitoring of both ECan and DOC required a contractor with commitment to operate to consent conditions in a remote and challenging landscape. Dormer more than met those challenges starting with a negotiation from measure and value to lump sum inclusive of producing a detailed design from client provided basic information. Several innovative techniques saw 6.4kms of pipe from 355 to 500mm diameter and associated fittings installed with minimal disruption to protected plants, lizards and fish life and a happy client.
CATEGORY C
WINNER: ROCK CONTROL Ltd for SR10 Rockfall Canopy – Kaikoura
South of Kaikoura, a 100 meter high cliff rises above State Highway 1, posing a critical rockfall hazard to road users below. Rock Control provided a solution with a combination of anchored active mesh, drape mesh systems, shotcrete, and the largest canopy barrier of its type in the Southern Hemisphere to manage the rockfall hazard. The canopy itself spans 15 meters out above the road and supports a 30-degree self-cleansing barrier for rocks to fall on. This project used innovative equipment suspended on the rockface, always with safety governing construction methodology on this extremely challenging worksite above the strategic state highway in use during the construction.
CATEGORY D
WINNER: MCCONNELL DOWELL for Westland Milk Products Ocean Outfall A project to clean-up the Hokitika River by discharging the region’s wastewater directly out to sea. McConnell Dowell applied hard-won lessons learnt from other outfall projects around New Zealand to successfully install an 844m outfall pipeline up to 26m below the seabed, utilizing Direct Pipe micro-tunnelling and Mass Flow Excavation technologies to overcome difficult seabed ground conditions. Construction of the watertight 60m launch pit required a down-hole hammer to enable sheet piles to penetrate a buried boulder bed. Meticulous planning, innovative engineering, specialist skills sourced from within New Zealand and internationally, an uncompromising approach to protecting worker health and safety and the environment and passionate project management enabled the project to overcome project challenges that also included a 12% pipe launch gradient, limited marine operations windows and a 5-hour transit time to the nearest safe harbour.
SUBCONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR
WINNER: UTILITIES INFRASTRUCTURE NZ for SP1 Watermain (Isaac)
UINZ installed over 1.2kms of 250mm diameter watermain in Sherbourne and Cranford streets from Bealey Avenue to Berwick Street. UINZ recommended and subsequently utilized directional drilling for the majority if this length greatly reducing the impact on local residents, businesses and the travelling public. Several complex intersections required detailed planning to ensure the many cut-ins to the existing network were completed with the shortest possible disruption to supply whilst working around many other services. A complex pipe installation project completed to a high standard in challenging ground conditions within a tight project programme.
INNOVATION AWARD
WINNER: DOWNER for Tekapo A New Intake Gate
To deliver a new intake gate within a tunnel feeding an operating electricity generation plant, with limited scheduled outages, challenged Downer engineers for a workable solution. Access to the tunnel and new gate location was via a 14 meter diameter , 25 meter deep caisson. A plate steel “stent” was then prefabricated and lowered through a small hole in the roof of the tunnel, to provide continuity for the oval shaped tunnel walls. Once fitted and sealed, the tunnel was returned to use, without any loss in hydraulic capacity, for the new gate frame to be safely constructed around it. This innovation involved complex design and construction for, a risk conscious client, but proved a most satisfactory and safe outcome.
ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD
WINNER: BLAKELY CONSTRUCTION for Wanaka Lakefront Development Stage 3
Submitting a more environmentally focused methodology than that outlined in the tender documents convinced the client that Blakely really understood the key drivers for the project. Working both in and over the lake to construct 440m of 2.5m wide, suspended shared pedestrian and cycle boardwalk required thorough planning. Temporary works included the use of elevated and enclosed work stations to contain saw dust, hybrid floating boom silt fences, tree exclusion zones and dedicated refuelling stations. Extensive community liaison combined with comprehensive traffic management especially for pedestrians and cyclist earned Blakely high praise from the locals. The Blakely team also constructed additional floating, breeding boxes for the community lead grebe programme located adjacent to the work site.
COMPANY IMAGE AWARD
WINNER: FULTON HOGAN
Fulton Hogan has consistently, across the projects they submitted this year, set and maintained high standards in community and stakeholder relations and presented themselves and our industry in the best possible way. Three of the submitted projects had the potential for considerable disruption to stakeholders and significant reputational damage. The Christchurch Northern Corridor project also inherited a significant amount of community opposition. Working closely with their clients, project teams pro-actively engaged all of their stakeholders with understanding and empathy, adjusting project methodology and programme to address any concerns, where they could. Glowing testimonials from stakeholders and a relative lack of adverse publicity is clear evidence of the success of Fulton Hogan’s approach to growing their brand.
CONNEXIS TRAINING AWARD
FULTON HOGAN CORPORATE
Investing in their people’s development is vital in valuing and growing their greatest asset. Their people are at the heart of everything they do, and this is reflected in their newly created industry-specific Career Pathways. This road-map ensures all their people are familiar with all the training and development options, both mandatory and optional for their personal and career development. FH internally facilitated Leadership and Contract Management Programmes are benchmarked and aligned to NZQA L3, L4 and L5 qualifications. This recognises their people’s current experience whilst also building additional skills and knowledge.
