Catalyst newsletter 65 dec 2014

I S S U E

MOVING TO NEW ZEALAND?

P.1

AUCKLAND

State of the nation

Civil Contractors

Little has changed in the civil sector in the first few weeks of December; a few roles have been advertised but most with a start date at some point into the New Year as clients have run out of time in 2014! The word remains positive about the year ahead and most contractors are expecting to see some steady growth as they move forward. That growth is across the board and includes engineers, project managers, estimators, supervisor’s et al so I anticipate speaking with many of you about specific roles as they come about. More notably clients are now coming to Catalyst with requests for staff, a clear sign that they are struggling to find people themselves and that they see Catalyst as experts in a heavily congested market. With that in mind if we haven’t spoken already please make a point of getting in touch, +649 307 6113 or [email protected], to discuss your options and plans for a move or a visit to New Zealand.

Building Construction

Is it finally happening? In the last two weeks I have been catching up with all my clients in Auckland, dropping off small Christmas presents and discussing plans for next year. Every single client has talked about a surge of job awards just prior to Christmas meaning that they will be very pushed in the New Year. Site Managers and Project Managers were the main drive, but a number of QS and Senior QS roles as well as a couple of Design Manager positions popped up too.

As always the first drive is to hire those who are here and ready to start, so if you are making a trip – please get in touch. Alternatively, if you can move within 6 weeks of offer (generally the time it takes to secure the Visa) then I would like to hear from you too.

In the meantime – enjoy your break and lets see if we can get you over to NZ in 2015.

Andy, +649 307 6112 – [email protected]

Engineering Consultants

Overall 2014 has turned out to have been a much quieter recruiting year than we anticipated. While it has certainly not all been negative, and great candidates ready and committed to making a move reality did realise their dreams, on the whole Consultants throughout the year continued to adopt a very cautious approach to their hiring.

The outlook for the Consultant sector in 2015 is looking to be a much busier year and in anticipation of this (aside from the small fact that I have enjoyed a month of holidays in Rarotonga just recently) I will be available during the Christmas shut down period for any of you who are contemplating making a move a reality early in the new year. So please do get in contact with me on [email protected] so that we may set up a time to discuss how best to make that move reality during the holiday season.

As always there are many ways to keep in touch with us at Catalyst. Obviously this monthly newsletter is one but we are very active on Linked In and would encourage those not already there to join our groups and link to our company page in order to receive the latest news. If that’s not enough we also have our blog pages, job board and Facebook pages to keep you in the loop. Having your details is only the first step in making the move to New Zealand a reality so get in touch now to discuss your plans and aspirations and we’ll do all we can to help.

Follow our Linkedin Page here

linkedin.com/company/catalyst-recruitmentcatalystrecruit.wordpress.com/catalystjobs.co.nz/christchurchrebuild.co.nz/facebook.com/CatalystRecNZ

this issueState of the nation P.1

26 Reasons why New Zealand is the world’s best country P.2The saving of Santa P.4

NZ’s rock-star economy has more in store P.5Construction in Christchurch at record levels P.6

Hospital plan centre stage P.7Travis Collins case study P.8

65DECEMBER 2014

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Hard to believe this is the final state of the nation for 2014 and the next one will have 2015 at the top! Without wanting to repeat myself too much Christmas is the start of the summer holidays in NZ and so a fairly quiet period for the country. A few last minute jobs are being completed, tenders delivered and projects awarded, all in preparation for an official 2 week shut down. After that most companies go through January with a skeleton staff as family holidays are taken in the sunshine! Catalyst however will be up and running from January 5th in preparation for what is hoped will be a very busy year! Before then though we hope you all have a safe Christmas and New Year and we look forward to being in touch in 2015.

P.2

26 Reasons why New Zealand is the world’s best country New Zealand has topped the Telegraph Travel awards as the world’s best place to visit. They put together a great article that is too long for our newsletter, you can see the whole article here, but they did have some amazing pictures…

Here are my favourites.

1. 2.

6. 7.

11. 12.

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26 Reasons why New Zealand is the world’s best countryarticle continued from page 2

13. 15.

16. 18.

23. 25.

Read the full article here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/australiaandpacific/newzealand/11284442/26-reasons-why-New-Zealand-is-the-worlds-best-country.html?frame=2782656

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Editor: We first brought you the story of Auckland’s infamous giant Santa a few Christmas editions of Catalyst’s newsletter ago. This year at the 11th hour it looked as if this iconic piece of Auckland history would no longer be appearing in the heart of the city due to associated funding costs. Love him or hate him, as you will see from the video (follow link) Aucklanders were outraged, then spurred to action and our giant Santa is once again pride of place overlooking Queen Street.

Auckland’s giant Santa savedPublished: 1:42PM Thursday October 23, 2014 Source: ONE News ource: FutureChristchurch.co.nz http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/auckland-s-giant-santa-saved-6115058

Auckland’s iconic giant Santa will once again look out over Queen Street this Christmas after new funding has saved the tradition.

