From marketing and retail management to quantity surveying

Posted by white associates on

Last month Olivia, our most recently graduated cadet, was featured in Open Polytechnic’s Student Stories.

Looking for a change from retail management and marketing, Olivia de Rooy found the “numbers side” of studying quantity surveying through Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga the perfect fit.

Olivia, who is based in Queenstown, recently completed the New Zealand Diploma in Construction (Level 6) (Quantity Surveying)  through Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga.

The 26-year-old is pleased she decided to switch from marketing and retail management to quantity surveying in November 2020.

“With a marketing degree and a 10-year background in retail management I found the financial and numbers side of business the most interesting,” Olivia said.

“When COVID-19 hit, the fast-paced environment of retail diminished so I began looking for something else. As I loved the numbers side of retail management, and have always had a love for buildings, I decided to go down the route of Quantity Surveying.”

Olivia’s career switch from marketing and retail management to quantity surveying

Olivia completed a Bachelor of Business, Marketing and International Business degree from Griffith University in Queensland, Australia in 2018.

But while she enjoyed studying marketing, it was tough to find her dream job.

Olivia had thought that getting a degree in marketing would lead her straight into a corporate marketing role with standard business hours.

Instead, with plenty of competition for marketing jobs, she found opportunities in retail management, with varied work hours and days. And while she loved her career in retail, this was not what she had envisioned.

But a conversation with a friend in late 2020, nine months after she moved to Queenstown, changed things.

Her friend suggested that she should consider studying quantity surveying.

“I looked into it and thought, this is the perfect fit for me – the construction industry is fast-paced and exciting. And that’s how I decided to go back and study,” she said.

Another benefit of moving into quantity surveying was the opportunity to get practical experience, by combining on the job training with her study.

Olivia managed to get work while she was studying, as a cadet in the Queenstown-based office of White Associates, who are property and construction consultants and quantity surveyors.

“Having experienced multiple career changes, from marketing to retail management, I was really committed to finding experience as a quantity surveyor before finishing my studies, to ensure that this is exactly what I wanted to do,” she said.

Throughout her studies, Olivia worked part-time and studied full-time, and upon graduating, she moved into a full-time Junior Quantity Surveying role. While she is still relatively new to the industry, having the New Zealand Diploma in Construction (Level 6) (Quantity Surveying)  through Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga has helped.

“Because of the foundations set by Open Polytechnic, I wasn’t a nuisance the first day in my job. I had somewhat of an idea of what I was doing,” she said.

“Construction is so complicated, there is so much more to quantity surveying than you realise. I think having the foundations through studying has definitely helped.”

According to Olivia, the company she is with now (White Associates), likes to promote from within their ranks and they are really supportive of current employees, so she knows there will definitely be future opportunities to come.

“They were very good throughout my studies. If I had any questions I would go straight to them,” Olivia said.

“There are four other cadets at the moment, so they do support students going through their study stages and then going full-time at the end of it.”

Studying with Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga

For Olivia, who has been living in Queenstown for three years, the decision to study through Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga was easy.

It provided her with the flexibility to complete a qualification online, from home, without having to travel to other cities regularly.

“As long as I met my deadlines for my assignments, it really suited my lifestyle, rather than sitting in a lecture and having to be there, it was great to be able to set time aside whenever I could fit it in.”

“I was quite efficient with studying and doing assignments at the same time. I could go through the modules as fast as I wanted to and do the assignments on the days that suited me and my work schedule, rather than waiting each week for what the lecturer puts out, like traditional face-to-face study.”

There are 16 courses in the diploma, and Olivia says she particularly enjoyed the ones that covered measurement and estimates as well as construction.

“The quantity surveying courses give you a really good foundation for measurement and rate build ups,” Olivia said.

“The general construction courses were also really helpful for someone like me, who doesn’t have a construction background. They gave me a good foundation about what goes into a building, from residential to commercial builds.”

Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga support

Studying online can have its challenges says Olivia, particularly if a student isn’t sure about what they are learning and has questions. In this situation, she found it could sometimes be hard to explain a question through the forums provided in the online learning platform. Olivia found in this situation it was important to make the most of the support provided by lecturers.

