Mount Maunganui concrete firm closes

Some of the 13 staff members made redundant at Stahlton Engineered Concrete in Mount Maunganui have found new jobs in other engineering firms.
One of the suppliers for the city's roading projects, Stahlton on Hewletts Rd closed down recently when work dried up.
Stahlton, a division of Fulton Hogan, made bridge beams and concrete barriers for the new expressways in Tauranga, as well as prestressed concrete flooring systems and precast structures such as stairs for the construction industry.
But with the Tauranga roading network nearly complete, the work began to dwindle over the past 12 months.
"The branch has been struggling for some time and we couldn't get enough continuity of work," said Grant Borrie, executive manager of Stahlton, based in Christchurch.
"The market is highly competitive and long term we couldn't see the business being very buoyant there. It was an older style plant, and we were paying expensive commercial rent. "It's always a hard decision to let staff go but the reality is we couldn't get work.
"At present, we don't have any (future) plans to re-open," said Mr Borrie.
The last major job for Stahlton, a nationwide firm, at the Mount was providing concrete decking for two bridges on the the Eastern link bypassing Taupo. That project was completed last year.
Over the past two years, Stahlton has hired casuals, taking their staff to more than 30 at times, to finish one-off jobs. But, in the end, 13 permanents were made redundant and five others were offered work elsewhere in the group.
Two went to other branches, another two are working for Fulton Hogan on the Tauranga Eastern Arterial project and a draughtsman is staying on to co-ordinate operations with the Hamilton branch. Any local work is now expected to be directed through Hamilton, and products transported over the Kaimais.
Stahlton, recognised for its concrete flooring systems, has branches in west Auckland, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Bulls, Otaki, Christchurch, Cromwell and Balclutha - and the Mount was the only branch closed down.
In Hewletts Rd, Stahlton shared the industrial site with Firth Concrete, Cement and Masonry. Firth, owned by Fletcher Building, has its concrete production plant on one side, and Stahlton had its pre-cast factory on the other.