June 2011 - Winter Newsletter

Well what an eventful and stressful time in Canterbury the last nine months have been since the first earthquake back in September 2010.  It has been a time of continual earth movement and the resulting turmoil. 

Not a single person in the wider Canterbury region has been unaffected, some a great deal suffering human loss, property damage at home, loss of business or at least business interruption and in many cases loss of employment.  All we can do to help those less fortunate is to support them in any way we can and assist where ever possible.  For those who have not suffered to significantly there is a feeling of guilt.  Everyone is dealing with the aftermath in different ways and we all have to accept that. 

GSL as a company did not suffer any significant damage and we were able to continue business as usual and it has been gratifying to have been in a position to assist those less fortunate, including some of our staff whose homes did not fare to well. 

As a company we have been able to step up and help in a variety of ways to get things moving in the right direction.  That is one of the advantages of being locally owned, operated and financed  in that we are able to respond to changing needs and demands quickly and efficiently.

Until next time, Des

Building Division

GSL’s Operations Manager of the building division, Simon McRae, says that his staff have really stepped up to the mark with earthquake emergency repairs and now into the permanent repair phase.  The team of highly skilled and qualified plasterers, painters and brick layers are being kept very busy, predominately in the Selwyn area at present.  The building crews are now commencing work in the eastern suburbs with an emphasis on the external repairs to paths, driveways, fences & retaining walls for the different insurance companies as well as undertaking work for private individuals that have been paid out for damage sustained.  As well as all the earthquake repair work his teams have also continued to undertake regular repairs and maintenance for a number of companies and private customers.  Simon said “The skills and trades our teams cover is quite staggering and means that in most instances we are able to undertake all the work required on a site with minimal support from our team of expert sub-contractors.  This enables us to provide a one stop shop for our customers, making the whole process seamless and less stressful.”

Development Team

GSL’s Operations Manager of our Development Team, Andrew Ward, says his team of specialist staff have extended their knowledge and experience in assisting with the repairs to roads & footpaths in the eastern suburbs.  They started with clearing away the liquefaction, carting away many tons and adding it to the stockpile at Burwood.  From there they started filling the multitude of dips, hollows and holes in some of the important arterial roads and levelling out the road ways to enable the easier movement of traffic.  They then moved onto repairing footpaths.  With the continual aftershocks the hole they filled the day before would reappear the next day.  Where did it all go!!

It was extremely satisfying for the team to see a section of road or footpath level and ready for sealing.

Our Water Tanker was pressed into service after the September quake watering the grass we seeded on the rebuilt river banks in Kaiapoi to help stabilise the banks in case of flood to protect the town of Kaiapoi from even more damage.  This was only just completed when the  February quake hit and it was immediately pressed into service to supply water to households in the eastern areas until a more permanent supply was available, from there they went onto flushing out silted drains.  It has been  utilised full time 6-7 days a week from the day of delivery.

With the demand for our services our staff numbers have increased significantly which is a bonus for the region, and we have also purchased a number of new vehicles and plant & equipment including two new excavators and a new truck & transporter trailer unit.

Mechanical Workshop

With the increase in our own equipment plus the growing demand for our mechanical repair services the workshop area was proving to be too small to meet the demand.  We are fortunate to have a variety of spaces available on our site so the workshop was relocated to a new much larger area.  The vehicle hoist was moved, no easy feat, and the area fitted out to meet our specialist demands.

Ricky Fatafehi, GSL’s Operations Manager, Mechanical Repairs is now a very happy man with room to move.  Ricky and his team have been busy servicing the fleet of specialists vehicles for Interflow NZ Ltd, who have bought over a number of vehicles from Australia to help out with the clearing and repairing of drains in Christchurch.  This has sometimes been very challenging working on equipment not seen before in Christchurch however each challenge has been surmounted and overcome.  Ricky’s extensive knowledge and experience is being utilised by a number of companies either at their place or ours.  With the growing demand for our services we will soon be looking at taking on another diesel mechanic to help with the increasing work load.

Maintenance including Plant Pest Control

GSL’s Operations Manager of Maintenance including Plant Pest and Mowing, Tony Holland, says that his department has spare capacity at present due to the loss of some of the commercial customers in the Red Zone.  The work outside the city centre is progressing as normal however many of the garden maintenance work within the city centre boundary has ceased due to access issues.

With the advent of winter, most of the spraying programme is now completed and bookings are being accepted for spring spray requirements so if you haven’t already booked in your work do so now to ensure that the work in completed to the desired timetable.

Although winter is now upon us, to date it has been reasonably mild so the grass and other plant pests have continued to grow at a great rate of knots, keeping our plant pest operators busy much later in the season than is normal.  If you have a growth problem then contact Tony to discuss your options as we have a range of equipment and methods to bring this under control. 

Until Spring take care, be strong and stay positive!!