“My lecturer, Marius, was golden,” Olivia said.

“He was so supportive, always quick to reply to students, he was quite good at explaining if you weren’t sure what was going on with an assignment or a certain topic in the course.”

“I really appreciated him throughout the whole diploma.”

Advice for anyone thinking of getting into study

Olivia suggests doing some research into what you want to study beforehand and making sure it’s what you want to do before you commit.

“Obviously there is the financial aspect to it, but you are committing time out of your life,” she says.

“But if you are to study, I would say time management is the biggest thing you need, especially with the diploma being solely assignment based which can take up a lot of time. You need to be able to manage and juggle the workload.”

For Olivia, work and study needs to be balanced with leisure activities.

She keeps active and makes the most of the sports on offer around Queenstown, including skiing, mountain biking, Pilates and hiking, as well as catching up with friends and family.

“I live in Queenstown for the lifestyle, so it was really important to be able to maintain that throughout the two-year course. I think all students should keep a healthy study, work, and lifestyle balance in mind and luckily, studying through Open Polytechnic allows that,” she said.

Future plans

Now that she has completed her diploma, Olivia says she may eventually do a degree, but for now, is enjoying focusing on her job.  Enjoying her work at White Associates, she hopes to progress into an intermediate role, and then a senior role.

“I love White Associates, and there’s a lot happening in Queenstown – it’s definitely growing.  It’s a great place for me to stay career-wise.”

Precision the key to Woolworths’ Distribution Centre opening on time

Posted by white associates on

Few topics have dominated the headlines of the past few years more than the impacts of COVID-19 on global and local supply chains. In early 2020, having steady access to food and essentials became one of the world’s most pressing concerns for manufacturers, producers, distributors, retailers and consumers alike.  

New Zealand has not been immune to the acute supply and demand pressures felt around the globe. Despite repeated pandemic shocks and the new demands of a re-opening world, one sector of the New Zealand economy has remained robustly reliable when it comes to keeping its doors open and, to a significant extent, products on shelves: supermarkets. 

You can therefore imagine the importance of programme when developing and constructing a new $50 million Green Star-rated North Island distribution centre in Palmerston North for Woolworths NZ Ltd, which would deliver roughly 450,000 cartons of groceries to 55 North Island Countdown supermarkets every week.  

Design began in 2019 to create a 37,000m² distribution warehouse and a 1,200m² office and amenities building on a 100,000m² site. This was followed by a planned two-stage construction process – with civil and earthworks taking place from March to June 2020, followed by a year-long vertical build completing in June 2021.  

On this intensive project, White Associates provided full quantity surveying services covering pre-contract, procurement and post-contract cost management. Associate Weng Tan was the post-contract lead QS of the White Associates Team on this project, which also included Konrad Trankels, Justin Maritz, Brett Zeiler and Richard Moore-Savage.  

No room for slippage 

Weng says that timing was always the critical aspect.

“You might think that the sheer physical size and scale of this development would dominate our team’s thinking. However, while it was undoubtedly a major factor for us, timing really was the most important thing on this project, as the tenant’s setup team – IT, security, and racking – was working on an extremely tight, back-to-back schedule.”  

 

“Everything had to happen within a precise timetable to enable Countdown to move in and begin it’s vital work to supply fridges and pantries across the North Island. All sub-trades are lined up at the start of the year, working to a highly precise programme throughout the year. If our team were to miss any project milestones along the way, the tenant would have to reschedule their team, and the facility might not open on time. To highlight how tight the programme was, when the construction team finished the ground slab, the racking contractor immediately moved in – the next day – to start installing racking. Once their electrical subcontractors finish on one project they move on immediately to the next project, with hotels booked in advance, so there is absolutely no room for slippage. They only had a certain window for the Palmerston North project to come here, set up, then head off to the next site. If we missed the window they’d be lost. This is a challenging enough dimension on it’s own, but when you consider the challenges provided by lockdowns, it was significantly amplified.” 

