12 | CEDA: Downer Manawatū T T Richard Loader Busy firm enjoying rapid growth Downer has been busy in the Manawatū in the last 18 months with the company experiencing rapid growth in region. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Project Manager Michael Hoggard 06 350 1000 | enquiries@maxtarr.co.nz | www.maxtarr.co.nz · Industrial electrical · Airfield lighting · Traffic Signals · Street lighting · Mechanical engineering · Industrial electronics · HVAC electrical ELECTRICAL • INDUSTRIAL • AUTOMATION WWW.HIGGINSCONCRETE.CO.NZ WWW.HIROCK.CO.NZ HIROCK &HIGGINS CONCRETE PROVIDING CUSTOMER FOCUSSED PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND SOLUTIONS TO THE LOWER NORTH ISLAND The two large projects Downer is working on in the Manawatū demonstrate the company’s ability to successfully deliver large-scale infrastructure projects in the region, working with both local and regional subcontractors as well as the wider Downer team, says Downer’s Manawatu Regional Manager Matt Tipping. The first project, Ferguson Street and Pitt Street Intersection Improvements, is the next stage of the Palmerston North City Council’s city centre transformation. The aim of the project is to help the inner ring road around Ferguson, Pitt, Grey and Princess streets to become the main route for trucks to get around the city centre and to make it easier for motorists to bypass The Square to get around town. It involved improvements to Ferguson Street from Pak‘nSave to the Pitt Street intersection making the inner-ring road safer and more efficient. The project includes changing the intersection at Ferguson-Pitt into a traffic-light controlled intersection, widening the road to four lanes of traffic, traffic lights for pedestrians to get across Ferguson Street at the Pak‘nSave fuel station and a wider footpath by Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School. There will also be minor changes to Linton-Ferguson intersection to prevent right turns across four lanes of traffic. Matt says the main challenge was maintaining two-way traffic on the busy road, and also enabling residential and commercial access to properties along the worksite, which saw the project broken into five stages. Downer expects to finish the project on time by end of June. The second project sees Downer working on the Richardson’s Line and Setters Line upgrade turning a mixed rural area into industrial. This project forms part of the PNCC Northeast Industrial Zone, involving installation of new pressurised water and sewer infrastructure and associated stormwater improvement, road widening and strengthening. Downer started the project in December and will complete it, again on time, by the end of June. Matt says successfully delivering the projects is a result of collaborative working relationships with two major subcontractors, the local Blackley Construction, which delivered the sewer and water infrastructure, and Wellington-based earthworks company John Ray. “Multiple crews work simultaneously and, at any one time, we have at least four different crews on site. This enables steady progress, ” says Matt. He says both projects demonstrate Downer’s ability to pull resources from out of region to complete specialised aspects such as road stabilisation, pavement design and resurfacing works, alongside the company’s collaborative working manner with local contractors and businesses. “For example to deliver the asphalt on Ferguson Street we have brought in specialist in-house surfacing teams from Wellington and Auckland to complete stages of work on the project,” he says. “In saying that, we also bolster our capabilities by engaging with local contractors wherever possible, and our people are local too.” Other projects Downer has recently completed in the region include on-going various minor civil construction projects for Manawatū District Council including footpath upgrades, cycleways and pavement widening and construction.
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