Ensuring the employment of the best people for the job has been a key factor for the Transmission Gully Project team.
Women in Construction 2018 Award recipients from left to right: Papua Taumate, Gabby Bush and Jemma Dutton.
Last month the Transmission Gully Project hit the massive milestone of 5 million work-hours to date with a whopping 170,000 hours in November alone. This is the equivalent of 950 full time workers, although exact numbers change throughout the month depending on a range of subcontracted and weather-dependent tasks. The work is completed by an ever-changing mix of employees, contractors and sub-contractors and as we head into the final summer of bulk earthworks these numbers will certainly increase.
With a project the size of Transmission Gully Motorway, having a great team is vital to the success of the construction. Very early in the project it was recognised that the local job market would be unable to fulfil the number and type of skilled roles required to complete the work, and has meant the recruitment of skilled staff from around the globe.
At present, as well as New Zealanders, the project employs staff from a diverse array of countries including: Australia, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, the Philippines, New Caledonia, Columbia, Fiji and Sri Lanka. This medley of nationalities fills skilled roles across the board from steel tying to project leadership, environmental engineering to support staff. The project also draws from the pool of expertise offered by both the Construction Joint Venture partners’ parent companies, Vinci (which is French) and CIMIC (which is Spanish).
Employment and upskilling of our local workforce has been an important target for the project from the outset. The construction team works closely with Ministry of Social Development and Industry Training Organisation Connexis to recruit and upskill local labour and also works with universities to provide summer internships and graduate placements, which give the recipients invaluable “on the job” work experience opportunities.
There has also been a focus on promoting and improving female participation within the group and a commitment to achieve gender equity, including pay equity. The aim is to ensure that a minimum of 30% of the team are women – with additional targets of:
Justin Redelinghuys, Transmission Gully Construction Project Director, is particularly proud that project team members were recognised at the 2018 Women in Construction Awards. “This is an outstanding achievement and we are privileged to have such talent within our project team.”