The pressures of time, which also included a short timeframe to award the contract, meant that it was necessary to bring a contractor on board quickly.  

“We managed the tendering process to ensure the client obtained accurate, reasonable and comparable prices from tenderers,” says Weng. “Our quick response and rigorous tender analysis process provided the client and project design teams with a clear view of the best available contractor for this project.   

 

“Then, to ensure that the carefully designed racking system could be installed we needed to guarantee that the first half of the warehouse would be completed by March 2021 and the second half by May 2021. This required milestone-based incentives to be put in place to encourage the contractor to achieve these goals, and to ensure we hit the milestones we had to ensure provisions for acceleration costs were included in our estimate. 

 

“To prevent any confusion regarding the scope of works required we ensured to keep in close communication with the client and the contractor. To provide clarity for all parties involved we had to tightly manage client and contractor expectations, which required early planning and constant planning ahead; working to do so every day.” 

Splitting costs 

Maintaining budget was also a critical and evolving dimension to the project, says Weng.

“Careful construction cost control was required to meet budget, as you’d expect. However, although the project started with a usual cost reporting format, it changed when we were requested to split the costs out between the project and tenant forecasts, fitout payments and expenditures.”

 

“As we were also required to provide cash flow and expenditure forecasts for the project, we sat down with the contractor to identify costs and split payments between the project and tenant costs so we could provide a realistic cash flow programme. Communication was the key to achieving this; talking to the Engineer to the Contract, the project manager and the contractor’s QS all led to higher accuracy for cashflow planning and variation of work budget costing.”

Delivered on programme and budget 

Just under a year ago, amid media fanfare on 31 August 2021, the new Palmerston North Distribution Centre for Woolworths opened. Not only was the practical completion achieved on schedule in June, the project was also delivered within the approved budget.  This project has recently received a Merit in the CBRE Industrial Property Award at the 2022 PCNZ Industry Awards.

These achievements were the source of some pride for Weng and the White Associates Team.

“I’m really proud of the fact that all cost reports and payment recommendations were issued on time throughout the project, despite the many COVID disruptions. To finish on time and budget, and for the client to be able to use their facilities as planned, was not easy, particularly with COVID doing its best to get in the way. It is great to think that Woolworths is now using its facility to supply Countdown Supermarkets all over the North Island, helping to ensure that people get the goods they need for their everyday lives.” 

New World Supermarket, Te Kauwhata

Posted by white associates on

Earlier this year in March 2022, the all new New World Supermarket in Te Kauwhata opened to the public. A state of the art building and a great addition to the local community, check out the video footage below!

 

Congratulations to our client and our funding team led by Darin Bayer and Melissa Foong!

Taking the test: relationships drive A-grade outcomes at Macleans College

Posted by white associates on

When looking to do well in an exam and the clock is ticking, one of the keys to success is to budget your time so you complete your work fully in the time allowed. For this and many other reasons White Associates is exceptionally proud to be part of the team that has delivered the new science and technology buildings at Macleans College for the Ministry of Education on time, and to budget.  

A finalist in the Education Property category of the 2022 Property Industry Awards run by the Property Council New Zealand, this exceptional $7.4 million project is the first stage of a bigger multi-phase project at the college. 

Involving Justin Maritz and Richard Moore-Savage from White Associates as part of a wider project team that included C3 Construction, Pacific Environments, MEPS Engineers and BECA, the project came about because the the science and technology block at Macleans College in Auckland was in poor condition and required replacement. It required the design and building of new, modern teaching spaces tailored to the school’s pedagogy that also meet the Ministry of Education’s design standards, including requirements for natural ventilation. 

Inevitably, the school needed to remain fully operational during works that would include the demolition of ten existing buildings and the construction of 16 new classroom teaching spaces. As the brief called for all accommodation in the development to be provided under one roof, enabling high quality education for over 2,500 local and international students, the need to provide specialist teaching programmes without building temporary accommodation drove a decision to split the scheme into multiple buildings, which also aided access around the site during the construction period.  

With design getting underway in 2018 and a construction period for this first phase lasting from 2019-December 2020, White Associates provided full quantity surveying services including pre-contract, procurement and post contract cost management.  

