Fulton Hogan’s Billy West and Kenny Brown were two of New Zealand’s first 14 Certified Civil Tradespeople honoured at a national launch at Parliament and presented their award by the Honourable Minister Stephen Joyce.

Fulton Hogan is a strong supporter of the new Certified Civil Tradespeople programme, a nationally recognized accreditation programme for civil contractors.

Over 180 Fulton Hogan staff are enrolled for the programme next year. New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Robert Jones says “We are very keen to get behind this Civil Contractors initiative as finally our industry has the ability to develop and recognise the high skill level required to do our work. It will also be a great way to attract young people into Fulton Hogan and the industry because it provides a structured development programme leading to a rewarding career path.”

“It is something that has been a long time coming and finally it is here. This is a major step forward for the industry and Fulton Hogan. The impact of the Civil Trade qualification will improve the safety, quality and productivity of Fulton Hogan and the industry in general which has got to be a good thing.” he said.

Trade Certification is the result of a partnership between Civil Contractors New Zealand, the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) and Connexis, the Infrastructure Industry Training Organization.

The programme combines a recognized trade qualification with certified hours of practical experience, and leads to registration as a Certified Tradesperson. Trainees can specialize in either civil works, utilities maintenance, pipe installation, bituminous surfacing, or bituminous product manufacturing. Certified Tradespeople will be highly skilled in their chosen trade – able to work to the required standard unsupervised and with a high degree of practical and theoretical knowledge.