The locally owned civil construction business has grown their staff by 20 percent in the past five years and outgrown their Hastings premises. So, they are on the move, taking the 75 plus team into a 6000 sq/m purpose-built base in the Irongate business district. CEO Mark Hook (pictured above) talks smart business with Kate de Lautour.
What are your main projects on the go?
We typically have at least 20 projects on the go in a month and they transcend everywhere between Wellington and up to Taranaki, Taupo, Hawke’s Bay and East Cape. We have an indoor pre-cast facility in Levin and have just completed an indoor facility in Hastings. We particularly enjoy working on community infrastructure projects like the Wellington Town Hall, Wellington International Airport Emergency Services and the Porirua Wastewater Treatment Plant. In Hawke’s Bay we’re doing the pre-cast panels for the new Bayley’s building in Havelock North and we took away their old building with our cranes. We’re working with Fulton Hogan on the Kereru Culvert and bridge work is on-going. Our new building is pretty cool being a nice, big concrete structure. It’s been great to see good things happening in Hastings and to have been involved with some of the building projects in the Irongate area.
How’s the clean-up work going post Cyclone Gabriel?
It’s rewarding to have been involved with the work fixing bridges, getting the bailey bridges in place and to see those areas opening up for the local communities. We are doing one of the biggest public bridges we’ve done to date in Tararua – the Rakaiatai Road Bridge and that will go in during September / October. There’s bridge repair going on all the time, jobs like the Patangata Bridge in CHB, but the emergency works are done and now it’s a matter of waiting for funding from the government so projects can be finished. We are asking for firmed up timelines so we can all prepare for the work and the pressure is on us as local industry to win the projects.
Are you doing more residential work?
We generally do 10-12 homes a year – most are higher spec homes, and they are done with a foam insulation sandwiched in the concrete panel which gives a high R value in the walls making them significantly more energy efficient. We are looking at social housing with a similar product, that’s a work in progress but one day we’ll get there.
How important is innovation to your successful growth?
Growth is important but controlling that growth is important too. It’s not about racing away with growth; it’s about being ready for it and making sure we have the capacity for that growth. Our industry is changing so innovation is important across the board. It’s not just about bringing new product or solutions to the market but also looking at different areas that we can move into and possible acquisitions of other companies.
We’re always looking to be innovative on projects and give customers what they want. For example, for the Wellington Town Hall we imported a new piling rig from Italy that could navigate the inside areas we needed it to access.
It was a challenge, putting a pile 18 metres into the ground with a headroom of five metres but we found a way to do it and with a great result.
We’re focused on innovation in our systems and constantly evaluating what new technology is coming to the market. We just upgraded our accounting project management software. Health and safety is now integrated into the company through software applications. The project management detailing and drafting system is being reevaluated – we’re always looking at where we can make improvements. We are in the business of concrete with a big carbon footprint, so we’ve been working on this issue and worked closely with Bridgeman Concrete. Using their reduced cement product, we can reduce the footprint by 50% and that’s a huge gain.
Partnering with other suppliers is a big focus for us and our client reviews report back that they like the way we communicate with others to get the right outcomes.
How do you approach professional development for the team?
We have a three-month induction programme for new staff and comprehensive annual reviews for every employee. This is not just talking about the job; it’s about looking at their short and longer-term career plan and setting goals on what they want to achieve and where they want to go. We have staff cadetship training for project management and leadership training to lift managers to new levels and learn about motivating people. Two of our people have been on The Icehouse Effective Leadership Programme recently in Hawke’s Bay. We also have in-house mentor programmes, and we are always identifying skills gaps and working on that.
How have you dialled up governance in the business and what’s your advice to others on this?
We now have a board with 4 directors appointed by the shareholder group and that’s taken the business to another level where we’re seeing huge improvements. We’ve done some high-level training in governance because everyone needs professional development. We meet once a month and set the purpose, the strategic direction and ensure we are covering off the oversight of the business. We’re identifying any skills shortages and holding ourselves to account the same as we expect from everyone in the business.
A good board understands its limitations and one of the key things is to bring in outside advisers when you don’t know something -don’t just wing it. And challenge the management of the company, because that is your role.
We are fortunate to have Michaela Vodanovich from the Icehouse working with the Board and senior leadership team, helping us to drive our strategic direction, breaking goals down into actions and responsibilities and analysis of financials. Having the external facilitator assists with driving the plan and the outside advice gives us the ability to step back and take in the independent viewpoint.
We’re realists and if something isn’t working, we’re always willing to get the right advice, work out how to solve it together and own our mistakes.
