60 | Busy times in Central An ongoing landmark project in progress for the past 18 months is major earthworks for Mt Cardrona Station residential village. CONTRACTING Contrax Central T T Russell Fredric Operating a comprehensive, well maintained fleet of machinery supported by skilled staff gives Contrax Central the capacity to complete a great diversity of projects. Headed by father and son John and Johnny Marnane, the family-owned company has been operating throughout Otago and Southland for more than 30 years. Contrax Central is currently working through some large-scale projects, but the smaller rural, commercial and residential work is just as important, Johnny says. “We are still very varied in what we are doing; we’ve got those bigger earthworks projects but we’re still doing the smaller projects, the house sites, the driveways, the rural work horticulture and civil which is all equally important. Between it all, it keeps us busy. “Although the residential may be slowing, I think it’s looking positive going forward.” An ongoing landmark project in progress for the past 18 months is major earthworks for Mt Cardrona Station, an architecturally designed residential village set in Cardrona Valley among mountain landscape between Wanaka and Arrowtown. The cost of the entire multiple stage development is reported to be $650 million. Contrax Central’s work involves creating terraced house sites, landscaping and excavation for a water treatment pond and infrastructure on the 400 hectare development and is ongoing, with up to 14 of Contrax Central’s staff travelling from Cromwell to the site each day. Johnny estimates in excess of 100,000 cubic metres of material has been moved by Contrax Central since work started, of which about 40,000 plus cubic metres of certified fill has been required for building platforms and roads. “There’s so much variety of work and equipment available to them and people can develop valuable skills which are in high demand; it’s a great industry to be in.” “We are also working on the stormwater ponds and infrastructure. The ponds are designed as catchment for run-off from the development and are part of the environmental mitigation consent conditions for the development. “It’s been one of the bigger jobs in the last year and a half. We’ve had to get extra staff and extra plant and to ramp things up a bit to keep up with the work. “It’s a busy, busy place.” For Contrax, a key benefit of the project is the continuity of work it provides, plus the efficiency of working in one place long-term. “It’s a great project to be involved with and when you’re talking about the whole vision, it’s quite amazing to be with people that have that vision, and they are doing it and you’re working with people that are excited and share their vision with you. Being in an alpine climate, winter is a challenging time and last year there was snow on the ground for six weeks which limited options to work as well as slowing progress. Contrax Central now employs 23 staff after recruiting six extra staff last year to cope with the workload, with two women being among its team of machinery operators. It also employs a a full time mechanic. “Staff turnover is a problem in most industries, but we are proud that some of our previous staff return to work with us, and to have new recruits learning the ropes with Contrax and our team. “There’s so much variety of work and equipment available to them and people can develop valuable skills which are in high demand; it’s a great industry to be in.” The company’s fleet of machinery is comprehensive and is continually kept up to date to maximise reliability, with some utilising 3D GPS equipment. SUPPLIERS OF EARTHMOVING AND CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT PROUD TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH CONTRAX CENTRAL LTD Service in Queenstown, Wanaka, Cromwell and Alexandra Cromwell Tyres Ltd McNulty Road, Cromwell Phone 03 445 0746 Mobile 029 445 0746 • Email peter@cromwelltyres.co.nz totalautoelectrical@gmail.com (03) 445 8072 11a Rogers Street, Cromwell Mon-Fri 8am-5pm BATTERIES • Air Conditioning Servicing & Repairs • FREE battery testing • Auto Electrical Repairs The supply, support and training for this equipment that has been provided by Jamie Nelson and his team from Synergy Positioning Systems has been amazing, Johnny says. “We can’t speak highly enough of them.” Last year two new 20 tonne excavators and a 36 tonne excavator were added to the fleet, all with 3D GPS. “With the type of work we are doing lately we thought a larger digger of that size with 3D GPS would be a great asset both to the business and our clients because of the efficiencies it creates on the larger jobs.”
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