Responding to emerging challenges 

Inevitably, challenges emerged on the project as fast as unexpectedly nasty questions in an NCEA mathematics exam. 

Richard Moore-Savage, the leading Associate on White Associates’ work on the project, says that the costs for this first stage of the project were skewed by it being the first of a complex, multi-stage construction project in an active school environment.

“The first stage required the project to absorb some of the whole-project fixed costs on site, such as infrastructure. The majority of ground works for the development, including drainage, stormwater management and works to the existing transformer were incorporated into the costs for this stage.  

“We also needed to ensure that sufficient allowances were made in the estimate for costs associated with isolating the live school environment from risks associated with demolition such as dust, noise and contamination. The programme also needed to respond to specific staging in order to accommodate out of hours demo as this would have a financial impact as well.” 

Then unknown site conditions, which included un-engineered fill and asbestos pipework, caused delays early on in the programme. However, when these previously undocumented in-ground services were discovered, the Ministry of Education invested in the civil infrastructure to bring installations up to current standards and reduce future maintenance costs, says Richard. 

“As we are well versed in working on existing sites, we worked with the contractor to identify unforeseen underground services on the risk register and allocate suitable risk contingency to the project budget. So, when a water mains pipe, school bell cable and fibre-optics cable were discovered on site, our contingency allowed the team to focused on mitigate the risk and associated cost.” 

This ability to flex he says was all due to the quality of the relationships built on the project. “The best thing we have done is to build – and keep – strong relationships with the client, contractor and the project team throughout this project. This involved finessing negotiations with the contractor to avoid an adversarial stance; always kept friendly, resulting in us assessing and agreeing variations quickly in a fair and reasonable manner, quickly without resistance.” 

This was exceptionally useful says Richard when the costs for the technology block internal wall framing system came in above budget expectations.

“Recommending that different design options be explored, we initiated a change in specification of internal light steel wall framing to reduce costs. The substitution from an Australian supplier to product manufactured in Auckland was proposed by the contractor, and It saved $120,000 and 18 weeks of programme. This required collaboration between contractor and design team on structure and bracing.”  

Working in a live school environment also created tests of the programme that needed to be met, he adds.

“Challenges involved working around school-imposed conditions such as acoustics during the examination seasons, asbestos removals over weekends and holidays, and the school requesting design changes. By planning thoroughly and facilitating open communication channels with the school, Ministry and all stakeholders, we helped to ensure a smooth project delivery while minimising disruption for students, teachers and visitors. In doing so, we applied our experience in working on fully operational sites such as Mt Eden Correctional Facility Building C, the Rimutaka Rapid Build, and at Marist School amongst a number of other projects.” 

Macleans College

The key to the real value provided by White Associates though revolved around the ability to maintain strong relationships even while applying strict financial management of payment claims and variations, says Richard.

“Maintaining a healthy and collaborative relationship with the contractor meant that variation values were negotiated on a fair and reasonable basis, and by working together to identify alternative products the team achieved cost savings to client without any loss of quality. Further, working closely with Macleans College has produced an extremely flexible building with a floor plate tailored to the school’s needs.” 

Achieving practical completion just before Christmas in 2020, in one of the most disrupted years in the New Zealand construction sector’s history, was the cause of some celebration, Richard says.

“It tracked against programme extremely well given the challenges of the global pandemic and unknown site conditions, due to a focus on forward planning from a committed and enthusiastic team. And, personally speaking, my proudest moment is that our work on the project received an extremely high score from the Ministry for our service.” 

Always looking for a good mark from any test, Richard was particularly pleased that the Ministry of Education’s appraiser Farman Iqbal scored White Associates 96 out of 100 across a range of criteria, one of the highest scores given, saying in his comments: “With a difficult changing project the team has been very good with working with the Ministry. Always aware of any changes are work really well with the school and MoE to facilitate and work through them. (White Associates) also work extremely well with the consultant team and the main contracting team with a collaborative approach to variations and costs associated.  

