In one week, Jacob Paku was promoted, turned 20, became a father for the second time, and went into a Level 4 lockdown. A man of few words, he admits “it was certainly a week to remember!”
Quality Roading and Services has announced Peter Wairau as the company’s new people and capabilities manager. The senior leadership position became available after the previous manager, Jeremy Harker was announced as QRS’s new chief executive.
LIFE has come full circle for Joanne Mitchell, and she couldn’t be happier. After leaving Wairoa College in the late 1970s, Jo's first job was in traffic control for an all-woman Ministry of Works team, and now she's back on the roads with Quality Roading and Services. This time, though, the 62-year-old gets to be “a bit of a nan”. “I do work hard to create a happy atmosphere at work and take the rest of the team with me,” she says.
In one week, Jacob Paku was promoted, turned 20, became a father for the second time, and went into a Level 4 lockdown. A man of few words, he admits “it was certainly a week to remember!”
Quality Roading and Services has announced Peter Wairau as the company’s new people and capabilities manager. The senior leadership position became available after the previous manager, Jeremy Harker was announced as QRS’s new chief executive.
LIFE has come full circle for Joanne Mitchell, and she couldn’t be happier. After leaving Wairoa College in the late 1970s, Jo's first job was in traffic control for an all-woman Ministry of Works team, and now she's back on the roads with Quality Roading and Services. This time, though, the 62-year-old gets to be “a bit of a nan”. “I do work hard to create a happy atmosphere at work and take the rest of the team with me,” she says.
Described by some as a solutions genius and others as an automotive industry surgeon, Glenn Bradley this week notched up 20 years with Quality Roading and Services.
Quality Roading and Services emergency response staff have been quick to lend a hand around Wairoa as the town reacts to the country’s snap Alert Level 4 lockdown. From traffic control to diesel deliveries, from tree removals to road cone drops, QRS staff are helping the people of Wairoa in any way possible, says chief executive Jeremy Harker.
PREMIERE netball player and former lifeguard Sydney Rore is relishing the life skills she’s learning at Quality Roading and Services. “I like this work because it’s outdoors. And I am learning heaps of different things that I can use around home too.”
IF Quality Roading and Services could be assured of just one thing in employing 19-year-old Jack Te Amo, it’s that he’d be physically fit.
Local leader Jeremy Harker was announced this week as new chief executive of Wairoa company Quality Roading and Services (QRS). QRS board chair Guy Gaddum says Mr Harker was selected because of the wide range of experience and skills he’s developed while working in the private and public arena.
AUCKLAND’S loss is Wairoa’s gain now that Brandon Hall has joined the Quality Roading and Services team. Brandon, Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Pūkenga, is back in northern Hawke’s Bay after bearing the brunt of Auckland business closures in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Departing chief executive Nigel Pollock gave Quality Roading and Services the confidence it needed to become a nationally-respected roading contractor, says board chair Guy Gaddum. Mr Pollock was this month farewelled by staff and board members, four years to the day after he started at the Wairoa District Council-owned civil construction company.
Machine operator Tumanako Waiwai has been motivated to pursue a management role after completing a Wairoa Rotary Club leadership course supported by Quality Roading and Services. “The six-day course helped me develop who I am and what I can be.” Mr Waiwai’s comments follow a family-friendly celebration this week recognising staff who have furthered their careers over the past 12 months by completing courses, papers, or apprenticeships.
BOXING training can change a youngster’s life for the better, say Wairoa Boxing Club trainers Moana Foster and Siobhan Storey.
SIX long-serving staff were given the honorary task of turning the first sods of dirt during a blessing ceremony at Quality Roading and Services on Monday. The blessing, led by Pastor Chaans Tumataroa-Clarke, marked the start of physical works on QRS’s operations hub.
