Construction highlights overshadow construction delays

By Allan Barber allen@barberstrategic.co.nz

There are no prizes for guessing that the two biggest challenges of the motorway project were covid and the weather. The pandemic put the project on hold for long periods resulting in major delays to the finishing date and, more recently, the appalling run of bad weather caused further hold-ups.

NX2 project manager Robert Jones says the project never really recovered its momentum from the disruptions from covid, which affected the supply of labour as well as materials and equipment until completion. Absenteeism because of covid meant a significant number of the workforce did not return after multiple lockdowns.

Despite the unavoidably late completion of the project, Jones cites a number of highlights that he and his team can justifiably take pride in.

Most notable has been the environmental control and management of the huge volume of earthworks through very difficult terrain, which Auckland Council now regards as a model for all similar projects. This involved managing the sediment runoff and the excavation and reuse of millions of cubic metres of soil and rock to cut and fill the road and embankments as motorway construction progressed.

Jones says constant earth movement made this a very challenging process.

He is also proud of the project’s safety record, which he believes was as good as or better than any in New Zealand, especially when taking into account the nature of the work and the size of the workforce, which numbered 800 at its peak. He also notes the project’s substantial contribution to the local community, which he estimates to be as much as $20 million, including use of local contractors and businesses such as Wharehine, Rhodes for Roads, Mason Contractors, Davco, fencing contractors and accommodation providers, plus the purchasing power of workers and their families. At one time there were 20 Spanish families living here, as well as around 50 New Zealand workforce rentals.

As the motorway neared completion, one of Jones’s main challenges was to negotiate NX2’s claims with Waka Kotahi (NZTA) for compensation for cost blowouts as a

Breaking

result of the delays caused by covid and bad weather. For obvious reasons these are too sensitive to disclose.

Jones has had a long career in engineering and project management, including assignments in Africa, the West Indies, Southeast Asia, Mongolia, Indonesia and Australia before arriving in New Zealand in 2004. He is a Yorkshireman by birth, spending most of his earlier life in Huddersfield before leaving the UK 35 years ago. He lived for seven years in Perth, where he was with Clough Engineering, and he joined Fulton Hogan when he came to NZ. He managed their local operations, which included project managing the construction of the Northern Gateway motorway, between 2004 and 2008.

In 2017, the joint venture between Fletcher Building and Spanish infrastructure company Acciona was awarded the contract to partner with the government in the construction of the Puhoi to Warkworth section of the Ara Tuhono motorway, originally scheduled to be completed in 2021.With his track record of delivering large projects, Jones was an obvious choice to take on the role.

Now he has finally been able to sign off on this project, he plans to take a welldeserved holiday with his wife Marion before possibly taking on some part-time consulting.

After several years living in Snells Beach, they now live on a lifestyle block in Matakana. When not building a motorway, Jones is heavily involved with various community groups, including the Camp Bentzon Trust on Kawau Island, the Mahurangi River Restoration Trust and as vice commodore of the Sandspit Yacht Club.

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Some key statistics

• Seven new bridges

• A seven kilometre culvert pipe system

• 10.5 million cubic metres of rock and soil cut

• One million trees and vegetation planted

• 100km speed limit

• 35,000 vehicles per day expected on the new motorway and existing SH1 by 2026

• 800-plus workers at the peak of construction.

• Cost $877.5 million

Who built the motorway

The motorway was built under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with partners Waka Kotahi/NZ Transport Agency and the Northern Express Group (NX2). NX2’s equity investors are the Accident Compensation Corporation and Public Infrastructure Partners II LP (managed by Morrison & Co PIP), ACCIONA Concesiones and Fletcher Building. While the NX2 is responsible for financing, designing, building, maintaining and operating the motorway for up to 25 years, the motorway will remain a public asset.