Christchurch, New Zealand based civil infrastructure and drainage works company LB Civil has only been established since 2019, but in that short time, they’ve made big strides not only in their successful wastewater and water renewal projects, but in their work to measure and limit their emissions in their Komatsu fleet.
LB Civil started to help with the ongoing earthquake clean up, first in Christchurch, then making their way up to the Kaikōura region to assist with railroad renewals and infrastructure upgrades in the area. After purchasing their first Komatsu PC88 excavator, they made the move back to Christchurch in 2020, and started to forge their way as a leading contractor for council wastewater renewal, stormwater renewal and water supply projects. As the workload continued to grow, so did their fleet of Komatsu excavators.
Sam Lentjies, LB Civil Director, says their Komatsu’s are built for the type of work they do.
“We have seven Komatsu excavators now, and they’re perfect for our work. We currently have a number of large projects underway including a $10 million wastewater upgrade in Riccarton, a 10-month watermain project installing new water supply to a large portion of Lyttleton’s residents. We have also spent the last eight months working on a stormwater upgrade in Lyttelton with Fulton Hogan to upgrade the port boat ramp and surrounding infrastructure ahead of the Sail GP event
“We can be working anywhere from tight urban streets to rocky coastlines, and the machines get the job done. They’re powerful, durable and best of all compact. The zero tail-swing means they have a small footprint for those tight streets,” Sam says.
“It’s why we chose Komatsu from the beginning to work with. Their quality machines, with great back up and support when and where we need it, and the resale value on them holds up as well, too.”
A big focus for LB Civil is reducing their emissions on the work they do to become a more sustainable business. A key part of this is how they track and monitor their fleet, using Komatsu’s remote monitoring system, Komtrax.
“Each month we prepare a fleet report that is populated with data from Komtrax, such as idle times, active working hours, CO2 emissions, fuel usage and litres per hour burned, which helps us understand our cost v productivity, and where we might be able to limit our carbon footprint,” Sam says.
“It’s important we think about the future and what impact our machines and our work is having on the environment. We’re living by the mantra ‘if you can, you do’ – and this is just a small step we as a business can make at setting ourselves up for the future. It also gives us a strong point of different when going for tenders - not many in our specific field are doing what we’re doing in the sustainability space.
“We’re celebrating the small but meaningful wins we find, while also creating awareness around carbon reduction not only for us as a company but also as an industry.”
To find out more about LB Civil - www.lb-civil.com