20 years ago:
• The New Zealand construction industry was close to peaking, and growth in building activity was forecast to fall sharply unless large new projects were initiated, according to property and construction consultants Rider Hunt.
The company said building consents for 1995 indicated that building activity appeared to be close to a peak, and that the forecast downturn would vary from region to region.
The report said large projects such as the Sky City Casino in Auckland, with a construction value of $250 million, plus $60 million for the Sky Tower, had had a big influence on consent figures.
15 years ago:
• Hawkins Construction was awarded aa $20 million contract for the Auckland International Airport extension.
Hawkins had been involved in the growth of the airport since 1988. This included the $180 million Jean Batten International Terminal expansion completed in December 1997, and the expansion of the group check-in area and an extension to the outbound baggage area.
The latest extension involved three components: the expansion of the arrivals area, departure area and the retail sites inside the terminal.
The project was due to be completed by November 2001 in time for the Christmas influx of inward and outgoing passengers
10 years ago:
• Minister for Building Issues Clayton Cosgrove opened the RMBF conference in Queenstown by announcing that the Government had officially approved the introduction of a licensing regime for building practitioners.
In what he called perhaps the most profound changes to New Zealand’s construction industry in its entire history, Mr Cosgrove elaborated on the programme ahead, which was to be fully in place by 2011, with voluntary uptake beginning in 2007.
He anticipated that 28,000 builders, designers and tradespeople would seek licences.
“It is time to remove the cowboys from the construction industry,” Mr Cosgrove said. “Licensing will set benchmark standards of competence, and give the public renewed confidence in the many professional builders who are out there. This is something your industry has needed, wanted and, in fact, demanded,” Mr Cosgrove told the conference.
5 years ago:
• Metals New Zealand, a new pan-industry body representing New Zealand’s diverse metals industry, was launched at the annual Metals Industry Conference held in Wellington.
Inaugural Metals New Zealand chairman Noel Davies said the industry had been a significant contributor to the economy since its beginnings in the 1860s, but that it now needed to work together more effectively in the face of economic headwinds and stiff competition, particularly from imported products.
“As an industry we’ve had a long and proud history contributing to the building of New Zealand and our economy. We now employ over 26,000 people in a diverse range of companies, and last year exported $2.3 billion worth of product, or 5.5% of the country’s total exports,” Mr Davies said.
