You might not think of asphalt production as a career with a view. But from his “office” at Fulton Hogan’s new Wellington Asphalt Plant on Horokiwi Quarry, 18-year-old Lelend Simmons looks out over the capital’s stunning blue harbour and Matiu/Somes Island.

It’s a long way from the classroom, and that suits him just fine.

Diagnosed with ADHD as a child, Lelend says he didn’t enjoy traditional schooling. So when the school careers adviser at Heretaunga College told him UCOL’s U-Skills initiative had launched a new infrastructure programme for Hutt Valley and Wairarapa secondary school students, he decided to give it a go.

He travelled over the Remutaka Range on a bus twice a week during the last two terms of Year 11 to attend UCOL’s Featherston teaching site, where the classroom was a working quarry operated by Fulton Hogan.

“We learnt how to work safely on site, do traffic control, use tools, and a bit about driving diggers and other machinery,” Lelend says. “I got really hooked into it and it kept me out of trouble.”

Learning on the job, before leaving school

Lelend was part of the first cohort to take the programme’s New Zealand Infrastructure Works Level 2 course in 2023, not long after he turned 15. The course is offered in Featherston, where he did it, as well as at UCOL’s Manawatū and Ōtaki locations.

Tutor Mike Roil-Glendenning says the first few weeks of the course focus on health and safety, before students move on to work planning, use and care of hand and power tools, worksite communication, safe work practices and what different aggregates are used for. If there’s extra time after course components are covered, students sometimes also get the chance to try their hand at trenching and even operating an excavator.

“We do a risk control plan together each day, I nominate a student foreman, we set up traffic control and then it’s on to the day’s lesson.”

Each cohort also takes on a group project, from building tables, garden beds and planter boxes to putting up shelters on the quarry site for future students.

“When UCOL first arrived at the quarry it was completely bare, but each cohort has contributed and there’s more infrastructure now,” says Mike.

Lelend finished Level 2 with a 100 per cent pass rate and came back in 2025 for the New Zealand Certificate in Infrastructure Level 3 programme, which was set up that same year and runs from March to November at Featherston only.

For Lelend, having a tutor who noticed when he was struggling made the difference.

“Mike is great,” Lelend says. “Most of the others were passing the assessments but I was finding it a bit harder. He sat me down one on one and gave me some extra help.”

Mike says that kind of support, and the hands-on learning offered through the infrastructure programme, matters more than ever.

“I wish this was around when I was their age. Students come out with more life skills and common sense by taking ownership of the risks on site, and the confidence they gain has a flow-on effect into other aspects of their lives. Lots have gone back to school with better maths skills because they have found a way to apply it on our site.”

From the quarry to the plant

Finishing Level 3 didn’t mean a job was waiting. Lelend spent a stretch looking for work, until a fortunate turn of events. His step-mum heard about a job with Fulton Hogan through someone she knew, who mentioned Lelend’s ambitions to a manager. Fulton Hogan interviewed him, offered him a job, and even put him through driving instruction to gain his restricted licence.

He started out at Fulton Hogan’s Belmont asphalt plant earlier this year, then moved across to the new multi-million-dollar Horokiwi plant when it opened in August.

Now his days include mixing asphalt, managing traffic control and liaising with the truck drivers coming and going from the site.

As the youngest on the crew by five years, he says he was worried about fitting in at first, but it didn’t take long.

“They started cracking jokes and I thought ‘I can play at that game’, and now it’s all good.

“Everyone connects so easily in this industry. There are good hours, good people, and the money is pretty good too.”

It’s also satisfying to know the asphalt he helps make is used on roads across the Wellington region and further afield around New Zealand.

“It feels like I’m doing my bit,” he says. “I’m so happy with myself. I’m getting paid a lot more than my mates – some of them say they hate their jobs but I actually like mine.”

What’s next?

Lelend wants to gain his full driver licence and then learn to operate the loader to add another string to his bow, and he’s got bigger plans beyond that.

“I’ll stay here for a while, at least until I can run all the gear at the plant. After that I could go all over the world because the same kind of asphalt plant can be found everywhere, or maybe I’ll just stay here because I enjoy it.”

His advice to others thinking about a career in the industry is to go for it, even if school was a struggle or you feel different from everyone else.

“Don’t be scared to do it. Even if things are holding you back, like ADHD or dyslexia, you can get help and you can do what you want to do.”

Want to follow in Lelend’s footsteps?

More information about the programme is available on the U-Skills Academy 2 Day New Zealand Certificate in Infrastructure Works Level 2 and U-Skills Academy 2 Day New Zealand Certificate in Infrastructure Level 3 programme pages.

Applications should be made in partnership with your parents/caregivers and your school.