Fifty-five years ago Barker Bridge on Ruakituri Road was built by a very busy TJ Greig who’d successfully tended Wairoa County Council for the job. Despite the old-style machinery and difficult terrain Quality Roading and Services project engineer Chris McGregor reckons Mr Greig and his team did a good job, particularly with the abutments. He should know because Quality Roading and Servcies, with the help of subcontractors, has now replaced the existing bridge and everyone involved says its been a huge success.
Quality Roading and Services staff Alex Little, Epanaia Whatuira, and Tumanako Waiwai rolled up their sleeves in May to receive this year’s influenza vaccine from the visiting Queen Street Practice nurses.
Dressed in varying shades of pink, a group of QRS staff were part of national Pink Shirt Day - a movement to end bullying, celebrate diversity and spread aroha and kindness around the workplace.
EPro8 Wairoa 2021 makes maths and science electrifying! The event last month was a huge success and hopefully, we've captured everyone who was there in our wrap-up! Well done everyone and see you next year. From the team at QRS.
State Highway 2 will be closed at Tahaenui Bridge, near Nuhaka, from just before midnight on Saturday 15th May to 5am on Sunday 16th May 2021.
GROWING up in rural Wairoa, Lance Maxwell would drive his parents nuts dismantling any engine he could get his hands on and leaving parts lying around as he worked to put them back together. “But I never thought about doing it for a job!” Lance was a butcher in Frasertown when he heard Quality Roading and Services had an opening for an apprenticeship mechanic. “It looked like a huge opportunity and they took me on. It's amazing to be doing something I always wanted to do.” His story is part of the QRS Road to Success recruitment series.
We think QRS Quarry Manager John Menneer is our most academic staff member! With a Bachelor of Science (biology and earth science major), a Masters in science and technology, and a PhD in earth sciences, there’s not much he doesn’t know about… rocks!
Meet road maintenance site supervisor Thomas Perston. Thomas is part of the QRS 'Your road to success' recruitment series featuring local staff and Wairoa scenes. Think you would fit in at QRS? Haere mai. We welcome you!
Epro8 makes maths and science electrifying, reckons former automotive technician and now Te Mahia School principal Aan Hoek. “We are so into it at Te Mahia School!” Mr Hoek told us, as he watched his two Te Mahia School teams take on competitors from six other primary schools at the Wairoa Epro8 challenge at Wairoa College last week.
Quality Roading and Services board chair Guy Gaddum has today accepted Nigel Pollock’s resignation as the company’s chief executive. “I’m sad to announce that after four years at the helm Nigel will be leaving the company to take up an employment opportunity that was too good to ignore.” Mr Gaddum says QRS has flourished under Nigel’s leadership and drive and he will be sorely missed by his fellow board directors and 90 staff.
AS a young girl Davena Morunga can remember travelling over Tahaenui Bridge. Now, 35 years on, Davena is project supervisor on the Tahaenui Bridge widening project with Quality Roading and Services.
Quality Roading and Services has made a record $1.6m pre-tax profit in the six months to December 2020, but its board chair warns “the future is challenging”.
One of this year’s top-secret EPro8 challenges has a James Bond twist organisers have revealed ahead of the annual Wairoa kids’event.
Well-known former Wairoa Club bar manager Trent Zeilstra has started a civil infrastructure apprenticeship with Quality Roading and Services, and finds himself part of the video campaign Your Road to Success!
Quality Roading and Services has released its highly anticipated recruitment video campaign ‘Your road to success’ featuring local staff and Wairoa scenes. The first of the six-part series was released today with project supervisor Joe Winiana playing a leading role.
Road users and customers can be rest assured that when they come into contact with QRS it's earned international recognition for its environmental, health and safety, and quality management procedures.
LIKE a Lego wall built with a giant mechanical hand, support for a drop-out on Mahia East Coast Road is taking shape and on track for completion by mid-February.
Well known Wairoa man Justin ‘Juddy’ Kaimoana has become an audio sensation after nailing the role of voiceover artist for Quality Roading and Service’s branding campaign.