The announcement comes after Auckland’s Heart of the City board yesterday said it could no longer justify the $180,000 annual cost to store and install Santa and his reindeer.

Construction company, Mansons TCLM, has opted to take responsibility for the installation over the next three years

and SkyCity will contribute to annual storage as well as $50,000 to keep the Santa statue alive.

The Santa has been an Auckland feature for 54 years, and will now resume its position on Whitcoulls corner this Christmas.

Watch Video - The day Santa was saved (1:40)

Whitcoulls Santa Claus - Source: Getty Images

P.5

One of the underpinnings of NZ economic growth is the unexpectedly strong surge in net immigration, a key element of which is fewer New Zealanders leaving for Australia and more returning.

NZ’s ‘rock-star’ economy has more in store, says expertBrian Fallow, The Economics Editor of the NZ Herald.5:00 AM Wednesday Dec 3, 2014

The rock-star economy will give an encore next year, says the economist who attached that label to New Zealand.

HSBC’s chief economist for Australia and New Zealand, Paul Bloxham, expects growth to slow next year but to a rate that is still above its long-term trend and outperforms most other developed countries.

“You would be worried if you had a repeat in 2015 of growth that is well above trend because it would mean the Reserve Bank would have to lean against it even harder.”

One of its underpinnings is the unexpectedly strong surge in net immigration, a key element of which is fewer New Zealanders leaving for Australia and more returning.

The flexibility afforded by a common labour market had been good for both countries, Bloxham said. Without the large net outflow across the Tasman during Australia’s mining boom, New Zealand unemployment would have been higher.

But the relative strength of the two countries’ labour markets has since switched. The Reserve Bank of Australia predicts annual employment growth of about 1 per cent, against 3 per cent here.

“There is no denying the [Australian] labour market is loose,” Bloxham said. But it is an area bedevilled by unreliable data, with the household labour force survey subject to large revisions.

Employment growth last August was initially reported at around 100,000, he said, then revised down to 29,000 and subsequently to minus 5000.

“So the debate is whether it is stabilising or still worsening. Other indicators like business surveys and job advertisements say it is stabilising.”

Australia’s September quarter gross domestic product is due out today.

The market consensus is growth of 0.7 per cent, which would make just under 3 per cent for the year.

The desired rebalancing or pivot away from growth propelled by investment in the mining sector is under way, according to Bloxham, albeit with regional differences: New South Wales booming and Victoria doing okay, while Western Australia and Queensland are still coping with the end of the mining boom.

“In particular the housing market is still picking up strongly - a clear sign that lower interest rates have worked - and we think 2014 will record the strongest residential construction in 12 years.”

Australia is enjoying strong population growth, which increases demand for services.

And both countries benefit from ties to the Chinese economy.

China’s growth rate is slowing, “but it is still contributing the most to global GDP growth, even as it slows and the US economy recovers”.

P.6

The rebuild may be slow but it should come as no surprise that construction in Christchurch is at record levels.

Construction in Christchurch at record levelshttp://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/63784094/Construction-in-Christchurch-at-record-levelsSource: The Press

The latest Statistics New Zealand consent figures show almost a billion dollars worth of new commercial and public buildings were approved for construction in Christchurch in the past year.

The value of the consented work was more than twice any other year on electronic record.

According to Statistics New Zealand, consents for 350 non-residential buildings were issued by the Christchurch City Council in the 12 months to the end of October.

The consents cover commercial as well as public buildings, but exclude non building-construction, such as roads, bridges and pipework.

Residential construction in the city and the Canterbury region is also at record levels, with almost 7000 new Canterbury homes approved in the past year.

ASB bank’s latest Cantometer Index, which tracks economic activity in Canterbury, described construction levels in the region as “very strong”.

ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said that while construction demand in the region was showing some signs of slowing from “very high levels”, they expected demand for commercial building construction to pick up.

Concrete sales were growing strongly, and the rebuild was boosting demand for workers “across the sectors, from construction to professional services.”

The biggest number of Christchurch consents for non-residential construction according to Statistics New Zealand was for office and administration buildings, with 105 worth a total of $417 million getting consent in the past year.

Second was nursing homes and hospitals, with 14 consents for the year worth a total of $193m. Next came shops, taverns and restaurants (37 consents worth a total $101m), and then warehouses and other storage buildings (62 consents totalling $97m).

The city is the second biggest centre for commercial and public building, behind Auckland.

Nationally, non-residential buildings worth $4.9 billion got consents in the year to the end of October. This was up from $4.2b worth in the previous year, and $3.9b worth in the year before that.

The consented buildings had a total of 300 hectares worth of floor space.

As in Christchurch, the biggest spend nationally was on office buildings, with $1.2b worth of projects approved.

This was followed by $722m worth of shops, taverns and restaurants, $687m worth of education buildings, and $497m worth of factory buildings.

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A $300M hospital project in Christchurch is drawing bids from companies looking for work as the number of big-ticket health projects in Australia ramps down.

