The second annual Best of Mainzeal Awards were held 9 November with a dinner at Zealandia in Wellington. The evening was hosted by Mainzeal Chief Executive Officer Peter Gomm.

The Best of Mainzeal Awards recognise both exceptional individual performers who stand out amongst their peers and projects that have demonstrated excellence. The Awards cover projects that were completed by December 2010. Each of Mainzeal’s five main branches had the opportunity to nominate an individual or project for each of the awards so the audience was made up of Mainzeal employees who were all leaders in their field.

Peter Gomm opened the evening with a warm welcome and an introduction to the theme of the event – ‘Standout Success’. He overviewed recent achievements for the company and spoke about Mainzeal’s focus on integrating the many areas of the company’s expertise to provide complete solutions for Mainzeal’s clients.
As an example of going above and beyond for their clients, Mr Gomm outlined the standout efforts of Mainzeal’s Christchurch team who over the last 13+ months have been enormously tested and have answered with an industry leading response. A special award was presented to Mainzeal’s Christchurch team.

Mr Gomm went on to speak about Mainzeal expanding its capability to provide end-to-end solutions by introducing new divisions such as Project Definition, Facilities Management, Infrastructure and Mainzeal Living. Along with the implementation of BIM computer based modelling tools, these new teams are allowing Mainzeal to offer even greater ‘Building Certainty’.

The guest speaker was Jenny Bentley, Director Campus Services for Victoria University. Victoria University and Mainzeal have worked together on many projects including the Alan MacDiarmid Building which was the first PRESSS (Precast Seismic Structural System) building of its kind built in New Zealand and the Hub project which is currently underway in the Kelburn campus. In her address Ms Bentley spoke about how achieving Standout Success one must first get all the tasks completed to 100% and to do that everyone involved in the project must have the desire to strive for and achieve 100% for each of those tasks. Furthermore Ms Bentley illustrated how the path to Standout Success also requires the correct attitude if things didn’t go completely right and needed rectifying. You must sincerely care about the putting right.

In the presentation of the Awards, Mr Gomm emphasised that in all cases it was difficult to select a winner and that all the nominees should rightfully be extremely proud of their achievements. Mr Gomm introduced each award, the nominees were read out and applauded and the winner or winners announced and given their award.
Mainzeal was supported in the Awards by supply chain partners Holcim and Carters. Stephen Jackson, Concrete Sales Manager, Concrete & Aggregates for Holcim and Paul Bull, Regional Manager North Island for Carters both had an opportunity to address the room and present their Awards.

As well as being a night of celebration, one of the highlights of the event was the opportunity to catch up in person with old friends and work colleagues who are spread up and down the country. An extremely enjoyable time was had by all.

Awards List:

• INDIVIDUAL SAFETY AWARD | Flinn Clark & Ben Cockcroft

• APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR | Emma Williamson

• TRAINEE OF THE YEAR | George Russell

• SUPPORT SERVICES AWARD | Bruce Van Duyn

• SITE MANAGEMENT AWARD | Antony Sefton

• COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT AWARD | Ryan Connolly

• ENVIRONMENTAL COMMENDATION | The Bowen Centre & Thomas Building Extension

• PROJECT OF THE YEAR $0-3m | Buddle Findlay Fitout

• PROJECT OF THE YEAR $3-15m | Nelson Courthouse

• PROJECT OF THE YEAR $15+m | The Rock, Wellington Airport

• PROJECT MANAGEMENT AWARD | Derek Bennett & Mike Turner