Infrastructure Yearbook 2015-2016

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YEARBOOK 2015-2016 Best of the Best 2015 New beginnings 2016

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FIRST WORD >> The Year Ahead

Bigger, better boom times on the way?

Geoff Picken Editor, AsiaPacific Infrastructure Welcome to the AsiaPacific Infrastructure Yearbook; a timely review of the Best of the Best 2015, a glance at what’s currently happening in the sector and a preview of the next 12 months

I

t’s certainly been a very busy year on the infrastructure front, with projects big and small throughout the length and breadth of the country.

Some would even say boom times are here, given the veritable smorgasbord of new and ongoing projects currently underway.

There is, for example, the ongoing Christchurch rebuild, various Roads of National Significance and the innumerable projects great and small that are gradually turning Auckland into a true world-class city.

Yet there are even better times to come if far-sighted visions such as the Thirty Year National Infrastructure Plan 2015 achieve their myriad lofty objectives.

In all, the plan offers some 145 initiatives designed to strengthen asset management practices, improve understanding of demand, and lead to better decision-making around infrastructure provision.

The urgency of the situation is borne out by a recent Ministry of Education survey of all of the country’s state and state-integrated schools that found them to be in poorer condition than thought.

A key focus of the plan is the need to renew ageing networks of existing infrastructure, including schools which have an average age of 42 years and a water network that is 100 years old in parts.

Another important driving factor is an age-

ing population, the median age increasing from 32.8 years in 1996 to 36.9 years today and expected to reach 42.7 years in 2043.

Further complicating factors include inevitable demographic change that will see some regions grow in size and others shrink.

By 2045, the demographers expect another 1.2 million people to be living in New Zealand, with most of that increase expected to be north of Taupō.

This all costs, of course, and central and local government together are expected to spend $11 billion on infrastructure each year for the next 10 years.

This in turn will boost the $220 billion worth of infrastructure assets owned by central and local government – around $50,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.

The government also plans to develop national data standards for roads, water and buildings and thus avoid a “silo” approach to expensive new projects.

“Centres of excellence” will be established with people who can help government departments and councils with the analysis and presentation of data.

The nagging question however remains – is all this infrastructure planning and expenditure really enough to fulfill all New Zealand’s immense promise and make it a world leader in both quality and quantity of life?

Big spending projects show the way forward Current and planned national mega projects include: • Auckland’s Western Ring Route Road of National Significance (RoNS): NZTA, $2 billion • Wellington Northern Corridor RoNS: NZTA, $2.5 billion • Puhoi to Wellsford RoNS: NZTA, $2 billion • Waikato Expressway RoNS: NZTA, $2 billion • Auckland City Rail Link: Local and central Yearbook 2015-2016

government, $2.5 billion •A uckland’s Second Waitemata Harbour Crossing: NZTA, $4 billion •A uckland-Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative: Auckland Transport, $1.5 billion •A uckland’s East-West Link: NZTA and Auckland Transport, $1 billion •K iwirail’s Turnaround Plan (business and financial): KiwiRail, $1 billion •C hristchurch central city rebuild: Local and central government, $5 billion

Several influential figures think not, not least the man charged with setting and maintaining the country’s monetary policy.

Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler recently took the rather bold step of requesting increased spending on infrastructure in order to lift economic activity and inflation pressures – specifically in Auckland.

He cited the shortage of rail, roads, hospitals, schools and other infrastructure that is clearly restraining Auckland housing supply and helping drive the unsustainable house price inflation that the Reserve Bank considers a risk to financial stability.

Mr Wheeler believes there is a case for potentially more infrastructure spending around Auckland, noting that the economy was generating output worth NZ$230 billion a year.

His opinion is shared by inaugural Executive Director of the National Infrastructure Unit and current PwC Consulting Partner Richard Forgan, who recommends stimulating the economy by encouraging increased spending on high-quality infrastructure that will benefit New Zealand in the long run.

The government appears to have heeded their calls; Finance Minister Bill English having recently earmarked an extra $1 billion to lift capital spending in next year’s budget to more than $5 billion – with the money likely to go to big construction projects.

The foundations have therefore clearly been laid for an infrastructure boom the likes of which have rarely been seen in this country before, with the result that the face and fabric of New Zealand society could well be transformed beyond all recognition over the next few years.

• Tamaki redevelopment: Local and central government, $1 billion • Wynyard Quarter and waterfront redevelopment: Waterfront Auckland, $2 billion • Ultra-fast Broadband: Local fibre companies, $5 billion • Transmission upgrade: Transpower, $2.3 billion • Auckland Central interceptor: Watercare, $950 million Total: $35 billion of investment and development www.infrastructurenews.co.nz –3

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Yearbook 2015-2016 Editor Geoff Picken on 2015 and the year ahead NZCID examines changes afoot for 2016 Chapman Tripp on big law changes ahead Leigh Auton reflects on effective infrastructure LGNZ president Lawrence Yule on a better NZ Evans Young muses on 2015 achievements

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Editor Geoff Picken 0212 507 559 geoff@ mediasolutions.net.nz Managing partner Phil Pilbrow 027 564 7778, 09 489 8663 phil@mediasolutions.net.nz Design & pre-press Jamie Laurie jamie@mediasolutions.net.nz 021 161 0602

Web development Neo Chen neosync@icloud.com

www.infrastructurenews.co.nz

Publisher Mike Bishara 027 564 7779 mike@mediasolutions.net.nz

Free access to searchable archives in key infrastructure categories such as Local Government, Construction, Cities, Energy, Environment, Transport, Water, Communication.

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Free access online to an interactive digital edition.

Free access to daily news with the AsiaPacific Infrastructure online carousel

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Printed by Crucial Colour 24 Fairfax Avenue, Penrose, Auckland +64 9 589 1550 Published by Media Solutions Ltd 3c, 12 Tamariki Ave, Orewa 0931, PO Box 31397, Milford 0741 09 444 5140, 09 489 8663 Original material may be reproduced with permission and acknowledgement. mike@mediasolutions.net.nz.

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Yearbook 2015-2016

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COMMENT >> The Year Ahead

Plenty of work ahead in the coming year Hamish Glenn Senior Policy Advisor, NZCID The year 2015 may not go down in the record books as the biggest or brightest year for New Zealand infrastructure, but a close look reveals some very interesting – and significant – developments

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ack-office policy and statutory constraints on efficient and effective delivery of critical infrastructure are the big stories for 2015.

RMA reform, asset and data management, central and local government collaborative processes and other similar initiatives are the things to watch going into 2016.

New Zealand Infrastructure Plan 2015 Leading the infrastructure policy charge this year was the release of the National Infrastructure Plan. The plan sets the context for enhanced knowledge and understanding of infrastructure demands nationally and identifies a series of policy responses to meet need.

That’s at the strategic level, but sitting behind this is a large and growing evidence base that is of at least as great importance to the infrastructure sector. Published earlier in the year, the evidence base included an updated 10-year Capital Intentions Plan, sectoral updates and foreshadowed performance indicators.

The Capital Intentions Plan is the government’s response to industry calls for greater transparency of the forward work programme so that contractors, in particular, can gear up or down in order to meet demand. A hefty $110 billion infrastructure programme is laid out, including roughly $50 billion each from central and local government with the balance from the private sector.

The Capital Intentions Plan certainly makes clearer what the government in general is thinking medium-term, but from a planning perspective information remains imperfect. It is difficult to ascertain how well government project intentions align with strategic direction with just 10 years of data and there is only fragmented information about what procurement options the government thinks viable. It is unlikely that 2016 will be the year a comprehensive ma-

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jor project pipeline will be complete, but progress in recent years suggests the next iteration could deliver on expectations. If performance indicators across sectors can be devised and implemented alongside a quarterly project pipeline, New Zealand will be at the forefront of global best practice.

Planning law reform One of the infrastructure plan’s eight responses concerns the most contentious piece of legislation in New Zealand today and the biggest opportunity to lift longterm infrastructure planning and delivery.

“What’s needed is a fully integrated planning, governance, funding, regulation, delivery, and resource management system that will drive regional social and economic development, improve environmental outcomes and strengthen local democracy and community engagement”

Infrastructure projects are required to go through a complex muddle of legislative, consultative and political decision making processes. Unsurprisingly there is weak integration between planning and investment. This disconnect is a key driver of rising house prices and congestion issues in Auckland and is also a significant handbrake on economic growth in the regions.

While the RMA is New Zealand’s pre-eminent environmental law, since its enactment 24 years ago environmental outcomes have actually been poor. Adverse cumulative effects have led to a slow but significant deterioration in the quality of monitored streams, rivers and lakes. Leading environmentalists describe New Zealand as being at the point of a biodiversity crisis. The Act was amended in 2004 to address climate change issues, but reforms have failed to have any significant impact to date. Development of national environmental policies and standards will help, but if that were as simple as many people suggest it would have been done a long time ago.

The sum total is that New Zealand’s environmental protection legislation is failing to protect the environment at the same time as it and other key components of planning are holding back development. It’s hard to imagine a less desirable scenario, but the good news is that there is growing recognition of the problem. In November, Finance Minister Bill English asked the Productivity Commission to investigate what a sensible planning framework might look like and key bodies such as Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) are also investigating the issue. Close eyes will be on what the Productivity Commission concludes late in 2016.

The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) is well known as New Zealand’s pre-eminent environmental law, but often overlooked is that it is also the country’s pre-eminent planning law. District and regional plans, incorporating infrastructure and housing rules, designations and other statutory requirements all fall under the RMA. Despite decades of amendment, land use planning and resource management decisions under the Resource Management Local government reform Act are disconnected from funding deciOne of the more intriguing implications of sions made under the Local Government planning law reform is whether or not it can and Land Transport Management Acts. be successfully implemented without also Yearbook 2015-2016

changing the structures of decision-making. Because the majority of RMA-linked decisions, and also water and transport delivery, sit with local government, this question essentially asks whether local government in its current form can plan, fund and deliver integrated infrastructure and development.

We found out in 2015 that local communities won’t support amalgamations which are perceived to infringe upon community identity, but the question of whether the array of 78 mostly small, under-resourced councils can meet the future needs of their communities remains unanswered.

Councils face intense political scrutiny to keep rates increases to a minimum, and are required by law to comply with the maze of statutory processes. Consequently, local government attention is focussed on administration, managing negative effects, balancing the budget, and dealing with the costs of growth – not going for growth.

How can councils meet increased expectations for improved asset management from the National Infrastructure Plan; for more housing and development from the Productivity Commission; for more and better services from their constituents; and now, suddenly, turn their focus to jobs and growth in alignment with calls from the Local Government Minister?

Looking into the future, local government, especially small rural councils, face immense challenges in managing demographic change, rapid technological change, rising consumer expectations and the need to respond to climate change and improve resilience of core infrastructure.

Affordability challenges today will become a serious problem in the future.

What’s needed is a fully integrated planning, governance, funding, regulation, delivery, and resource management system that will drive regional social and economic development, improve environmental outcomes and strengthen local democracy and community engagement. More importantly councils will need the resources and incentives to go for growth.

it expects of other providers.

The performance report unveiled some uncomfortable truths about several high profile government programmes, especially those underway in Christchurch. That the rebuild programme is pressed to meet deadlines is common knowledge within the industry, but the report facilitated a degree of exposure which, while a little sensitive in the short-term, will almost certainly provide the catalyst for improved government management of the programme.

Local government asset ownership and recycling Government was not the only institution to see an improvement in transparency in 2015. The Christchurch City and Auckland councils both initiated investigations into their asset holdings, helping to improve understanding of how much capital councils hold, where it is located and what sort of benefit it is reaping for ratepayers.

On the back of this information, Christchurch has since announced that it will sell down its 100 percent holding in City Care. Capital released from this sale is earmarked for reinvestment in rebuild priorities, allaying the need for rates increases. In Auckland the process will likely move a little slower and asset sales could become a major part of the 2016 local body elections.

If asset sales are not part of the solution Project and investment updates there, the heat will really go on the AuckAnother recent development has been land Transport Alignment Project (ATAP) the publication of information on govern- process to find a compelling investment ment infrastructure projects. It would be and funding programme for Auckland. easy to overlook the significance of the project reports as “just a bit more” infor- Auckland Transport Alignment Project mation on project delivery, but the Major In mid-2015 the government and AuckProjects Performance Report, in particular, land Council agreed to sit down and work was a landmark in transparent public asset through some of the thornier issues holdmanagement. For the first time ever, the ing Auckland back. Top of the list of Auckgovernment published information on how land demands is the ability to charge a toll it, as an asset operator and manager, was on motorway users as a means to manage performing against some of the standards demand and gather revenue to deliver its Yearbook 2015-2016

ambitious programme. The government, on the other hand, is asking why, after all the spending identified in the Auckland Plan, congestion gets worse.

By late 2016, officials will have modelled a range of different scenarios and should be closer to agreeing what an optimum programme looks like. Reconciling this thinking with whatever promises come out of the election campaign will be one of the more interesting exercises post-October, but if better performance combined with a more efficient funding mechanism are the result, that would be a major achievement in collaborative decision-making.

LGNZ Three Waters A final work programme critical to ongoing, sound provision of infrastructure is being conducted by the local government sector’s representative group. The LGNZ Three Waters programme is an owner-led response to a burgeoning challenge in the continued operation and maintenance of water supply, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.

Aging, and in some cases shrinking, populations across parts of New Zealand have some significant renewals commitments expected over the next two decades. How the industry responds to big-ticket items spread across a limited rates base will be a major issue if not addressed in coming years.

Developing work on a local government risk agency and data standardisation across the sector are among the initiatives underway which should see progress in 2017. This will intersect with other LGNZ programmes in train, including funding local government, regional development and governance.

Hamish Glenn is Senior Policy Advisor at the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development www.infrastructurenews.co.nz –7

PLANNING

Setting the scene for tomorrow The Thirty Year New Zealand Infrastructure Plan 2015 provides a road map to tackle the infrastructure challenges faced by New Zealand over the next 30 years

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he plan sets out a “necessary step-change” in New Zealand’s approach to infrastructure planning and management says Lindsay Crossen, Chair of the National Infrastructure Advisory Board.

“While we generally have a good infrastructure base today, we face growing future pressures,” Mr Crossen says. “Our assets are getting older and will soon need replacing, our population is aging, we face a shift in economic gravity towards Asia, and we face regional growth in some areas and decline in others.”

He says that the plan provides a broad consensus across the public and private sector on

what the new approach is and how to get there. “This plan is a major step forward in collaboration across central government, local government and the private sector to the three main elements of the new approach: we need a better understanding of the levels of service we want to deliver; more mature asset management practices and use of data; and more effective decision-making that considers non-asset solutions.”

But the plan is more than just an agreement on a new approach, Mr Crossan insists.

“For the first time, it includes a specific Action Plan to help us make the necessary shift,” he explains.

Nine key challenges New Zealand is facing several major challenges that have to be overcome if the country is to achieve its full potential.

They include: • Aging infrastructure networks need renewing This is a simple consequence of when they were built; they are nearing the end of their life. For example, the schooling estate has an average age of 42 years and parts of the water network are now over 100 years old.

Meeting the cost of infrastructure renewal and maintenance is even more challenging in areas with smaller rating and economic bases.

• Affordability constraints Local authorities are responding to community calls to manage debt and reduce rate rises, and central government is focused on returning to surplus and reducing net debt to 20 percent of GDP by 2020.

• An aging population In 1996 no Territorial Local Authority had more elderly people than children, but by 2031, it is projected that there will be a 91 percent change to that ratio.

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The median age is projected to increase from 32.8 years in 1996 to 42.7 years in 2043. This has implications for the types of services New Zealanders will want, the infrastructure required to deliver those services, and available funding.

• Some regions will grow and others will shrink By 2045 there are expected to be another 1.2 million people living in New Zealand. However, this increase will not be evenly spread across the country: 92 percent of this growth will be across just five regions, and over 60 percent is likely to be in just one region: Auckland. Several regions are expected to shrink over this period.

• Infrastructure needs to support higher levels of productivity for economic growth There is a persistent productivity gap that needs to be addressed to make sure local businesses remain competitive on the world stage. Infrastructure will play a key role in lifting productivity and ensuring New Zealand can take advantage of opportunities in the global

“It includes the development of national shared data standards for our roads, building and water assets to give us a consistent base to build evidence and deepen our capability to manage these networks.”

It also directly addresses the need for long-term integrated regional infrastructure planning, stronger practices for larger procurements including increasing the transparency of future intentions, greater alignment of planning legislation and the development of a trans-Tasman procurement market.

“Central and local government own approximately $220 billion worth of assets and plan

economy, including the ongoing growth in developing countries and Asia in particular.