Hospital plan centre stagehttp://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/63683138/Hospital-plan-centre-stageMICHAEL BLEBY

Fletcher Building (paired with San Francisco-based builder Hathaway Dinwiddie), Hansen Yuncken and Auckland-based Hawkins Construction are all making presentations in an effort to make the shortlist of the Christchurch Hospital Acute Services Building, one of the biggest stand-alone contracts to be awarded since the Christchurch earthquakes.

The need for a new building, which will be adjacent to the existing hospital, was identified before the earthquakes when the Canterbury District Health Board began planning facilities according to projected growth and changes in Canterbury’s population by 2020.

The 62,000 square metre Acute Services Building will have 400 beds, operating theatres, paediatric facilities, radiology, intensive care and emergency departments, and is part of a wider $650 million package of work redeveloping the Christchurch and Burwood hospitals. It will be built on a design-and-construct basis, rather than as a PPP.

Construction is due to start in March next year and completion is scheduled for mid-2018. A first contract for preliminary works on the site was awarded in September.

Lend Lease said it is not bidding on the project. Rival Leighton Holdings, which already has a presence in New Zealand, declined to comment.

Ministry of Health project manager Tony Lloyd declined to say how many initial registrations of interest were received or how many bidders would be shortlisted. He called both numbers “commercially sensitive”.

The wind-down of large health care projects in Australia as a wave of jobs, such as the A$1.85 billion new Royal Adelaide Hospital, the A$950 million Sunshine Coast University Hospital, and A$600 million new Bendigo Hospital, approach completion or get underway, is forcing companies to look afield for larger jobs.

Australia’s health-related building commencements peaked at A$6 billion in 2010. That figure slid back to below A$5 billion last year, and is likely to drop back to the A$2 billion mark - closer to its long-term average - by 2018, figures from research firm BIS Shrapnel show.

Christchurch Hospital

The Catalyst Team

Andy [email protected]

Phil [email protected]

Mireille [email protected]

Address:PO Box 17405Green LaneAuckland 1546

Level 2642 Great South RoadEllerslieAuckland 1051

Phone:+64 9 307 6111

UK freephone:0808 234 3587

Fax:+64 9 307 6110

Website:www.catalystjobs.co.nz

P.8

Travis CollinsCase study of moving to NZCurrent Employer: Babbage Consultants – Christchurch

Travis approached Catalyst at the end of March this year. Travis was living and working in Charleston, USA at the time which is located on one of the USA’s largest seismic faults. Travis’s primary reason for wanting to make a move to New Zealand was so that he could contribute to Christchurch’s rebuilding efforts. His research had also showed him that he would greatly enjoy the life-style that NZ has to offer. Catalyst arranged several interviews for Travis resulting in Travis being in the fortunate position of being able to choose between two excellent employers. Travis joined Babbage Consultants’ Christchurch office and has been here since August

What inspired you to consider moving with your family to New Zealand?

From a professional standpoint, I thought it would be great to help in the Christchurch rebuild efforts.

From a personal standpoint, the major reason is that I was looking for a place with a better work-life balance. That combined with the amazing activities New Zealand has to offer made it seem like a great opportunity.

Has New Zealand lived up to your expectations?

Absolutely. Every weekend I am going somewhere new or doing something fun.

How has your life changed since moving to New Zealand?

Nothing has changed tremendously. Same general work routine as in the US, I just feel like I have more time to do the things I enjoy.

What one thing would you have done differently?

I would have chosen different doctors and FBI channelers (for immigration purposes). This is not something I could have prevented by doing more research, as they both seemed like legitimate respected businesses, but they made my visa application extremely difficult. The FBI channeler lost my application and I had to return to the doctor 3 times to get additional test results that he did not include in the paperwork. I came very close to not having getting my visa in time and having to reschedule flights and start dates.

What one thing do you wish you had known about before moving?

There have not been many surprises. I did a lot of research, knew things were going to be more expensive here, knew it was going to be pretty cold for good portions of the year, etc and accepted them as minor downsides to living in a great place. But if I had to choose one thing I wish I had known, it would be just how competitive the

rental and housing markets are right now for the buyer. In the U.S., apartment complexes and home owners renting out houses were begging people to come live there with deals like a no rent for the first month. Here it is completely opposite; you have to SELL YOURSELF to the real estate agent. There were 10 other people/couples looking at the first apartment I went to view, and each talked with the agent for about 5 minutes explaining why they would be a great tenant. I had never seen anything like this in my life.

What advice would you pass to someone commencing the process?

Just to be as confident as possible you will like where you are going to work. You don’t have a lot to go on from the interview process, but just make sure you have a good feeling. I have met several people (not engineers) that are fairly unhappy with their jobs and are considering returning home.

Also, start the visa application process as early as possible. Obviously you are limited since you don’t want to start paying for doctor visits and background checks before you have a job offer, but just plan on things taking longer than they should.

Looking back with hindsight, do think you have made the right move for you and your family?

Yes definitely.

Useful Facts:

1st contact to interview: 61 days

1st interview to offer: 10 days

Offer to arrival: 70 days

Time since arrival: 130 days