Hawke's Bay Airport construction site empty after building company collapses

The building site at Hawke's Bay Airport is currently empty after contractors Arrow International went into voluntary administration. Photo / Paul Taylor

Hawke's Bay Airport's expansion has hit a roadblock, with the collapse of the company contracted to build the multimillion-dollar upgrade.

Arrow International has gone into voluntary administration after a contractual dispute left it without its needed cashflow.

Hawke's Bay Airport CEO Stuart Ainslie said delays in the project would be inevitable, but these would be minor.

He remained confident the deadline of finishing the project in the third quarter of 2020 was achievable.

"We have an excellent project management team and supply chain and we are confident that we can navigate our way through this challenging period to minimise any potential delays and financial risk."

He described the situation as "regrettable" but given the fragile nature of the construction industry the risk was not unforeseen.

"We have a well-defined contingency plan that will be implemented to ensure construction can recommence as soon as possible."

A spokesperson for Hawke's Bay Airport said the site was currently empty.

Civil Contractors New Zealand CEO Peter Silcock said it would be a nervous wait for subcontractors across Arrow International projects to see what happened with the company.

However, he felt it was good the company was taking responsibility by voluntarily putting itself into administration.

"That bodes well."

He said there was a possibility contractors would not get paid for work already completed, but it would not be known for several days whether that was a likely outcome.

"The subcontractors will be pretty nervous, but hopeful that things are going to come out right and number one they'll get paid for the work they've done and number two they'll be able to continue doing that work and be paid for it."

He said comments from Arrow suggested it was hopeful it would be able to finish what it is working on, and hopefully any delays to the airport upgrade would be minor.

In a recent statement the board of Arrow International said they wanted to work to stabilise their business.

"Importantly, most of our large projects have been completed or are near completion and wherever possible the project teams will be retained to successfully complete the works."

Last week co-founder Bob Foster told the NZ Herald the business had an issue with one Auckland job but was resolving that and altering its business model.

"We're trying to wind down the amount of tender work we do and doing more negotiated work," Foster said on Friday, February 22.

Arrow is one of the country's larger builders with a national spread, works on retail, commercial, government, tourism, education, retirement sports and recreation and residential work.