Students build new DOC hut thanks to local support

It won’t be long before the sounds of hammer and saw fill the air at Marlborough Boy’s College as the year thirteen class begins their most challenging construction project yet. Thanks to the efforts of their inspirational teacher, an experienced builder Ben Eustace, the OneFortyOne Sawmill at Kaituna is providing materials so that a new six-bunk DOC style hut can be built by the boys to go on the school’s piece of land in the Leatham Valley. It will be a base for the major repair work that needs to be carried out on the existing hut in the area that is used by the school for educational purposes. The project will allow the continuation of flora and fauna study trips, forestry student assignments and leadership training.

Ben is thrilled with the outcome of the school’s application for funding from OneFortyOne’s Community Grants programme. “We needed a decent senior project that could give the boys a really good grounding in building and a head start for those that want to go into the construction industry. The hut will be built at school then trucked through to its final position,” he says. “It’s a chance to give the boys a real taste of the whole process and for the whole school to enjoy seeing the progress. The boys involved are a bit daunted by it, but excited too.”

OneFortyOne has at its business heart a strong commitment to the local community and their Employee Community Grants Committee with its team of six, try to support as many local projects as possible that come within their philosophy of People, Ideas, Nature and Environment (PINE).

“There are a lot of people doing amazing things in the community,” says their communications and community relations manager Kylie Reeves. “We have handed out $50,000 in grants since last July to help with great projects.” They also sponsor ventures such as the Wasp Wipeout programme, the Young Enterprise Scheme, the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter Trust and the Graham Dingle Foundation to name a few.

This latest project completely fits in with the values of OneFortyOne. It is particularly exciting to know that we are going to help foster the development of young people, some of whom will go onto work in the forestry or building industries and associated roles.”

OneFortyOne has 80,000 hectares of forestry in Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough with seventy per cent of their production sold within New Zealand. Over the next three years, eleven million dollars is being invested in the Kaituna Sawmill on improved processes that will both extract more value from each log harvested but also considerably reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

“We are very happy about the positive economic impacts of the work we are doing on the local communities we are part of,” she says. “It is in the hundreds of millions of dollars by the time you take into account all the contractors we use and customers we sell to. The fact that this allows us to help with projects like that at Marlborough Boy’s College is a win-win for everyone.”

Ben Eustace agrees. “We can’t thank the Kaituna Sawmill enough for understanding our vision and enabling us to develop a program that is about much more than building,” he says. “’It’s also a chance for the boys to develop communication, leadership and problem-solving skills. Although primarily a project for the year thirteen students we hope to be able to involve the year twelve construction students too.”

“The sawmill also provides offcuts for our younger students to make clocks which is tremendously helpful,” he says. “I have great faith in our students and know that they will come out of their building experiences at the college here with a basic understanding of what being a builder means and what will be expected of them. Those that go onto apprenticeships will be a lot better prepared than I was at their age.”

Meanwhile OneFortyOne’s Kaituna Sawmill works hard at encouraging people into their company. “With on-the-job training provided and four-day working weeks we are trying to make it as attractive as possible to work in this important New Zealand industry,” she says. “After a year with us employees are given access to our hunting areas which is an added bonus. It really feels good to be part of a company that understands that people and the community are vitally important to everything we do.”

Marlborough Boy’s College construction department is certainly grateful for the light the company has shown on their own project. “We just can’t thank them enough,” says Ben.