300m3 Concrete Pour taking place during Level 3
As New Zealand entered Alert Level 4 on the 25 March at midnight, work on all our sites came to a stop.
Prior to lockdown, 15 members of our site-based team were located on the Ngawha Geothermal Power Station Expansion Project. The crew were making good progress across multiple aspects of the site including construction of an 11KV electrical switchgear building and an 400V switchgear building.
Although all our sites and head office closed, the team adapted to working remotely with many site-based crew gaining certificates and qualifications as they completed online workshops and development courses.
Under the guidance of our Health and Safety Manager, Mickala Smith, Johnstone Construction site managers returned to site late April to modify the site to facilitate the introduced personal distancing and additional hygiene measures required to manage Covid-19.
The site-teams were eager to return to site to continue their momentum and turn programs around to get back on track. With robust updated Health and Safety plans in place, all sites were able to open with teams working in ‘bubbles’ following strict hygiene and distancing directives. All workers were back on the Ngawha site by 29th April.
The Ngawha team kicked off their first week back with a 300m3 concrete pour, one of the largest in Johnstone Construction history.