• Technological change It is behind many of the changes to Kiwi lifestyles, and is also transforming the way infrastructure providers deliver services.

This provides exciting opportunities, but also brings challenges in the form of cyber security risks and the need to make sure New Zealand’s networks are flexible enough to adapt to new technological developments.

• Infrastructural pinch-points The continued growth of New Zealand’s economy will be more concentrated in certain regions, creating infrastructure pressures in housing, urban infrastructure, the three waters and roads. Between now and 2045 the pinchpoints of growth will be felt most predominantly in Auckland, which is forecast to grow by another 716,000 people over this time.

• The economic centre of gravity is shifting towards Asia Ongoing growth in developing countries, particularly Asia, will create opportunities for New Zealand to export goods

“Central and local government own approximately $220 billion worth of assets and plan to spend another $100 billion over the next 10 years,” says National Infrastructure Advisory Board Chair Lindsay Crossen

to spend another $100 billion over the next 10 years,” Mr Crossen notes. “This plan will ensure that we spend our money wisely, and find more innovative ways of better managing our existing infrastructure.”

and services to these markets.

This requires decision-makers to fully consider the needs of, and opportunities for, regional economies when forecasting infrastructure demand, and underpins the need for good international connections and effective roads, rail and broadband to link regions to cities and the global marketplace.

• Climate change is putting New Zealand’s natural resources under pressure Rainfall patterns are changing, and sea levels are expected to rise by 30 centimetres by 2050.

Flooding is the most frequent natural disaster with an average annual cost of approximately $51 million. As a country New Zealand has a wealth of natural resources, but it is beginning to deplete some of its important natural resources and is reaching limits on some of the crucial inputs such as land and fresh water. These issues raise questions around how infrastructure is developed and managed – it needs to be resilient to changes over time, and use resources efficiently.

Yearbook 2015-2016

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INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN

Significant infrastructure investments planned

Several major local and central government-led infrastructure investment initiatives are detailed in the annual Ten-Year Capital Intentions Plan available at www.infrastructure.govt.nz Budgeted cost Type of infrastructure Infrastructure project/programme

(million)

Period

Transport

Auckland WaitematÄ harbour crossing

$4,500

From 2025

Auckland City Rail Link (CRL)

$2,500

To 2025

Auckland Western Ring Route - Waterview road connection

$2,250

To 2020

Wellington Transmission Gully road

$1,500

To 2020

Panmure corridor road

$1,097

To 2035

Hamilton Eastern Bypass road

$982

To 2019

Puhoi-Wellford State Highway

$755

To 2026

Christchurch northern arterial road

$215

To 2019

Wellington integrated public transport ticketing system

$32

To 2022

Ultrafast Broadband Programme

$1,500 + $210

To 2020

Rural Broadband Programme

$300 + $100

To 2020

Mobile Black Spots Fund

$50

To 2020

Christchurch Hospitals redevelopment

$600+

To 2019

Dunedin Hospital campus redevelopment

$300

To 2025

New Schools and Kura Programme

$1,000

To 2022

Greater Christchurch Education Renewal Programme

$1,140

To 2022

Upgrade Programme for social houses

$2,004

To 2022

Expansion Programme for social houses

$2,312

To 2022

Christchurch City Council Social Housing Rebuilds

$34

To 2017

Auckland Central interceptor waste water system

$965

To 2025

Waikato Water Treatment Plant No.2 and Watermain

$400

To 2025

Huia Water Treatment Plant Upgrade, Auckland

$241

To 2023

Waiari Water Supply Project (stage 1), Tauranga

$65

2017-2021

Lyttelton Waste Water Treatment Plan

$52

To 2022

New Wanganui Waste Water Treatment Plant

$32

2017-2020

Dunedin Stormwater trunk mains

$36

To 2024

Christchurch Northern Trunk Sewer

$35

To 2020

Waikiwi Reservoir, Invercargill

$34

2040-2045

Hamilton replacement of water mains

$33

To 2022

Coastal Tasman Water Supply Pipeline

$32

2032

Waihou Piako pump renewal programme, Waikato

$31

To 2045

Palmerston North water pipe replacement

$28

To 2025

Hastings stormwater works

$22

To 2022

Waimea Community Dam, Tasman District

$25

To 2020

Whau Valley Water Treatment Plant, Whangarei

$19

To 2018

Earthquake strengthening of Wellington City Council

$49

To 2022

TSB Stadium redevelopment, New Plymouth

$27

To 2025

Flatbush pools and leisure space, Auckland

$27

From 2020

Aquatic centre building, New Plymouth

$21

To 2022

Development of Porirua landfill

$17

To 2025

Telecommunications

Health Education Housing

Water

Other Facilities

buildings

10 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz

Yearbook 2015-2016

Strong foundations The best start to any infrastructure project is expert legal advice.

Our specialist environmental and resource management, and construction and major projects lawyers work with you to deliver successful outcomes throughout the life cycle of your project.

Visit www.chapmantripp.com/construction

Comment >> The Year Ahead

Big law changes for infrastructure – but very slow Brian Clayton Partner, Chapman Tripp

Catherine Somerville Partner, Chapman Tripp

Geoffrey Palmer once famously described New Zealand as “the fastest lawmaker in the west”

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ut it seems – at least on the experience of the infrastructure sector as we look back on 2015 and forward to 2016 – that we may have moved too far in the other direction, and where once our legislators were too fast they are now too slow.

The three big law changes bearing on infrastructure providers – Resource Management Act (RMA) reform, the new health and safety regime and the amendments to the Construction Contracts Act – are all marked by a glacial slowness of execution.

RMA reform National has had the RMA firmly in its sights for years now and has been promising a substantial rewrite since at least 2008, but thus far the reforms have been relatively modest. The big blast was always going to be Phase Two, which was initially promised for introduction in 2013 and passage in 2014.

But waiting for Phase Two was beginning to seem a bit like waiting for Godot – until 26 November when the government broke free of Samuel Beckett’s script and intro-

12 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz

duced the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill.

The Bill bristles with provisions aiming to standardise planning templates, speed planning processes, reduce consent requirements and provide for stronger national direction. The changes are likely to be positive in aggregate but will not produce the step change National is looking for in New Zealand’s environmental management.

The key National saw to achieving this was to recast Part Two of the RMA by amalgamating sections 6 and 7 and removing what some see as the Part Two “hierarchy”, placing environmental values above economic development. However, once it lost the Northland by-election to Winston Peters it no longer had the votes to steer this change through the House.

So instead – after the long wait and the hype about the “most significant overhaul” in the Act’s history - we have a Bill which is no doubt useful, but not transformative.

However the government has another iron in the fire in the form of the Productivity Commission.

The ‘blue skies’ review The Productivity Commission recommended a co-ordinated review of the RMA, the Local Government Act (LGA) and the Land Transport Management Act (LTMA) back in 2012, but the government said it was already engaged in separate reviews of all three Acts and would await the results of that work before deciding if a more ambitious reform programme was necessary.

It was still sitting on the fence in early September 2014 when it wrote the brief for the commission’s Using land for housing, the Terms of Reference for which put radical change to the RMA out of scope.

However Finance Minister Bill English was becoming increasingly frustrated by the apparent imperviousness of the Auckland property market to the government’s various interventions to increase the supply of affordable housing, and in a speech delivered on 29 September 2014 blamed the RMA for promoting poverty and income inequality by driving up housing costs and making it “pretty much illegal to build a house for under half a million dollars in Auckland”.

Yearbook 2015-2016

By September this year that frustration had morphed into support for a “blue skies” investigation by the Productivity Commission into New Zealand’s urban planning laws. This will include the RMA, the LGA and the LTMA, together with elements of the Building Act, the Reserves Act and the Conservation Act. The commission will deliver its final recommendations to the government by the end of November 2016. But already we have a fairly shrewd idea from its Using land for housing final report on the likely direction of its thinking.

First, we can expect a greater ability for central government to make its influence felt at the local level. The commission considers that central government’s relative absence from the planning system in New Zealand compared to most other countries gives rise to a number of weaknesses, in particular: • a failure by local authorities to consider the national implications of their land use decisions • attempts to address issues at the local level which are better addressed nationally – e.g. greenhouse gas emissions • inconsistent standards and planning definitions across councils, and • lack of any countervailing force against the influence of NIMBY-ism.

The commission has also identified a number of features which would be “desirable” in a new framework, including: • greater legislative weight for spatial plans aligned with requirements that they be tightly-specified, evidence-based and include clear growth and housing demand paths • a greater role for central government in longer-term infrastructure and urban planning, including the development of common datasets and closer monitoring of performance • more use of land price signals in mak-

ing planning decisions over factors such as overall land supply, the allocation of different land uses within a city and the need to review planning policies • stronger controls on the quality of land use regulations, informed by an evaluation of the Auckland and Christchurch Independent Hearing Panels, and • room for more responsive rezoning so that planning controls can adjust quickly to specified triggers (e.g. the installation of key infrastructure, population densities passing a certain threshold or evidence of scarcity-based price pressures).

One idea is that councils must release further land when the price discontinuity between land which is available for residential development and land which is off-limits reaches a certain cap.

The commission suggests this would “assist” councils to confront the trade-offs inherent in the compact urban form model and would promote the release of land currently being held in expectation of future price increases.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 This will come into play on 4 April 2016 – a stately five and a half years after the Pike River Mine disaster which inspired it. The Act will require all PCBUs (Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking) to appoint Health and Safety representatives and Health and Safety committees, if requested to do so by the workforce.

The PCBU (generally a company) is responsible for ensuring the health and safety of those who work for it or could be put at risk by that work. Where there are multiple PCBUs on a site and an overlap of duties, PCBUs must discharge their overlapping responsibilities to the extent they have the ability to control the matter. They must also consult, cooperate and coordinate their activities with the other PCBUs. In high-risk industries, the PCBU will have

to establish a formal risk management process. This will require: • identifying all reasonably foreseeable hazards • involving workers and their representatives in developing the risk mitigation strategy • eliminating or minimising the risk so far as is reasonably practicable, and • regularly reviewing the hazard control measures to ensure they remain effective over time.

The Construction Contracts Amendment Act 2015 This took almost five years from the publication of the initial discussion document in November 2010 to the granting of the Royal Assent on 22 October 2015. Most of the new provisions, including making rights and obligations adjudication determinations enforceable in the courts, not just payment dispute determinations, came into effect on 1 December 2015.

But two of the major reforms are still sitting in the pipeline: • the definition of “construction work” in the Construction Contracts Act will not be extended to pull design, engineering and quantity surveying work into the Act’s orbit until 1 September 2016, and • the new retentions regime, which will create an obligation to hold retention money on trust, does not come into force until 31 March 2017.

The changes in the Act are challenging and far-reaching so it is sensible to allow the market time to adjust. The long gestation of the Bill prolonged the uncertainty that always comes with law reform.

Catherine Somerville and Brian Clayton are partners at Chapman Tripp, Catherine specialising in environment planning and resource management law and Brian in construction projects

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Yearbook 2015-2016

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COMMENT >> Local government

Reflections on effective infrastructure Leigh Auton Director, Auton & Associates The past year has seen considerable progress in roading and transport development, but can the same be said of other areas of infrastructure?

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any of these latter areas directly or indirectly involve central and local government, and a question remains as to whether we have the best frameworks and structure for their effective delivery.

There’s certainly been effective delivery when it comes to the number of big transport and roading projects that are nearing the completion of construction, being initiated or been consented. As a frequent user of the Waikato Expressway, it is a delight to see the progress towards joining up this critical transport network. In a few short years, a completed expressway will link Auckland to the south of Hamilton, providing a major stimulus to the economic growth of the Upper North Island.

Likewise the Waterview motorway connection on the Auckland isthmus will finally complete the motorway network originally identified by De Leuw Cather in 1956.

A very long time to implement, hopefully not to be replicated timewise again in New Zealand. These are strategic assets which should be identified, consented and built in the best time possible.

And while commenting on Auckland, what great progress the central government and Auckland Council are making on public transport in Auckland. Having been involved in the early discussions and negotiations over the redevelopment of the rail system in the mid-1990s, what a joy it is to now travel on new, comfortable and well patronised electric trains.

The new public transport system being rolled out by Auckland Transport, which integrates rail, bus and ferries, is a great example of joined-up government systems, scale and good leadership. I’m looking forward to the start of construction of the central Auckland underground rail link early next year. It will be another game changer for the city.

In my mind, the challenge across New

14 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz

Zealand is how we can develop integrated and joined-up structures, systems and processes to deliver infrastructure, such as evidenced in the Auckland examples. This applies not only to transport but also in areas such as the three waters, information technology, and within local government a whole range of ‘backroom’ infrastructure.

Creative collaborations What is exciting are the excellent examples of collaborative, joined-up models throughout New Zealand. We need more of them nonetheless. Such an example, an exemplar of joined-up delivery, is found in the local government of the Bay of Plenty region. The establishment of BOPLASS some years ago has provided enhanced

“The challenge across New Zealand is how we can develop integrated and joined-up structures, systems and processes to deliver infrastructure, such as evidenced in the Auckland examples” capacity and capability across a wide range of council services from the Western Bay through to Gisborne, a council outside the region.

Linked by a common broadband network, BOPLASS provides an infrastructure capability, through a joined up governance entity, to deliver services at a lesser cost to ratepayers ,as well as providing a common experience for residents across the regions for these services . The model is owned and directed by the shareholding councils.

The Bay of Plenty also evidences good examples of strategic collaboration for growth, notably the Smart Growth Plan between the Western Bay and Tauranga

Councils. More recently the councils of the Bay of Plenty have initiated their Futures Project, a strategic collaboration around transport, two waters and communities of interest.

This is the type of direction the Minister of Local Government, Hon Paula Bennett, announced at the Local Government Conference in Rotorua during the year. Her expectation is for local government to critically look at how it undertakes what it does, to be potentially more efficient and effective in the delivery of its services to local communities.

This is about developing better economic and financial outcomes, improved infrastructure and the creation of employment across regions and New Zealand. Importantly, in my mind, such reform allows for local communities to shape their place, albeit potentially through different delivery models, but where shared services and strategic collaboration are the touchstones for success.

With my Local Government Commissioner hat on, the commission sees the model of working closely with regions to deliver agreed outcomes as being critical. As a local government practitioner of nearly four decades, I see a great opportunity in 2016 for this conversation to occur.

Finally, 2016 is an important year for local government. It is election year, a critical time in our democratic calendar. A time for debate and energised thinking. It’s what makes local government interesting and vibrant.

Leigh Auton is a Local Government Commissioner and a Director of Auton & Associates with 35 years’ local government experience, a chairman/ director/trustee on several boards and provides consulting advice to public and private sector companies

Yearbook 2015-2016

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ENERGY

Full steam ahead at Te Mihi

A project of national significance, Te Mihi is one of two new geothermal power stations planned by Contact Energy to replace the aging Wairakei Power Station complex, Romy Udanga reports

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he Te Mihi Geothermal Power Station is a key element in Contact Energy’s Wairakei Investment Programme – a planned series of investments that safely and sustainably expands the use of the Wairakei steam field.

One of New Zealand’s leading generators of geothermal electricity, Contact Energy currently provides around five percent of the country’s total energy from its geothermal operations in the Taupo region.

As such, Te Mihi is not only an important addition to Contact’s geothermal assets it is also a project of national significance, given that renewable energy plays such an important role in New Zealand’s energy supply system.

The country already generates around 75 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and by 2025 aims to increase this to 90 percent, with geothermal energy scheduled to play an ever-expanding role.

Currently the second mostused fuel for renewable electricity generation after hydro, it has become increasingly important since New Zealand became one of the first countries in the world to develop large-scale geothermal electricity generation in the 1950s.

Wairakei is an iconic symbol of New Zealand’s prowess in this technological area, having been the first geothermal plant of its kind in the world to generate power from both steam and water when it was commissioned in November 1958 with a capacity of 175 MW. “Te Mihi is a continuation of Wairakei’s legacy,” says McConnell Dowell Construction Manager Michael Buckland. “As New Zealand’s largest geothermal power station, it is a success story for New Zealanders.”

25 percent more electricity than the same amount of geothermal fluid consumed by Wairakei, enabling output from its predecessor to be decreased by 40MW to 132 MW as planned, resulting in a net increase of about 120 MW. The 166 MW Te Mihi Geothermal Power Station was established on an 18-hectare greenfield site and delivered by the McConnell Dowell, SNC Lavalin, and Parsons Brinckerhoff joint venture (MSP JV).

Requiring 600 staff during the peak of construction, the Te Mihi project involved the manufacture and installation of $250 million worth of plant and equipment, including two 83 MW turbines from Toshiba Corporation in Japan, and $60 million in subcontracts.

