Business North May 2021

20 | “The owners are here all day every day working in the business. We’re still very much a family business and a lot of that comes down to owners being very accessible to the staff. We don’t have layers and layers of management staff between the site crews and the business owners.” T T to page 22 Gibson O’Connor Construction Continuing to build on proud legacy T T Richard Loader DEVELOPMENT G ibson O’Connor Construction’s legacy stretches back to the mid-1960s with a proud resume that includes construc - tion of New Zealand’s Parliament Buildings, the iconic Beehive. Founded by Kevin Gibson and John O’Connor, in its early days the company operated throughout New Zealand undertak - ing a diverse range of projects developing a reputation for stability and solid reliability for delivering quality buildings. Today the company is in the hands of four directors; Michael Powell, Chris Martin, Don Savage, and Managing Director Gavin Bran - nigan, who all continue to uphold that strong reputation. Michael says ownership of the business has always been with people who work in the company, and he believes that to be one of the keys to the company’s enduring success. “The owners are here all day every day working in the business. We’re still very much a family business and a lot of that comes down to owners being very accessible to the staff. We don’t have layers and layers of man - agement staff between the site crews and the business owners. “If someone has a problem they can pick up the phone or come and see us. That close relationship also transfers to the relationship we have with our clients.” Many of Gibson O’Connor’s team members are long termers with twenty and thirty-year tenures not uncommon amongst site workers, something that Michael puts down to just looking after people, and promoting promis - ing young people. Directors, Don, Chris, Gavin and Michael all started with Gibson O’Connor as cadets and worked their way through the ranks to where they are now. While staff numbers fluctuate with the scale of projects, it currently sits at around forty full time employees including apprentice carpen- ters, tradespeople, quantity surveyors, site managers and project managers supported by administration and accounting staff. “We are builders at heart and take a lot of pride in that,’ says Michael. “We’re a commercial construction company — a main contractor. We are not building con - sultants. We employ indentured carpenters and trade qualified site managers who know how to build buildings. And that is something we reinforce with the cadets we take on. Forget the fancy titles — you are here to learn how to build buildings because that is what we do.” That same ethos flows through to Gibson O’Connor’s project managers who have all been selected based upon their trade experi - ence and exposure. “When they’re sitting in design meetings on some of these large developments they can add real value in terms of buildability or cost and time savings.” +64 9 426 0332 www.thermalsolutions.co.nz Design & Engineering Refrigeration Asset Management & Maintenance Climate control & ventilation