Comment

Salary increases thinner on the ground this year Comment

Salary increases thinner on the ground this year

Civil construction skills remain in demand, but tight margins mean salaries fail to reflect this in all bar a few cases.  By Jason Walker, managing director, of Hays New Zealand There’s no doubt that civil construction remains an active jobs market in New Zealand. According to findings in our 2018-19 Hays Salary Guide, business...
Concrete ideas to get Auckland moving Comment

Concrete ideas to get Auckland moving

ROB GAIMSTER, CEO, CONCRETE NEW ZEALAND. CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY across New Zealand, and particularly the Auckland region, is running at record levels. This is a welcome situation, as it indicates a prosperous economy and a developing country/region. However, there are several issues which are preventing efficiency gains for ready mixed...
Ransomware can cripple your business Comment

Ransomware can cripple your business

KEN SHIRLEY, CEO, ROAD TRANSPORT FORUM NEW ZEALAND. ALMOST EVERY 21st century business has become totally reliant on the integrity and functionality of its IT systems, so much so that we now take them for granted. Trucking companies are no different. IT systems are fundamental to the daily operation of a modern transport and logistics...
NZTA works with industry leaders on transport shift Comment

NZTA works with industry leaders on transport shift

IT HAS BEEN a busy few weeks for the Transport Agency, says Fergus Gammie, chief executive, NZ Transport Agency, as we have worked with local government and the contracting industry to understand the implications of the draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on land transport, with the shift in strategic direction for both road and...
Skill shortage – lessons from the past Comment

Skill shortage – lessons from the past

By Alan Titchall, managing editor, Contrafed Publishing. In the October 2004 issue of Contractor magazine, the then chief of Roading New Zealand (which later merged with the Contractors’ Federation to become Civil Contractors NZ), Chris Olsen, wrote a column on an initiative which had addressed a looming manpower shortage. At the...
Sobering light rail lessons from Sydney Comment

Sobering light rail lessons from Sydney

If you have been to Sydney over the past year you would have experienced the construction upheaval along Circular Quay and George Street, the city’s main street. The controversial project is a sobering lesson for our Government, the Auckland Council, and any contractors who sign up for future work on Auckland’s light rail...
Impact of the new political environment for road transport Comment

Impact of the new political environment for road transport

JONATHAN BHANA-THOMSON, NZ Chief executive, Heavy Haulage Association. THE LABOUR-LED coalition has already brought in a number of changes in direction in policy compared to the previous National government, and nowhere is this more obvious than with the transport area. While the manifestos of the parties leading up to last year’s...
Hard hats vs bump caps Comment

Hard hats vs bump caps

By Rod Auton, CEO, Crane Association of New Zealand. SOMETIMES WE forget the little things when we are trying to turn a business strategy into dollars and cents, and invariably it’s the little things that catch us out. Reducing costs and overheads sometimes results in the wrong decision being made through expediency, bad judgement...
Reality of oil in New Zealand Comment

Reality of oil in New Zealand

Whether it’s machinery, land transport (light and heavy), aviation, asphalt, lubrication, and even PPE clothing, petroleum products are widely used in this country and will continue to be for decades. By NEIL RITCHIE But unless more oil is continued to be discovered over the next decade, asphalt (bitumen), composed almost entirely of...
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