26 | CLL Solutions: NZ Post T T Nick Walker CLL - built to do things differently REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT When CLL bought a piece of land in Kerikeri, it wasn’t planning to build a New Zealand Post distribution centre. The site had been acquired as a staging yard for the $180 million Mangamuka Gorge reopening project, where CLL was the main contractor responsible for rebuilding around 7km of road and installing slip-retention infrastructure. For two years, the 8000sqm site was used to store and distribute steel, reinforcing, formwork and other materials. Once the project was complete, founder and executive chairman, Terry Donnelly, saw another opportunity. ™ B U I L D I N G S BUILD ONCE, BUILD RIGHT - that’s SMART! From sheds and canopies, to garaging and commercial premises we excel in end to end steel construction planning and execution - ensuring cost-effective and quality results from concept through to project completion. LIFESTYLE & RESIDENTIAL | FARM & INDUSTRIAL | COMMERCIAL www.smartsteelbuildings.co.nz | 09 553 3090 | sales@smartsteelbuildings.co.nz Rather than simply selling the land, CLL worked with Bayleys to find an occupier and ultimately develop around 3000sqm of the site. The turnkey project was designed and built with Smart Steel and delivered as a new distribution centre for NZ Post. While it’s not necessarily a specialist project for CLL, it shows the creative capability it’s grown over almost 40 years. CLL is the largest privately owned piling and ground improvement company in New Zealand, with around $60 million of plant, five regional bases and about 200 staff. Its work spans piling, ground improvement, slip stabilisation, retaining structures, building structures, bridges, wind farms and complex foundation solutions across New Zealand and the Pacific. It has also acquired and developed specialist and proprietary techniques and equipment that few (if any) others can offer. For Auckland’s Central Interceptor wastewater project, CLL drilled what Terry says is the largest hole ever drilled in New Zealand: an 80m-deep, 4.5m-diameter shaft. The company developed its own tooling and used a 1000hp rig with 45 tons of torque, along with specialised direction sensors to achieve the required accuracy. It has designed and built foundations for Christchurch’s new stadium, is working on major warehouse and industrial projects, and is currently involved in commercial construction and infrastructure projects throughout New Zealand. “We have a very wide range of techniques available, and we believe that diversity is a strength. both commercially and technically,” Terry says. CLL’s ability to tackle an unusually wide range of projects is backed by an equally unusual approach to its people. The company operates as a worker-owner business, with around 150 employees owning shares. The result is exceptionally high staff loyalty and retention. Skills stay within the business and multiply, and in some cases there are even three generations of the same family working alongside one another. That culture extends to CLL’s wider group, which includes a transport company, hire company and concrete-pumping business. The businesses operate independently in their markets, but share resources and capabilities. Terry is a strong believer in growing a reputation by investing in capability, retaining the people that know how to use it, and continuing to look for better ways to solve difficult problems.
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