A specialist procurement and logistics team with experience Global team work from large scale power schemes Te Mihi incorporates ad- in the US, Australia, and Europe vanced, second-generation was brought together to mantechnology to produce 20 to age 194 vendors worldwide,

16 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz

while the JV management team worked continuously to best use each JV partner’s talents – even bringing international experts overnight when required.

Physical works at Te Mihi were completed in January 2014, with two million work hours injury-free, and the project was formally handed over to Contact Energy on May 2, 2014 following a final testing and commissioning period.

Efficient and reliable Flexibility lies at the heart of Te Mihi’s design, the plant‘s two 83 MW steam turbines having been designed to make the best use of steam and maximise capacity provided by the vast network of pipes that connects it to the Wairakei steam field, increasing overall efficiency and generation reliability.

The Te Mihi station design delivered by Parsons Brinckerhoff is significantly more advanced than the existing Wairakei station and is much more enviYearbook 2015-2016

“From an environmental perspective, Te Mihi has been designed to ensure that geothermal water used by the station is reinjected into the steam field, reducing its impact on the local environment,” Contact Energy Major Project Delivery General Manager Frank Geoghegan comments. “The increase in renewable generation, subject to hydrology, will allow us to use our gas-fired generation less and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.”

Another key driver of Te Mihi’s design was the very low noise limits specified in the project consents, leading to noise mitigation strategies including the low-noise fans used for the cooling towers, increased cladding density on the turbine hall and three layers of rubber noise absorption baffles.

ronmentally sustainable than its predecessor, using cooling towers to reuse and re-inject the water into the steam field rather than expelling by-products from steam processing into neighbouring waterways.

Yearbook 2015-2016

Creative complexity A classic example of the complexity involved was the construction of the 100m long, 25m wide and 30m-high turbine hall that houses the two turbines, condensers and generators and utilised huge volumes of concrete and steel to support the

massive weight of the elevated turbines/generators –the foundation slab alone is 1200mm thick.

Below ground, the building is constructed from reinforced concrete slabs, walls and columns that all sit on top of the 65, 10m deep by 0.8m diameter reinforced bored piles that were used because of the difficult ground conditions.

Above ground, the structure is constructed from large structural steel universal columns and universal beams, features concrete floors and is 27.4m tall.

The turbines and generators sit on top of a large two-metredeep reinforced concrete table, which in turn stands approximately seven metres above ground. The basement is seven metres below ground level, so the two-metre-square columns are 14m tall and were cast in two separate lifts.

The pouring of each turbine table involved four months of intensive design, planning, temporary works and construction. Bolts were cast into the turbine table to locate and fix the turbines and generators in place, a bolt template was fab-

ricated and placed above the table from which approximately 100 bolts were hung and cast in place, and the bolts were set to within +/- one mm to provide the necessary tolerance for the mechanical installations.

A key risk for any power station is the potential for fire so the entire turbine hall was constructed from costly intumescent coated steel and fire-fighting equipment was strategically located throughout the building.

Logistics challenges Mr Buckland says ensuring the timely arrival of each of the key items on site was critical to the success of the Te Mihi project.

“A dedicated logistics coordinator managed the transport of each of the critical items from their international supplier to the Te Mihi site – a role which involved an extremely high level of planning and accuracy,” he adds.

For example, the 190-tonne turbine units were ordered from Toshiba Japan in March 2011 and began their six-week jour-

Continued on page 18

www.infrastructurenews.co.nz – 17

ENERGY Continued from page 17 ney by ship to Tauranga in April 2012.

Additional to the turbines, condensers and generators, a further 85 containers of equipment were brought to the site from many locations around the world with direct communication with the ships allowing real-time tracking and programming of resources to match arrival times at the port.

A tracking monitor was placed on the turbines to monitor any disturbance and provide continuous data on the location and condition of the units so that the exact location, date and time of any damage would be recorded.

These cumulative measures proved so successful that throughout the whole process there wasn’t one incident where damage was sustained or delays experienced that had an effect on the construction programme.

commitments to the Te Mihi project is a one-year commitment to provide ongoing support for the project that includes providing comprehensive operating and maintenance manuals along with operator training at project handover. “This has proved invaluable in plant operation, maintenance schedules and supply management,” Mr Buckland says.

certainty of price and time of completion as well as one single point of responsibility,” he believes. “But there are advantages and disadvantages for all parties in this type of contract.”

The EPC model brings high levels of risk for the contractor, which becomes responsible for designing, buying and guaranteeing a finished product and service within an agreed time

“Te Mihi has been designed to ensure that geothermal water used by the station is reinjected into the steam field, reducing its impact on the local environment”

The contract itself proved similarly innovative and efficient, the $430 million Te Mihi Power Station being built under an “engineering procurement and construction” (EPC) contract that requires skilled navigation and management by experienced practitioners.

Mr Buckland says EPC is relatively new to the NZ construcPost project tion industry. “But it can be Part of the JV’s post-delivery attractive for clients wanting

18 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz

factor in EPC and it is important that everyone understands how risks are allocated,” Mr Buckland says. “It won’t suit every client but it will be a good fit for some.”

The Te Mihi Geothermal Power Station was a fitting recipient of the 2013 Marmaduke Award, which recognises power projects that use innovative methods to solve technical problems.

The double-flash technology selected for Te Mihi produces approximately 25 percent more power from the same amount of geothermal fluid currently used at Wairakei.

In addition, the plant design features an evaporative cooling system and eliminates the condensate discharges to the Waikato River, thereby reducing the plant’s environmental footprint in the region.

frame while providing the owner with a reduced risk profile.

EPC contracting also offers the potential for improvement through innovative design across a range of areas such as reliability, productivity, durability, maintainability and cost; the opportunity to integrate constructability into the de- Romy Udanga is a contributing sign, and focuses the team on editor to AsiaPacific design-to-function as well as Infrastructure magazine design-to-cost. “Risk is a key

Yearbook 2015-2016

COMMENT >> Water

Going with the flow Peter Whitehouse Manager, Advocacy & Learning, Water NZ Plenty happened in 2015 from Water New Zealand’s point of view – most but not all stemming from central government

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he Treasury, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, the Ministry for the Environment, and the Productivity Commission all had something to say, as did Local Government New Zealand, the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development and the Land and Water Forum.

February saw Local Government New Zealand release a discussion paper billed as the Local Government Funding Review.

What was unfortunately apparently missed by the critics were the sensible proposals to consider regional funding and management of network infrastructure, such as the three waters and transport, and to consider the adoption of ‘public utility’ models.

As the discussion document commented, ‘The public utility model means there is a clear separation between policy and regulatory functions and service delivery, and is usually implemented with some level of service charges. This model contrasts with the more traditional models of service delivery within local authorities which tend to compromise effective service delivery through insufficient charges, soft budget constraints, weak efficiency incentives and low accountability.’

Elsewhere, the Waikato Mayoral Forum’s strategic review of regional water and wastewater services that began in 2012 resulted in a May 2015 report, Business Case for Water services – Delivery options.

Prepared by consultancy firm Cranleigh Corporate Finance & Advisory, the report made a strong recommendation for the adoption of a Council Controlled Organisation for the regional delivery of water services. A number of issues have been identified that require clarification and it will be some time before a final decision is taken.

From an infrastructure perspective, perhaps the highlight of 2015 was government’s August launch of The Thirty Year New Zealand Infrastructure Plan. Water Yearbook 2015-2016

New Zealand was a key contributor and, as the plan notes, the total replacement value of the three waters assets stands at a mouth-watering $45.2 billion. The Action Plan to beyond 2020 includes several activities in which Water New Zealand is directly involved.

The August release of a set of proposals from the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development entitled Integrated Governance Planning and Delivery detailed proposals including: • c onsolidation of 78 local authorities to between 10 and 20 • reform of the national planning framework • establishment of council-controlled utilities for regional delivery of water and transport services • development of a National Infrastructure Commission • and development of a specialist procurement agency.

Using stronger language than the Local Government New Zealand document the council noted: ‘Currently the effectiveness of New Zealand’s local government system is seriously impeded by fragmented and unnecessarily complex governance structures. The planning and statutory framework in which local government operates is disintegrated, difficult to navigate and inhibits integrated planning, funding and delivery.’

A ‘final’ position paper released by Local Government New Zealand in September was an outcome from the 3 Waters project.

Improving New Zealand’s water, wastewater and stormwater sector included several options, but a clear single option hasn’t yet emerged and there has been no response from central government.

One positive outcome has however emerged. A number of engineering professionals within Water New Zealand’s membership expressed concerns over the accu-

racy and comparability of the survey of the state of utilities’ three waters assets, which led to a discussion on the need for a common set of data standards that would apply to all water utilities.

An approach was made to The Treasury and as result funding was gained through the Better Public Services Fund to allow for the development of a national set of three waters’ metadata standards. A tender proposal has been issued and it is expected implementation will commence later in 2016.

Later in November the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s report on the potential impacts on coastal communities of rising sea levels and storm surges made eight recommendations, all directed at ministers and essentially calling on central government to give far greater leadership and direction.

The first seven are addressed to the Minister for the Environment (with one including the Minister of Conservation), while the eighth requests the Minister of Finance to, ‘Establish a working group to assess and prepare for the economic and fiscal implications of sea level rise.’

One only needs to consider the number of stormwater outlets and the far more costly wastewater treatment facilities that are located close to the coast to appreciate the very large numbers inherent in those ‘economic and fiscal implications’.

So wherefore 2106? As noted a number of the reports and central government moves will impact next year. In addition, a substantive Resource Management Amendment Bill has recently been introduced to Parliament and the Land and Water Forum’s fourth report has been launched, with 60 recommendations..

Finally, the Minister of Local Government has announced that officials are currently drafting legislation that will ‘enable’ and ‘give greater flexibility’ for the Local Government Commission to advance the introduction of CCO models for core services such as water and transport. Legislation giving effect to this is likely to be introduced early next year. All in all 2016 should be a very interesting year for the water sector!

Peter Whitehouse is Manager, Advocacy & Learning at Water New Zealand, a notfor-profit organisation that promotes and represents organisations within the water industry in New Zealand www.infrastructurenews.co.nz –19

INNOVATION

International winner shows the way forward

Christchurch International Airport Ltd and Beca are leading the way for a new era of artesian-based systems with an innovative approach that not only made smart use of the sustainable resource flowing deep beneath Canterbury but also won International Project of the Year at the 2015 CIBSE Building Performance Awards in London

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designed and delivered by engineering consultants Beca and utilises the artesian water that flows beneath the city and the Canterbury Plains.

Easily accessible through wells and already tested in a pre-cooling application at the airport, the artesian water provides the airport with a cost-effective, long-term solution and a super-efficient, sustainable energy source that provides energy efficiencies, reduced carbon emissions and lower operating costs.

It also reduces the need for cooling towers and boilers often found within airport buildings, which not only benefits the environment and reduces maintenance but also helps to reduce the need for plant space and structural loadings.

Chillers act as geothermal heat pumps, providing both mechanical cooling and heating and 12 degrees Celsius artesian temperature water for direct cooling.

Christchurch has one of the best water supplies in the world.

Aquifers below the ground provide the region with an abun-

Photos and images courtesy of Christchurch Airport and Beca

he CIBSE Building Performance Awards is the latest accolade for Christchurch International Airport’s $237million Integrated Terminal Project (ITP).

A shining example of the ways buildings can benefit from artesian heating and cooling systems efficiencies, it had already won the Building and Construction category at the 2014 Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards and a Gold Award of Excellence at the 2014 Association of Consulting Engineers INNOVATE NZ Awards.

Started in 2004 to replace the original 1960s building and cater for future growth, the project’s sustainable, energy-efficient operations ethos underpinned the development of a 30,000-square-metre, three-storey, diamond-shaped integrated terminal building that features a long list of innovative and energy-efficient features.

The ‘jewel in the crown’ is the award-winning artesian heating and cooling system, which was

dant supply of artesian water (groundwater). Water enters the aquifers from the surrounding snow-capped mountains and rivers, and is then extracted from wells.

Christchurch Airport’s existing international terminal building was using artesian water in a pre-cooling application, pumping artesian water directly through pre-cooling coils, and it was initially envisaged that the new terminal building would use a similar system.

However, Beca Business Director – Canterbury Rebuild, Keith Paterson, believed the artesian water had more to offer and more could be done to make better use of this sustainable resource.

“Thinking further, we found the artesian water, which had a fairly constant year-round temperature of 12 degrees Celsius, would lend itself well to a heat pump-type system where we could not only reject heat energy to the aquifer, but also take heat energy for heating purposes,” he says.

Beca Technical Director and

Christchurch Building Services Manager Justin Hill explains that artesian water can be extracted from the aquifers through a number of wells on the airport campus.

“We drilled three new wells to supplement two existing and otherwise redundant wells. This enabled sufficient water to be abstracted to meet our 3.6MW (1,000RT) cooling demand.

“Each well is capable of extracting around 35 litres per second (L/s) to give a total peak flow of 175 L/s, with the ability to increase this to 210 L/s with an additional well. To put this in perspective, the current peak capacity is equivalent to filling an Olympic-size swimming pool every four hours,” he says.

Once extracted, the artesian water passes through heat exchangers, which increase or decrease the water’s temperature to extract or reject heat energy.

Cooling the water provides heating to the building (by extracting heat energy), while heating the water provides cooling to the building (by rejecting heat energy).

The heat exchangers create a physical separation between the artesian water and building water to help prevent cross-contamination of the artesian water.

The water is therefore returned in the same condition it was taken (with only the temperature altered).

The artesian water is returned to the aquifer via a discharge soak pit beneath the on-grade car park, thus making the process totally non-consumptive and clearly demonstrating the virtues of artesian water as a readily available, sustainable, renewable energy source.

Simultaneous heating and cooling Housed within the new terminal itself is the heart of the artesian heating and cooling system – a main central plant room containing two 1,500kWr and one 600kWr multi-compressor screw chillers which act as geothermal heat pumps. When the heat energy is exchanged with

20 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz

Yearbook 2015-2016

opposed to operating both in energy transfer mode.

The direct use of artesian water to serve cooling loads can reduce or even avoid the need for mechanical cooling. For areas where year-round cooling is required, the system has been designed to operate solely on artesian temperature water – negating the need to run chillers and further improving energy efficiency.

When greater cooling is required, the system can use a combination of artesian temperature cooling and mechanical cooling. Therefore, if the target temperature cannot be achieved using artesian temperature water alone, mechanical cooling is enabled in stages to match the demand of the building, further maximising the use of the artesian temperature cooling and the efficiency of the system.

The system was also designed to operate with a floating temperature setpoint to further maximise energy efficiency during changes in heating and cooling loads. Instead of controlling the hot water and chilled water temperatures to 40 degrees C and 6 degrees C respectively, the system enables energy to be saved by gradually reducing the heating setpoint or increasing the cooling setpoint until the optimum temperature is reached.

Heating water temperatures were analysed and calculated to optimise the flow and return temperatures.

“We investigated the inter-relationship between chiller efficiency, which increases as temperature decreases, and coil size, which decreases as temperature increases, with respect to operational efficiencies and capital cost, along with the reliability and longevity of the chillers at various hot water temperatures. The outcome was an optimised and robust heating water temperature of 40 degrees C flow and 25 degrees C return,” Mr Hill explains.

Maximising efficiency and performance Beca designed the artesian system to maximise efficiency when accommodating changes in heating and cooling loads.

For instance, when one side of the building is in direct sunlight and the other in the shade there’s a high cooling load and low heating load.

Building efficiency can then be improved by operating one of the chillers in cooling mode and one in energy transfer mode, Environmental benefits satisfying the heating load, as Every aspect of the system deYearbook 2015-2016

sign was analysed, challenged and developed to maximise energy efficiency and sustainability, with the end result dramatically reducing Christchurch Airport’s energy consumption, carbon emissions, operational costs and dependency on fossil fuels.

An initial independent energy review showed that while the overall area of the terminal building increased by approximately 18 percent, energy use per square metre was predicted to decrease by about 17 percent to 310kWh/m². This equates to an overall predicted reduction in energy consumption of about two percent for both terminals as a whole.

Beca have subsequently undertaken a study on enhancing the performance of the central plant system. With chiller control strategy modifications, a reduction in annual energy use from the central plant of approximately 10 percent of chiller electrical input power could be realised. This is the first of a number of modifications to be

rolled out to continuously finetune the system to improve energy efficiency.

Beca’s holistic approach to the system design played a major role in the project’s success.

Cost-effectiveness, energy-efficiency and future flexibility were high on the priority list – it was the ethos of the building and aligned with the airport’s environmental policies and carboNZero accreditations. It would also go on to help make the airport the first carbon-neutral company in the southern hemisphere.

