Business South November 2021

48 | High-profile projects for Whitestone T Russell Fredric The construction of Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) project, Bennett’s Bluff car park and lookout on Lake Wakatipu, was a high- profile project the team enjoyed working on. CONTRACTING Whitestone Contracting: Civil Contractor Awards W hitestone Contracting’s Central Otago operation is making great inroads in both completed projects and award recognition. Headquartered in Oamaru, the business had operated in Central Otago on a smaller scale for nearly 10 years, but expanded its civil construction business into a permanent base in Cromwell two-and-a-half years ago. The company is owned by Waitaki District Council and also operates out of Fairlie, Teka- po, Twizel, Dunedin, Alexandra and Cromwell. The Central Otago operation is a strategic move, the primary focus has not been so much on growth, but on excellence of service and quality outcomes for its clients. A recent Otago Branch Civil Contractors of New Zea- land award, along with some high-profile pro- jects is proof of the success of this strategy. Central Otago Executive Manager Paul Bisset says he is proud of what its team has achieved in the past two-and-a-half years in both supporting larger companies as well as completing its own projects. The construction of Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) project, Bennett’s Bluff car park and lookout on Lake Wakatipu, was a high-profile project the team enjoyed working on. The current viewing area at the bluff is a popular stopping point providing a stunning view, but had never been designed to accom- modate the large number of vehicles that visit the site. QLDC invested $1.6m to develop an ex- pansive car park, toilet block and picnic area, enhanced with mass native planting, while the Department of Conservation funded a walking track and viewing platform. Logistical challenges for Whitestone Con- tracting included carting about 30,000 tonnes of gravel fill from the remote Rees River about 30 minutes north of the site. Work started in October 2020 and took about seven months to complete. “This was a great project, the end result looks fantastic. The new viewing platform provides a spectacular 180 degree view of the lake and surrounding mountains,” Paul says. Whitestone’s award-winning contract, the creation of a large soak pit on Aubrey Road, Wanaka, was designed to alleviate the long-standing problem of significant flooding on a section of the busy road. It was undertaken as a sub-contract for Downers as part of their road maintenance contract with the QLDC. Constructing the new soak pit, which is 25 metres long, 2.2 metres wide and 5.0 metres deep, involved a collaboration between QLDC, Downers, and Whitestone Contracting. Because of the depth and nature of the site, heavy trench shields were used to ensure a safe work area was achieved. A concise safety methodology had to be developed to ensure that the work was carried out safely. “You have to be very thorough in planning in these situations because people can get hurt if the risks aren’t managed properly. We made sure the machines we had were capable of lifting the shoring and working to those depths so nothing was strained, the work was carried out safely without injury or incident.” “Reduced radius excavators were employed to reduce the width of the construction area, making the site safer for our team when work- ing on a condensed work site around heavy machinery.” An innovative feature of the project was us- ing magnets fixed to the insides of the trench shields to hold in place filter cloth laid up the sides of the soak pit. Paul is pleased not only for Whitestone Contracting as a whole in receiving the award, but also for the recognition for a new team to be able to carry out the works successfully. “It was a challenging project that was completed safely and timely, taking only three weeks to complete. “There were no incidents on site and it was completed to a high standard; key to achiev- ing this was working in a collaborative envi- ronment with Downer and QLDC to achieve a common outcome” “Reduced radius excavators were employed to reduce the width of the construction area, making the site safer for our team when working on a condensed work site around heavy machinery.” Tra cManagement Services Central Otago are your road safety professionals. Our aim is to deliver on our specialty so that you can focus on your area of expertise, e ectivelyminimizing your workloads andworries. Taane Royce 021 720 162 www.tmsco.co.nz GROUP No1 FOR POSTS AND TIMBER Proud to be major timber suppliers toWhitestone Contracting Ltd • Posts • Poles • Timber • Concrete Troughs • General Fencing Supplies Call our teamat Great SouthernOamaru Ph03 4348659