| 55 CONTRACTING Isaac Construction: CCNZ National Awards Seawall project wins coveted award T Richard Loader Isaac Construction was awarded one of the highly prized Toki awards at the CCNZ National Awards for the Portobello Seawall project. Symbolising strength, determination, and courage in times of adversity, the Toki is an ancient Māori tool, and is quite fittingly used as the much-coveted trophy presented at the Civil Contractors of New Zealand (CCNZ) National Awards. Winning one of five of the highly prized Toki awards at this year’s Awards, Isaac Construction was announced Category 1 Award Winner for Project of the Year up to $2 million, for the Portobello Seawall project. Part of the Peninsula Connection SP7 project for the Dunedin City Council, the Isaac Construction team is justifiably proud of the project’s successful completion, its first for the local community and council. “We entered the project because we felt it had a number of quite unique aspects and we were very proud of the outcome,” says CEO Jeremy Dixon. ‘The team had done an amazing job delivering the project and we felt their efforts needed to be recognised by the wider contracting community.” Isaac Construction has previously won several awards for people and training, but this was its first project-based award for about sixteen years. “To win a significant award for a project was recognition that our team had constructed the best project for under two million dollars in the entire country. That’s great industry kudos for our staff. The award was all the more significant as Covid had prevented the National awards from being held last year, and only five Toki’s were awarded across the two years.” The project was one of the Dunedin City Council’s major projects for connecting the peninsula to the city and making it accessible and safe for people including cyclists. “Our work required some interesting engineering and practical construction solutions to build a retaining seawall from the seabed up to about eight metres high over a length of several hundred metres,” explains Jeremy. “Not only did we work in a narrow, confined space while maintaining public access, we also had to work around the tidal and harsh coastal environment and with forty two wet days during summer, making construction hard as the ground conditions were poor. “As the project progressed into the more complex areas of the site, there was a high level of collaboration with the designer to create practical solutions to ensure project success.” At the time of the Seawall Portablello project, the construction team were all Christchurch based, requiring large periods of separation from families to deliver the project. “We won the project and offered our Christchurch team the opportunity to go to Dunedin and they put their hands up. We had a project manager, site engineer, foreman and a crew staying down there for weeks on end. To leave their families to deliver this project was very cool and they did an amazing job for us. The project was a great outcome but on top of that the team were the beachhead tasked with building our reputation in the region, which has given us a step up with how the council and locals view us.” Since completing the Portobello Seawall project, Isaac Construction has established a permanent base in Dunedin, employing a mix of Christchurch and local staff, building on the presence and goodwill already established. “We have won several more projects in Dunedin, including the upgrade to George Street, Dunedin’s main street, from the Octagan down through the commercial retail area. Isaac Construction is now becoming a Dunedin business and we’re enhancing the local community.” Jeremy says since it foundations in the 1950s Isaac Construction’s success has always been about developing our people. “We have a massive focus on giving people opportunity to grow and develop themselves, and the vast majority of people take it. Part of the reason for our growth is to provide people with the opportunity to step up into new roles and not be held back.” “We entered the project because we felt it had a number of quite unique aspects and we were very proud of the outcome.” CLARK FORTUNE MCDONALD has extensive local knowledge with wide ranging experience in small urban to large scale land development projects. Landscape and Earthworks Design Project Management – Engineering Design. Start to Finish Resource Consent Applications - Environmental Impact Assessments. Boundary Pegging and Survey Setouts - Topographical Surveys - Title information www.cfma.co.nz Queenstown – 309 Lower Shotover Road, Queenstown – Phone: 03 441 6044 Christchurch – 3 Lowe St, Addington, Christchurch – Phone: 03 348 1025 Dunedin – Lower Ground Floor, Trevian House, 60 Tennyson St, Dunedin – Phone: 03 470 1582 Gore – 14 Mersey St, Gore – Phone: 03 208 6474 CivilWorks • Sub-divisions • Transport Demolition • Recycling • Siteworks www.hallbros.co.nz | 03 477 1141
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