In for the long run

Contractor talks with new CCNZ Executive Council member Adam Plimmer about his career in the UK and now New Zealand – after a marathon stint to get down here in a Land Rover.

Growing up in Bromsgrove, just outside Birmingham in the United Kingdom, Adam used to ride his bike out to roading projects to see what was going on. In his words, he “always wanted to drive a car with a flashing light on the roof and a motorway maintenance sticker on the back door”.

Now working as Brian Perry Civil’s Central North Island Regional Manager Adam has had a wide-ranging career.

His first job out of Sheffield Hallam University was concrete testing in Scunthorpe, followed by pre-cast concrete projects, and then he secured a role with Intaspan, a company specialising in complex bridge construction.

His work in the UK involved creative techniques for construction.

“We used to specialise in building bridges where you couldn’t get a crane. We used lots of different techniques. Such as floating them across rivers, building them on site and winching them into place and even helicoptering some into position.”

The work was complex and meaningful, and it held his interest, but everything changed when he met a Kiwi girl …

Having ventured to North Africa a few times, he now decided to travel to New Zealand for another adventure, and the journey was no less creative. Car enthusiast Adam drove his Land Rover as far as he could overland, then shipped it the rest of the way to New Zealand, aiming to attend The Lord of the Rings movie premiere in Wellington in 2003.

 

Even the second Gulf War couldn’t stop him, and he made his way through Europe, the Middle East, Nepal, India, and Singapore to arrive in time to spot Frodo, Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli on the red carpet.

Adam’s career here started off with Fletcher in Auckland. He secured a role as a Precast Manager, and his first role was managing precast concrete for the construction of Spaghetti Junction in Auckland,

Following this stint with the (then) Engineering Division, he stepped into one of its piling  businesses, Piletech, where he worked alongside CCNZ Past President and fellow industry stalwart Tony Pike.

And in 2015, he moved down to Hamilton to take on a Branch Manager role with Brian Perry Civil. While he’s still in the same job, the business has expanded to cover more regions, now spanning the country from the Bay of Plenty across to Taranaki and down through the Central North Island to Gisborne & Hawkes Bay.

He first encountered the CCNZ association in Hamilton. His predecessor at Brian Perry Civil, Chris Seath, had been on the Waikato Branch Executive Committee. Adam went along to one of the meetings and sat next to Kerry Watkins (who was re-elected to the Executive Council at the 2025 CCNZ Annual General Meeting).

He was nominated for the Branch Executive Committee at that meeting, and says the branch has “come a long way” in the ten years since he joined the committee.

“We have made some significant changes to the structure. I thought what Hawke’s Bay had started with a smaller executive committee and more subcommittees was a really good way to work.

“We put that model in place, and we now have a significantly larger membership. An indicator of success is that our awards dinners have gone from strength to strength, now attracting up to 300 people and raising the profile of the industry.”

Now stepping back from six years as Branch Chair, Adam says the Waikato Branch had a good a succession plan in place and he’s confident there are good things to come. But his motivation to give back to the industry remains strong.

“I always believe that volunteering is part of being a good human. I thought it would be really good to give back to the industry,” he says.

“I threw my hat in the ring as I’ve got a bit of experience and a few skills to offer. There are some inspirational people on the board and I’m hoping some of their smarts rub off on me too.”

His first Executive Council meeting was held in Taranaki, alongside a branch meeting where the Executive Council spoke with branch members about the challenges and opportunities they faced.

“We went to the branch, met with them, and talked to them about their needs. I thought that was really powerful. I think there are a lot of quite significant things we can address – for instance, I’d like to see infrastructure not be used as a political football.

“Contractors need to know where the work is going to happen and what kind of skills they need. Boom-bust cycles are really disruptive, and I want to get clients talking to one another to get past the mentality that’s causing these type of challenges.”

Adam acknowledges the market has been challenging over the past couple of years, but he relishes the challenge – and the support and camaraderie he has found in his time at CCNZ.

A keen marathon runner, he sees a lot of parallels between the work he does day-to-day and marathon running.

“It’s certainly a mind game. You have to have faith in yourself. You’ve got to prepare well, sleep well, and you’ve got to have good gear. There’s an old saying, ‘If you want to run fast, run by yourself, if you want to run far, run with a friend’, and I think that holds true as well.”

Adam says it is also important to set good goals. In his personal life, his goal is to live to 100 and do a marathon each year. His favourite so far was the London Marathon in 2024, where runners pass Big Ben and finish in front of Buckingham Palace.

His next target was the T52 at Tarawera, then some bright spark suggested he try Backyard Ultra marathons! These demanding events require participants run laps of a set course of 6.706 kilometres every hour, on the hour, until only one runner remains. Adam managed 67 km in the last event. His target this year is 17 laps, or 114 km in total.

And training didn’t just put him in good physical shape. He said another lesson he’s learned from running is around good mental health, something he is a strong advocate for in the industry, and something he finds easier to achieve when he’s up to see the morning sun rise over the running tracks of Hamilton.