“Whites have been really good in helping with items out of scope to help with the MoE’s internal project funding allocations. With a project that has been split into multiple projects Whites have helped immensely to tidy this up. With a project that has so many variations Whites are always up to date with variations and getting out instructions to the contractor in a timely manner.” 

Excellence. 

White Associates strengthens leadership structure to support growth 

Posted by white associates on

At White Associates we are strengthening our leadership structure in order to develop our people and support the continued growth of our business into the future.

We are broadening our director base

Alongside Konrad Trankels, Graham White, Justin Maritz and Darin Bayer we are pleased to announce that Brett Zeiler has taken the opportunity offered to become a director of our business. A well-recognised leader within our business, Brett has been instrumental in helping us achieve much over recent years, and his directorship is well earned.

 

Says Brett: “It has always been my ambition to become a shareholder – director of a company, and particularly this company, where the whole team right through to the directors and shareholders work so well together. It has always felt like  such a natural fit for me within the White Associates team, and it is hugely rewarding for me to be invited into the ownership structure. I’m really looking forward to an exciting future working within a great team.”

We have created a new Associate level and appointed four Associates

As part of our succession planning and to provide more opportunities for our team, we have created an Associate level to provide opportunities for our emerging leaders to lead the management and delivery of our projects.

It is a natural progression to promote four of our senior QSs to being Associates, and our first four Associates are Muriel Gondipon, Weng Tan, Ian Chamberlain and Jesse-Paul Conradie, all of whom are well recognised in our team as exceptional people and leaders of client work.

Our four Associates are now the key operational managers of our client work, holding the day-to-day leadership role in managing our project delivery. Working closely with our directors and their own teams, they will cover at least two spectrums of work each:

  • Muriel – post-contract and advisory
  • Weng– post-contract and funding
  • Ian – post-contract and advisory
  • Jesse-Paul – funding and advisory

Our Associates will also work with our senior QSs, our intermediates and juniors to bring our cadets in and up through the business.

All White Associates clients will continue to have a director involved in their projects

This structural strengthening improves our ability to provide great service and adds to our quality oversight and control. It makes our service more resilient and demonstrates to our clients the trust and value we place on our key people, giving our clients greater access to our senior staff.

Konrad Trankels says: “This new structure sets White Associates up for the next step in our growth as a business. As our team has grown past 30 people, we needed to strengthen our structure and processes to deliver projects effectively for clients and to maintain the level of service we aim to deliver for our clients.

“As a maturing organisation, these changes will enable our directors to focus more on our business strategy and the future needs of our clients while providing experienced Associate leaders to manage projects. We want to build a strong, stable and rich working environment for our team as we grow, and enable our directors to work on the business as well as with our clients so we can develop and grow further still.”

Justin Maritz adds: “This is great news for our people because it opens up potential for everyone in the company to grow. We have always said that we are focused on building the company and leaders from within. We needed to create a step up between senior QS and Director to provide growth opportunities for our people. The Associate role creates a promotion pathway for people who are exceptional at managing clients and projects, and this new structure is a natural progress that adds value to the company and our clients.

“As we grow, we are still relentlessly keen to provide a great quality of service along with great quality control. Now we have the ability to acknowledge the skillsets of people delivering on projects and give our people a clear pathway to growth. It is an exciting time for our company, our people, our clients, and our prospects as a business.”

Sustainable Coastlines Planting Day

Tree Planting Day

Posted by white associates on

The Sunday before New Zealand went into our second Level 4 lockdown the White Associates whānau and our friends at ASC Architects & Bluewater Project Management were lucky enough to be able to hold a tree planting day along the coastline of the Te Atatū Peninsula ???

We managed to plant over 400 native plants which will help protect, regenerate & maintain these areas for years to come!

A special thanks to Sustainable Coastlines for helping us to organise this special day !

INTRODUCING: Olivia de Rooy – From Queensland to Queenstown

Posted by white associates on

White Associates is excited to welcome our latest Cadet, Olivia de Rooy who joined the Queenstown office in April this year.

