Opus supports its local communities as a responsible corporate citizen and we actively pursue through our staff a good level of involvement in community activities.

Examples of this commitment for supporting our communities include:

• Our Wellington Civil team got involved with ‘Volunteer Wellington’. As part of this, the team of 17 successfully undertook the design and build of a monkey enclosure at the Huha Animal Sanctuary.
  
  
• Mark Hunter, from our Rotorua Office, was awarded a certificate by the Ministry of Health in recognition of his work in relation to their Drinking Water Technical Assistance Programme.
  
  
• Opus in the UK supported The Comet Sports Awards in 2007. Trophies for the two awards sponsored by Opus were presented by representatives from the company. The inaugural School of the Year Award was won by Sandon JMI School. The Mentoring Basketball Association Cougars were the deserving winners of the Club of the Year Award.
  
  
• The Opus Christchurch Environmental team has committed to three years of funding and replanting support at Horseshoe Lake. 35 members of the Opus Environmental team took part in a tree planting day at the lake in November 2007. It is an important wetland area where there is considerable potential to enhance habitat and specie diversity.
  
  
• In Brisbane, our staff were very active in raising funds for Breast Cancer Research and took part in the Gold Coast Bike Challenge to raise funds for Diabetes Australia and the National Heart Foundation.
  
  
• Our staff in Wanganui were involved with building a kiwi enclosure and spent over 1600 hours of their own time designing and constructing a purpose built two-metre high, 30m square predator-proof habitat and fully landscaped enclosure for injured and breeding birds.
  
  
• In Thames, our staff gave a commitment to their local community following a devastating storm that knocked out power lines, felled trees across roads and caused severe slips and flooding. Staff assessed the damage over night and over the ensuing days, relayed information to the local council and contractors in an effort to maintain vital communication links.
  
  
• Following a severe earthquake just before Christmas, staff in Gisborne and Napier, gave up their holiday time to assess the damage to buildings, roads and bridges in the city resulting in over 80 percent of the infrastructure being inspected by the end of the first day after the incident.
  
  
• Auckland based Water and Sanitation Engineer, Victoria Fray travelled to the Solomon Islands as part of a Red Cross team to assist the local people devastated by a severe earthquake that together with a tsunami wrecked havoc of the villages.  She was able to ascertain the extent of the damage to the vital infrastructure, assess the health risks brought about by the failure of the sanitation system and assist the local people with a rebuilding programme. Opus was recognised for supporting Victoria by the New Zealand Red Cross and was presented with their Humanitarian Award for 2008. 
  
  
• For his dedication and untiring work for the local branch of the New Zealand Automobile Association, Blenheim based engineering consultant, Mike Petersen was named Councillor of the Year.  The award recognises Mike’s contribution and advocacy for roads in the Blenheim region.
  
  
• The voluntary advisory work associated with the 2005 Boxing Day Tsunami at Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and a subsequent Opus funded return to the sites of the devastation in 2007 to assist with the commissioning of water and sanitation, saw Utilities Engineer, Dave Neru from our Palmerston North office, awarded a New Zealand Special Service Medal.