Hot on the heels of winning Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce Supreme Business of the Year, Quality Roading and Services is offering a trifecta of career opportunities.
Quality Roading and Service’s balance between economic support for council and its social responsibilities to the people of Wairoa was celebrated on Friday when it won the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce 2020 Pan Pac Supreme Business Awards.
IT was a bit of a homecoming for Chris McGregor when, in September, he reported for work as Quality Roading and Services' new project engineer. Hometown boy, Chris, started his career with QRS in 2008, signing on as a labourer the moment he graduated from Wairoa College. After eight years Chris left the company to join Wairoa District Council, first as assistant engineer, then progressing to contracts engineer. Now, three-and-a-half years later, he's back and loving being out on the work sites.
WAIROA teenage swimming sensation Kaylah Reynolds shucked off the challenges of lockdown when she smashed seven personal bests at the New Zealand Secondary School Swim Championships last month. “The competition was fierce and there were so many talented athletes,” says Kaylah, 13, who attended the three-day swim meet with mum Joanne Reynolds.
Quality Roading and Services continues to improve its talent pool of experienced staff after selected supervisors and operators spent a week at a unique heavy machinery operator training centre in Whangarei this year.
Civil construction and roading company Quality Roading and Services (QRS) delivered strong results for Wairoa despite this year’s challenging trading environment.
We’re currently looking for a financial controller for a six-month fixed term employment contract (maternity cover) beginning early January 2021.
A joint effort to realign Nuhaka River has reopened land access and is helping prevent further environmental damage. Thanks to a collaborative effort between the Hawke's Bay Regional and Wairoa District councils, local iwi, Quality Roading and Services and subcontractor Pryde Contracting -- the river has been realigned to follow its original channel.
Please find a copy of the QRS Annual Report 2020. Total revenue for the year was $26.2 million with a consolidated pre-tax profit of $600,865.
Congratulations to Quality Roading and Services people and capabilities manager Jeremy Harker who has just finished a post-graduate diploma in business.
Sea, salt, wind and rain are constantly reshaping Whangawehi Harbour so this month Quality Roading and Services staff have been working tidal shifts as they repair parts of the narrow coastal road.
The Provincial Growth Fund investment of $3.78 million in Wairoa will create much needed economic stimulus and jobs, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. PGF projects include a $2 million loan to Quality Roading and Services Wairoa Ltd (QRS) to construct an operations hub
A bunch of “top men and women” working together to improve the roads around Mahia say their uniquely-collaborative approach provides a great model for the future.
Expert heavy transport operator Joe Culshaw retired from Quality Roading and Services this month leaving a legacy of driver training education for his colleagues.
Residents and forestry planting contractors are thrilled with Quality Roading and Services’s repair work to fix a half-metre slump that cut a path through Kinikini Rd eight days ago.
By morning smoko Wattie Te Amo may already have driven more than 200 kilometres. “You have to get to every site that needs you and the crews tend to start early,” says the Quality Roading and Services fuel tanker driver.
ISA Robertson is well familiar with big machinery – after leaving Wairoa for the “bright city lights” of Sydney, she worked for a time as a forklift driver – so joining Quality Roading and Services made her feel right at home.
Retired builder and town footpath repair veteran Bob Drysdale has great advice for any Wairoa residents who might be grumpy while their pavement’s being repaired.
A Havelock North couple stranded near Kotemaori on Friday afternoon has thanked QRS project supervisor Aaron Hoskin for lending them a hand.
Quality Roading and Services’s Quintin Baty has earned his Certificate in Highway Engineering (Civil) and overcome a fear of maths in the process!
MAY 4 was set to be a big day for Wairoa's Reynolds-Smith whanau. Thirteen-year-old Kaylah Reynolds and mum Joanne Reynolds were heading south for Kaylah's first big Swimming New Zealand competition, while stepdad Arnold Smith was to be on his last day of the annual duck shooting opening weekend. But.....no one went anywhere.
