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If you’ve flown into Christchurch recently and scored a window seat, you may have noticed a different type of crop growing along the western fringes of the airport: pleasingly uniform rows of solar panels. Even though it isn’t yet completed, the 230-hectare Kowhai Park solar farm is hard to miss.

As Jon Bodman, owner/manager of specialist contractor TH Civil, tells me, this is the third solar farm the civil construction and engineering firm has been involved with.

“It’s great to be associated with the solar industry and renewable energy,” he says. “It’s also interesting to be working with cutting-edge technology on this sort of scale. We’ve developed a proven methodology for helping bring these projects to life efficiently, and we certainly want to do more.”

Jon explains that all the solar farm’s structural tubing sits facing north to south, while the solar panels themselves rotate east to west to maximise energy creation throughout the day. Power Conversion System inverters, housed in specialised containers, serve as a bidirectional interface between the DC-producing panels and the AC power grid. As you can imagine, this involves a significant amount of cabling.

“We love complex stuff!” Jon laughs.

Working on this project is something of a ‘full circle’ moment for Jon, who returned to Christchurch in the wake of the 2010–11 earthquakes to work on the airport and nearby Pound Road extensions and bypass. Now, over 10 years on, and with his own trusted crew alongside him, he’s pushing hard to support the project’s completion.

“It’s all about speed and accuracy, but it’s also about accountability,” he continues. “That’s a key word for us, as it’s a big part of the TH Civil company culture. We pride ourselves on doing what we do exceptionally well, and we’ll do what we say and stand behind it. We want other contractors we work with to succeed and clients to appreciate the value and confidence in the delivery of the product.”

While TH Civil runs its own extensive machine fleet, a project of this scale – paired with other civil works the busy company is undertaking elsewhere – means that supplementary machinery is a given. Jon and his team are currently running three extra wheel loaders and three extra excavators on site, all sourced through Porter Hire.

Interestingly, the machine attributes Jon and TH Civil site supervisor Cliff Bennett value most have nothing to do with ‘big digger’ grunt. Rather, it’s all about compact nimbleness.

“It’s all about small machines here and planning,” explains Cliff, who has worked on civil construction projects all over the world – from Europe to Asia to Sierra Leone – and has operated “pretty much anything you care to name”.

“Digging trenches for cabling around the piles is very intricate work, so we look to diggers at around the 10-tonne operating weight to give us a well-balanced machine. You need the equipment to be precise – we have trenches that can vary from 2.4m wide down to 300mm wide here – but we also need them to perform consistently and quickly too.”

There is over 50 kilometres of trenching to complete and assuring the highest level of quality compliance is paramount. I ask him what makes this work different from a typical subdivision job.

“Difficult to compare,” he says. “The sheer amount we’re moving and shifting –tonnes and tonnes of thermal bedding sand distributed across the site, constant deadlines within the works programme – we can’t afford for the machines not to be working. Keeping all the cogs turning, that’s the biggest challenge.”

“It makes working on a subdivision seem like a slow process by comparison,” adds Jon with a smile.

He says Porter Hire’s machinery complements TH Civil’s own and, by providing his team with well-maintained gear, there is an inherent expectation that they will perform at the top of their game too.

“As a Kiwi business, we want to support other Kiwi businesses,” Jon says. “With their national network, we can be anywhere in the country and know we can call on Porter Hire if required.”

TH Civil, which is part of Christchurch-headquartered BTB Group, undertakes all manner of work around the country. Recent projects have included subdivision and retirement village construction, assisting with NZTA critical network project delivery, and rail line and bridging works.

Projects the company has been involved with have been award-winners too: one recent job was a finalist at the Civil Contractors New Zealand 2024 National Awards ($20M category) and won the 2025 Regional Nelson-Marlborough Project award ($2M category). Elsewhere, the recent Wellington rail lines upgrade project showcased plenty of TH Civil’s problem-solving approach, involving challenging culvert and bridge installations in the Lower North Island that required the team to manage and engineer bespoke solutions on the fly.

“We love being agile as a business, and it works best for us if our suppliers can match that agility,” says Jon.

Both TH Civil and Porter Hire – and their people – are focused on working with other contractors and suppliers to ensure the best value for the clients regardless of the projects they undertake.

Porter Hire’s regional hire manager for the Upper South Island, Jeremy Coleman, is equally effusive about working with TH Civil.

“These guys have been a pleasure to work with and are so easy to get along with,” he says. “I get to see lots of construction sites in my line of work, and the TH Civil organisation’s commitment and eye for detail is up there with the best. The work they produce is absolutely first class and we’re proud to support them whenever and wherever they need our assistance.”

“We believe we’re a tier three business operating to tier one standards and systems,” Jon concludes. “In order to operate at that level, we make sure we have fantastic people in our team. But we also have to trust our suppliers as an extension of that team. Porter Hire delivers on that trust, and they are helping us achieve successful delivery of the civil trenching package at Kowhai Park.

“Everyone at BTB Group and TH Civil can’t thank Porter Hire enough for the continued partnership and support that helps enable us to be a part of some special projects in the New Zealand Infrastructure sector.”