The ITP has also proved to be a resounding success with airport passengers and visitors, having been judged “Airport Project of the Year” by the New Zealand Airports Association in 2013 and recognised by the Property Council of New Zealand as Best in Category (Tourism and Leisure). Christchurch Airport was also found to be the best airport in Australasia by an independent international survey of airports.

• Underwater Cutting and Welding • CCTV and Digital Photographic Surveys • Subsea Engineering • Marine Salvage and Recovery • Potable / Wastewater Diving • Pipeline Construction and Assembly • Pipeline Construction and Assembly • Underwater Cutting and Welding • Concrete Cutting/ Drilling / Coring & Pouring.

• Specialised Diver Operated Dredging and De-Watering • Corrosion Prevention Approved Applicators • Concrete cutting, Drilling and Coring • Video, CCTV & Photo Inspections • Potable and Waste Water Diving • Confined Space Entry, Planning and Work

D_1794

the artesian water, it is used by the chillers to produce heating and cooling water. A ‘closed loop’ system then circulates the water around the building through coils that heat and/or cool the supply air throughout the building.

The central plant has four modes of operation which between them decide the amount of artesian water that needs to be extracted from the aquifers via the wells: • Artesian temperature cooling – the 10-12 degrees C water, i.e. artesian temperature water, bypasses the chillers and feeds directly into the secondary chilled water reticulation.

• Mechanical cooling – chillers produce cooling water for use in the secondary circuit which cools the building, with the resultant heat energy in the condenser water rejected to the artesian water.

• Heating – heat energy is extracted from the artesian water by the chillers, effectively cooling the artesian water, and the resultant heat energy in the condenser water is then circulated through the secondary circuit to heat the building.

• Recovery and redistribution – heat energy is recovered and redistributed around the building using the condenser hot water in the secondary heating circuit and the evaporator chilled water in the secondary cooling circuit.

The system is configured to provide any one or a mixture of these four modes at any time.

Total Inwater Construction Solutions ph: 09 377 2906 • email: info@diveco.co.nz web: www.diveco.co.nz

DiveCo Ltd – a company you can confidently partner with to get the job done & done safely

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www.infrastructurenews.co.nz – 21

12/08/13 1:55 PM

COMMENT >> Property

RMA reforms welcome, but more needs to be done at a fundamental level Connal Townsend Chief Executive, Property Council NZ I welcomed the government’s RMA reforms through its recently announced the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill

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he Bill includes 40 changes that aim to create better alignment between the resource management system and planning rules.

These attempt to increase flexibility of processes to allow for simpler and proportional procedures, and improve decision-making by higher level engagement.

The changes directly relate to the Reserves Act and the Public Works Act, but fail to address their misalignment with the Local Government (LGA) and Land Transport Management Acts (LTMA).

Our planning system has been in a crisis for too long. Its unresponsiveness, over-prescriptiveness and staggering lack of cohesion and logical connection to adjoining laws have done nothing to alleviate our housing shortages in growth areas but exacerbate them.

The Bill’s proposed national templates for streamlining and standardising processes to produce district plans is good news. We strongly support speeding up the development of National Policies and Environmental Standards. Standardisation helps local authorities with better national direction from central government and a more integrated approach to planning where national interests are aligned with local ones.

We need far more consistency across the country, such as clarifying exact requirements of what is needed and where, to enable greater compliance. This saves the development and construction sectors time and money while offering certainty; the minimum essential ingredients required

22 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz

to produce affordable housing, economic growth and city building.

Only consulting with people who are directly affected by consenting decisions eliminates protracted delays and its increasing associated costs. We know, from all sides of the argument, the consultative process has hardly been a real reflection of true democratic outcomes where communities feel adequately heard and responded to. This offers a chance at real engagement.

Traditionally, local body politicians have largely ignored or misunderstood the overall effect of how our planning requirements and consenting processes culminate to deter development or push up house prices.

The RMA has always been a highly volatile topic that tends to be used in deep-rooted and customarily populous approaches.

This has served as an obstacle for all sides of the political spectrum to engage honestly, meaningfully and with a resolute will to compromise.

Therefore, it is important that these changes are viewed within their context, which is why Property Council called for uniform political support when they were announced. For decades, any RMA reforms have been thrashed about in a futile game of political football while stymieing growth and progress for the whole country. While these changes in isolation may not go far enough, at this point in time it is important for the political sphere to unite in what I would consider to be a minimum effort to alleviate our crippling situation.

The Productivity Commission’s Using Land for Housing report found that many of the costs associated with planning rules do not match the benefits. We need more efficient use of land, regulations that are beneficially purposeful (instead of discouraging growth), infrastructure provision that is adequately and appropriately funded and delivered with minimised risks, and well-managed assets that help our cities grow.

I look forward to seeing the outcome of the Productivity Commission report into our wider planning system, which I have no doubt will be scathing. We talk to businesses on the ground every day who struggle to navigate our woeful regulative shortcomings, while negotiating commercially unrealistic expectations and mitigating their damaging consequences.

That is why the wider review into our planning systems is crucial. It responds to the aching need of looking at the wider picture, and the ultimate need for a broader assessment to better align the LGA and the LTMA with the RMA; replacing their competing requirements with coherent and complementary features.

Connal Townsend is Chief Executive of the Property Council NZ, which represents the interests of the commercial property investment industry – including commercial, industrial, retail and property funds

Yearbook earbook 2015-2016

A Remarkable success Arrow International is proud to be the delivery partner for the Remarkables Base Building.

CONSTRUCTION When we started the job there was nowhere to hide. Every time the snow fell we had to dig the site out again

Collaboration leads to a remarkable build in the snow The opening of the new base building at the Remarkables Ski Resort in Queenstown wasn’t just an incredible feat of engineering, but a testament to team work

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he key to the success of the project, according to Arrow’s Southern Director Nick Hamlin, was collaboration right from the planning stage.

“It had to be a building we could construct fast – and safely. Plus we needed to reduce the amount of work that was being done on site,” he says.

Queenstown based architect Michael Wyatt consulted with all parties in order to make sure the design met not only the visual and service requirements of client NZSki, but the build requirements of Arrow.

“Nine months is a tight framework to start with,” says Nick.

“Then you consider it’s a 5,500 square metre building, at the top of a 13 kilometre gravel road, 1600m above sea level -the challenges were huge.

The build also required excellent planning but there was one factor that couldn’t be managed in advance – the weather.

For the first six weeks the team were on site it snowed for 20 days. There was a further 130mm in January.

“It snows every month, even in summer. You have to be

prepared for that,” says Paul Anderson, Chief Executive of NZSki. “Even so, there was a bit more than we expected. My guys who work up here all year round totally understand the environment, but even they were taken back by last summer’s substantial snow fall.”

Initially, the 80-150 workers on site were completely exposed to the elements.

“When we started the job there was nowhere to hide,” says Nick. “Every time the snow fell we had to dig the site out again.

“We had to cover all the reinforcing steel and put blankets down to stop the ground freezing. When the snow melted, we had to pump the water away.”

Paul says he remembers going on site about 8am one morning in November and watching the Arrow team chip snow out of the form work before they could lay the concrete. “They were just laying the foundations. It was hard yakka.”

One thing that made it all work so well, was the cooperation between Arrow’s and

24 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz

NZSki’s teams, says Paul.

“They quickly realised the only way they were going to get there was to work closely together. My team with their knowledge of the environment, the hazards and the infrastructure that surrounds the building and Arrow’s with their expertise in construction – it was a very can-do team.”

“The result for The Remarkables has been outstanding, with an immediate increase in both visitor numbers and spend up on the slopes”, says Paul.

“The base building was the icing on the cake. The feedback has just been fantastic and we can see the way the guests are

spending a lot more time up there; they are happy to spend money in the restaurant and just hang around afterwards because it’s just such beautiful, comfortable surroundings.”

For Nick, the positive reaction from the guests and from NZSki made it all worth it. “These projects are an incredible challenge and definitely outside the norm of the building industry.

Taking a final look at what was delivered here, it’s staggering.

But there’s nothing more humbling for us than seeing the response of the people that use the building. That’s the real reward.”

The complex project had many unique and challenging issues for the Arrow team - innovative systems were implemented to tackle these issues including covers and heated pads to stop the ground freezing prior to concrete pours

Yearbook 2015-2016

“Nine months is a tight framework to start with,” says Nick Hamlin, Arrow’s Southern Director. “Then you consider it’s a 5500 square metre building, at the top of a 13km gravel road, 1600m above sea level - the challenges were huge”

Meeting the challenges Working high above sea level, up a winding, mostly unsealed, mountain road where snow is guaranteed every month (and an avalanche) were just a few of the challenges.

“The complex project had many unique and challenging issues for the Arrow team, says the company’s Southern director Nick Hamlin. “It could take one and a half hours to get our precast panel truck from the main road up to site and eight hours to get a 20 tonne digger up there.

“Innovative systems were implemented to tackle these

Yearbook 2015-2016

issues including covers and heated pads to stop the ground freezing prior to concrete pours.

“It took an entire working day to pour 130 cubic metres of concrete due to the restrictive road access,” he says.

Because of melting snow Arrow had to devise a system to pump excess water away from site. Extensive permanent drainage channels were installed that are now proving beneficial to the completed building.

“Many procedures and construction methodologies were put in place to ensure the safety of all the sub-contractors, consultants, visitors and Arrow staff.

“These included precast concrete walls, panels, columns, beams and double-T flooring which were designed for the basement and ground floor to ensure they could be safely delivered to site and erected quickly,” says Nick.

“The first floor steel structure was set up on the adjacent learners’ slopes and then craned into place. The façade is an insulated Kingspan

The base building was the icing on the cake says NZSki Chief Executive Paul Anderson. The feedback has just been fantastic and we can see the way the guests are spending a lot more time up there panel product.

Stage one included the creation of new skiable terrain.

Earthworks were completed in the summer of 2014 after 200,000 cubic metres of earth was moved to create the trails.

A new 1.2km long six-seat chairlift called Curvey Basin was completed and the installation of 48 new snow making guns and related infrastructure meant that 240 litres of snow can now be created per second at the ski field.

The Arrow team also reshaped the last 300 metres of the access road and provided additional parking facilities.

Stage two involved a new 5,500 square metre, three-level base building modelled on the one at Coronet Peak -- which was also built by Arrow in 2009.

The $45M upgrade project increased the capacity of the existing facility by 40 percent – enabling the ski field to accommodate 3,500 skiers per day.

www.infrastructurenews.co.nz – 25

Commentary

What makes training effective?

Sarah Hillyer Support Consultant, PeopleCentric Why is it that some training is effective and some not?

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raining must be systematic and specifically designed, planned, and implemented to meet the needs of the individuals, teams, and organisations as a whole.

Research has found that around 30-80 percent of serious accidents within a human-machine setting can be attributed to human error, and therefore training to increase awareness, skills and knowledge should be used to reduce errors and improve the safety of workers and the public.

A good example is a study looking at 48 high-school-student novice drivers who had had their learners permit for 1-5 months. The group was split into two, with one being given PC-based risk awareness training then evaluated immediately on a driving simulator to determine whether they were able to identify what elements were potential risks. The second group was similarly evaluated.

The results showed that participants were almost twice as good at identifying the risks after training, with a 41 percent increase in correct risks identified. The study highlights the clear improvement in the ability of novice drivers both to recognise and diagnose risky situations after PC-based training.

Systematic training Research has identified four aspects key to systematic training: • firstly, the specific training needs should be identified • secondly, what kind of training is required in order to satisfy these needs?

• thirdly, the use of an experienced trainer to implement the training is key to its success • finally, follow up and evaluation is crucial to ensure that it has been effective.

Clearly defined goals and resulting behaviours must be identified. Trainees must know why they are involved in the training.

In short, why are they there? From here, it must be clear from the beginning what

26 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz

they should be able to do by the end of the training.

Knowing exactly what behaviours should result will help them know whether the training has been effective. Without a clear goal identifying what will have changed as a result of the training, it is likely that people will walk away not knowing what the point of it was.

orientation are learning orientation and performance orientation. Trainees with a strong learning orientation want to acquire new skills and master new situations. Those trainees with a strong performance orientation are focused on achievement. Those with a stronger learning orientation may perform better in training where they can explore and take risks to learn from mistakes.

In contrast, those with a strong performance orientation will perform better in structured training where they are able to complete successively more difficult tasks.

• Motivation to learn - a trainee’s motivation to learn can be enhanced by management support before and after training, as well as through their specific training experiences. It is more likely that a trainee will have higher motivation to learn when they see the relevance in their training.

How science can help There is a science to training that shows that there is a right and a wrong way to do it. Applied research links effective training to better performance, fewer errors and After training enhancing safety. There are things organ- • Team leaders and supervisors - only isations can do before, during and after around 7-9 percent of skill acquisition training to make it work. comes from formal training. Trainees need to learn on the job, and the best Before training way to do that is to provide tools, trainThe first step is conducting a training ing and support to help team leaders needs analysis (TNA) which identifies: coach employees and reinforce formal • Job-task analysis – helps to provide a soltraining. id foundation for the design and delivery • Debriefing and other supporting mechof the training blueprint. anisms - make time for individuals and • Organisational analysis – what are the teams to reflect on the experiences and priorities of the training and is the organlearning processes from training. Deisation ready to receive and support the briefs can be conducted during training training that is being provided? or after in a work environment. Reflection • Person analysis – determining who needs will help to reinforce learning and help to to be trained and what they need to be apply it in an everyday situation. trained on.

• Training evaluation - evaluation allows organisations to continue running the During training training that works, and modify or disThe effectiveness of the programme decontinue training that isn’t working. It is pends on the characteristics of the particimportant to evaluate whether learning ipants. objectives were achieved and if perfor• Self-efficacy - what a trainee believes mance increased due to the accomplishabout their own ability will influence the ment of those specific objectives. outcome of their training. Those who are high in self-efficacy have been found to Sarah Hillyer is a Support Consultant have more motivation to learn and better at PeopleCentric, a team of industrial learning outcomes overall. It is likely that and organisational psychologists who they will have a higher rate of participa- work with a variety of organisations tion, work harder and persist longer dur- to maximise employee potential and ing learning activities. promote the value of psychology in • Goal orientation - the two forms of goal driving business performance Yearbook 2015-2016

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Highways

Hiway Group Ltd 10 Ingot Place, Silverdale 0932 Auckland

Peter Metcalfe 027 673 2234, 09 426 3419 peterm@hiways.co.nz

www.hiwaystabilizers.co.nz peterm@hiways.com.au www.hiwaystabilizers.com.au

INNOVATION

Making the best of both worlds

An innovative hybrid power generation system recently installed in a Mount Roskill car park is causing quite a stir

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esidents and visitors en- tically instead of the traditional tering the Jasper Avenue horizontal approach and craftCar Park often gaze at the ed to ensure all the energy lighting tower, watch the tur- available from the wind is capbine rotating and wonder if it’s tured for maximum power gena new form of communication eration,” Mr Metcalfe explains. system.

“The blades are also made However, the intriguing instal- of a special graphene composlation is, in fact, a combined ite which is not only extremely wind and solar lighting system strong, but also self-cleaning so that ensures totally autonomous no maintenance is required on ENERGY operation. “The Eolgreen hy- the lighting.”

