Since Mike Rabbitte and Mark Donnelly took over Hawke’s Bay company Lattey in 2012 staff numbers have doubled. Further controlled and sustained growth is the aim and the pair are well on their way to achieving this with strong forward bookings into 2018.
The company comes from a long history of building infrastructural, capital and community assets since 1946. Lattey has four divisions: civil, precast, hire and geoscience.
It is the full and diverse offering that sets Lattey apart, says Mike. “We offer manufacture, supply and installation. Most companies don’t offer such a full service,” he says.
The company’s civil works offering includes piling design, fabrication and installation, testing and full certification. Bridge construction and marine work is a speciality.
Lattey provides the Port of Napier with the expertise, labour and plant to maintain their main breakwater with concrete akmons and blocks weighing up to 16 tonnes.
The Lattey precast division deliveres concrete items such as wall panels, columns, beams and stairs, pre-stressed flooring and piling systems, box culverts and underpasses and farm bridges. Lattey’s facilities mean that it can manufacture for multiple projects simultaneously.
The geoscience division provides groundwater development and management services, geological mapping and site assessment and contaminated site appraisal and remediation.
The hire division hires cranes and other equipment. Mike says no matter what the project Lattey prefers to get involved early to provide maximum expertise.
“This allows us to rationalise the design and have the opportunity to think of smarter ways of doing things,” he explains. Mike says the surf life saving club tower at Waimarama is a good example.
Designed by Paris Magdalinos Architects, the tower cantilevers out over the sea wall allowing the base of the structure to sit behind the sea wall and meet council requirements while providing unobstructed views of the beach for the life saving team.
Mike says Lattey was involved in the initial design stages in a process that took 10 months to come up with the design.
Lattey completed the screw piles, on site in-situ works and manufactured, supplied and erected the precast elements. Mike says the project is a good example of the way the Lattey divisions work together.
Lattey Group was involved in the initial design work of the new surf life saving club tower at Waimarama. The tower cantilevers out over the sea wall allowing the base of the structure to sit behind the sea wall. Lattey also completed the screw piles, on site in-situ works and manufactured, supplied and erected the precast elements.
Other recent projects include the Waikaremoana Visitors Centre for which Lattey did the piling, earthworks, landscaping and precast elements.
The company is presently working on 1600 square metres of precast panels for the Hastings Health Centre. The panels are patterned and Lattey has produced this result by way of a rubberized form liner. Lattey also produced piling for the High Commission of India building in Wellington.
The in-situ piles will be up to 1.8 metres in diameter and 24 metre deep. Having good people is a keystone of the company’s success so training of staff is a big focus at Lattey, says Mike.
For example the company currently accounts for around 10% of the people in the precast industry being trained by BCITO. “Being part of the up-skilling of the labour force in our industry in New Zealand is a focus,” says Mike.
“This is backed up by good processes and we are currently working towards ISO certification. Our business is as much about smart thinking as it is heavy lifting.
Our ability to find quicker and more efficient ways of working has seen Lattey become the infrastructure contractor of choice for many important local government and private construction projects throughout New Zealand.”
This article was brought to you in association with the following businesses…
- Baypack Distributing
- CREATE Ltd
- ReoFab Auckland
- Bridgeman
- BA Engineering