Originally from Cairns, Olivia moved to the Gold Coast to study a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Marketing and International Business at Griffith University. After completing the three-year degree, she realised that as much as she enjoyed the study, she didn’t want to pursue a long-term career in marketing.

Having arrived in Queenstown with her Kiwi partner three weeks prior to last year’s lockdown, Olivia was introduced to quantity surveying by a family friend.

“This conversation sparked something in me. I’m now in my third semester studying a Diploma in Construction Management, majoring in Quantity Surveying through Open Polytechnic. I love the numbers and factual side of quantity surveying and feel I’ve finally found my niche.”

Olivia was introduced to Elliot Smith who leads the White Associates Queenstown office.

“We were looking to grow the team and introduce a cadet into the local business,” says Elliot,

“Olivia has hit the ground running! She brings a high-level of attention to detail and is enthusiastically supporting us on the wide variety of projects that we are working on within Queenstown and across the South Island.”

Having enjoyed her first four months, Olivia’s impression of White Associates is an organisation that is close knit, supportive and helpful.

“It’s fantastic to be part of a small local team but still feel so connected to the wider business.

“The work to date has been really interesting. It’s analytical and I love the challenge of understanding the detail and finding ways to make positive change that helps the client and overall project outcomes.”

Currently she is providing support for the team working on the Queenstown projects in Jacks Point including North Villas, Clubhouse Lane and Willow Pond. Olivia is absorbing the onsite learning, adapting her previous experience in retail management to hone her communication skills and build strong relationships with clients across the South Island.

Muriel Gondipon, Senior Quantity Surveyor at White Associates, who leads the cadet and mentoring programme for White Associates says:

“Over the 24-month cadet programme Olivia will be introduced to different disciplines and competencies of a quantity surveyor consultant via five key milestones. These provide a learning opportunity and overview of the skills required to help her progress within the industry and organisation. Additionally, we touch base fortnightly to discuss topics and any issues to ensure she feels supported both personally and professionally.”

Read more about our Cadetship Programme here 

Pink Shirt Day

Pink Shirt Day

Posted by white associates on

Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu, Mauri Tū, Mauri Ora – Speak Up, Stand Together, Stop Bullying!

Celebrated annually around the globe, Pink Shirt Day began in Canada in 2007 when two students took a stand against homophobic bullying, after a new student was harassed and threatened for wearing pink. The next day hundreds of students turned up to school in pink, some from head to toe, to stand together against bullying.

Pink Shirt Day is now a global movement, and is celebrated by schools, workplaces and communities around Aotearoa each year.

In support of the movement, on 21st May, White Associates proudly wore pink and ran a fun raffle which raised $250 for the Mental Health Foundation. These funds will help to continue to raise awareness about bullying prevention and provide resources that promote inclusive workplaces, schools and communities nationwide.

 

Pink Shirt Day 2

 

Hector & Egger

Swiss precision in Cromwell

Posted by white associates on

When you think about Switzerland, what comes to the forefront of your mind? Is it expensive watches, exclusive banking, cuckoo clocks or chocolate maybe?

Although this is a story about none of those things, it is about something for which the Swiss are also globally renowned: precision. Specifically, the precision involved in assembling a very Swiss factory at the bottom of the world, replicated to the centimetre to accommodate precision machinery that was transported by ship from Langenthal, Switzerland, to Cromwell, Central Otago! And not just any factory – but one that now produces precisely prefabricated timber panels and elements for the residential and commercial construction sectors.

It’s also about two people who couldn’t shake a dream to provide a more efficient, sustainable, cost effective and higher quality option to the building industry.

So who are these people, and what is their company called?

Hector Egger New Zealand is the company; a new Cromwell-based joint venture business formed between Swiss company Hector Egger Holzbau AG and two Queenstown-based partners, Tristan Franklin and Stephan Mäusli.

Hector Egger NZ specialises in manufacturing high-tech timber structures and prefabricated timber panels for residential and commercial building construction. It uses a suite of proven offsite manufacturing solutions pioneered by Hector Egger Holzbau AG, which has 20 years’ experience in offsite manufacturing of timber buildings and structures, with three ISO 9001 certified factories operating in Switzerland.

