Dr Willy Morrell, an environmental scientist by training, and Bullocks' director for business strategy.
Dr Willy Morrell, an environmental scientist by training, and Bullocks' director for business strategy.
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Bullocks Group Whanganui is breaking new ground with respect to its approach to the environment. They are working on three fronts: solar power, electric off-road vehicles, and cement substitution.
The project is headed up by Dr Willy Morrell, an environmental scientist by training, and Bullocks’ director forbusiness strategy.
“The business was established by our grandfather, the late Ben Bullock, who started off delivering coal by horse and cart to Whanganui businesses and households back in 1928. With the help of some of his nine siblings Ben gradually expanded and diversified the company.”
“Over the last 95 years, the business has been one of the Whanganui’s mainstays, conducting many thousands of civil construction projects in the lower North Island. We have worked on numerous roading, subdivision and drainage jobs big and small, and we long ago lost count of the many hundreds of staff we’ve had on our books over the years”.
Bullocks' staff member Brent is seen releasing the casting of a mass concrete block.
“I think two of the biggest strengths for our business have been our many loyal staff and our business’ diversity. We have interests in quarrying, land development, civil construction and ready-mix concrete, and presently employ 45 staff across three businesses.”
The Group is now owned and operated by four of Ben Bullock’s grandsons, Willy and Ben Morrell, and Ivan and Glen Bullock. “The next generation is also involved in the company – we’re proud of that ownership model - we’ve helped build the community and in turn, they’ve helped staff and sustain our business over the years,” said Morrell. Recently Bullocks has added Aaron Currie to its senior leadership team. Morrell said that Aaron has worked in the concrete sector for 20 years and has brought a wealth of knowledge and experience with him.
Over the past few decades, Bullocks has been heavily involved with Whanganui District Council’s stormwater separation work – which Morrell said “has not been without its challenges, particularly in the wetter, swampier parts of the city”. The Fitzherbert Ave roading extension was one of Bullock’s largest jobs in recent years and was a government “shovel-ready” project carried out in and around Covid-19 lockdowns.
Bullocks’ new ready-mix concrete plant down next to the Cobham Bridge on Taupō Quay is an important part of the family’s business plans going forward. The new plant has just recently come online and has been a huge investment for the Group. It includes a new high-capacity concrete batching plant and a purpose-built testing lab. Morrell said that “while concrete is a fantastic and durable building material, cement is an energy-intensive constituent, and it is a real challenge to reduce emissions in this sector”. Nevertheless, Bullocks Group is up for the challenge and will shortly begin introducing electric off-road vehicles to its fleet.
The first of two electric battery-powered front-end loaders will be arriving in about a month. Ahead of arrival, Bullocks will first install two high-capacity EV charging stations.
“Our initial project focuses on the use of these EVs along with solar panels to help power our quarry and ready-mix concrete plants,” said Morrell. “We are taking an integrated approach to what we are doing and will add a second set of solar panels at our new ready-mix plant site. While the output from the solar panels will not be enough to charge the EV front-end-loaders alone the solar panels should meet most of the day-to-day electricity needs of the new batching plant and office during the day.”
“With respect to funding we’ve been lucky to receive support from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority’s (EECA) Low Emission Transport Fund (LETF). The LETF was set up to help decarbonise New Zealand’s transport sector. Our EV loaders will be amongst the first trialled in New Zealand’s quarrying and concrete sectors and Morrell is hoping the loaders will more than halve the running costs of its traditional diesel loaders. We received $463,000 in co-funding.”
“As a part of our partnership with EECA we are required to share learnings and to report back on how the project is going, to see if we get the fuel and emissions savings we are targeting,” Morrell said that people interested in the EECA funding should take a look at their website (eeca.govt.nz) as they have a further round of LETF funding coming up soon.
In terms of other partners on this project, Morrell said that the BNZ team in Whanganui has been great and highly supportive of our efforts to tackle climate change. BNZ was quick to come to the party with some lower interest ‘green’ financing for the project which Morrell said has really helped take pressure off things.
Cement substitution
Part of Bullocks’ longer-term plan for the ready mix plant is to transition towards the use of recycled aggregates and cement substitutes to make low-carbon concrete. Bullocks is planning to add a second silo to its concrete plant in 2025 to facilitate the use of slag which is a by-product from steel manufacturing. Morrell explained that slag can directly replace a portion of cement used in concrete and can improve its strength and handling characteristics – providing a win-win for the customer and the environment.
One of the final pillars of the project is concrete recycling. Bullocks is ramping up its concrete recycling activities at its Taupō Quay yard to complement its ready mix operations. Morrell said old waste concrete can be crushed and reused to make new concrete that can be used for some lower-strength applications – for example for footpaths, mass blocks and fence footings to name a few.
Bullocks has begun manufacturing “Lego-style” mass blocks from recycled concrete and the early results are good. Morrell said they are now working with Rolling Stone Quarry up at Pākaraka to explore the use of one of the shellrock quarry’s byproducts to see if it is possible to fully eliminate the use of any new aggregates in our blocks.
In discussing the bigger picture Morrell said that “if New Zealand is going to meet its international obligations to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, we have all got to quickly change our business-as-usual approach. Failure to act now is not an option.”
