McConnell Purchases Microtunnelling Business

13 May 2011

McConnell Group has purchased the business and assets (including the brand, company name and other intellectual property) of Harker Underground Construction Limited, a pre-eminent New Zealand microtunnelling and pipejacking business, based in Papakura, Auckland.

The Harker brand, synonymous with specialist microtunnelling, has been re-established as a McConnell Group business. The purchase was made through a wholly-owned subsidiary of McConnell Group which, on completion of the purchase, changed its name to Harker Underground Construction Limited.

David McConnell, Managing Director McConnell Group, says that McConnell Group is committed to supporting and enhancing the business.

“We are operating the Harker business out of the same premises and re-employing the same team of people. We truly value their experience and expertise. Leigh Bishop, will continue to manage the business drawing on his 15 years of microtunnelling and pipejacking experience,” he says.

“Harker’s culture is very similar to our own, a strong family New Zealand based business with loyal, very capable staff, passionate about their unique contribution to delivering successful construction projects. Harker will be an independent business within McConnell Group, so it is ‘business as usual’ but with the additional support, governance and management resource that McConnell Group provides,” he said.





ABOUT HARKER UNDERGROUND CONSTRUCTION:

Formed in 1988, Harker Underground Construction is New Zealand’s pre-eminent microtunnelling and pipejacking specialist.

Microtunnelling and pipejacking are used for tunnelling in ‘built-up’ areas such as under existing buildings; for crossing underneath motorways, arterials and railway lines; and for pipelines at depth.

Harker offers a complete range of TBMs (tunnel boring machines) with experienced site operators.

Milestone projects include: the longest 2.5M (outside diameter) pipejack project in New Zealand, 600M in all, for the North Shore City Council; boring 400M of 3.0M (outside diameter) tunnel through volcanic ash, using a world leading slurry separation process, for the Tauranga District Council; being the first contractor to pipejack beneath Wellington harbour reclamations. 

www.harker.co.nz 

So who is McConnell Group?

McConnell Group is made up of a group of complementary businesses - Hawkins Construction, Hawkins Infrastructure, McConnell Property, Steelpipe, Harker Underground Construction and Element NZ. As one of New Zealand's largest privately owned construction, property and infrastructure groups our passion is 'creating and building project based businesses.' More>>

Who leads McConnell Group?

The leadership of McConnell Group is made up of the combined leadership resource of Hawkins Construction, Hawkins Infrastructure, McConnell Property and Steelpipe. Chris Hunter, CEO Hawkins Construction; Peter Alexander, CEO Steelpipe and Commercial Manager McConnell Group; Nigel Richards, General Manager McConnell Property; Brian Fitzgerald, Executive General Manager Hawkins Infrastructure and David McConnell Managing Director McConnell Group; are part of the McConnell Group leadership team. They see value in being part of a group, sharing and learning from each other through the complementary 'project and service focused' nature of the businesses. John McConnell is Executive Director and Mike Wardle Chief Financial Officer.

What is the role of McConnell Group?

The role of McConnell Group is to support and strengthen the operating businesses, ensuring that targeted resources are put in place to support and strengthen the operating businesses.