Quality Roading and Service staff helped health officials with surveillance testing this morning in a collective effort to keep the COVID-19 virus under control in Wairoa. "We're really proud of those who volunteered to be tested and have done their bit to get New Zealand to alert level 2,” says QRS people and capabilities manager Jeremy Harker.
Quality Roading and Services staff were “amped” to get back to work this morning after having their temperature taken and briefings on how to work safely during New Zealand’s level 3 lockdown.
BY the fourth week of lockdown Quintin Baty had spent lots of quality time with his wife and teenage son, done more jobs around the house than he ever thought possible, and made so many trips in caring for his health-compromised parents he'd lost count! As asset engineer at Quality Roading and Services Mr Baty is itching to get back on the job full-time. He and the rest of the QRS staff begin work tomorrow under level 3 lockdown restrictions.
A combination of caring for people and good management and planning means Quality Roading and Services goes into a post-pandemic future thriving, says chief executive Nigel Pollock.
The New Zealand Government has will shift the COVID-19 status to Level 4 tonight (Wednesday 25 March) to fight the spread of COVID-19. In light of this, the offices of Quality Roading and Services in Wairoa will be closed until further notice and any current work in the region will cease.
As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation develops in New Zealand we are monitoring it closely and following Ministry of Health guidelines to keep our staff safe. QRS continues to operate as per usual. However, in an added effort to reduce the spread of the virus we would like to advise anyone considering visiting QRS at its Kaimoana Rd Wairoa depot to stay away at this time if you are unwell.
As Quality Roading and Services farewells chief financial officer Karen Burger, succession planning means most of the financial portfolio can be picked up by a top performing QRS staffer. Finance administrator Siobhan Storey will take over a large amount of the financial strategy and reporting tasks previously managed by Karen who finishes this month to take on a new role at Thames-Coromandel District Council.
Finance administrator Siobhan Storey will take over a large amount of the financial strategy and reporting tasks previously managed by Karen Burger who finishes this month to take on a new role at Thames-Coromandel District Council.
It’s 4.30am when dedicated teenage athlete Kaylah Reynolds hears her mother’s knock on her bedroom door. Bleary-eyed but eager Kaylah rises to eat peanut buttered toast then heads back to bed for another hour. By 6am she’s carving up lengths in Wairoa’s Community Centre pool under the watchful eye of coach Sara Bird. Kaylah is preparing for this year’s New Zealand Division Two Championships and Quality Roading and Services is doing all it can to help her succeed.
After 15 years in Australia Waa ‘Toots’ Rowlands is immersing himself in Maoritanga and life at Lake Waikaremoana. Toots arrived in New Zealand in 2018 from Perth. His Tuhoe partner was keen to be reunited with family and the pair have settled at Tuai with their children. Toots says the differences between Perth and Lake Waikaremoana, are of course, marked, but he’s embraced the changes and is enjoying finding out more about himself and the area he lives in.
Although he was born in Waipukurau, new QRS board member Fenton Wilson grew up on the inter-generational Frasertown farm he now runs and says Wairoa is in his bones.
When you start at the bottom it’s important to be recognised as you move up within your chosen industry, says one of three civil construction stalwarts who gained Civil Trades Certification at Quality Roading and Services (QRS) last month.
Senior Quality Roading and Services staff have paid credit to fellow Hawkes Bay civil construction company McNatty Construction this month after it received a New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) monthly award.
Locally owned Wairoa civil construction and roading company Quality Roading and Services has made a record-breaking $1.1 million profit following a period of significant growth.
Wet feet are a thing of the past on the stunning Lake Kaitawa Fairy Springs track now that Quality Roading and Services (QRS) have rebuilt a portion of the walkway.
At 16 years old Kauri Gray, Ngāti Kahungunu, is the youngest member of the Quality Roading and Services team but his determination makes him a man with potential.
With a stake in the future as an automotive engineer, young Quality Roading and Services labourer Tiakiwai King has a foot in the past with his love of old school cars.
