Hawke's Bay roading contractor layoffs as cyclone work ends

Staff at two Hawke's Bay roading contractors have been let go as work created by Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke's Bay is finished.

It's understood Tūpore Infrastructure has made significant cuts in one of its divisions, while Wairoa-based Quality Roading Services has cut roles in its maintenance team.

At a Hastings District Council Performance and Monitoring meeting, staff and councillors discussed the repercussions of Tūpore Infrastructure's layoffs and the impact on competitive pricing.

Deputy group manager and director infrastructure delivery Darren de Klerk said the council was aware a local contractor was closing part of its business.

He said it wasn't good to lose "a player, particularly a local player".

Chief Infrastructure Officer Colin Thew said council spoke to civil contractors about the "heightened investment in contracts following the Cyclone".

"But we also signalled there is a point where that level of investment will slow down, because we can't just keep printing money just to keep lots of people working."

He said the council never intended to maintain the level seen over the past couple of years.

Local Democracy Reporting contacted Tūpore, but it declined to comment.

In Wairoa, Quality Roading Services (QRS) has laid off 10 workers following a restructure of its Routine Maintenance division.

The job losses come as the Wairoa District Council-owned company aligns its workforce with expected reduced work levels over the next 12 to 24 months.

Chief executive Jeremy Harker said the restructure was not about anyone's performance.

"It's about matching our maintenance division structure to the next one to two years of confirmed work."

The contraction in the region's civil construction workload comes as the major Cyclone Gabrielle recovery programme reaches its end.

In July, Transport Rebuild East Coast (TREC), a collaborative alliance established to repair and rebuild the state highway and rail networks in Gisborne and Hawke's Bay following Cyclone Gabrielle, announced the completion of State Highway 38 (SH38), marking the end of its recovery work on Hawke's Bay state highways after three years.

In its final update, TREC said teams worked with local contractors to repair more than 125 faults across the Hawke's Bay region's transport network. This included underslips, overslips, culvert replacements and major stabilisation projects.

Recovery work has been completed on State Highways 2, 5, 50, 51 and 38. TREC also partnered with KiwiRail to restore the rail line between Palmerston North and Napier, supporting the region's wider transport recovery.

The recovery programme was delivered in partnership with iwi and hapū, with local contractors from across Hawke's Bay.

Despite reduced work, QRS remained profitable in the year to June 2026.

The company reported revenue of $40.7 million and a pre-tax profit of $477,000 for the year ended June 2026.

Compared with June 30, 2025, revenue was $38 million, while pre-tax profit was five times higher, at $2.4 million.

This year it paid a dividend of $372,155 to the council and distributed $67,000 through community sponsorship.

QRS board chair Guy Gaddum said the result reflected tough operating conditions facing the civil infrastructure sector, including increases in fuel, materials, contract supplies and other costs, alongside increased competition for work.

Gaddum said QRS had remained profitable in a year when costs increased, and margins were under pressure across the sector.

"Our focus has been on the parts of the business we can control. Staff have worked through our 1% marginal gains approach, focusing on making little changes to improve overall performance."

In the company's annual report released on October 6, 2026, Wairoa's Mayor Craig Little said QRS was an integral part of the community and a significant contributor to keeping the district moving.

"At a time when Wairoa has lost so much due to regionalisation and centralisation, we are reminded of the benefits of having a locally owned company with infrastructure and specialised staff on the ground looking after our people," Little said.