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Welcome to our newsletter where you'll find news about our work, our people and some of the interesting industry events we've participated in so far this year. |
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Word from the top
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A shower of birthdays!
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East Coast Road – Award Winner!
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Being Smart at Ingenium
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Te Wero Bridge transforms Auckland
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Another CA in the firm!
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Risk Assessment pays off
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The European Way
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Motorway scrubs up for RWC
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Action... rolling... cut |
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 Word from the top |
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Victoria Park Tunnel, almost ready |
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Winter is traditionally a busy time at Resolve with many of us attending a multitude of industry events alongside our usual workloads. I am delighted that this culminated in being part of the winning team that scooped the Roading New Zealand Solutions Excellence Award for the East Coast Road Widening project. There is more on this proud achievement below.
Over the next few months a number of significant key transportation projects around New Zealand will be completed including the new Victoria Park Tunnel (VPT) and Kopu Bridge replacement. |
We are undertaking a liaison role for the handover of the VPT from the Victoria Park Alliance to the Auckland Motorway Alliance who will be responsible for this new section of road when VPT officially opens in November. In addition, the announcement of the Waterview Project and the establishment of the Road Maintenance Task Force signal the government’s continued focus on the transportation sector.
Next month I will be attending the ITS World Congress in Orlando, where over 10,000 transportation leaders from 74 countries will be meeting to share expertise on the globally topical theme of “Keeping the Economy Moving”. I am already looking forward to reporting back on the great innovations.
Martin Leak, Managing Director |
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 East Coast Road – Award Winner! |
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Last month the East Coast Road Widening Project won the Roading Excellence Award for medium sized road projects (less than $25m) for 2011.
The winning team from Fulton Hogan, Auckland Transport, Resolve Group and GHD were presented with the award by the Minister of Transport Stephen Joyce at the 2011 Roading Excellence Awards in late August.
“We are thrilled with this Award,” says Michael Kwok, Resolve Group Principal Consultant. |
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“The entire team has done a great job and our procurement method has delivered an outstanding result.”
Resolve developed an innovative Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) hybrid model tender process that provided tenderers with greater opportunities to meet with stakeholders, clarify questions and interrogate the existing complying specimen design to improve project understanding. It also provided an opportunity for tenderers to suggest innovative alternatives to reduce risks and submit a ‘best for project’ methodology.
The project involved widening and upgrading one kilometre of one of Auckland's major arterial roads carrying 23,500 vehicles per day and providing access to 3,500 pupils attending Rangitoto College.
Despite challenges including the requirement of retaining walls of up to 8 metres to support the widened carriageway, and utility issues including a major high pressure gas line which needed to be relocated, the project was delivered six months early and $1.5m under budget. |
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| Te Wero Bridge transforms Auckland |
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In early August Prime Minister John Key officially opened the Wynyard Quarter and Te Wero Bridge on Auckland’s North Wharf.
The bridge (or Wynyard Crossing) provides a direct link for pedestrians and cyclists between Te Wero Island (Wynyard Quarter) and the Viaduct Harbour. The bridge is 100m long by 6m wide and is raised to allow for passing boats. Resolve Group played a key role in the delivery of this project including procurement, and Arash Barzin was responsible for overall construction monitoring and management.
Already receiving rave reviews, this is the first of nine Rugby World Cup 2011 'legacy projects' to be delivered by Waterfront Auckland. Since opening last month, Wynyard Quarter and its iconic bridge is proving to be a popular destination for the public. |
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| Risk Assessment pays off |
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Because Auckland Transport recognised the value of carrying out an early risk assessment exercise for procurement for the Glenfield Rd Upgrade Stage 4 project, Resolve was engaged to conduct a constructability review to identify and assess the major construction risks.
“Resolve’s Constructability Review Report added significant value to our procurement process,” says Colin Anderson, Infrastructure Development Engineer from Auckland Transport. “It also gives us a blueprint for future projects.”
We determined that the major risks faced by Auckland Transport included the relocation and/or protection of predominantly underground utility services, construction of a number of retaining walls, and traffic management.
This project is the last stage of Glenfield Rd to be upgraded and widened to four lanes. It is a major urban arterial route, which is severely congested at peak times. It serves the western side of Auckland's North Shore and carries approximately 30,000 vehicles per day. |
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| Motorway scrubs up for RWC |
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Mayor of Auckland, Len Brown says he feels proud of the clean and bright appearance along the Southern Motorway and has written to compliment NZTA CEO Geoff Dangerfield.