THE team in Quality Roading and Services' workshop have new competition for the title of company grease monkey. Freshly-appointed administrator and receptionist Melissa Stanaway is a vintage motorbike rider as well as secretary/treasurer of the Wairoa Motorcycle Sports Club. While she admits husband Graeme takes care of most of the actual grease work, Melissa is still the owner of a 1954 James motorcycle and a 1972 Indian MT 125.
Guy Gaddum knows the value of hard graft – growing up near Gisborne, his quarrier dad would wake his sons at 4am to head off to work – and that's what's it's taken to turn Quality Roading and Services into a high-functioning, profitable company.
Davena Morunga, Rongomaiwahine, is making sure the region’s newest road safety measures don’t disrupt existing utilities.
QRS has been helping apply a temporary repair to the Mahia East Coast Road near the Waitapatu Culvert where coastal erosion has dramatically undermined an old wooden crib wall causing it to fail and the section of road above it to drop into the sea.
Quality Roading and Services newest director has worked on significant transport projects in every corner of New Zealand and his knowledge is invaluable, says board chair Guy Gaddum. Mr Gaddum’s comments come as he welcomes highly experienced roading and transport expert David Proctor to QRS.
He knew they could fix it, he just didn't think they would fix it, so when the Wairoa-to-Napier rail line reopened Sam Jury was right on board.
Well-known Wairoa businessman Ian Redshaw farewelled Quality Roading and Services as a director last week saying he’s optimistic about its future and that he’ll miss his involvement with the dynamic company.
As a student at Wairoa College, Rose Campbell, Rongomaiwahine, was perhaps best-known for her fine vocal skills, but soon she'll be singing to a different tune. Rose is joining the New Zealand Police and while she's waiting for her intake, she is honing her people skills at Quality Roading and Services.
A training hub in Wairoa for Hawke’s Bay’s civil contracting sector is one step closer thanks to a Provincial Growth Fund grant announced last week.
IF there is anything Michelle Hedley knows – it’s roading; and now she’s chosen to take the road that leads back to Wairoa!
When Robert Mayhead says he's ready for a new challenge, he doesn’t think small! A relative newcomer to QRS, the automotive engineer has in the first instance joined the team to manage the workshop that takes care of the company's large machinery. But that's just the start: as time goes on, Rob will oversee the design and construction of a new workshop.
Having started work at QRS straight out of Wairoa College, Arnold Smith already has nearly seven years of service as a labourer under his belt . . . and he's only 24.
When we caught up with QRS project supervisor Aaron Munro he was anxiously waiting for a new digger to arrive from Auckland. “Not sure where it is…must be walking it from Auckland!” jokes the good-natured father of four.
Quality Roading and Services (QRS) has started the year by securing $29 million in contracts around Hawkes Bay and the East Coast.
DON'T be fooled by the air of calm that surrounds Quality Roading and Services staffers Nick Murray and Phillip Tipu . . . in their decades on the job, they've seen a bit of drama!
Looking after the environmental challenges associated with landfills and recycling are key components of waste management and it needs a company with a greater level of expertise to do it, says Quality Roading and Services (QRS) chief executive Nigel Pollock.
Machine operator Tui Paikea delicately opened and poured a bottle of beer with a five-and-a-half tonne digger to take first place in this month’s regional advanced excavator operator competition.
A 30-tonne excavator and a 40-tonne dump truck, as well as smaller civil contracting machinery, come under the hammer at an extraordinary Quality Roading and Services (QRS) auction this week.
A robust turnaround in fortune saw revenue at Quality Roading and Services up by $2.4 million to $15.8 million, the company’s latest accounts reveal.
AS an accountant Karen Burger is used to watching the pennies but there are times when she loves to loosen the purse strings.
WITH weeks of bad weather behind them and their first big event due on Thursday, the guardians of Wairoa's new Mountain Bike Park called for help from one of their staunchest supporters . . . Quality Roading and Services.
