| 21 Southland CCNZ Award winning Southland civil projects include the Manapouri Pearl Harbour, above, and Bluff’s Town Wharf upgrade. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT janine@mcdonough.co.nz 03 203 8245 Contact us for: Vegetation control • Concrete works • Trenching Thrusting • Excavation • Traffic Management Driveways • Civil Construction Streetscapes project ‘complex, rewarding’ Peter Fell C2 Concrete Polish System Peter Fell Bush Hammer and Concrete texturing T T Russell Fredric A landmark project completed in Invercargill’s central city by civil contractor Downer has been recognised in the 2023 Civil Contractors New Zealand (CCNZ) awards. Downer was the winner in the Hirepool award for excellence in projects over $5 million as the main contractor on the Invercargill City Council Streetscapes project. The project ran concurrently with the Invercargill Central development involving the complete redevelopment of a central city block, and was completed early this year after being started in July 2021. Downer Southland/Central Otago regional manager Chris Hasler says the complex project was at times challenging, but rewarding for the company’s team, and heralded another busy year. Part of the City Centre Master Plan, the aspirational development was designed to create a more vibrant and connected space that invites people to stay, shop and explore. The scale of the work, undertaken in two of the city’s main retail streets, Esk and Don, involved a close collaboration between Downer, landscape designer Isthmus, consultant and engineer Bonisch, and project manager The Building Intelligence Group. Streetscapes was also designed to promote pedestrian traffic throughout the city centre, Phone: 03 983 5500 waterfordpress.co.nz Your Business, Your Industry, Your News. DO OUR READERS KNOW YOU EXIST? T T to page 22 Southland: Downer Southland/Central Otago achievements of contractors and supporting businesses who have left a lasting legacy. CCNZ Southland hosts quarterly events and the opportunity for members to be able to get together and to network which is an important part of CCNZ’s role. The organisation can provide educational and practical support to its members through resources including third party legal advice, health and safety and traffic management support and tools, with membership affording further benefits such as fuel and trade discounts and an exclusive group health insurance scheme. CCNZ Southland also participates in careers days to highlight the variety of work and study options available. On a national level, CCNZ has developed its EPIC careers programme to show people the gateways to working in the industry. Participation in these career days highlights shows the critical role civil contractors play in society, from utilities to roading and the construction of buildings and facilities of all kinds. It can be a revelation for students and teachers to understand there is much more to civil contracting than operating machinery, and a huge variety of career paths are available for highly qualified specialists too, Regan says. “It’s quite an eye opener in getting them to understand what we do, and CCNZ has developed a civil construction trade apprenticeship scheme for students.” Promoting careers is part of a bigger picture to help create a pool of people to enter the industry in a market where businesses can struggle to recruit good staff and potentially be competing internationally, especially against Australia. Nationally, CCNZ does a lot of behind the scenes work and advocacy, including bringing members together from throughout New Zealand to understand the technical knowledge needed to support quality infrastructure and has specialised committees for traffic and road safety, asphalt, pavement and sustainability and environmental. shifting away from a focus on people parking directly in front of specific shops, and to transform Esk Street into a pedestrian-friendly civic area while strengthening Don Street’s entertainment focus. Downer’s role included installing new underground services, constructing shared spaces for people and cars, laying new paving, building rain gardens to naturally treat stormwater runoff, and installing new furniture, plants and lighting to beautify the space and increase usability. Challenges included illness through the pandemic and delays due to the lockdowns, working alongside other active developments, infrastructure work, unexpected soil contamination in which some heavy metals and other low levels of contamination were discovered, and archaeological discoveries, Chris says. “The main challenge was that it was in an operating central business district so the big challenge was making sure that people had access to shops and the like and trying to keep disruption to a minimum for the shop owners.” Downer drew on the experience of some of its Christchurch team who were seconded to the Streetscapes project because of their considerable experience in inner city landscape work following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.
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