Local company first in line for Wairoa-made concrete

OWNERS of local residential building company J&T Builders were first in line for concrete made in Wairoa this week.

Trent Hedley and Justin Bell went so far as to delay a shed-building project this month just so they could source concrete from local supplier Quality Roading and Services on Monday.

“The local construction sector has been waiting for this for years. It’s a luxury to be able to source local concrete again,” says Mr Hedley. “We wanted to be the first ones to get a local batch and so we’re stoked.”

Mr Hedley ordered 10cu of concrete for a shed floor slab. It was delivered in two QRS concrete trucks and poured at Awamate on Monday.

Mr Hedley has been a professional builder for 11 years and says he’s thrilled with the product. “It’s monumental to have this in Wairoa at this time. There’s so many projects on the go where you can’t afford to wait. It’s a real blessing they have gone out and got the batching plant up and running.”

QRS opened Wairoa’s only concrete batching plant last Thursday. It was blessed by Pastor Chaans Tumataroa-Clarke.

Invited guests from the construction and building sector met relevant QRS staff including batching plant operator Daniel Tukaki, concrete layer Jay Taulapapa, and administrator Melissa Stanaway.

QRS chief executive Jeremy Harker says a locally-based concrete batching plant in Wairoa is long overdue. Builders will no longer have to compete with busy Gisborne contractors who have limited trucks and staff available to service projects in Wairoa.

“Concrete can now be made closer to where it needs to be discharged – a convenience that hasn’t been available to the construction sector for a long time. It also aligns with QRS’s strategic goal of connecting and growing our communities.”

Mr Harker hopes the local plant will help “kick off all those local projects that have been on the to-do list” such as urban driveways or large-scale construction projects.

QRS capital construction manager Mike Wilson oversees the plant. He says it will help keep construction costs down. “The new plant means locals are no longer having to pay large travel costs involved with getting concrete from Gisborne and Napier.”

Phone (06) 838 6161 to order your concrete today. 

21 September 2022

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