For the younger among Fulton Hogan, the Cadetship Programme aims to support school leavers to become part of the Fulton Hogan whanau, and gives their future leaders the tools to develop their skills, knowledge and behaviours to be competent and safe in the workplace.
YOUNG CONTRACTORS OF THE YEAR
TOM KETTELL – ISAAC CONSTRUCTION
Leadership happens when people choose to behave in ways that make them effective in guiding others and they consistently demonstrate the behaviours that others seek from those they will follow. The 5 finalists this year, all demonstrated behaviours, which defines them as leaders at their respective companies. They unite others and help them see new possibilities. They have major aspirations and a hunger for professional development. We have a great selection of problem solvers, motivators, with the people skills to inspire & influence the staff around them. They are well travelled and have benefitted from the experience gained from working overseas. It was inspiring to see the passion & enthusiasm of all these guys to deliver successful projects and the support from their respective companies.
"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."-Steve Jobs
This year’s winner, has developed & introduced some ideas, which has brought his company recognition, with improved efficiency.
MOST PROGRESSIVE COMPANY AWARD
WINNER: SEIPP CONSTRUCTION
Within this year’s entries Seipp demonstrated a wide range of skills across many trades and the confidence to continually expand their horizons. As is the case with many projects constructed by our sector much of Seipp’s work and certainly the technically and physically challenging and innovative aspects are out of sight on completion. In each of their entries Seipp demonstrated clever contracting which had real benefits to both contractor and client. Always looking for those jobs others shy away from Seipp relishes the challenge. Their growth is strategically planned as they maintain their commitment to delivering quality work at competitive rates.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
WINNER: FULTON HOGAN for Oil Berth 15 year life project
A project to repair and extend the service life of the Lyttleton Oil Berth, damaged in the 2011 earthquakes. The planning and programming of this project was made difficult by an uncertain scope and a requirement to keep the berth operational during construction. Health and Safety challenges included live and redundant petrochemical piping and other services, contaminated ground, vessel berthing and discharge operations, underwater and tidal working, confined spaces, settlement induced loading on structures and permissions required from the port and vessel masters. Fulton Hogan took a pro-active and thorough approach to planning and managing health and safety, innovatively employing risk assessment experts and collaborating with LPC to assess and agree works that could continue during the 40% of the time that the Berth was occupied.
Despite the considerable challenges, no notable incidents or interface conflict occurred during construction.
UNDERGROUND SERVICES
WINNER: SEIPP CONSTRUCTION for Ashburton River Crossing
A project to install 500m of 1m diameter GRP pipe 4 - 6.8m below the Ashburton River Bed. Considerable risks were presented by this project being not just underground but also underwater. Seipp de-risked the project by choosing construction methodology that ensured minimum de-watering requirements and environmental impacts, safe and controlled working conditions and a high resilience to flood events and covid delays. Constructability of the sheet pile cofferdams was tested pre-tender and the programme was compressed by sheet-piling and pipe-laying activities being carried out at the same time. Innovative shoring, de-watering and pipeline testing systems and methods were also employed and the project earned a Certificate of Appreciation from ECan.
SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR
1. STELLAR RECRUITMENT - HIGHLY COMMENDED
Judges comments: Stella Recruitment have consistently proven their commitment to their staff and clients over the past 15 years in business through their submission, but outside of that they have been committed to the CCNZ not just locally but nationally. With CCNZ events throughout the country and locally stellar are always there to support where they are needed. With that said we are proud to award stellar Recruitment with a HIGHLY COMMENDED for their continuous support to our local branch we very much appreciate you as a key associate.
1. WILSON TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT - WINNER
Judges’ comments: For such a young company their achievements and procedures align to this award. With only 2 years in the Traffic Management business, they have created a product to speak for itself and has now employed over 80 staff and run 40 vehicles. They are a Company who saw a window of opportunity to build a dedicated team and quickly became a preferred supplier on to many Contractors job sites. They take pride in their work and are continually striving to proactively meet the needs of their clients. Safety is to a very high standard and ensure their staff go home safely daily as well as looking after the motorists they are directing.
OUTSTANDING SERVICE AWARD
JEREMY DIXON – ISAAC CONSTRUCTION
Jeremy’s leadership style is one of people first, this is evident in the culture of leadership within the company he leads, Isaac Construction. Jeremy as past chairman and current Member on the National Executive has promoted specifically for the CCNZ members of the Canterbury Westland region. Jeremy also believed the industry is poorly represented in the market and has put considerable personal effort into the education school leavers and public of the amazing opportunity we have as an industry. I’m sure for a long time to come ‘Jeremy will continue to set the standard for others to follow in our industry.
SUPREME AWARD – CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR
WINNER: BLAKELY CONSTRUCTION.
From the entries and profiles submitted for this year’s awards, this company has demonstrated advancement in capability and competence over a spectrum of contracting projects. The company has responded to rapid design and build solutions for community infrastructure damaged by weather events and has innovated in many projects to provide buildable designs for many clients. High importance accorded to Safety and Environmental practices are features of the company’s planning and operations and personnel empowerment and development featured strongly in team presentations of the projects.
JUDGES DISCRETIONARY YOUNG ENGINEER AWARD went to ALI HAIDARI from HIGGINS for the Dyers Pass Road Safety Project
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors this year for their continued support.
