The Turangi Street Revitalisation Project is making good progress – and Turangi locals are on the tools and helping to shape their town.
Five Turangi residents are a part of the Downer Taupo Construction team, with three of those having been previously unemployed. The new team members were all hired thanks to central government funding for shovel ready projects and completed the Downer ‘Road Ready’ programme that gives them all the skills they need to join the Downer whanau.
Turangi resident Shaun Barnes is one of the new hires and said it’s great to be on the project and leaving his mark. “I’ve always had an interest in roading, but more around the highways,” he said, “so this residential kind of work is something new for me. But it means I’m picking up a lot of new skills and in years to come I’ll be able to say that I did that, I worked on that. And I like being able to give something back to the community – there’s not too many jobs that are like that.”
Downer project manager Brad McKenzie said the first part of the project is underway and tracking well. “The residents have been outstanding to deal with through the busy construction period so far,” he said, “and our team really appreciate how welcoming they have been.”
“A number of our team working on the Turangi Street Revitalisation project are locals and they all love working close to home and are proud to be improving the look of their town.”