COSTS brid street lighting system is the Eolgreen hybrid street lightfirst of its kind in Australasia and ing overcomes a common probthe low-speed wind turbine sys- lem with solar-powered systems tem is the only one of its kind in that sees batteries run down the world,” explains Peter Met- when the solar generation is not calfe, Chief Operating Officer Model sufficient to support con- Lumen Flux 6 meters: F104-31 either LED 30S/3000 of the Hiway Group, a specialist tinuous operation or during perecycling contractor which has riods of cloudy or poor weather extended its capability from such as winter when power genroad recycling to capturing and eration stops. “It is unusual for recycling the world’s natural no wind during these periods energy sources by finding and so a combination of wind and ’4 m/s implementing new methods of then solar works effectively,” Mr zero-cost energy production, Metcalfe adds. free of contaminants and not An added benefit from the The innovative Eolgreen hybrid depending on fossil sources. combination of power genera- street lighting system is turning Mr Metcalfe explains that one tion and continued generation heads in Mount Roskill’s Jasper of the key benefits of the Hybrid during the night is the creation Avenue car park lighting system is that it can of surplus energy which may be 8 meters: F104-45 45S/4500 be quickly and easily installed Model capable of being fedLED back into Lumen Flux with no cabling or connection the grid. required. “Power generation In addition, the Eolgreen hyAll the information is availa- remote areas such as parks and is virtually 24/7 as it’s not very brid low-speed wind turbine ble on an online dashboard so reserves where very expensive often there is both no sun and generates power in a 1.7 me- an engineer can see from the cabling requirements have rewind. “ tres per second light breeze office how the street lighting stricted previous applications,” In fact, Mr Metcalfe says, the while all other wind generation is performing. “It also alerts Mr Metcalfe says. ntenancenew generation lithium-ion systems don’t start generating through the web site and no- “The applications are endless batteries had a higher charge power until wind speeds are tifies an engineer if there is a as no cabling is required, and after the first night’s operation up to 3 to 4 metres per second. problem so driving around the where a cable is connected in because the turbine was gen- “The generator has been devel- network to see if bulbs are out urban areas power could be erating more power than the oped by one of Spain’s leading on a conventional system could pushed back into the electrical light was using. “During the day universities dedicated to wind be a thing of the past.” network.” both solar and wind are gener- Mod. generation Mr The installation has been unThe Hiway Group sees “tre6 meters:technologies,” F104-6M - BEACONS ating with no use of the light so Metcalfe advises. dertaken in conjunction with mendous potential” in Eothere is never any shortage of He says the street light is also the Auckland Transport street lgreen’s remote operation CONSORCI power and the best thing is it’s more than just a street light, as lighting department, which is capability in numerous other ESCOLA INDUSTRIAL DE BARCELONA all free to our customers.” it also captures such data as “very interested” in the tech- installations, including remote System developed by Clean & Wind Spain SL and manufactured by MTC Estampac Urban roads The turbine design and mate- power levels being generated, nology. intersections, car parks and rewith theand collaboration rials are as equally sophisticated wind speeds lighting time of: “One of the biggest benefits mote villages where very expenas the generator it surmounts. and sends the data to a server they see is the ability to locate sive cabling requirements have “The blades are mounted ver- for analysis. these lighting systems in more restricted previous applications.

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28 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz Parks and gardens

UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE CATALUNYA

Yearbook 2015-2016

TECHNICAL DATA

Technical data

Model 6 meters: F104-31 LED 30S/3000 Lumen Flux

Emepoint: Smart software deals with disaster

• New cloud-based software helps small New Zealand businesses that generally don’t have plans to help them recover from earthquakes, cyclones, floods, fires or the loss of key staff • designed for small and medium businesses and is designed to help them prepare better for disasters, keep going afterwards and recover faster

Model 8 meters: F104-45 LED 45S/4500 Lumen Flux

• EmePoint has been developed by experts in risk identification, emergency planning management and business continuity planning, working closely with many small businesses, from law offices and automotive mechanics to pharmacies, schools and design companies

• EmePoint meets the requirements of New Zealand privacy legislation and uses the same security approach as internet banking, enabling small businesses to access the software through a secure login • Proven platform - The emergency planning platform used in EmePoint was first developed to meet the needs of GPs in the northern region of New Zealand, and is in use by The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), a tool for GPs in Australia • EmePoint covers a wide range of disasters, from large-scale emergencies to smaller crises that disrupt small businesses

• Specific emergency planning activities addressed by EmePoint include: • risk identification • loss of power supply • disruption of water or gas supply • disruption to telecommunication systems • loss of IT systems or data • loss of supplies, equipment and furniture • complete Mod. 6 meters: F104-6M - BEACONS or partial loss of premises • communication during an Wind Turbine • Whether their business is disCONSORCI emergency response • loss of ESCOLA INDUSTRIAL • Turbine boxer type – vertical axis rupted by a large-scale disaster or non-availability of key staff • DE BARCELONA an earthquake or a localised Weight 28kg by Clean & Wind Spain SL andlike System •developed manufactured

by MTC Estampació SLplanning business continuity event like a power outage or • Structure made by composites with the collaboration of: • EmePoint enables small busiflood, EmePoint is designed to • Finished in epoxi ref. 6005 nesses to comply with contracensure small enterprises will be • Inclusion of “graphene” in surface finish tual requirements, quality standready to respond and able to • Advantages: Resistance, fatigue, self-cleaning UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA ards and government regulations recover more rapidly DE CATALUNYA • Starting speed: 1”4 m/s that often require suppliers to • Minimum starting torque: 0’2 N • EmePoint also notes their prioribe pre-vetted for emergency ties and capabilities and, as these preparedness – especially for change, it allows them to easily services provided to the health “We believe it would be par- Peter Metcalfe is Chief update the plan sector, defence and police. ticularly beneficial in the Pacif- Operating Officer of Hiway Any enquiries please contact John: ic, where power costs can be Group Ltd, which specialises john@healthpoint.co.nz or (09) 630 0628 expensive, power supply often in recycling and stabilisation ® disrupted and remote locations technologies throughout New +34 93 654 16 53 info@eolgreen.com www.eolgreen.com Global Energy People cable Zealand,T.Australia make getting a power and the to the site simply cost-prohibi- South Pacific tive,” Metcalfe37says.

C.Mr Murcia, – E. Pol. Ind. Can Calderón • 08830 Sant Boi de Llobregat • Barcelona • Spain • The system helps them plan using a clever rules based platform, guides them through an intuitive process, streams in relevant local emergency data, identify and assess risks specific to their business, to prepare for these and to produce their own individual plan

Eolgreen

Yearbook 2015-2016

www.infrastructurenews.co.nz – 29

INNOVATION

A sustainable, economical use for old tyres and recycled concrete EcoRetainer is a good news story about how Kiwi ingenuity has developed a way to turn environmentally damaging waste into a useful product

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n EcoRetainer is a patented, modular, and interlocking civil engineering unit made from recycled tyres and recycled concrete.

It looks like a very large plain concrete block but has at its core a compressed bale of 110 car tyres bound by galvanised, high-tensile steel wire. About 2.5 tonnes of recycled concrete is used in each retainer, totally replacing aggregate.

Cost-saving modelling suggests that for large retaining projects Eco Retainer walls may be half the cost of any other design for the same job.

The 4-4.5 tonne blocks are designed with dimples and locating channels to interlock at varying angles to form retaining walls, stopbanks, sea walls and a variety of other infrastructural

uses.

EcoRetainer Systems Ltd (ERSL) was established to find an environmentally sound and economically viable use for used car tyres, which are difficult to recycle.

Demand for the product is expected to be such that production will be needed in at least one North Island location and one in the South Island.

“For a large infrastructure project, such as the Christchurch rebuild, or major civil works, road construction or repair, a whole manufacturing process could be relocated close to the project site. This would reduce costs and speed implementation,” says ERSL founder and Engineer Stuart Monteith.

“On project completion equipment could be shipped back to ERSL. This flexibili-

“Large structures can be installed without specialist equipment or major site works and will save significant time and money when deployed” Stuart Monteith

ty raises the prospect of local communities eliminating stockpiles of waste tyres and using the resulting blocks in local infrastructure projects,” he says.

End-of-life car tyres have been identified as a major environmental problem in New Zealand with 85 percent of the more than 6 million waste tyres (62,000 tonnes) sent to landfill each year.

“The recycling of concrete is widespread and is not unique to this project, but the use of waste tyres combined with waste concrete is unique,” says Mr Monteith.

He has his eyes on the Christchurch rebuild, reusing concrete from demolition sites to reduce the amount being stockpiled or sent to landfill.

“The rebuild of the city will

Senior Managers and our estimating and engineering team members to see if the idea can be used in a tender and or on a project,” he says.

Council engineers particularly appreciated the product’s sustainability profile as it productively disposes of large volumes of waste tyres and recycled concrete, said Mr Monteith.

“Many councils face increasing problems with end-of-life tyres and waste building materials and have been burdened with costly solutions,” says Mr Monteith.

Consultant engineers suggested a wide range of ap-

plications including bridge abutments, sea walls, inclusion in foundations where the substrate is poor and even a water tank with an internal liner.

“These blocks will be excellent for a straight-face retaining structure,” commented a Quantity Surveyor with McKenzie & Parma.

Sustainability is becoming an important part of our work and reusing tyres like this ticks the boxes said another estimator.

“Together with short installation times, EcoRetainer blocks make a compelling case for use in our tenders.”

Sustainable future looks assured for block maker

The September launch of EcoRetainer drew an enthusiastic response from infrastructure developers and civil engineers

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he product launch was held at Wilco Precast in Papakura and attracted leading civil engineers, contractors and council personnel from Auckland and the Waikato.

They inspected a display wall made from EcoRetainer blocks and were able to discuss possible uses with the man who created the product, Engineer Stuart Monteith, and his team.

“If only we knew about this product six months ago,” said a Senior Engineer with engineering and design consultants Harrison Grierson. “It would have saved substantial time and money on a retaining wall project where the speed and ease of construction was critical due to geotechnical factors.”

This 24-square-metre mass 30

block retaining wall display was assembled in just one hour, demonstrating the speed with which solutions can be put in place, its ease of handling, flexibility and the minimal training required to build a permanent structure.

“Visitors soon identified that Eco Retainer could be used to build quickly a large structure economically and at the same time minimize disruption on highway projects for example,” said Business Development Manager Dave Youngson.

“It’s a simple idea with potentially a great future,” commented a Senior Project Engineer with McConnell Dowell Constructors.

“I will certainly forward the idea around to Project and

Yearbook 2015-2016

Considerably less expensive than other concrete or timber

Eco Retainer Features & Benefits

Eco Retainer constructive Eco Retainer aapproach to

Considerably less expensive than other concrete or timber

Unique tailored patterns can be inlaid on the facing plane

Unique tailored patterns can be inlaid on the facing plane

Unlimited applications in construction and infrastructure works

Potential to use NZ’s remaining supply of disposed tyres

recycling tyres! a constructive be prolonged and require in- To be sustainable, the company low-tech and has the potential ment or major site works and approach to Saves non-renewable novative thinking. Its rivers must demonstrate it can op- to re-use a large number of will save significant time and cement resource Economical to 4.5 have been choked by silt due erate profitably. AWeight deployed,” says number4of tyrestonnes, each year in a way that is money when recycling tyres! to transport Considerably less volume 2.88 cu.m, to liquefaction and bank erosion. Parts of the Port Hills are still closed due to rockfalls and residents in many suburbs are still battling land slips,” says Mr Monteith.

“It is not just a matter of contributing to waste minimisation.

Prevents end-of-life tyres from being dumped into landfill

Mr Monteith. EcoRetainer walls companies have seen a possi- environmentally beneficial.” expensive than other largeconcrete footprint cover: ble business opportunity in re- 4 to This is tonnes, a solution which ad- can be erected in hours, formWeight 4.5 or timber volume 2.88 cu.m, sq.m perdresses block cycling or re-using1.8 waste tyres many of the challenges ing permanent structures. large footprint cover: “If Pre-engineered at a later stage a decision is but have failed either through faced where new building and for 1.8 sq.m per block most applications to replace the EcoRetainpoor technology, lack of fund- reconstruction is expensive and made ers, they can easily be removed ing or poor business skills. ERSL slow.

Considerably less Considerably less somewherethan other is different,” says Mr Monteith.

“Large structures can be in- and put into service expensive expensive than other Unique tailored “Our solution is deliberately stalled without concrete specialist or equipconcrete or timber timberelse,” he says.

Eco-Retainer blocks can be used patterns can be inlaid to build walls kilometres long on the facing plane

Wall to wall Eco Retainer

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INNOVATION >> Pipelines

Experience and innovation is Leading New Zealand manufacturer of plastic pipelines and systems for the infrastructure sector Stormwater, sewer, roading and trenchless

Aquacell Aquacell™ is a stormwater management cell designed for use in infitration, attenuation or storage / reuse applications. Individual cells are assembled together to form an underground structure for use in commercial, industrial or residential sites tinyurl.com/pp86af5

Aquacell

Nexus™Hi-Way Heavy-duty, double wall polyethylene pipe combining a smooth inner wall with a corrugated outer wall welded together during manufacture.

Subsoil drains under roads, constructed in accordance with Transit NZ Specificaion NRB F/2: 1989, construction worksite drainage, subsoil drainage under carriageways or driveways, drainage of rubbish tips and public land fil sites. tinyurl.com/nqsuovs

Civil pipeline systems tinyurl.com/pjztopzIplex Case Studies tinyurl.com/pb4taxf

Nexus™Hi-Way Poliplex PE100 PE100 polyethylene pressure pipe up to 2000 mm outside diameter and manufactured in accordance with AS/NZS4130.

Suitable for a diverse range of infrastructure applications from water and wastewater to sewer rising mains, irrigation mainlines and above ground pipelines.

sure pipe for use in water and waste water pipelines. With exceptional toughness and impact resistance, Apollo PVC-O pipe can provide greater hydraulic capacity than PVC-U pipes of the same OD size and similar pressure class. Light weight and available in two dimensional Series (Series 1 & 2) Apollo PVC-O pipe is manufactured in New Apollo Zealand and available in the Biaxially oriented PVC pres- size range DN100 – DN300mm.

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Manufactured in accordance conventional open-cut installawith AS/NZS4441. tion. Applications include presProduct detail: tinyurl.com/ sure and non pressure pipelines pocxtf for drinking water, wastewater, Case Studies: tinyurl.com/ electrical, industrial and telpkr68v9 ecommunications industries.

Fused and installed throughout Novafuse Fusible PVC the US, Canada, Central AmeriFPVC™ provides the only ca, Hawaii, and NZ. available method of installing Product detail: a continuous. monolithic, seal tinyurl.com/pduvfsg ring–free PVC pipe, capable of Case Study use in numerous trenchless or youtu.be/VUR5v7raSH0 Yearbook 2015-2016

the Iplex hallmark Restrain

Telecommunications, electrical and gas tinyurl.com/nbljtup Restrain For gravity pipeline projects using trenchless technology.

Applications include gravity sewer, stormwater, electrical and telecommunication ducting. Suitable for use with horizontal directional drilling, auger boring, guided boring, pipe bursting/cracking.

Product detail: tinyurl.com/ p9uaotv Case Study: tinyurl.com/ox25u5s

Flowtite GRP Pipe Glass reinforced polymer producing a high strength, corrosion resistant, light weight pipe system suitable for water, waste-water, chemical and industry applications. Available from PN1 to PN32 in a range of diameters from 300mm to 3000mm, Flowtite is suitable for above ground applications and conventional trenched pipeline and is also available in jacking

pipe and sliplining pipe options Pipe Metric Pipe Series 1. for trenchless installation.

Standards: AS/NZS 1477 Also:

BLUE BRUTE PVC-U Pressure Pipe CIOD Series 2.

Standards: AS/NZ 1477 BLUE RHINO PVC-M Pressure Pipe CIOD Series 2.

Standards: AS/NZ 4765 NOVAKEY PVC-U Pressure

For technical services Iain McNaught 027 243 3000, Frank O’Callaghan 027 495 4523, Todd Randell 027 211 48

0800 800 262 www.iplex.co.nz There is more to Iplex than pipe manufactured and delivered to your project site.

Talk to us about what you need.

Iplex Pipelines, manufacturing and supplying PVC, PE and GRP pipeline solutions to the New Zealand market. redfish.12.12.13

Yearbook 2015-2016

33

INNOVATION

Paving the way for plastic roads The world will soon be travelling on roads made from waste plastic if a pioneering European project proves successful

T

he Netherlands could become the first country to pave its streets with plastic bottles after Rotterdam city council said it was considering piloting a new type of road surface touted by its creators as a greener alternative to asphalt.

Construction firm VolkerWessels has unveiled plans for a surface made entirely from recycled plastic, which it said required less maintenance than asphalt and could withstand greater extremes of temperature – between 40C and 80C. Roads could be laid in a mat-

ter of weeks rather than months and last about three times as long, the company claims, adding that the environmental argument was also strong as asphalt is responsible for 1.6m tons of CO2 emissions a year globally – two percent of all road transport emissions.

“Plastic offers all kinds of advantages compared to current road construction, both in laying the roads and maintenance,” says Rolf Mars, the Director of VolkerWessels’ roads subdivision, KWS Infra.

The plastic roads are light-

Q&As quell queries Why is the PlasticRoad more sustainable than conventional road structures?

The expected lifespan of at least fifty years is based on the lifespan of other plastic products such as sewage pipes and plastic platforms.

What are the main advantages of the PlasticRoad?

• lightweight prefab construction • faster construction (months shorter) and less maintenance time • higher quality and a longer lifespan (homogeneous and prefab) • little to no maintenance is required - the material is almost impervious to conditions such as the weather and weeds • considerably more sustainable - PlasticRoad consists of 100 percent recycled plastic, is fully reusable and is perfectly in line with the cradle-to-cradle philosophy and the principles of the circular economy • double use of space - the hollow space in the design can be used to store water or as space for cables and pipes 34

• the possibility of constant (traffic) safety and water drainage • everything in relation to the road can be made prefab (road markings, Guardrail) • offers opportunities for further innovation such as solar heated roads, light poles and traffic loop sensors • contributes to solving the societal problem of plastic waste.

