The Ambitious Years

Image: The former editor of Contractor Alan Titchall, seen here after receiving a Service Award from Civil Contractors New Zealand in August. 

Alan Titchall was employed at Contrafed Publishing between May 2007 and May 2026 as an editor and, later, the Managing Editor. Alan looks back on his time at the company, including his years at the helm of Contractor magazine.

At the venerable age of 56, I was recruited by Contrafed Publishing as an experienced editor by the then Managing Editor – the comparatively young and very talented, Mary Searle, who was about to take the company on an ambitious journey.

Mary was in the middle of elevating the publication house from the main title Contractor, and an infrequent New Zealand Quarrying & Mining (Q&M), to a stable of new titles. She also had impressive renovation plans for the antiquated offices in Church Street, Onehunga in Auckland. Admittedly, this was a tasty job incentive for me, having recently worked in fashion and design magazine publication offices.

Along with boosting Q&M (New Zealand Quarrying & Mining) magazine from a quarterly supplement to a bimonthly publication, she spearheaded the addition of InRoads and Energy NZ magazines.

Her strategies were backed by a supportive board and the company stakeholders and, over the following years, Scrap and Demolition magazine was added, along with an energy conference (Amex) designed by me and the sales manager, Mike Bridgman. 

Held in Taranaki annually for two years, this event rode on the back of Energy NZ and made an opportune and healthy contribution to budgets and revenues challenged by different events, including the 2008 global financial crisis. 

In 2018, Energy NZ became a victim of Kiwi politics under the Labour government that decided greenwash virtue signalling outranked energy security and banned future oil and gas exploration, effectively hitting our main advertisers. 

After Mary left on maternity leave in 2012, (although she soon returned as a freelance writer and editor), Kevin Lawrence headed Contrafed Publishing until 2017. Under his leadership we sold Scrap and Demolition magazine and added Local Government magazine (a well-respected title we bought at a collapsed publication house fire sale) to our stable. 

Around the same time, we were approached by Water New Zealand to redesign its magazine, Water, and help publish it, which we still do.

A reshuffle of staff and the departure of Kevin mid-2017 launched another Contrafed journey with me as Managing Editor and David Penny joining us in the new role of General Manager. 

David brought years of commercial publishing experience with him and was instrumental in moving production onto a cloud-based platform. This proved another opportune move as Covid sent us home to work remotely during parts of 2020. 

By the time I retired at the end of May this year, the company was left with Q&M, Contractor and Local Government magazines and I handed my role to the new Editorial Manager, Natasha Jojoa Burling, who is now working with David and Sales and Marketing Manager Charles Fairbairn, who has been with the company since 2014.

Serious fun

The past 20 years have involved a number of talented people who were drawn by the unique magic that makes Contrafed Publishing far different from other publication houses, as it represents its industry stakeholders. In recent years, it has also avoided the mistakes other publishers have fallen victim to, such as relying on low-cost content, social media platforms and digital media at the cost of print – which still offers the best presentation format for both readers and advertisers.

I must add, after 50 years in publishing, I have never experienced such fidelity and talent as I have from colleagues, suppliers, board members and stakeholders who guided the continued success of this company – not just over the past two decades but for the past five.

And I have to say, it was fun, which is not a word I use frivolously when it comes to responsible managerial roles. Over the past 20 years, the variety of duties involved travel, conferences, events and site visits that made it a role for me, personally, that capped a career in publishing that I am so grateful for.

Let us not forget, the company was founded as a means of association communication, of course, but also as a lobbying medium in the days when large infrastructure projects were built by the Government’s own workforce (the Ministry of Works). As I reflected in numerous editorials in past issues of Contractor, there is still a reality gap between our politicians and their party ideologies and ministry bureaucrats, and you, our readers, who design, build and maintain our essential national infrastructure. 

When it comes to making project decisions at the top – you would surely expect those who do the actual work to be there at the discussion and planning table?

Typically, back in August, a number of senior politicians involved with infrastructure spoke as a panel at the Big Infrastructure Debate hosted by Engineering NZ in partnership with a media outlet. The resulting headlines included, “Politicians sound the alarm on funding for infrastructure” with a challenge to engineers to downgrade their “dreams” when it comes to infrastructure projects. 

Hang on friends! Contractors don’t decide on the country’s infrastructure budget or its specs – that is a very complicated process of tendering and procurement by your bureaucrats. So, are you talking about engineers within government ministries, or the civil contracting industry? If you don’t want gold-plated, simple – don’t ask for it in the specs? 

The irony is, over my time at Contrafed dealing with numerous government officials and private contractors I kept hearing the same mantra that drives our parsimonious approach to infrastructure – ‘sweating the asset’ with minimum maintenance, and low cost-motivated project tendering. Something is out of kilter here.

On a holistic note – please take comfort that while political parties and their ministers come and go, you have always been there to simply get on with the job with your expertise and always will be.

Finally, I think I can speak for everyone who has been involved in this company over the past two decades when I say I have been proud to be part of the process that records and celebrates that important role.

Please, keep on shifting dirt for a better nation.