Business & Trade Industries

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Business & Trade Industries

In Memory of

Boyd Mangu Katipa

1963 - 2018

In 1987, Boyd moved to Australia with his wife and children. At the time he was a qualified retail butcher and manager at Foodtown Central in Hamilton and moved to a similar management position in Sydney Australia. A passion for the building industry saw Boyd change careers from retail management to building sites having gained the proper trade qualifications in scaffolding. With his background in management and strong work ethics, Boyd became a sought after highly skilled and experienced scaffolder-cum-manager on building sites throughout Sydney.

Returning to NZ in late 2000, Boyd established KAT Scaffold Services (KAT.SS) Limited in 2001. KAT is short for 'Katipa' and KAT.SS were primary contractors of RMD New Zealand for almost a decade. In that time, Boyd employed his sons, Kiel & Boyd-jnr (BJ), and introduced scaffolding to his brother-in-law, sons of his 3 sisters, other nephews also of Hiiona Marae, and nephews who affiliate to other hapū and marae of Waikato.

TOP PHOTO (Back Left to Right): Te Piringa Martin Kiel Katipa, Robbie Walker, Jesse Hopa and Tamihana Persen.

INSETS (Left to Right): Boyd-jnr (BJ) Katipa, Ale Hiku, Tukaharoa Martin, Kauruki Keegan and Cameron Kara.

Re-established as KAT Scaffolding & Shoreloading in 2011, Kiel & BJ took over the reins at KAT.SS while their father went back to an office as a Contracts Manager for RMD and National Health & Safety Officer. Boyd spent his last years up until June 2018 working for Midland Scaffolding & Rigging. He is sorely missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him.

Today, Kiel & Boyd-jnr are managers for Auckland-based firm WACO INTERNATIONAL - NEW ZEALAND KWIKFORM: Scaffolding & Formwork Specialists. Ale, Tamihana and Kauruki also work for WACO, while Te Piringa, Jesse, and Cameron work for a Scaffolding Company in Waikato, and Tukaharoa has gone back to complete his civil engineering degree. Clearly, thanks to humble beginnings under the expertise of the late Boyd Katipa, many of our rangatahi are in jobs and the scaffolding trade is alive and well at Hiiona.