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A technical man … for technical projects

How you structure your sales team to support customers while also communicating the technical requirements of those customers to your operations team can be tricky at the best of times and will often involve several people’s input to help satisfy the customer’s needs. And it is that sentiment which has prompted Firth’s appointment of our first ever Sales Rep. to a Technical Sales position - to support some of our biggest Certified customers in Auckland.

John Boules studied Chemical Engineering at Auckland Uni and was taken on by Firth two and a half years ago as a Graduate Engineer. “Even though I studied engineering I have always felt like a salesperson, so I pitched the idea to my boss to do both.”

“The idea was to have a sales role that is able to assist with mix designs and technical enquiries for our commercial customers, making it a one stop shop sales role,” says Jamie Frew, National Commercial Account Manager for Firth. “It’s early days but it looks promising which is a credit to John getting stuck in.”

John was officially appointed to the role of Technical Sales from November last year but had started working with some of our largest customers earlier in 2023. “Once our customers had someone like me who could get the answers to their specialist mix enquiries quickly, I think they began to see that it benefitted them and that I was a one stop shop if you like.”

Technical Excellence Award win

A feather in John’s cap is the work that Firth has undertaken for the Central Interceptor project for Watercare, being delivered by Ghella Abergeldie JV - in particular the Lyon Ave Caisson Wall, a critical element of the project's infrastructure – see photo above.

He was challenged to design and place a grout to fill the 70mm annulus gap left behind by the cutting shoe, joining the external wall of the caisson with the ground, to hold up the weight of the concrete.  The caisson stands at a height of 39 metres and weighs approximately 1,000 tonnes!

Low Viscosity Annulus Grout Supply

“At Firth we recognise that delivering concrete is not just about the material; it's about delivering solutions that cater to our clients' unique requirements,” says John. “Which is why we worked closely with the Ghella Abergeldie JV to collaboratively deliver an innovative grout solution for the Central Interceptor in Auckland.”

“We developed a highly specialised grout, with an ultra-low viscosity that approximated that of water, to ensure the 100 bar pressure limit on the grouting system wasn’t breached. In addition, this grout had to comply with the required 28-day characteristic compressive strength of 40MPa and remain fluid for over 50 hours. This latter attribute was crucial to the grouting process which was planned to be a continuous multi-day pour, requiring small-batch manufacturing and delivery processes by our Firth teams. Everything went to plan even though the ground was saturated from heavy rain. The pour was completed in only 17 hours utilising 75m3 of this specially crafted mix.”

John’s efforts not only were a huge help to the project but won a Technical Excellence Award at the Concrete NZ Conference held in October last year. Congratulations John!

Facts and figures: 

  • Watercare is building a 14.7km underground tunnel (Central Interceptor)
  • Construction is taking place at 16 sites across Auckland
  • It involves the excavation of 17 shafts and associated infrastructure
  • Around 500 staff are working on the $1.2b project, which is due for completion in 2026
  • It is the largest wastewater infrastructure project in New Zealand history
  • It will leave a legacy of cleaner waterways by reducing around 80 per cent of wet-weather overflows in central Auckland by capturing combined stormwater and wastewater flows and sending them to Māngere Wastewater Treatment Plant for processing.