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A proud history of achievement

By Peter Silcock, Chief Executive, CCNZ

Nominations for our national awards programmes are open. And I must admit, I’m looking forward to seeing this year’s entries and finding out about the stories and people behind the fantastic work our members do every day.

At our annual conference last year, we saw some magic moments of recognition for the people and teams who transformed the plans on paper to amazing infrastructure that delivers great services to communities all over New Zealand.

The projects

The Hirepool Construction Excellence Awards are a highlight of the year for the civil construction industry. Seeing the expertise with which our construction teams work and the results they bring for Kiwi communities is truly inspiring.

It’s fascinating to find out the details behind the country’s best civil construction projects and find out about remarkable work, such as the stormwater tank sunk to a depth of 16 metres under a park in Glen Eden by McConnell Dowell or the ocean outfall flange joint replaced at a depth of five metres under a Canterbury beach by March Construction.

From HEB Construction and Downer’s joint venture that  built a new wharf in the Chatham Islands to smooth work from ARC Projects in building a new pump and drainage station in a Christchurch wetland, the awards recognised excellence in civil construction.

The people

As well as the projects that make up the work we do, it’s important to recognise the people and companies behind them.

Last year, we saw standout contributions to our industry from the next generation of leaders in the Z People Awards. Quintin Rolston won the Emerging Leader Award thanks to his work managing two divisions of Isaac Construction and Jake Alderson of Higgins won the Training Development Award due to his commitment to personal development, and the amazing feat of becoming foreman of four roading crews at the age of 23.

The other young finalists were also exceptional. Gareth Bruce has already made a huge contribution to developing our industry as a regional manager for Faulks Investments, and as a CCNZ Branch chair. Olga Joensuu’s work for Brian Perry Civil during the Kaikoura State Highway rebuild was top-notch and Rafe Bjork has a bright future ahead of him.

We need young leaders such as these to put their hats in the ring, and they deserve recognition. 

The companies

Companies who encourage their staff to develop skills, knowledge and expertise through nationally recognised qualifications are investing in their own and the industry’s future. By developing and rewarding staff for their hard work and commitment they build better expertise and loyalty across their own businesses.

Dave Connell was one of the champions behind the creation of Civil Trades – the nationally recognised certification process for the civil construction industry – so it was perhaps unsurprising to see Connell Contractors win the award for companies with a turnover of less than $10 million, while Isaac Construction and Fulton Hogan Bay of Plenty also showed outstanding commitment to developing their people. 

Working with Connexis to acknowledge the country’s best civil construction training initiatives in the Connexis Company Training Awards is a privilege for CCNZ.

We need to keep building skills and supporting companies that invest in training. As training is increasingly recognised in national procurement, I’d expect the companies to see increasing reward at the tender box for their good practice.

The history

With so much excellent work taking place at the moment, I’m sure we’ll see more entries than ever into our national awards programmes.

Civil Contractors New Zealand has been recognising excellence in our people, projects and companies since 1978

With 41 years of excellent projects and people, we’re in the process of digitising our historic awards going back to 1978, which will be featured on our website www.civilcontractors.co.nz and featured as ‘historic projects’ on the EPIC map at www.EPICwork.nz/map.

I encourage you to step up and enter the CCNZ Hirepool Construction Excellence Awards, Z People Awards and Connexis Company Training Awards.

What better way is there to celebrate the achievements of your team?

For more information on CCNZ’s awards programmes, visit www.civilcontractors.co.nz/awards.

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