“I want Auckland to be clean and tidy to reflect our pride love and passion for the city,” says the Mayor. “I therefore was very proud as I drove back to the city the other morning to observe no tagging on the Southern Motorway and the planting that is now in place for the Rugby World Cup is looking outstanding.” |
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Huge preparations and clean ups have taken place for the World Cup. Rob Lorden, Principal Consultant Resolve Group and Corridor Assets Manager for the Auckland Motorway Alliance (AMA) says the appearance of the corridor is a credit to AMA’s delivery staff and contractors who ensure the grass looks tidy, vegetation and noise walls look good, litter is picked up, and graffiti is promptly removed.
The overall improvement in the condition of these road corridors has been reflected in increasing customer satisfaction over each the last three annual customer surveys. |
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| A shower of birthdays! |
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On the 1st of July, our Managing Director, Martin Leak, celebrated a milestone birthday. To celebrate all his accomplishments we threw a 60s party complete with vintage food, decorations, music and costumes. What a great excuse to bring out those old clothes from the back of the wardrobe!
In August Resolve Group celebrated its 9th birthday and acknowledged another busy and exciting year that has included adjusting to the amalgamation of several Councils into one new Auckland Council. We now have 27 full-time staff who collectively have worked on over 140 contracts during the past year. We thank all our clients, staff, families and suppliers for their ongoing support. |
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| Getting Smart at Ingenium |
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Michael Kwok, Arash Barzin and Steve Griffith went to the 24th annual INGENIUM conference in Wellington which attracted a wide spectrum of attendees from consultancies, contractors and client organisations.
With entertainment from the event MC, Pio Terei, and well run evening functions from Fulton Hogan, Downer and HEB, the conference was as much of a successful social event as it was educational.
Officially opened with a keynote from Bill English, the theme was 'Smart' related - Smart Planning, Smart Performance, and Smart Outcomes. A good range of papers and technical sessions were presented that had a strong environmental sustainability theme.
We are already looking forward to Ingenium 2012 in Rotorua. |
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| Another CA in the firm! |
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Our accounting team is further strengthened by Bin Liu who recently became a Chartered Accountant. Bin received plenty of advice and encouragement from Resolve and we created a flexible working environment to suit his training schedule.
“I’m really grateful for the support Resolve Group has provided,” says Bin. “It has made the whole process much less painful.”
Resolve Group is an Approved Training Organisation (ATO) by the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants. This approval requires an appropriate environment for employees to develop the skills and attributes to become competent Chartered Accountants or Associate Chartered Accountants.
Many congratulations Bin! |
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| The European way |
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The ITS European Congress in Lyon, France gave Terry Brown an opportunity to see a number of interesting European transport networks and in particular, time to reflect on tunnel standards and rail safety crossings.
Highlights of his trip included:
• Conference papers including how Dublin goes about its
SMART City approach and the European tunnel
standards
• Tunnel and Motorway operations in Lyon |
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• Visiting a variety of British motorway routes
• A tour around Traffic Wales in Cardiff, a city with size similarities to the NZ roading system
• Dartford Crossing, a tolled system with approximately 140,000 vehicles per day and very high truck
demand. It has twin tunnels for travel in one direction and the four-lane QEII bridge for the other
direction
• A visit to Transport for London Traffic Control Centre and a peek at the transport preparations for the
Olympics in 2012
It was a short but enjoyable trip that gave Terry some new insights into potential forward directions for transportation in New Zealand. |
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| Action... Rolling... Cut! |
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Officially New Zealand’s largest film competition, there is nothing quite like the V 48 Hour Film Competition.
Gary Choromanski, Resolve Project Engineer embraced the challenge of producing a seven minute short film that had to be written, filmed, edited and produced all within a very strict 24 hour timeframe. |
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His team was given the movie genre ‘body switch’ (think Face-Off, 18 Again) and they had to weave random elements into their movie including the line “What have I got?”, a bent piece of wire, and an character called Bobby Young who is an ex-bully.
Gary’s team created an exciting, fast paced action movie that was screened at the Auckland Academy Cinemas and went on to win an Audience Award for best film in the heat!
Click here to watch Gary's V48 Hour blockbuster! |
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