70 | CONTRACTING Morecroft Contractors T T Hugh de Lacy Asbestos still a significant issue “In the workplace, exposure to asbestos is the country’s number-one killer, claiming around 220 lives a year. It’s a terrible statistic that we’re working hard to address.” Drilling a family affair Intorock Drilling is an established name in construction rock drilling in the Auckland region. T T Hugh de Lacy Intorock Drilling Slick Promotions is family owned and operated. We are dedicated to providing one-on-one, hands-on advice and services. Slick Promotions prides itself on catering for a wide range of Businesses, Sports Clubs, Charities and Individuals. Our embroidery is completed in-house making it a fast and efficient service with the personal touch. Our aim is to provide personalized branding on apparel and promotional goods. The team at Slick will be on hand to guide you through our product range and branding process. Ph 09 2977513 M 021 737 101 E slickpromotionsnz@gmail.com slickpromotions.co.nz In-house embroidery and branding Clothing Corporate Gifts Workwear Hi-vis safety wear Proudly Supporting Intorock Drilling Limited Tania Shaw was never cut out for a life in the office, so she’s happy to operate a drill-rig as operations manager for Bombay-based Auckland company, Intorock Drilling, while mum Eliza Shaw handles the books, and founder Ian Shaw keeps a fatherly eye on things. Intorock Drilling is an established name in construction rock drilling in the Auckland region, filling a steady demand for test bores for soakage, foundation and excavation investigations, large-diameter bores in soak-holes, and the flow-testing of existing soak-holes. It’s a comprehensive service delivered through a stable of DTH (down-the-hole) hammers powered by truck-mounted air compressors that can pump out between 350 and 900cfm at between 175 and 300psi. The company was founded in 1998 by Ian, who’s had a lifetime in the drilling industry. He started as a driller in a quarry straight out of school, worked in a variety of jobs before becoming operations manager for Auckland company Niederer Drilling, then two years later a partner in JMB Drill Services, where he remained until he launched Intorock Drilling, initially as a sole-trader. For the first few years, the company was based in Mangere before settling in Drury and staying there for 20 years. It then moved to With a large proportion of New Zealand’s buildings still containing cancer-inducing asbestos, there’s no chance of Auckland removal specialists Morecroft Contractors running out of business in the foreseeable future. As the country’s largest specialist asbestos and hazardous materials contractor, the company has grown significantly since being founded nearly 35 years ago. “Much of our housing stock was built between the 1950s and the early 2000s when the perils of asbestos had yet to be realised,” Morecroft Contractors chief operating officer Jason Catterall says. “If you were to fly over any of Auckland’s suburbs and look down, as many as 70% of all the houses below you would have asbestos in them in one form or another. “With the carcinogen having been used in almost 4000 different building products over the decades, the risk remains significant. “Whenever we see houses, for example, reaching the end of their lives and due to be replaced by new residential in-fill buildings, we get the call to remove both grades of asbestos during the demolition process,” Jason says. “And asbestos in housing is just part of the problem, with all types of older commercial buildings likewise contaminated. Of particular concern is the extensive presence of the carcinogen in the country’s schools, where there’s the further and growing problem of the growth of air-borne mould, which can new leased premises in Bombay in March of last year, reveling in having the space to keep all its drilling equipment under cover. Tania joined Ian and Eliza in the business eight years ago after returning from her OE, and was initially assigned to office work. “But I was never made for an office job so got out and helped the boys on-site, eventually operating a drill myself while also handling my management role,” Tania says. “We’ve got a highly versatile range of gear with two Atlas Copco full air-operated rigs, as well as two self-propelled drill rigs that only require air for the hammer. We mostly drill rock for stormwater soakage – rock-bores – drilling through the solid rock layer hoping to encounter fractures or cavities for the water to flow into. While we usually encounter basalt within five metres in Central Auckland, we can be looking at around 20 metres before we find it in Pukekohe,” she says. In a recent commission from Pukekohe company Tilsley Engineering, which was looking at a local site for a sub-division, Intorock had to drill anywhere through from 12m to 24m of ash before encountering solid basalt. “Where we encounter solid basalt at shallow depth, it makes for straightforward drilling. “Scoria, or loose rocks or boulders in ash can be more challenging as it becomes difficult to maintain an open borehole throughout. “ cause health problems like asthma, allergies or weakened immune systems. “In the workplace, exposure to asbestos is the country’s number-one killer, claiming around 220 lives a year. It’s a terrible statistic that we’re working hard to address.” Founded in 1991 by Jason’s brother Dirk, Morecroft remains a family business, having grown from just one employee to a staff of almost 50, working from bases in Whangarei, Tauranga, Napier and Wellington, as well as Auckland. Its distinctive company vehicles with the giant red ‘M’ can be seen all over the country, servicing residential, commercial and government clients in all sectors. “The asbestos content in buildings exists in two grades, with the more dangerous being the friable A-class material that occurs in insulation, lagging, textured ceilings and vinyl floors with paper backing,” Jason says. “The less dangerous, as long as it’s not disturbed, is the B-class non-friable asbestos material that is stable and doesn’t turn to dust, and it occurs in cement products, cladding and thermo-plastic floor tiles.”
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