Higgins the leading contractor in the creation of the Unison Hockey Stadium at the Sports Park Hawke's Bay, has won the $200,000-plus category at the Civil Contractors New Zealand local Hawke's Bay Construction awards. This was a huge achievement for the contractors as Higgins project manager Richard Jardine said the task was "technically demanding with tight deadlines". The contractors were able to complete the hockey stadium in under five months having no major problems along the way highlighting their success. Mr Jardine believed a huge factor of their success came down to the "co-operation between the client, Higgins and the six main subcontractors involved".
The stadium is an integral part of sport in Hawke's Bay and has already played a huge part in expanding the opportunity of having international hockey games in the region.
The venue hosted its first international between China and Japan less than one month after completion and in April the stadium held the Six Nations International Women's Hockey Tournament.
Both of these events were run with no problems as Sport Park CEO Jock Mackintosh said "there were no venue-related issues throughout the tournament" showing huge credit to the contractors.
Tournament players and officials were impressed with the stadium's facilities and capabilities. Black Sticks captain Kayla Whitelock said "it was awesome" and the New Zealand team analyst described it as "world class".