16 | Demand drives rapid growth Ground Anchor Systems has grown quickly to become New Zealand’s leading contractor for difficult access piling, anchoring, slope stabilisation, and seismic upgrades. Tasman: Ground Anchor Systems T T Kelly Deeks REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT “One of the biggest issues is trying to find a balance of skilled staff who have a good level of technical ability before we can take on junior staff.” Specialising in expert geotechnical solutions for civil, construction, infrastructure, and maintenance projects, Nelsonbased Ground Anchor Systems, or Ground, has worked hard over the past decade to become New Zealand’s leading contractor for specialty civil works, including difficult access piling, anchoring, slope stabilisation, and seismic upgrades. Ground’s specialisation grew out of flood remediation work in Nelson in 2011/12, where the company in its former incarnation as Nelson Contracting completed land stabilisation and reinstatement work for EQC and insurance company projects. “The number of seismic and flood events we’ve had in recent times has increased significantly, so our workload started to increase as well,” says Ground managing director Nigel Wilson. “We started to focus fully on providing industry-leading geo stabilisation, hazard mitigation, and difficult access civil construction services.” Ground Anchor Systems has been expanding around New Zealand ever since, and now has an office and team of 12 in Queenstown. This team is currently working for Naylor Love on the multi-million dollar upgrade to the Skyline Queenstown Gondola, as well as piling and anchoring for the new arterial route into Queenstown. As demand for Ground’s specialist services continues to grow across the country, the company is seeking more practical people to join the team. “One of the biggest issues is trying to find a balance of skilled staff who have a good level of technical ability before we can take on junior staff,” Nigel says. “We’ve got to get that balance right. Of course, we’re competing against the mining industry in Australia for qualified drillers. What we find is we’ll train up staff then they’ll move to Australia because we can’t compete against the mineral industry. They tend to go to make money and set themselves up, and they come back to us eventually.” Ground has created a workplace where people want to be, and is proud to say 80% of its workforce have been with the company for more than six years. Ground operates under three fundamental values which create a safe and empowering workplace for its employees: democracy, access to information, and profit sharing. “These values mean each employee has input of all company decisions, access to all company information, and shares in Ground’s success.” Ground is also busy constantly upskilling its team, with the aim of always having someone to replace anyone who may leave, and giving every team member the opportunity to advance as far as they want to within the company. Ground team members have been to the US to attend specialist drilling courses, and this year one is going to Australia to gain certification in shotcreting. The tight labour market is putting Ground’s focus on to labour saving technology in its plant and equipment. “We are automating some processes to allow us to work safer and faster, and that also means we can upskill our team with technology,” Nigel says. “Anything that minimises the labour input usually requires a higher level of skill.” Ground and the civil contracting industry has taken the lead from the building industry and started to promote civil contracting in schools. igel says the likes of Fulton Hogan have been quite active in this space, and Ground is prepared to build on that momentum and promote some of the more specialised aspects of the industry and the opportunities available. Proud to be associated with Ground Anchor Systems Ltd Structural Steel Fabrication One Staff 1/68 Achilles Ave, Nelson P: 03 545 7063 P: 0800 178 233 (1 STAFF) onestaff.co.nz PROUD TO BE SUPPORTING Ground Anchor Systems Ltd
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