Hawke’s Bay excellence landed some well-earned awards this past week.
An industrial upholstery apprentice from Hawke’s Bay, Georgie Fry, has been awarded Apprentice of the Year.
Fry took out the ‘overall industrial textile apprentice of the year’ award at the national Outdoor Fabric Products Association of New Zealand (OFPANZ) Awards. These Awards for Excellence offer apprentices a chance to showcase their technical skills, design excellence and innovation on a national stage.
Fry is an apprentice at Douglas Outdoor & Textile Innovation, Hastings and said she was incredibly grateful for the support and mentorship of everyone at Douglas with a special mention of production manager Adam, and Pete and Suzanne, the owners.
Her award-winning design, entitled ‘Millie’s Multi Harness’, was a custom-designed injury-support harness for her dog Millie.
The winning design incorporated several unique features not available in existing similar products, including handles for lifting her safely in and out of the car, easy fixing hooks for a dog that doesn’t sit still, and carry bags with domes to ensure Millie could be kitted out for whatever adventure she may embark on.
She said the hardest part of her design was getting the sizing right. “It took at least a day of taking templates on and off Millie with lots of treats involved,” Fry said.
Fry, currently working on a “huge job” of 22 new acrylic canvas tents for Blackbarn, said her plan was just to focus on getting some more experience in the industry under her belt and learning everything she could to do well in the trade.
Meantime, moving from canine project to construction …
Two outstanding civil construction projects in Napier and Hastings have won Aotearoa’s top honours at the 44th Civil Contractors New Zealand Hirepool Construction Excellence Awards.
These awards celebrate the best of New Zealand’s civil infrastructure construction industry.
A project to build 6 Wharf ‘Te Whiti’, at Napier Port was handled by HEB Construction and won the national award for projects with a value of greater than $100 million. The new 350-metre-long wharf – the largest to be constructed in recent New Zealand history – was required to increase capacity to accommodate the largest cargo and cruise ships.
Fellow civil construction company Fulton Hogan took first place in the maintenance and management of assets category for exceeding response expectations in the Hastings District following the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle earlier this year. The company mobilised every team member and all of the equipment it had available, alongside the New Zealand Defence Force and all the contractors it could source, to make the roading network in the area safe.
Civil Contractors New Zealand Chief Executive Alan Pollard commented: “HEB Construction’s and Fulton Hogan’s achievements have, in different ways, had a major impact on New Zealand’s communities.
“HEB Construction’s work on 6 Wharf means New Zealand’s marine transport network can continue to service the international supply chain that underpins the country’s economy. The methods HEB used to deliver this large-scale project were first-rate. Fulton Hogan’s expertise and experience in road maintenance meant that, when the worst happened, the best were there to co-ordinate and tackle the response to one of the most savage weather events that has ever affected New Zealand.”
