8 | Greg Donaldson Contracting Kelly Deeks Strong economy keeps contractor busy GDC is heavily involved in power and fibre installation as more power lines are being taken off the road and services go underground. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Phone Sandy on 027 438 9576 Quarry Hours: 7am -5pmweekdays www.ellesmereexcavationandaggregate.co.nz • Crushed AP 20, 40 & 65 • • Crusher dust • Washed premix 13mm & 20mm • Boulders • 12mm driveway chip Proud to be associated with the team at Greg Donaldson Contracting Ltd As the Covid pandemic made a real dent in the world, it made a dent in the Ashburton community as well. But following these tough times, there is positivity for the town’s future as residential, commercial, and civil sectors are active and flourishing. “There is always a bit of pain before the glory, and you’ve got to break an egg to make an omelette,” says Greg Donaldson of leading Ashburton civil contracting firm GDC. “Things happening further afield in other parts of the world may have other impacts that we don’t even realise yet, but leaving politics out of it, the local economy is going very strong. It’s vibrant, everyone is busy, and you can’t get hold of anything if you want it. That’s a good sign.” Greg says Covid was an upset for Ashburton, but things have settled down since. The commercial construction sector is striving ahead and adding to the town all the time. “The developers are really putting their efforts into it.” GDC has been flat out taking old buildings down in the town centre to make way for bigger and better, and in some cases smaller and better. “These spaces aren’t being left, they are going ahead with new buildings. People are talking about the big box retailers moving to the outskirts of town, but the town centre, with more foot traffic now thanks to our recent streetscape revitalisation, will move forward with small boutique operations.” Inflationary pressures and the rising cost of living are obstacles to development, however the residential construction sector and new subdivision development are also still going strong in Ashburton. The town continues to expand, the land is available, and GDC has been working on an increasing number of new subdivisions and new sections during the past 12 to 18 months. As Ashburton grows, so does its draw on the services, and as such GDC is working on constant upgrades to telco, roading, water, and power infrastructure. More power lines are being taken off the roads and buried underground for safety reasons, and GDC is heavily involved in this in both Canterbury and Otago, with its worldwide patented mole ploughing technology, which is more cost and labour effective, and safer than open trenching. As commercial and residential construction sectors thriving, Greg wants to see Ashburton continue to improve its health, education, water, and roading offering to the point it can be a leader in New Zealand. “It would be fantastic. Ashburton is a great community, and we want our health, education, and basic infrastructure to be top of the line.” With its full range of siteworks, excavation, demolition, heavy haulage and heavy supply transport, directional drilling, and utility detection, and a vision to be the region’s most trusted and respected contractor of choice, GDC enables its customers to complete their projects and satisfy their requirements, be they local and government legislation and regulations, or in-house standards. The company applies its motto “Do It Once, Do It Right” to all its undertakings with the intention of building trust and a good reputation. “Ashburton is a great community, and we want our health, education, and basic infrastructure to be top of the line.”
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