Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hey I'm Kyle from Kashmir High School and I'm interested in a career in concrete construction
Kyle is going to spend a couple of days looking at the work of a concrete
construction specialist
in Christchurch with the city centre rebuild finally kicking in
The industry is entering a huge boom period so it's a time of
immense opportunity. At the Leighs construction office site he's meeting the
director of new business
Mike Knowles. Inside the Christchurch red zone Leigh's are building
a big new retail and office block. There is an all important safety induction
And then Mike and Kyle head off to the red zone to see the new building site
Leigh's is a local company and yeah we are very keen and passionate about
the rebuild and we have been very actively involved to date
concrete is quite important with the rebuild like, oh it's huge we are seeing
more and more concrete in the job than ever before largely due to the
unstable ground conditions in the inner city here. They are requiring
a lot more concrete foundations. The job we are going to go and see today
It's got nearly a thousand cubic metres of concrete in the foundations
which is phenomenal for a building this size
That pour, we did 650 nearly 700 cubes in one day
which is the largest pour in the rebuild to date actually. So something we are quite proud of
It's a short drive through the red zone to the construction site where
site manager Neal Rippey takes charge. Neal has very successfully
worked his way up in the industry and early in his career
won an apprentice of the year award. A lot of firsts for the building
The entire facade across the front will all be glass. It's quite an advanced building
and it's going to be a bit of an icon on this corner
surrounded by some of the old builds
with a new sort of modern facade
The main floors will hang from a huge central core. At one end two concrete shear walls
will enclose stairs
and other facilities. So time to learn some
basics about building with concrete
Kyle is going to help build a concrete block. The construction is the same
as what we would do with a sheer wall
I'm going to box up a form. we are going to run some dywidag
rods through the middle to support the form
and we will have the concrete turn up at about 3.30
and you can place the concrete. Kyle's got to build a strong box to contain the concrete
First job, coat the box walls with an oil
so the concrete doesn't stick. Squeege that in mate
The challenges are day to day
even just dealing with staff
getting them to do the job that you want in the timelines that it's required
making sure that you got the planning and robust
program there that the contractors are going to achieve the targets
the wire cage is reinforcement which will bind the concrete together
You are dealing with conflict, contractors,
also architects, engineers, local city council
you are sort of like a bit of a hub
and you are drawing everyone in to complete the project
and come in on budget. Alright Kyle the next task is to put the
dywidags through the condrigs that we have just put into our form work
essentially the dywidags going to go through here, through the form work
we place a nut on either side and that will hold the form work together
under the strain of the concrete going in
with the box finished, the concrete truck arrives
Apprentice Jack Burmister has being giving Kyle a hand. Alright Kyle what we are doing here is liquefying
the concrete
trying to get all of the air bubbles out of it. Once the concrete has been poured in
and the air bubbles removed. The block needs to be smoothed and finished
Alright Kyle, what we are doing now is we are trying to smooth out the concrete
you want to get it flush with this yellow line right here. so just smooth over it
Jack's recently been taken on by Leigh's
and really loves the job. So what got you into the building industry?
two years ago after the Christchurch earthquake
I decided that construction would be a good path to go down with all of the work that is going to be coming up for years and years
Jack did a quantity surveying course
at Christchurch polytech and now is doing an apprenticeship with BCITO
so what do you like about being an apprentice?
firstly I liked working outside because I could never see myself at a desk job. Secondly
you have sort of got about 400 teachers, everyone that comes on site seems to be all the older fellas and seem to be a lot more knowledgeable
then yourself. So can you tell me what the minimum height for toeboards is?
Ah its 225 millimetres
excellent. You come in at apprenticeship level where you could start off doing
framing
I've definitely done my fair share of framing
digging holes, posts, simple decks, things like that
concrete construction,
your basic form work, working in with a crew
they usually buddy you up. The principal of building a concrete wall
is much the same as Kyle's block. Concrete is poured into a reinforced chamber
formed by wooden walls known as shutters. You've got your reinforcing
in the middle, again we line up our dywidags
through the steel as we pull the shutters together
so again we have got these big props
That are connected to our platform. basically, these will
wind in and that will push that entire shutter
into the reinforcing face
It takes at least 24 hours for concrete to set
so the next day before Kyle gets to examine his concrete block efforts
Mike Knowles takes him on a red zone tour
the scale of the rebuild really is immense isn't it. Oh it's huge I have heard lots of people
talk about it as being possibly the biggest sand pit in the world at the moment
if you are into construction, which means
you know, you got an interest in building, it's all happening here
certainly in New Zealand anyway, going forward, Christchurch is going to be the
place to be
for construction, there is just so many damaged or destroyed buildings
that we have got to replace or fix, so yeah! So time for Kyle to take off the shutters
and reveal the concrete block
I love my job, I get up in the morning and I'm like yeah I'm going to work!
sort of thing. And again
I'm quite passionate about interiors as well. Good design
good sort of robust planning
and having these opportunities to work on
So what do you reckon of your concrete block? It's pretty neat. So all good
has Kyle got the right build for the job? Hey Kyle has done a fantastic job today
Real keen, and enthusiastic, which we like to see
in the trade. I found the building site really interesting and how it all
works around and runs. I never knew how to build a concrete block before, it's interesing
the way it works and how it all turns out. There are a number of national certificates avaliable
from entry-level up. There are no entry requirements but it helps to have NCEA
Level 2, maths and English. You earn while you learn
There is a new government subsidy available to enrolling apprentices
in priority construction trades
supporting local content so you can see more
of New Zealand on air