Is it possible to reuse the PlasticRoad material?

The idea is to fabricate the PlasticRoad from plastic that usually gets incinerated: plastic waste is given a new, high-quality utility.

er, reducing the load on the ground, and hollow, making it easier to install cables and utility pipelines below the surface.

Sections can be prefabricated in a factory and transported to where they are needed, reducing on-site construction, while the shorter construction time and low maintenance will mean less congestion caused by roadworks.

The PlasticRoad project is still at the conceptual stage, but the company hopes to be able to put down the first fully recycled thoroughfare within three years.

Won’t the PlasticRoad act as a large resonance box?

This is unlikely to cause problems on a bicycle path but we have to investigate whether this presents challenges for roads. At the same time, noise also provides an opportunity because sound energy can be used to generate power.

How feasible is it to actually produce PlasticRoads?

We’re making substantial investments for further research on the PlasticRoad to reveal whether the concept is feasible in practice.

Won’t the plastic be too slippery? What about wintertime?

We will investigate whether we can make the plastic itself skid What about sound? Is driving resistant. If this isn’t possible, on asphalt more or less we could also apply sand or noisy? crushed stone to the surface of With asphalt, we are getting the PlasticRoad (by pressing or closer to optimal structures for printing), thus providing the reminimal noise pollution. It‘s ac- quired roughness. tually much easier to produce this structure in plastic than in Won’t friction and wear asphalt. By pressing or printing release microscopic plastic the structure into plastic we can particles that are dangerous for man and environment? achieve optimal sound reduction. In the pilot (a bicycle path), We don’t expect that loose parthis is not a relevant issue. ticles will cause major problems

“We’re very positive towards the developments around PlasticRoad,” says Rotterdam City Council Engineering Bureau spokesperson Jaap Peters. “We have a ‘street lab’ available where innovations like this can be tested.”

Mr Mars says the idea had huge potential for future development, such as heated roads or ultra-quiet surfaces. “It’s still an idea on paper at the moment; the next stage is to build it and test it in a laboratory to make sure it’s safe in wet and slippery conditions and so on,” he says. “We’re looking for partners who want to collaborate on a pilot – as well as manufacturers in the plastics industry, we’re thinking of the recycling sector, universities and other knowledge institutions.” as a wear layer or special coating should be able to prevent this. Research will have to show how durable the material is and what the consequences are.

Is the PlasticRoad toxic in case of fire?

We can use a fire retardant or fire resistant coating to prevent this. Also, it’s unsure how often this will be an issue and to what extent harmful substances will be released. We will research this. At first, we will look into the PlasticRoad as a bicycle path, where the chances of fire are considerably smaller (because there are no vehicles involved).

How will PlasticRoads be installed?

The plan is to place the PlasticRoad directly on a surface of sand. This removes the need for a foundation, as well as the current heavy construction that no longer needs to be produced.

This means less transport to the construction site, but also less transport from the location where resources are extracted to the production plant. This significantly reduces the number of transport movements involved.

Yearbook 2015-2016

selecting the best way to connect prefabricated parts.

PlasticRoad is a lightweight construction. Won’t the construction start to float when groundwater levels are high?

This challenge is a potential risk that we will take into account in the development of the PlasticRoad.

What are the first possible applications of the PlasticRoad?

We focus on urban areas and bicycle paths.

Have there already been trials?

PlasticRoad is made of recycled plastic that is made into fabricated road parts that can be installed in one piece in weeks rather than months Is there enough available plastic?

Plastic waste is a worldwide problem that is getting increasingly more attention. An estimated eight billion kilograms of plastic is currently floating around in our oceans. And over 55 percent of all plastic waste is still being incinerated. In short, there is more than enough plastic for the construction of PlasticRoads.

What kind of partners are you seeking?

We are looking for partners in the plastics industry such as plastic recycling companies and producers of plastic. We are also looking for parties or research institutions (universities) who have plastic-producing knowledge. We also want to involve clients (municipalities, provinces, water boards, and the state) in the development process to ensure that the final product fits their needs.

ation plants in Germany and the include timbering, scaffolding, Netherlands. sheet piling, bridges and light poles made of plastic material.

When will the first PlasThese products have no probticRoad be built by KWS lems with prolonged exposure Infra? to the sun or UV light.

We are researching the best way to produce the PlasticRoad. The PlasticRoad consists of As soon as the idea is proved to prefabricated parts. How will be feasible, we can quickly ar- you connect these parts? range a pilot. The City of Rotter- There are various ways to condam has already offered a pilot nect the prefabricated parts. location where we can test the Further research will have to PlasticRoad. The pilot will start reveal which method is the as soon as possible. most suitable. This choice also depends on the final, optimal Can all types of plastic be design. used?

Any kind of recycled plastic can Connecting the prefabricated be used for the PlasticRoad. The parts will leave seams. How PlasticRoad has to meet a num- will you deal with these? ber of functional requirements, just like traditional roads. Research with partners from the plastic and recycling industry will have to show which kinds of plastic and which combinations of plastic can be used.

How will you collect the plastic?

How does prolonged exposure to the sun/UV affect the material?

We are looking to use plastic from the oceans. We’re also looking at the option of collecting plastic waste at inciner-

The civil engineering sector already produces and uses several products that are made from recycled plastic. Examples

Yearbook 2015-2016

In road construction, seams play an important role too. Examples are concrete roads and joints. KWS Infra has the necessary experience and knowledge to deal with this. With our knowledge as well as the knowledge of our partners, we want to minimise the effects of seams.

Will the seams form a problem for water storage?

This is something that we will have to take into account when

No. We want to develop a prototype with appropriate partners to test and perform experiments. The result will be a test area. Several parties, including the city of Rotterdam, have already offered a location for this test area.

What other innovations is KWS Infra working on?

KWS Infra is working on several technical and process engineering innovations, including Flow With The Glow, a material that is based on photoluminescence and can be used to make road markings and guide rails visible in the dark without electricity.

Recent innovations in the field of asphalt are KonwéCity, Sustainable ZOAB and the KonwéFlex. KonwéCity is a noise-reducing asphalt with a longer lifespan, sustainable ZOAB is a ZOAB-mix with 25 percent PR (old, reused asphalt), and Konwéflex is a crack-preventing layer of asphalt. Asphalt is greener and cleaner than some people may think. It is a natural product, consisting of stone, sand, and bitumen. On average, our asphalt consists of 50 percent recycled materials. Using the HERA-system we can even produce asphalt made of 100 percent recycled materials.

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ENVIRONMENT

Racing the rising tide Several steps must be taken to mitigate the potentially disastrous effects of rising seas as a result of climate change, the government’s environmental guardian insists

P

arliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright has made eight key recommendations in her latest report entitled Preparing New Zealand for rising seas: Certainty and Uncertainty.

The first seven are aimed at improving the direction and guidance provided by central government to councils, while the last is focused on the fiscal implications of sea level rise.

“Both the uncertain rate of sea level rise and the range of local factors make anticipating the nature – and timing – of the impacts of a rising sea very difficult,” Dr Wright admits.

“Councils need to take some time to develop strategies and make fair decisions that are based on assessments that are both robust and transparent.”

Her recommendations therefore cover: • national direction and guidance • measuring land elevation • projections of sea level rise • time horizons • separating scientific assessment and decision-making

36

• engaging with communities • strategies for coastlines • t he fiscal risk associated with sea level rise.

Currently, Dr Wright notes, the 2010 New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (NZCPS) and the 2008 MfE Guidance Manual provide direction and guidance to councils on how they should deal with sea level rise.

“However, because the NZCPS is largely focused on protecting the natural coastal environment, it does not address all the dimensions of sea level rise,” she maintains.

Objective 5, which is concerned with the management of coastal hazard risks taking account of climate change, is one of seven objectives. “If Objective 5 were to be removed from the NZCPS, some of the policies would still need to refer to sea level rise,” Dr Wright explains.

“This is because sea level rise will affect ecosystems, natural character, and public access.”

The Minister for the Environment has indicated “an intent” to add natural hazards to the list of national priorities in the Re-

source Management Act and to develop a National Policy Statement (NPS) on natural hazards.

“Sea level rise could be included in such an NPS.” The 2008 MfE Guidance Manual is soon to be revised, providing an opportunity to address matters that emerged during Dr Wright’s investigation. “The revised guidance should be a ‘living document’, so it can be readily updated.”

Recommendation to the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Conservation: a. Take direction on planning for sea level rise out of the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement and put it into another National Policy Statement, such as that envisaged for dealing with natural hazards. b. Direct officials to address the matters raised in this investigation in the revision of the 2008 MfE Guidance Manual.

Measuring the elevation of coastal land is vital to combatting rising seas, Dr Wright says,

but only three councils have mapped their entire regions with LiDAR while others have mapped selected parts. “However, the mapping has been done with varying levels of accuracy and different baselines have been used,” the commissioner notes.

Protocols for procurement of LiDAR data must therefore be developed to ensure national consistency and the elevation datasets placed in a national repository. “It is also important to map the elevation of floodplains where there is the potential for incoming tides to exacerbate river flooding.”

Recommendation to the Minister for the Environment: In revising central government direction and guidance on sea level rise, include protocols for the procurement of elevation data, and work with Land Information New Zealand and other relevant agencies to create a national repository for LiDAR elevation data.

Sea level rise forecasts are equally important given the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented 75 Yearbook 2015-2016

projections of sea level rise under four different scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions.

However, Dr Wright notes each projection is presented as a trajectory with a best estimate, a lower and an upper limit out to 2100. “The projections are relatively consistent for several decades, but then increasingly diverge.”

She believes projections of sea level rise should be incorporated into direction and guidance for councils by establishing a base year, making adjustments for areas where the land is known to be rising or falling and a ‘living’ guidance manual produced that could be quickly updated after each IPCC report. “Finally, the range in projections under different scenarios of sea level rise should be recognised in sensitivity analysis of coastal assessments.”

Recommendation to the Minister for the Environment: In revising central government direction and guidance on sea level rise, set standards for the use of IPCC projections of sea level rise to ensure they are used clearly and consistently across the country.

Dr Wright notes that the 2010 New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement has a time horizon for planning of at least 100 years and a policy that covers ‘Subdivision, use, and development in areas of coastal hazard risk’.

However, there is a “big difference” between subdivision of a quarter-acre section in an urban area and subdivision of farmland to create a new suburb.

“In the former case, 100 years seems excessive, given that the Building Act only requires a new building to have a life of 50 years,” she says.

Similarly, 100 years seems too little given that new suburbs are expected to exist into the indefinite future. “New suburbs also require expensive infrastructure where the investment is only recouped over many decades.”

Further, 100 years can give the impression that the sea will stop rising then, which Dr Wright Yearbook 2015-2016

believes is “extremely unlikely” because of the inertia in the climate system. “Centuries of ‘committed sea level rise’ almost certainly lie before us.”

Recommendation to the Minister for the Environment: In revising central government direction and guidance on sea level rise, specify planning horizons that are appropriate for different types of development.

Similar clarity is needed when it comes to separating scientific assessment and decision-making, with both the 2008 MfE Guidance Manual and the 2010 New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement requiring a ‘precautionary’ approach to planning for sea level rise.

Taking a precautionary approach to making environmental protection decisions has been made a requirement in a number of New Zealand laws and international agreements such as the Rio Declaration, but precaution is being embedded

ment and councils engage with communities will also have to change from identifying properties at risk from natural hazards and incorporating that information in Land Information Memoranda (LIMs).

What is needed instead, Dr Wright maintains, is a “much slower” process that actively engages with affected communities before decisions are made. “The first stage of such a process should be the gathering and provision of information, beginning with accurate maps of elevation in coastal areas,” she says.

Clear communication is also vital, with one particular problem the need for describing ‘high waters’ other than a ‘one in a 20/50/100 year flood event’.

“Not only is this terminology difficult to understand, it is not a stable measure over time,” Dr Wright argues. “A ‘one in a 100 year flood event’ will become a ‘one in a 50 year flood event’, then a ‘one in a 20 year flood event’, and so on.”

“Councils need to take some time to develop strategies and make fair decisions into scientific assessments of coastal hazards – sometimes to an extreme.

“Judgements, such as those involved in adding safety margins or setting restrictions on development, should be made transparently by decision-makers, not rolled into technical assessments,” she believes. “The standard results of running a coastal hazard model should instead be probability distributions with most likely values and ranges of potential values expressed with a level of confidence.”

Recommendation to the Minister for the Environment:

Placing hazard information on LIMs is required under s 44A of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987. “There is certainly a need for informing property buyers, but it should be done in a way that is fair and does not come as a complete surprise to coastal residents.”

Recommendation to the Minister for the Environment: In revising central government direction and guidance on sea level rise, include a standard process for council engagement with coastal communities.

Developing strategies for coastlines obviously requires thinking far into the future, which is difficult because of competing priorities. “Current central government direction and guidance requires strategic planning for coastlines, but The manner in which govern- further guidance is needed on

In revising central government direction and guidance on sea level rise, specify that ‘best estimates’ with uncertainty ranges for all parameters be used in technical assessments of coastal hazards.

how to do it.”

The Shoreline Management Plans developed in the United Kingdom provide one model, with the shoreline divided into units and policies developed that include variations of ‘active defence’, ‘managed realignment’, and ‘no intervention’.

“Strategies for coastlines must be able to deal with the uncertainty in the rate of sea level rise and the uncertainty in the impacts on different parts of the coast,” Dr Wright argues.

“In many places, an adaptive management approach will be needed.”

Recommendation to the Minister for the Environment: In revising central government direction and guidance on sea level rise, specify that councils develop whole coast plans for dealing with sea level rise, and expand coastal monitoring systems to enable adaptive management Finally, it is “inevitable” that both central and local government will begin to face pleas for increasing financial assistance, Dr Wright predicts, the highest costs coming from large-scale managed retreat.

Both the 2008 MfE Guidance Manual and the 2010 NZCPS encourage managed retreat in preference to building bigger and bigger hard defences, she observes, but little thinking has been done on how to implement a managed retreat strategy.

“The critical factor is scale – with scale will come the uprooting of entire communities and the associated financial cost,” Dr Wright concedes. “Local Government New Zealand has suggested that a financial mechanism similar to the Earthquake Commission fund could be created to assist with managed retreat.”

Recommendation to the Minister of Finance: Establish a working group to assess and prepare for the economic and fiscal implications of sea level rise.

37

COMMENT >> Management

Winning tenders – where from and where to?

Caroline boot Plan A The past few years have seen New Zealand’s infrastructure procurement landscape make great strides

L

eading the charge, the NZ Transport Agency is coming to the end of its procurement run on the Roads of National Significance (RoNS) projects, and its new model of Network Outcomes Contracts for Road Maintenance has been tested, refined, and rolled out across the majority of the road network areas identified for this approach.

Add to that the Christchurch rebuild projects and significant projects in and around Auckland, and we have seen a very healthy pipeline of work in infrastructure development and maintenance across our nation.

Those infrastructure companies who have developed strong tendering skills have done well.

It’s been pleasing, if well overdue, to see increased focus on procurement skills across the government sector. The NZ Council for Infrastructure Development’s survey on procurement skills launched at the Building Nations Symposium in Christchurch in September was revealing.

It concluded that although some government organisations (notably the NZ Transport Agency) demonstrate the best of the best in their procurement practices, others are failing.

Government organisations involved in tendering had a shake-up in July, when the results of the judicial review of a tender

38

decision from the Ministry of Health were released. The judge’s comments, following a court case lasting around two years, were a significant wake-up call to tender evaluators.

He pointed out multiple areas where the tendering process had been unfair – ranging from poor procurement planning leading to addition of criteria after tenders closed, changes to weightings, flawed scoring procedures, inadequate management of conflicts of interest, and undue influence on individual evaluators resulting in biased decisions.

Interestingly, the judge coined the phrase ‘the personal knowledge exclusion rule’ – which effectively fires a warning shot at any procurement staff who use personal knowledge outside the tender process to influence their scoring and/or decisions.

Until now, evaluation teams have used their personal knowledge fairly freely, despite the fact that it could tip the playing field for or against a bidder simply through lack of similar knowledge about other bidders.

Responsible government organisations have recognised they can no longer entrust decisions involving public expenditure of millions of dollars to people who have little understanding of the planning, the processes, and the pitfalls that are associated with best practice procurement.

It’s great to see some government organisations showing a willingness to invest in training their procurement staff to use effective tools for selecting value-for-money suppliers. However, change in this area is slow.

