A big project supplied from a small plant 

In the last 12 months work has continued at Fletcher Building’s new $275 million wood panels plant at the current Laminex factory site in Taupo with help from Firth plants in the region for their concrete supply. The investment involves building a new wood panel production and processing line incorporating the latest technology.

 Firth has been supporting contractors Brian Perry Civil (who were responsible for the civil works), Livingstone Construction (for the building) and now Fletcher Wood Products - who are overseeing the balance of the work to be done. Upwards of 8,000m³ of concrete out of Firth’s Taupo plant will be required for the entire project to completion with lots of skilful planning and management required … especially for two very large pours.

 “We have been supplying concrete to Brian Perry Civil for about the last 12 months,” says Mike Smart, Certified Plant Manager (Taupo/Tokoroa) for Firth. “Initial supply was for the piles. Once the site works were completed, the job was handed onto Livingstone Construction for the building of the plant.”

“In June we were asked to supply approximately 1,200m³ out of Firth Taupo, which doesn’t normally handle pours of this size,” says Donald Riddle, Area Operations / Sales Manager (Waikato) for Firth. “Mike and the team from Taupo and Te Rapa did an amazing job getting this done, thanks to lots of communication and planning with the customer. Both pours kicked off at 1am and were all done by 7.30am.”

“Working with Firth on this project and in particular the large pours has been absolutely fantastic,” says Richard Old, Construction Site Manager for Fletcher Wood Products. “Donald Riddle and Mike Smart from here were really easy to deal with. 600 plus m³ is a lot for one pour and Firth worked and coordinated with a local supplier as well as us. The information sharing was the key and Firth coordinated that extremely well. To sum it up it was just great teamwork!

“It was great to see the team in action. Not a single load was rejected or had slump problems. The team were all over it and were elated to get it done successfully. It helped that Sarah Dixon from Firth supported the event by feeding everyone with a breakfast BBQ.”