Building industry awards shine light on excellence
More than 80 commercial building projects are vying for the title of
2019 Supreme Commercial Project of the Year after a nightmare
12 months for the construction sector with several firm collapses.
The 2019 New Zealand Commercial Project Awards are run by the Registered Master Builders Association which will announce the 2019 winners at a national gala event on May 17 in Auckland.
It’s a chance for an industry in the headlines for all the wrong reasons to redeem itself.
Registered Master Builders chief executive David Kelly said the awards recognised and celebrated the contribution and collaboration of the professionals who work on commercial building projects, big and small, from architects, engineers and project managers to quantity surveyors and the construction companies.
‘‘The commercial sector is facing enormous challenges at the moment and this competition rewards the true partnership of all parties involved in the commercial construction process,’’ Kelly said.
They celebrated those in the industry who were focused on producing quality buildings, delivered on time for a fair price and with fair margins. The projects entered contributed to the strengthening of the sector and supported innovation and growth. ‘‘We need to be working together, not to just improve the health of our sector, but to deliver better homes, better workplaces, and ultimately better lives for all,’’ Kelly said.
Several construction and related companies have been placed in receivership and/or liquidation in the past 12 months.
They include Ebert Construction, which owes creditors about $120 million; Corbel Construction, owing about $5m; and Orange H Group. Arrow International went into voluntary liquidation at the beginning of March.
Kelly said the 2019 entrants featured a diverse range of projects, including the transformation of The Old Stone House, originally built by Sir John Cracroft Wilson on his Christchurch estate in 1870-71. The entrant company was Amalgamated Builders.
Two others were the expansion of the Wellington Hospital ICU, where the entrant company was Naylor Love Wellington, and the Singh dairy farm barn system in Gordonton, in the Waikato, built by Calder Stewart Construction and GEA Farm Technologies.
The 2019 project categories include education, commercial, tourism, retail, health, residential, commercial fit-out, heritage and restoration, civic and industrial.
There are also four awards for projects ranging from under
$2 million to over $15m.
This year there are two new awards – the Sustainability Award and the Innovation Award.
The highest accolade was the Platinum Award given to an entrant who had won five or more national titles.
Kelly said last year’s Supreme Award winner was Skellerup’s new dairy rubberware development and manufacturing facility, a
$25m project, entered by Calder Stewart Construction, which demonstrated an ‘‘end to end’’ process with the client, consultant, contractor and sub-contractor.