Banks Street Road Reconstruction - Christchurch City Council

This project involved the successful delivery of a wide-ranging streetscape and infrastructure upgrade within a highly active community environment. A diverse range of subcontractors, simultaneous work streams, and multiple stakeholder groups — including schools, a kindergarten, the RSA, and public transport operators — were carefully coordinated throughout the project. Despite being delivered during a challenging winter period, the project was completed smoothly, with minimal disruption and positive feedback from stakeholders.

While the scope of works was relatively straightforward from a construction perspective, the complexity lay in the planning and execution within a live, high-traffic environment. Our team demonstrated strong communication and coordination skills, ensuring all works were completed on time and without additional cost. Stakeholder engagement was particularly strong, with positive remarks noting the seamless delivery and suggesting the project might have rated even higher had it presented more environmental or technical challenges — a testament to our ability to manage and deliver smooth-running, issue-free projects even under tight conditions.

BANKS STREET - Road Reconstruction

Children and adults holding stop signs and crossing flags at a crosswalk, controlling pedestrian crossing on a quiet street.
Construction site with excavator and long metal track on unpaved ground, orange safety cones, power lines, and residential buildings with blue fence.
Street sign at the corner of Kissel Street showing a pedestrian crossing warning and a yellow sign for Kura School. The street has a sidewalk, some trees, and houses in the background.
View of a newly paved street under construction, with construction vehicles, orange safety cones, and barriers along the sides, residential houses, leafless trees, and utility poles visible under a clear sky.
Intersection with a pedestrian crossing sign, a sidewalk with tactile paving, marked curb cuts, and parked cars, under a cloudy sky.
A suburban street with a road splitting into two directions, one paved with black asphalt and the other unfinished with visible gravel, lined with green hedges and trees, with houses and a car in the background.
A quiet suburban street with a clear centerline, sidewalks, residential houses, trees, utility poles, and overcast sky.
Town street with newly painted crosswalks, orange traffic cones, trees, parked cars, and a few pedestrians.
A residential street with cones and barriers blocking part of the road for construction or maintenance, lined with houses and trees under a cloudy sky.
Quiet residential street with houses, trees, utility poles, and a blue fence on the right side.
Empty residential street with a freshly paved sidewalk and black asphalt road marked with yellow lines. Green bushes line the left side, with houses and trees visible in the background. The sky is partly cloudy.
Road construction workers operating paving equipment on a street, with traffic cones and parked houses in the background.

DESCRIPTION OF WORKS COMPLETED:

  • Communication with School, RSA and Kindergarten

  • Site Establishment

  • Removal of existing paths, kerbs and carriageway

  • Construction of new footpaths, kerbs and carriageway

  • Installation of tactile pavers

  • Installation of crossing

  • Chipsealing and Asphalt

  • Sign installation

  • Road Marking

Certificate of Appreciation awarded to Mike Downs Contracting Ltd/Earthworks & Paving, issued by the Templeton Returned and Services' Association, signed by Brendan P. Muir, President, dated July 2024, with red, black, and white decorative borders.
People gathered in a room with tables and chairs, some watching a man receive a certificate from another man in the foreground. The room has a wooden floor, a sloped ceiling with skylights, and sports memorabilia on the walls.
A memorial site with a flower bed, a flagpole with a flag, a WWII artillery gun, and signs indicating a community event called Housie on Thursday at 7 pm with light meals from 6 pm, surrounded by a black fence and some benches.
Memorial site with a stone monument featuring names, an American flag and a British Union Jack flag, a military artillery gun, and a garden with flowers, surrounded by a black metal fence, with benches and a sidewalk.

Supporting the Community Through Thoughtful Construction

At the heart of everything we do is a deep respect for the communities we work in. We understand that while infrastructure development brings long-term benefits, the short-term impact on daily life can be significant. That’s why we go beyond the basics of construction management — we actively plan our work to minimise disruption and, where possible, add real value to the local community.

One example of this approach can be seen during this project. Recognising the importance of ANZAC Day to the local community, we worked closely with the Templeton RSA to ensure full and respectful access for all attendees during their commemorative services. Construction activities were programmed around the event so that the site remained safe, accessible, and unobtrusive on this significant day.

We also took special care to coordinate with Kidsfirst Kindergarten and Templeton School. By timing our works around the school holidays and adjusting our program to accommodate access at key entrance points, we helped ensure that students, staff, and families experienced as little disruption as possible during our time on site.

During the project we identified further opportunities to give back. In addition to completing the scheduled works, we voluntarily undertook several enhancements at no cost to the community. These included constructing two new footpaths to improve pedestrian access for RSA members, carrying out asphalt repairs within Templeton School, and repainting road markings outside Kidsfirst Templeton to improve safety and visibility for families and children.

These are just a few examples of how we work — with care, responsibility, and a genuine desire to leave every place better than we found it. For us, delivering a contract successfully means more than meeting deadlines and budgets; it means building trust, supporting the people around us, and making a meaningful, lasting contribution to the community.

Two parked cars in a parking space marked with yellow lines and the letters 'N P'.
A parked silver van on a gravel driveway with large storage containers and a house in the background.