Hector Egger NZ has recently completed construction of a new 3,500m² Cromwell factory and office building, and manufacturing got underway at the beginning of this year. The company’s intention is to improve the diversity of construction options available in the New Zealand market, provide cost certainty with higher quality outcomes, be more sustainably focused and produce timber panels and elements faster than traditional building methods.

 

Hector & Egger
Left to Right: Michael Schär, Tristan Franklin, Stephan Mäusli & Paul Schär.

How did this all come about?

Tristan Franklin, Director of Hector Egger NZ, explains: “Stephan has a long-standing relationship with Hector Egger Holzbau AG originating from an office building he designed in Switzerland 17 years ago. He maintained a relationship with the company owners after the project, thinking for a long time that offsite manufacturing could work well here in New Zealand given the similarities we share across building codes and timber construction.

“After the Christchurch earthquakes, Stephan approached Hector Egger Holzbau AG about exploring the obvious opportunities together, but it was still slightly too early for prefabricated buildings and the market was just not receptive at the time.

“Going forward to early 2017, Stephan and I met when we became neighbours in Queenstown where he had moved to run a well-known construction company in the region. We got talking about construction and some of the many issues being faced by the industry, and he suggested making contact again with Hector Egger Holzbau AG to explore this opportunity again. Stephan set up a conference call the following week to introduce me as well as the opportunities we saw in New Zealand, and this Monday night conference call is a discipline we have maintained every week since then.”

At the same point in time, Hector Egger Holzbau AG were finalising the upgrade of their largest factory in Switzerland to a fully robotic operation, meaning the existing machinery was going to need to come out. Rather than sell this to other companies in Europe and therefore giving away the IP in their customised machines, they could see an opportunity to extend the useful life of the machinery in New Zealand.

The NZ partners were invited to Switzerland for the 170th anniversary of the original timber construction company. They spent a couple of weeks at the HQ developing the relationship and also understanding the workings of an advanced timber Offsite Manufacturing (OSM) business. Not long after this visit, Paul and Michael Schär visited New Zealand where they spent several weeks further assessing the opportunities in New Zealand with Stephan and Tristan.

“They particularly liked the size and scale of developments in New Zealand and also the repetition of design typologies that they saw here,” says Tristan. “In Switzerland everything is very bespoke, but here the opportunity existed to work with developers, councils and government on projects with scale and repetition.”

Hector & Egger

How did they progress from there?

“We originally looked at leasing an existing factory and bringing the machines down, but we soon realised that we would be better to fully commit and copy the exact form and IP of the Swiss business,” says Tristan. “This even involved replicating the footprint of the Swiss factory to the centimetre to follow the lean manufacturing processes they had developed over 20 years in operation.”

Making the decision to buy land and build their own factory, the NZ-based partners looked around the North Island and Christchurch for the right site, before eventually deciding there was plenty of opportunity for a business of this size in Cromwell – an ideal location geographically situated near Queenstown and Wanaka, with excellent road access to Dunedin, Christchurch and Invercargill.

They purchased some land on Old Saleyard Road, and set about designing a replica of the Swiss factory, explains Tristan.

“Although the main factory is built primarily of steel, Kingspan and precast concrete we were able to manufacture our offices – a two-storey, 450m2, un-treated timber building in Switzerland where it was then shipped down in six OT 40-foot containers and assembled onsite in 8 days. It was important to demonstrate our own methodology in the new Cromwell building and this would definitely extend to the main factory structure on any future expansion!”

Hector & Egger

How did they build the new factory office building?

Tristan explains:

“As with all of our projects, the process starts with a 3D model to help visualise all of the connection details, calculate material quantities and resolve any issues or clashes in the structure. We can then break each project down to the very last staple and screw which in turn allows us to provide fixed price quotations to our clients. Once the 3D model and shop drawings are completed we then pass those files through to the factory for processing. This starts with the cutting of all of the timber components, moves through to the assembly of the panels and elements and finishes with the transport and assembly of our timber structure on site.”