Camaraderie and common sense saw an estimated 1000 cubic meters of slip material with at least half covering the main Lake Waikaremoana road safely removed by Quality Roading and Services last month.
Dividing his time between work sites and the office Paul Eaglesome says he has the best job in the world. “My job is to make sure everyone gets home safely at the end of the day and you can't get better than that,” he says.
Peter Wairau doesn’t really have a word to describe a big chunk of the work he does at QRS. The health and safety, and training manager, part of his role is easy to describe, but there’s a whole other job he does too. “I guess you could call it a communicator,” says Peter, who is Ngāi Tahu, Rongomaiwahine and Ngāti Kahungunu.
QRS’s signs technician Aaron Hoskin is synonymous with dozens of others Aucklanders taking advantage of the Wairoa housing market and sunshine!
They don't call Phillip Tipu “Papa Phil” for nothing - after more than two decades of driving a lawnmower, he's the honorary grandfather of Wairoa's parks and reserves.
Since she joined QRS in mid-2017 payroll administrator Jacquie Burrows has yet to see the day when a colleague does not get paid but, she laughs, “if that happened I'd certainly be the first to know”.
When it comes to keeping things ship-shape at QRS HQ, Stefini Burling-Claridge knows what she's talking about . . . her first job was working in finance and administration for the New Zealand Navy.
QRS would grind to a halt if it weren't for four fabulous administration team members including Emma Wills. Read her story here.
A woman in labour was one of the last people across the old Waitahora Bridge on Friday adding to the drama as Quality Roading and Services completed a bridge replacement in just three days!
Quality Roading and Services Wairoa will make local transport history in the weekend when the Waitahora Bridge is dismantled, strengthened, and rebuilt in just 68 hours.
QRS, Wairoa’s second biggest employer, has declared a return to profitability today and the board chair has publicly thanked its staff.
“E Tū” . . . “halt!” That's the message from QRS courtesy of its shiny new bilingual signs being used at the Ngāti Kahungunu Kapa Haka Regional Competitions 2018 this Saturday - thanks to traffic safety worker Ria Waerea, Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu.
AFTER only three years at QRS, Shar Hawkins is a great example of paving a pathway for future female operators in the roading industry.
Frances Lee and her colleagues mow the equivalent of Auckland to Cairns every year as part of QRS’s road maintenance contract for Wairoa District Council.
Wairoa College’s First XV training squad is blessed with raw talent says new coach JJ Solomon, and QRS is backing them all the way.
Newly introduced regular driver assessments at QRS have been met with universal endorsement.
THREE veteran Quality Roading and Services staff have gained Civil Trades Certification this week giving them industry recognition as skilled tradespeople.
He's built police stations in the Soloman's and worked in Western Australian mines, but QRS project manager Mike Wilson says Wairoa's new adventure playground is one job he's truly loved!
Since coming on board with QRS, project manager Mike Wilson has overseen some significant QRS roading projects particularly along State Highway 38.
Malcolm (Muzz) Tuahine, Ngai Tuhoe, is thrilled Te Wharehou o Waikaremoana developed by Ngai Tuhoe has won a prestigious architecture award this month.
Malcolm (Muzz) Tuahine, Ngai Tuhoe, has plenty to keep him busy in the job he loves at QRS.
QRS has helped make a small, but welcome difference, to a rest area south of Wairoa.
A proposed significant restructure at Quality Roading and Services Wairoa could help the company win contracts and keep operating, says new Chief Executive Nigel Pollock.
Late last month QRS supervisor Rob Ruru received a shout out for his grader expertise. Here he talks a little bit about his love of all things machinery.
Not long after Nigel Pollock started as the boss of Quality Roading and Services, the QRS office took a charged up call from a member of the public.
Wairoa man Nigel Pollock has seized the chance to take the reins of the district’s biggest civil construction and maintenance company Quality Roading and Services (QRS).
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