That said, a growing number of government organisations are beginning to recognise that practical procurement training based on NZTA, NZ government requirements and our own NZQA qualifications provide the best available programme to address that skills deficit.

Although rebuild work in Christchurch

is well underway, there is plenty more to come – and with many of the major players constrained by current commitments there are still opportunities for new entrants in that market to make their mark. Armed with the right tools, several companies that the Plan A team has worked with over the past few months are spreading their wings in Canterbury and expanding their businesses rapidly.

The NZ Transport Agency confirmed at its conference in November that the government intends to spend 30 percent more on transport in the next three years than it did in the past three years. Furthermore, that expenditure will be undertaken over a larger number of medium-sized projects.

We are also seeing a growing number of international companies vying for a place in New Zealand’s future. It’s always a greater challenge to reconcile different companies’ approaches when bidding as a consortium. Having a natural fit in working arrangements and cultures, together with a professional and organised approach to developing bid documents, are both key to building effective, high-performing bid teams that produce winning tenders.

What does all this mean for tenderers keen to grow their businesses over the coming year? The news is all good. There will be plenty of opportunity for those who are organised, professional, and ready to put the hard yards into developing outstanding tender documents.

Caroline Boot is the founder of tender specialist companies Plan A and Clever Buying™. She and her colleagues are committed to providing expert support for tenderers through providing bid writing and management expertise for companies preparing must-win tenders – throughout New Zealand and globally.

For more information, including useful articles on how to win tenders, see www.plana.co.nz Yearbook 2015-2016

Top Tips My top five tips for tendering success in 2016: • Understand the pipeline – know what’s coming up, and get the bulk of your documentation in shape before the Request For Tender hits • Get the best project managers and writers that you can. Neither can do a good job without the other. Get ‘em all in on the ground floor and start your process early.

• Banish bid room politics, hidden agendas, backstabbing and the blame game.

Give your bid team the freedom to work in a manner that delivers best quality, and create the discipline that takes no prisoners for delays.

• Stage your review processes, and don’t tolerate late entries or late deliverables.

Review the executive summary within two days of your initial bid strategy meeting.

• From the outset, involve people who stand back and see the wood for the trees. An all-internal bid team is often myopic and may suffer from groupthink.

Get fresh perspective from brains even larger than yours - if you can find them!

Any cancer. Any question.

For cancer information and support phone the Cancer Information Helpline 0800 CANCER (226 237) Yearbook 2015-2016

39

COMMENT >> LocalGovernment

Lawrence Yule President, LGNZ

Building a better New Zealand

Local government in New Zealand is committed to building strong economies and resilient communities

W

Other key policy areas

port Agency to ensure world-class investment and service levels across our roading network; and the set-up of the Local Government Risk Agency project, which is gaining momentum.

The sector has also developed its 3 Waters project to ensure that top quality potable, waste and stormwater services and infrastructure continues to be delivered, as it always has been, to our communities.

We know our work in these policy areas is valued by communities and other stakeholders. But we’re about to enter a new era for local government in 2016 – one with an even sharper focus on best practice governance and performance excellence and on strengthening local democracy and the value of local government. We will achieve this in part through our work on a new local government excellence programme and the 2016 local government elections initiative.

Our aim continues to be the delivery of top-quality value for rate dollars to New Zealand communities, and to grow citizens’ understanding of the breadth of services delivered each day by local governments across New Zealand.

Local government and LGNZ are working to put our communities in the best position to manage significant issues such as regional economical development, demographic shifts, climate change and the impact of technological change and global market forces.

We will continue to work together on these as we strive to achieve improved value for money across the sector to better serve the local communities and citizens we represent.

We are committed to continuing to work closely with central government, business and communities to do this so we can deliver more efficient outcomes, create vibrant communities and enhance economic growth across New Zealand.

As part of LGNZ’s other key projects, good progress is being made on providing strategy and leadership via EquiP, LGNZ’s Centre of Excellence; embedding its partnership between LGNZ and the NZ Trans-

Lawrence Yule is President of Local Government New Zealand, which represents the interests of 78 local authorities in New Zealand

e do this by leading key policy work in seven areas including performance, funding improvements, and regulatory reform in coordination with central government, local businesses and communities.

The end of the year is an ideal opportunity to highlight the work local government is already undertaking that contributes to building strong economies and how local government is making this happen.

search. This work is being conducted cooperatively with business and other groups.

The goal is not to increase the overall tax burden of the country. Rather, we are seeking to determine whether a different mix of options might deliver better outcomes for the country. An example of this is the Special Economic Zones idea, which we are working in partnership with the New Zealand Initiative to promote.

Performance excellence

Local government is subject to a complex set of rules and regulations, and governs and regulates citizens in a variety of ways by working closely with central government policy setters.

In May this year LGNZ announced a new programme of work to deliver improved performance in councils across New Zealand. The Local Government Excellence Programme seeks to lift the performance and reputation of both individual councils and the local government sector, and will include commentary to the public about such matters as the sector’s fiscal strength and good financial management, which are in robust financial health.

Since our first stakeholder review in September 2012, LGNZ has taken several significant steps to rebuild and to reposition with members, stakeholders and decision-makers. In my view local government is also taking ownership of the key issues that face it, and in doing so is strengthening our leadership and service delivery for our communities. In 2016 we have a key opportunity to strengthen our local leadership following the local authority 2016 elections.

Incentivising economic growth Our regions have a strong role to play in New Zealand’s economic growth, with local government managing $120 billion in total equity with annual revenue of $8.3 billion.

LGNZ is continuing its work to assess how the present funding framework for local government might be improved and in ways that might incentivise the right behaviour with its Local Government Funding Review 10-point plan: incentivising economic growth and strong local communities re40

Stronger policy setting

“Our aim continues to be the delivery of topquality value for rate dollars to New Zealand communities, and to grow citizens’ understanding of the breadth of services delivered each day by local governments across New Zealand” We have seen many examples of how the strong working relationships between local and central government policy setters has resulted in better outcomes for our communities – roading and with the Buildings (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act to name a few. Local government is also committed to working with central government on any plans to amend the Resource Management Act 1991.

Yearbook 2015-2016

TRANSPORT

Completing

the circle

New Zealand’s biggest motorway undertaking is firmly on track for completion on schedule the project managers told AsiaPacific Contributing Editor Romy Udanga

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here’s clearly a lot riding on the farsighted Western Ring Route that is set to radically transform the Auckland motorway system when it opens in 2021.

The ambitious plan calls for a 48-kilometre motorway that will link Manukau, Auckland, Waitakere and the North Shore via State Highways 20, 16 and 18 – the Southwestern and Northwestern Motorways and the Upper Harbour Highway.

The route will provide an alternative to State Highway 1, allowing a large chunk of passenger and freight traffic to bypass the city and take the pressure off a straining transport system that already sees some 200,000 pass over the Auckland Harbour Bridge each day.

One of the government’s seven Roads of National Significance (RoNS), the $2 billion Western Ring Route is the biggest project ever undertaken by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and is being completed under five separate contracts being undertaken by five different teams.

Yearbook 2015-2016

A key element in the Western Ring Route is the massive reshaping of the on ramps and exits at Te Atatu and Lincoln Rd and St Lukes; and extensive roadworks to improve the existing motorways, allowing traffic to flow into and out of the Waterview tunnels that will link Waterview and Owairaka.

SH16 Causeway Upgrade The $220 million Causeway Upgrade Project to raise and widen 4.8km of Auckland’s Northwestern motorway and cycleway between Great North Road and the Whau River Bridge is being delivered by the aptly named Causeway Alliance.

Comprising AECOM, Coffey, Fulton Hogan, Leighton Contractors, Jacobs and the NZTA itself, the alliance’s specialist skills in a range of safety, engineering, design, construction, environmental protection, management, commercial and support disciplines are successfully meeting the challenges of working in a protected marine reserve.

weigh as much as 70 tonnes.

Work on the SH16 Causeway Upgrade commenced in May 2013 and is expected to be completed in early 2017. “Traffic management is one of the most complex elements of the job, with up to 90,000 vehicles moving through the project site each day,” Causeway Alliance Project Manager Mark Evans says.

This heavy traffic load has spurred a close and continuing focus on health and safety that proved so successful that the Causeway Alliance won both the over $10M Category Award and the Overall Award at the The Causeway Upgrade Pro- NZ Contractors’ Federation ject aims to prevent flooding Auckland AB Equipment Safety and provide additional capacity Awards in mid-2014. for the Waterview tunnels that open in early 2017 by bringing SH16 Lincoln Road Interin 400,000m3 of rock to raise the change motorway 1.5 metres.

One of the first of the Western The additional capacity will Ring Route projects to get unbe provided by widening the derway, the SH16 Lincoln Road motorway from four to six lanes Interchange upgrade comwestbound and four to five menced in November 2010 and eastbound, and raising, widen- according to Project Manager ing and upgrading the neigh- Brian Robertson “is nearing bouring shared pedestrian and completion.” cyclist path.

The $100 million project beThis 4.8km section of the ing delivered by Fulton Hogan Great North Road (Waterview) involves construction of four interchange to the Whau River lanes on the interchange to enBridge near Te Atatu in Auck- sure better and safer access to land’s west has steadily sunk and from one of the city’s busiinto the Waitemata Harbour est motorways. since it was first constructed in It will comprise: the mid-1950s.

• a new six-lane bridge at SelVain attempts in the 1960s and wood Road overbridge, fu70s to maintain road levels and ture-proofed for seven lanes minimise flooding saw tonnes • the motorway widened to of asphalt layered on the pavethree lanes in each direction ment, so the alliance has opted • extended bus shoulders to install 23,000 wick drains and • an improved Northwestpre-load to speed consolidaern cycleway with a new 3m tion. shared pedestrian/cycle path The completed causeway and across the Selwood Road its surrounding marine reserve Bridge area will be further protect- • and a new motorway bridge ed by some 104,000 tonnes of over the Henderson Creek. rocks to absorb wave energy on The upgrade will ensure the both sides of the motorway and interchange is better aligned to minimise erosion. deal with the expected growth Other major works well in of the western suburbs and the hand include the extension of industrial node of Henderson, the Whau River Bridge with Mr Robertson explains. “The 180m-long lanes, each featuring largest challenge on the project eight spans with three concrete has been the deconstruction T-beams per section that can and replacement of the old 41

TRANSPORT

Henderson Creek Bridges.”

The work on the Te Atatu interchange needs to tie-in with the work underway on the Causeway Upgrade and other projects which make up the Western Ring Route, with careful scheduling and co-ordination required. “However, the full benefit of the city-bound works will only be felt by road users once the Te Atatu project and other projects on the Western Ring Route are completed.”

SH16 Te Atatu Road Interchange Work started on the improvements at Te Atatu in February 2014 and is set to be completed in 2016.

Key features of the $100 million project include: • widening the Northwestern motorway between the Te Atatu Road and Patiki Road interchanges • rebuilding and widening all five ramps on the interchange • enhancing existing facilities for walkers and cyclists • and widening and raising the Te Atatu Road overbridge.

The Te Atatu overbridge was raised approximately 600mm to create a better height safety margin for the motorway below and reduce the chance of the bridge being hit by over-height 42

loads.

Mr Robertson says the biggest technical challenge on the Te Atatu project has been the raising of the bridges and then the widening and strengthening of the structures.

“Dealing with older bridges and modifying them to modern code requirements is always a challenge,” he admits. “Modifying the bridges but having to accommodate the significant traffic volume in the intersection adds to the challenge and complexity.”

The other challenge on the project is dealing with the motorway traffic as the team raises and lowers sections of the motorway to improve the safety of the carriageway. “This requires multiple traffic switches on to new sections while working on the adjacent sections,” Mr Robertson observes. “Both these operations have required a large amount of night work.”

$100 million project in May 2014 and when completed in late 2016 will see the two kilometre-long section of the motorway widened from three to four lanes in each direction.

There will also be improvements to the motorway ramps and the St Lukes Road-Great North Road intersection, while the St Lukes Road overbridge spanning the motorway will be widened, an extra lane added for motorists in both directions and improved facilities for walkers and cyclists.

SH16 St Lukes Road Project Manager Ian Moffat says the biggest challenge for the St Lukes Interchange Upgrade team is developing construction areas while maintaining the existing traffic lanes, pedestrian access and the Northwestern Cycleway.

“The project boundary is largely recognised by permanent construction work requirements, but the site is heavily SH16 St Lukes Road to Great constrained by third-party propNorth Road erty, environmental and public Set apart from the five oth- amenity, limiting the amount of er projects that make up the space we have available for any Western Ring Route, the SH16 temporary works,” he explains.

St Lukes Road to Great North Road upgrade project is jointly SH20 Waterview Connection funded by the NZTA and AuckThe $1.4 billion Waterview land Transport.

Connection project is one of Construction started on the the most important infrastruc-

ture developments ever to take place in New Zealand, and the country’s largest and most ambitious roading project.

Due to be completed in early 2017, it involves construction of 4.8kms of six-lane highway – half of which will be underground – to connect the Northwestern and Southwestern Motorways (SH16 and SH20) on the Western Ring Route around the city.

The project is being delivered by the Well-Connected Alliance, consisting of the NZTA, Fletcher Construction, McConnell Dowell Constructors, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Beca Infrastructure, Tonkin and Taylor, and the Japanese construction company Obayashi Corporation.

The alliance has in turn formed further partnerships with precast concrete suppliers Wilson Tunnelling, which constructs the tunnel segments, and Spanish tunnel control specialists, SICE, which will manage long-term maintenance and operation.

The 2.4-kilometre Waterview tunnel that will be the largest road tunnel in Australasia was drilled by custom-built tunnel boring machine (TBM) dubbed Alice, which has a cutting diameter of 14.4m and is the 10th-largest machine of its kind built to date.

The tunnel team recently completed the excavation of the last of the 16 cross passages that connect the two motorway tunnels. The cross passages are about 11m long and will be used to evacuate people if there is an emergency underground, and to house equipment to operate the tunnels.

“To have completed so much tunnelling successfully and by the end of the year and without any major issues is a credit to the Well-Connected Alliance’s tunnel team,” says the Transport Agency’s Highway Manager, Brett Gliddon.

Tunnel Construction Manager, Chris Ashton says it has been a real team effort. “It is a great achievement from everyYearbook 2015-2016

one that there has been no discernible settlement or effect on people living above the tunnels,” Mr Ashton says. “These cross passages have been built to world-class standards with a very good safety record as well.”

Excavating the cross-passages was one of the four distinct operations to construct the tunnels. The complex programme of works also included the work of Alice the Tunnel Boring Machine and the culvert gantry which was used for the smaller tunnel to carry services, as well as the first stage of the back-fill operation.

Construction began on 11 November 2013 when Alice started excavating the first tunnel, and ended just over two years later with the excavation of what is known as Cross Passage 2.

Although excavation is complete there are still many months of work ahead – constructing the road surface, installing concrete linings, lights, drains, the deluge safety system and signage as well as painting the ceilings and walls – before the tunnels can be commissioned for the planned opening in early 2017.

Meanwhile Alice, the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) that successfully carved the twin 2.5km-long tunnels, continues to shrink by the day. Crews have been busy dismantling the TBM since she broke through from the Owairaka (southern) end of the tunnels in October.

In what is a technically difficult operation the huge machine is being taken apart in large sections, which are then lifted out of the trench and cleaned before they are shipped back to Herrenknecht, the German company that designed and built the TBM. “Dismantling Alice has taken a lot of work and planning,” Mr Gliddon says. “It’s a very tight fit to get some of these pieces out, sometimes there’s been as little as 200mm to spare.”

The giant 322 tonne cutterhead which carved through underground spoil to drill the tunnels has now been lifted out of the trench. Six hydraulic jacks were used to push the cutterhead off the 184 studs that held it in place on the main drive of the TBM. A 600 tonne and 300 tonne crane were then used to lift it out of the trench and onto a concrete slab, where it was cleaned and separated into five smaller sections for transportation. The dismantling process is expected to be completed by the end of summer.

“Lots of people have asked us whether we can use Alice for other tunnelling projects in New Zealand, but each TBM is built specifically for one job,” Mr Gliddon says. “It’s designed to take into account the size of the tunnel and the type of material it’s boring through, which are individual for each project.”NZTA Highways Manager Brett Gliddon says the Western Ring

Route will improve network resilience, travel time reliability and bus shoulder lanes, and upgrade cycleway and pedestrian facilities.

“This improved network efficiency and the additional capacity provided by the com-

pleted route will, among others, help ease pressure on local roads, improve public transport along the route and enhance pedestrian and cycling facilities,” he says.

Western Ring Route project stages and key dates The Western Ring Route will be substantially done by 2017 and fully completed when the Lincoln Road to Westgate and Upper Harbour Highway upgrades are finished in 2021.