White Associates were involved through this process, with director Darin Bayer assisting in setting up bank funding and providing advice on offsite materials and the procurement process, before facilitating the drawdown process. Getting involved early 2019, when the partners were procuring subtrades, Darin says that visiting the site made a strong impression.

“When I went to the bare site I was immediately impressed at the precision involved,” says Darin. “The components for the office were being shipped from Switzerland, and everything happened exactly as anticipated. Even with Covid in the mix, they overcame their timeframe and delivery challenges by applying additional resource here in New Zealand. The process worked so well.”

For his part, Tristan says that White Associates were “fantastic, really good to work with. They made a real effort to understand the differences in our methodology compared to what they normally deal with. Trying to get something like this established in New Zealand is incredibly difficult, and without financially strong business partners, plus a foot up with machinery, it would have been almost impossible to execute.

“When we initially went to the banks, we struggled to get the big four to understand what we were proposing, which was really frustrating. It was hard to get them to invest the time required to understand our business model, and although all thought it was a great idea and much needed in the market, they were not able to assist us with lending. It wasn’t until we met the new Queenstown Commercial Manager for Kiwibank, who really committed to understanding our business plan and financial model, that we eventually banked the entire project with him. Kiwibank also saw the calibre of White Associates as PQS, and if they signed off on a claim then they were comfortable. White Associates have been an important part of that financing puzzle.”

Hector & Egger

The build was not without its challenges. Starting on site in January 2020, the on-site team were just about to start vertical works on the factory building when lockdown paused everything for six weeks. As soon as they could they got back on site and completed the build in November, with Code of Compliance issued in January 2021: a 12-month project from start to finish.

“We achieved exactly what we said we would,” says Tristan. “Our timelines and budget were accurate, and we started to manufacture on 11 January as originally planned. Covid-19 certainly threw in a few extra challenges around commissioning of machinery, as we couldn’t get the specialist technicians in from Europe, but with a combination of service agents in New Zealand and online technical support from Europe, this was successfully achieved.”

Outcome: how do they feel about the facility now it is up and running?

“It’s fantastic,” says Tristan. “We have a great-looking clear-span industrial building and a high-quality timber office building, really functional and performing exactly as we intended.”

He says that the facility replicates the same IP and processes as their Swiss partners and is focused on the same lean manufacturing principles developed in Switzerland.

“Our panelised system is either engineered to meet NZ code or designed to be fully compliant with NZS 3604 building standards. It is faster to completion, less expensive and higher quality when manufactured offsite. This solution can be used equally well across stand-alone houses, medium density developments, multi-storey apartments, schools and commercial buildings. A 150m2 family home will take approximately 6-8 weeks in design and engineering per typology, 5 days factory manufacture and 3-5 days on site installation to weathertight envelope. We also provide fixed pricing for the manufacture and installation of our timber panels and elements.

 

The rest of the world is starting to embrace the use of mass timber to reduce the amount of steel and concrete in construction, and given our Government’s targets around reducing carbon emissions, timber construction is definitely on trend. By taking construction into a controlled factory environment with no adverse weather effects, minimising waste, enhancing quality, improving health and safety outcomes and reducing time on site, offsite-manufacturing has an important role to play in the future of the construction industry.”

He adds that Hector Egger NZ is already working on its first project, prefabricating wall, roof and mid-floor panels for six duplex houses for Jacks Point in Queenstown, with several other projects contracted and many more in the pipeline.

“We are very positive for the future and committed to showing that New Zealand can build better quality, cost effective and sustainably focused buildings than is currently the case.”

Hector & Egger
North Villas, Jacks Point

How can NZ developers and builders use this process and facility?

“Talk to us early,” says Tristan. “If you’re going to prefabricate then you need to make this decision early in the process. This allows us to work alongside the project team to design and value-engineer the building for offsite manufacture and prefabrication.

 

We are very happy to show people through our new facility with the aim of encouraging the adoption of prefabrication, and to make more and more people aware of the benefits. And just like the Hector Egger company motto – ‘Think. Plan. Build’ – we will approach every project with the same methodology, and always in that order.”