Fosters and Firth deliver massive Visy facility ahead of schedule

Fosters Construction has played a large part in the growth in the Waikato in recent years with a number of iconic buildings in the region built by their team over their 50 years of operation. The most recent addition to their long list is the new $100 million Visy Board New Zealand packaging facility, built near Hamilton Airport, which boasts the largest footprint in the Waikato - a whopping 32,000m².  

The Fosters team were able to complete the massive building three months ahead of the very tight construction deadline which they say is due in part to the strong relationships they have with their carefully selected suppliers and sub- contractors.  

Adam Findlay, the Construction Manager in charge of the new build, has been with Fosters for 16 years and says that Firth has been a trusted supplier and partner for many of those years. “We are heavily involved in commercial construction and generally that means a lot of concrete is needed on these sites,” says Adam. “We need to have our suppliers deliver on time and when required. Having partners that can do that is really important so we can also deliver projects to our customers on time.”  

When Visy Board NZ began looking for a construction company to build their new facility they were surprised at the time it takes to construct a building of this size in New Zealand. “Visy Australia build one of these buildings a year in Australia but this is the first of its type in New Zealand,” explains Adam. “They are used to building to this scale over there. It’s not that we can’t build quickly, it’s just that it’s not often a building of this size is required in this region. When we were awarded this contract it was with very tough timeframes with penalties if we didn't complete on time.”  

Due to the tight schedule Fosters called in preferred concrete supplier Firth to talk about what was required in the way of continuous concrete supply over a few short months. “We had some really robust discussions with them at the beginning and asked the question – ‘this is not an easy feat are you capable of doing this?’ They certainly were capable - in fact they did far better than we expected. We broke all sorts of records on this job. How Firth produced around 12,000m3 of concrete in such a short timeframe and at the worst time of the year was amazing, and it was a key factor in us being able to deliver a tough project ahead of the deadline.”  

Conset Construction was the contractor appointed to lay the post tension floor with Firth supplying to Conset for this part of the project and to Fosters for the balance of the concrete required for the build. “Typically the larger pours were done at night, generally starting around 6 to 7pm,” says Greg Blank, Sales Manager (Waikato) for Firth. “Some of the bigger pours were 846m³, 850m³, 685m³ and 785m³ - all supplied from our Te Rapa Plant. During one 24 hour period we supplied 1500m³ to the Visy project. To their credit, Rob Mulder, Waikato Operations Manager, and the Te Rapa / Te Awamutu team were supplying concrete to our other clients during the day and also managing to keep up with what was required by Fosters and Conset.” 

Adam says every day for about three months Firth supplied concrete to the site. “Our site manager would ring up and ask for concrete and it would be there, where and when we wanted it – without fail. They did a phenomenal job.”  

“One of the advantages of working with Firth is that they were able call in what they needed in the way of help on this job from their plants in neighbouring regions,” says Nigel Sun, General Manager for Fosters Construction. “I know they brought in drivers, trucks and smarts from other plants to help in the high demand times – which was quite often.” 

Partners in business – the Fosters philosophy  

Nigel Sun, General Manager for Fosters Construction has been with the construction company for a year and explains how they have gone about establishing closer working relationships with their chosen suppliers or partners.  

“Just after I arrived we implemented performance reviews with a group of our larger suppliers which we conduct quarterly,” says Nigel. “We use a formal document which talks about performance in terms of service levels and communication. Both parties complete this document which then becomes a discussion point between us. The advantage of this is that it becomes a two-way conversation which improves communication, understanding and trust between ourselves and our partners. Included in these reviews is our assessment of their performance, our expectations of them, their assessment of their performance, their assessment of ours, and their expectations of us. So it's a document where both parties can agree or disagree. What really matters is how we continue working together to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.”  

“We put this process in place because it’s great to say that we have a relationship with our suppliers and that they are long standing but at the end of the day we all need to perform,” says Nigel.  “This is all aimed at making the relationship a lot closer between ourselves and our chosen suppliers. In our industry you get a lot of hearsay. You hear  ‘oh they didn’t do well on that job…’  but was it just a minor one off issue or was it more than that? These open discussions help resolve the real issues and avoid the relationship turning sour. Investing in the relationship with suppliers such as Firth is invaluable to the success of our business and theirs, it’s the Fosters way.”  

“When you look at the Visy build it was amazing how well it went at the worst time of year and on a horrible windy site near the airport,” says Adam. “We couldn’t have asked for a better result. Every partner that came along with us for the ride just delivered. It was seamless. Visy Board has commented that it was one of the best builds they have ever been involved with. Everything just slotted into place.”