A contracting and environmental disaster has ended in triumph for Ashburton civil-construction company Doug Hood Ltd.
Four years ago Hood suffered every contractor’s nightmare while building the Opuha Dam in South Canterbury when a severe
rainstorm demolished the partly constructed structure.
The company rebuilt the dam largely at its own expense, suffered a lengthy and costly prosecution under the Resource
Management Act, and was asked to withdraw the project from the Contractors’ Federation¹s prestigious annual Caltex
construction awards.
Now, however, the skillfully rebuilt dam is a huge economic and environmental success. Irrigation it provides has
revitalised the region¹s farming community, leading to booming business, industrial and service sectors, and trout and
salmon numbers in the Opihi River are healthier than for years.
Hood’s role in turning a calamity into a celebration was acknowledged at the weekend when Caltex presented the company
with a special prize at this year’s construction awards for ‘behaving with commendable dignity in the way it made
amends’.
The occasion was a double victory for the company, which also won one of the annual awards for carrying out what client
Coeur NZ described as ‘a world-class rehabilitation programme’ during the closure of the Golden Cross gold and silver
mine at Waihi.
Other awards were presented to Downer Engineering for its $4 million stormwater diversion project in central Auckland
(the largest ever in the city) and to McDonough Contracting for its upgrade of the South Bruce farm-irrigation system
for Clutha District Council.
ENDS