• The St Lukes to Great North Road upgrade will be completed in the first quarter of 2016 • The Lincoln Road upgrade was completed late 2015 Yearbook 2015-2016

•T he Te Atatu Interchange upgrade will be completed in the first half of 2016 •T he Causeway Upgrade will be completed by late 2016 •T he Waterview tunnels will open to traffic in early 2017.

• SH16 Te Atatu Road Interchange • SH16 St Lukes Road to Great North Road Interchange

• SH18 Upper Harbour Bridge • SH18 Hobsonville Deviation • SH20 Mt Roskill Extension • SH20 Manukau Harbour Crossing To be constructed: • SH20 Walmsley Road Inter• SH16 Royal Road Interchange change upgrade • SH20-1 Manukau Extension Under construction: Completed and open: • SH20 Maioro Street Inter• SH20 Waterview Connection • SH16 Westgate Pedestrian change • SH16 Causeway Upgrade and Cycle bridge • SH16 Lincoln Road Interchange • SH18 Greenhithe Deviation 43

CITIES

Making cities smarter Could becoming a “smart city” help solve Auckland’s myriad problems?

U

rban environments built on “intelligent” solutions that enable cities to transform, support and manage rapid change, smart cities are developing rapidly with more than 26 expected to be operating globally by 2025.

This burgeoning global smart city market is estimated to be worth US$1.565 trillion by 2020, driven by the increasing interconnectedness between departments, cities and citizens that is the crux of the smart city concept.

Smart cities must adopt at least five of eight “smart parameters” – energy, building, mobility, healthcare, infrastructure, technology, governance and education – with leading contenders such as Amsterdam already executing projects in energy, mobility and governance.

Industry Director for Australia & New Zealand for global growth consultant Frost & Sullivan, Ivan Fernandez, predicts that cities will collaborate to drive smart city innovation.

“Technology and ecosystem convergence, collaboration and partnerships between stakeholders from different industries such as energy and infrastructure, IT, telecoms and government, will also expedite the delivery of integrated services,” Mr Fernandez forecasts.

Smart the new green Smart energy is the fastest growing market segment and is being driven by the large-scale adoption of smart grids and intelligent energy solutions that will see smart energy make up 24 percent of the total global smart city market in 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.7 percent from 2012-2025.

This is already happening in Australia, with the Victorian Smart Grid Project having installed more than 2.5 million meters in homes and businesses across the state to make it more than 90 percent complete by early 2014. “Flexible pricing commenced in September 2013 to manage peak demand and this has eliminated estimated bills.”

Internationally, distributed energy generation is estimated to have more than doubled in the last 10 years and strong growth is expected to 2020, corresponding to nearly half of the increase in total electricity use. “The game changer will be electricity storage; it will help manage peaks, drive renewable energy uptake and support EV infrastructure,” Mr Fernandez believes.

Sensorisation of things Another key technological enabler for sensible cities is the Internet of Things (IoT), which will

facilitate new innovative public and private services that will be cost-effective, efficient and sustainable, and will help cities overcome many of the challenges associated with rapid urbanisation.

Sensors will be increasingly found in everyday objects and devices, providing real-time visibility and control while enabling better dissemination of information to residents and improving the efficiency of services.

Miniaturisation, wireless-enablement and sensor interoperability are other key industry drivers that have allowed sensors to be part of building management systems. “The global market for sensors used in building automation systems in 2012 was US$1.75 billion, and this is expected to rise to about US$2.7 billion in 2016,” Mr Fernandez observes.

These smart buildings will make up seven percent of the total global smart city market in 2025, growing at a CAGR of 4.1 percent from 2012-2025. “There are plans in Brisbane for a CBD District Cooling System - a centralised water chilling system which replaces air conditioning chillers and cooling towers in individual CBD buildings and will chill water during off-peak periods to supply CBD buildings during the day, yielding considerable energy savings.”

Many cities around the world have already made significant investments or plans to invest in various smart city technologies such as energy and resource sustainability, healthcare, transportation, and security.

“This trend towards sensible

Smarter cities a growing necessity

P

opulation growth is driving • this is expected to accelerate veloped-region cities could the trend towards smart to 60 percent before 2025 with account for up to 81 percent cities: the Western world reaching 80 of total population • the world’s population is sevpercent urbanisation • cities like Seoul account for en billion strong and expand- • around 58 percent of the approximately 50 percent of ing steadily world’s population or 4.6 bilSouth Korea’s GDP while Bu• 50 percent of the world’s poplion people are expected to dapest and Brussels each aculation is now living in urban live in urban areas by 2025 count for 45 percent of their areas • the urban headcount in decountry’s GDP 44

Frost & Sullivan Industry Director for Australia & New Zealand Ivan Fernandez: “Yet, while the potential is huge, the challenge faced is finding funding and developing the right business model, as many cities in the Western world don’t have the finances available to take on some mammoth-sized projects” cities will continue to grow and the Internet of Things is expected to play an integral part in supporting the efforts to make cities smarter and more sensible by providing information visibility for city planning and enabling the efficient, seamless and sustainable provision of new services,” Mr Fernandez predicts.

Recover, reuse, recycle Smart infrastructure will make up 11 percent of the total global smart city market in 2025 and will include sensor networks as well as digital water and waste management. “Forty eight percent of all waste in Australia goes to landfill, while in Sweden that number is one percent,” Mr Fernandez notes. “Sweden actually imports 80,000 tonnes

• cities are expected to contribute to two-thirds of the world economy and 85 percent of global technological innovation • today’s cities already collectively consume 75 percent of the world’s energy and are responsible for 80 percent of energy-related carbon impact on the environment.

Yearbook 2015-2016

of rubbish every year to meet their energy requirements.”

Australia’s 90 percent urban population is amongst the highest globally, resulting in large cities continuing to grow and expand their limits and increasing the complexity of waste management transportation and logistics for city councils.

Many Australian states and city councils have already adopted the zero-waste mantra and are actively working to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfills. “This trend is expected to increase innovation in the recycling sector in Australia.”

Renewable energy is the fastest-growing source of electricity generation globally, with Frost & Sullivan estimating that 20 percent of energy produced in smart cities will be renewable by 2030.

It is estimated that globally about 15 percent of a household’s energy needs are contained in the waste bin that is sent to landfill every week, and waste-to-energy offers a tangible means of diverting waste that has to go to landfill.

“Based on existing proven technologies, for example, mass combustion delivers substantial energy recovery rates of 500-700 kWh/tonne of MSW over and above existing landfill gas to energy installations of 100-150 kWh/tonnes.”

Australia’s East Rockingham Waste to Energy Plant, for example, will generate 18.5MW from construction and demolition waste, commercial and industrial waste, municipal solid waste and green waste. “Councils and wastewater utilities are seeking to monetise waste and technology is making smaller waste to energy (WTE) plants viable,” Mr Fernandez notes.

Most industrial companies have already identified that the best waste minimisation strategy is to modify the production process in order to reduce the amount of waste in the first place. “Recycling and reuse of material will continue to be a key waste minimisation strategy, however these will increasYearbook 2015-2016

ingly become secondary to waste avoidance.”

This type of By-product Synergy (BPS) underpins the concept of ‘industrial ecology’ - a holistic view of industry in which organisations exchange energy and material between one another rather than operating as isolated units.

“If one compares that to GDP of nations in 2014, it will sit above the GDP of Spain, thus making it the 12th-largest GDP in the world,” Mr Fernandez says.

“Yet, while the potential is huge, the challenge faced is finding funding and developing the right business model, as many cities in the Western

“Given the size and complexity of smart city projects, the ability to leverage public-private partnerships (PPPs) will be critical” “Essentially there has to be a shift in focus from merely removing waste from client facilities to actively assisting in reducing the amount of waste generated, which in turn will require a change in the current business model as well, where clients could potentially be charged based on the amount of waste reduced.”

Smart city market players Overall, Frost & Sullivan research estimates a combined market potential of $1.5 trillion globally for the smart city market in terms of energy, transportation, healthcare, building, infrastructure, and governance.

world don’t have the finances available to take on some mammoth-sized projects.”

The ability to provide a multi-technology approach able to add intelligence to different city systems is a key focus for companies seeking to be leading players in these projects.

“In addition, the ability to stay innovative in the approach to the city, and in the way technologies are used, is crucial.”

Four main models will enable companies to engage with city authorities and utilities to tap into this burgeoning market: Build Own Operate (BOO), Build Operate Transfer (BOT), Build Operate Manage (BOM)

and the Open Business Model (OBM).

OBM is expected to foster the most innovation due to its flexibility and scalability, which lets the city planner allow any qualified company or business organisation to build city infrastructure and provide city services. “Given the size and complexity of smart city projects, the ability to leverage public-private partnerships (PPPs) will be critical.”

He believes governments of cities such as Auckland should create a Smart City Stakeholder Group, encourage open collaboration and build digital infrastructure such as eServices and eHealth. “The private sector on the other hand, should evaluate their role in the smart city market; build a ‘City as a Customer’ strategy; identify potential partners, business models and consortiums; develop capabilities in data analytics and cloudbased services; and develop services as a business model,” Mr Fernandez concludes. “For smart cities to work, begin with the end in mind and tailor the technology solution to the city’s DNA – not the other way round.”

45

SECURITY >> Pipelines

Protecting pipes paramount More and more pipelines are being built and more and more of these vital arteries are being attacked by an insidious enemy says Brendan Pejkovic

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orrosion poses a threat to all infrastructure and the economic impact of its degradation of pipelines, oil rigs and towers costs many millions of dollars annually.

Pipelines vary from simple steel tubes to state-of-the-art spiral-wound, flexible lines, with diameters ranging from 50 millimetres to two metres.

Integral to the oil and gas industry, pipelines form the gathering systems joining wells to process facilities and the distribution system delivering product to refineries and markets.

Whilst non-ferrous materials such as fibreglass and polypropylene can be used in non-critical, low pressure applications, the overwhelming majority of petroleum pipelines are constructed from metal. Whether buried or on the surface, all metal pipelines are exposed to a range of physical, climatic and chemical environments that can cause corrosion.

Aging or damaged infrastructure presents many challenges to the oil and gas industry and regulators worldwide. There are thousands of kilometres of pipelines associated with the oil and gas wells and platforms operating in more than 50 countries around the world. These facilities vary in size, shape, and degree of complexity.

Much of this infrastructure was built in the 1950s and designed in accordance with lower standards than are currently prescribed. Some facilities are operating well beyond their intended service life and others have suffered damage as a result of storms or accidents or, because of the lack of active maintenance programmes have deteriorated to the extent that there is now doubt as to their

46

continued structural integrity.

Oil and gas pipelines are often coated with several layers of protective material and fitted with cathodic protection devices that inhibit corrosion.

Internal pipe maintenance and cleaning is usually conducted by sending a scrubbing device or ‘pig’ (originally named because of the squealing noise early versions made as they traversed the line) through the pipeline at regular time intervals. Other, more sophisticated pigs, fitted with cameras and sensors, are able to inspect the integrity of welds and the internal condition of the pipe as they move along.

Achieving the most effective corrosion control strategies is likely to require changes in industry management and government policies. Industry must take advantage of future developments in protective coatings

Inspecting the weld of a pipeline joint are responsibly managed, the environment is protected, public safety enhanced and economies improved.

Historically, metallic zinc and primers containing chromate have provided excellent corrosion protection. These materials have properties that allow

“Industry must take advantage of future developments in protective coatings technology in order to reduce the overall cost of corrosion” technology in order to reduce the overall cost of corrosion.

Advances in corrosion protection will include coatings that are both physical barriers and contain corrosion inhibitors that are released when a coating becomes damaged or in the presence of a corrosive environment.

Working with academia and industry, the Australasian Corrosion Association (ACA) supports research into all aspects of corrosion in order to provide an extensive knowledge base of the latest technologies and best practices in corrosion management. The organisation aims to ensure all impacts of corrosion

coatings containing them to actively respond to a corrosive environment while maintaining a barrier to that environment.

Advances in coating technology can offer significant cost savings if developed and successfully demonstrated. Zinc, polyurethane and powder coating technologies make them a superior alternative to epoxy resin technology for longerterm service life. Zinc gives a very basic cathodic protection effect as a thin coating, polyurethane is effective and aesthetically appealing, while powder coatings can meet the environmental and regulatory challenges.

All companies are striving to reduce maintenance budgets for their infrastructure while optimising performance, so new corrosion protection materials must be cost-effective and non-hazardous.

Clever coatings Among some of the latest advances in coating technology has been development of protective coatings that can respond to damage and changes in the external environment.

However, such coatings must not be a threat to the environment and maintenance personnel and ideally must be applied using conventional methods currently used to coat structures for environmental protection. New materials such as nano-structured materials and organic metals may be appropriate as the basis for developing damage-responsive coatings and structures.

Internal corrosion controls for gas pipelines include reducing the water content of the gas and adding inhibitors to the fluid flow. For oil pipelines, internal corrosion is mitigated by reducing the water content Yearbook 2015-2016

then adding corrosion and scale inhibitors, and biological controls.

Pipeline operators must continually monitor the effectiveness of their chosen corrosion controls. Erosion in the internal pipeline wall can be controlled by removing solids from the stream and by the mechanical design of the layout.

Corrosion caused by moisture in a gas stream can be controlled by decreasing the dew point of the gas to a temperature below the lowest operating temperature likely to be encountered in the pipeline.

One way to allow for corrosion is to make the pipe wall thicker to provide additional metal for corrosion loss. The corrosion allowance should anticipate the maximum metal loss over the life of the pipeline and ensure that sufficient wall thickness remains to enable the pipeline to operate safely.

A corrosion allowance should not be a substitute for other corrosion protection measures since actual corrosion rates in practice can be much higher than those used in the estimation of the corrosion allowance.

Yearbook 2015-2016

The oil and gas industry invests large sums of money in the design, laying and protection of pipelines. In comparison, far less attention is paid to the mounting and bracing structures that support and guide a pipeline.

One of the most common support methods is to lay the pipe on to a standard structural element such as an I-beam or metal channel and secure it in place with a stabilising U-bolt.

A similar method is to use a saddle clamp, where the pipe is clamped between two rolled plates, with one of the plates welded to a structural element.

These two categories account for more than 95 per cent of support points on a typical structure.

One alternative is to weld a part of the pipe, which is usually free to move, directly to the support structure. This is a common approach for insulated piping systems. There are a number of other alternative pipe supports, such as flange bolt supports, various types of pipe hangers and other specialty-type supports.

Not surprisingly, it is the beam supports and the saddle clamps that cause the majority of problems. Visual inspection and other non-destructive testing is often difficult and it is virtually impossible to paint or otherwise maintain some areas of the pipe at the support.

Some of these support types may even develop bi-metallic contact. Despite both the pipe and support being steel, the metallurgical differences can still provide a small potential difference to create a corrosion cell.

The shape of a cylindrical pipe on a flat surface forms a crevice where moisture gathers and evaporation is restricted.

The moisture softens the paint, which fails and exposes bare metal which is then in constant contact with water. Once corrosion starts there can be rapid wall loss leading to eventual failure of the pipe.

An effective way to reduce corrosion risk is to minimise the contact point between the support and pipe so that no crevice is formed. Water cannot be trapped, so corrosion no longer occurs.

With minimal contact, air can also circulate and evaporate moisture beneath pipes, and it’s far easier to inspect the contact area. If the material of the support is non-metallic, the pipe can be electrically isolated so there is no contact between dissimilar metals.

The ACA is a not-for-profit, industry association, established in 1955 to service the needs of Australian and New Zealand companies, organisations and individuals involved in the fight against corrosion. The vision of the organisation is to reduce the impact of corrosion.

Throughout the year, the

ACA also conducts educational activities such as seminars and training courses across Australia and New Zealand to inform and guide organisations and practitioners about corrosion topics.

Corrosion specialists certified by the ACA, and other organisations, have the experience and understanding of corrosion causes and solutions that allow them to recommend mechanisms and procedures to consultants and asset owners.

Brendan Pejkovic is Technical Services Manager at the Australasian Corrosion Association Incorporated (ACA), a not-for-profit, industry association established in 1955 to service the needs of Australian and New Zealand companies, organisations and individuals involved in the fight against corrosion

Preparing for maintenance of a large, above ground pipeline 47

SECURITY

Malicious malware an ever-evolving nightmare Recent US research holds valuable lessons for New Zealand companies facing a steadily growing cybercrime problem that is already estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year

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our out of five New Zealanders agree with the experts - businesses and organisations in this country aren’t well-prepared to deal with computer hacking and keeping confidential data secure.

A recent Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) review highlighted the ever-increasing importance of robust cyber security measures, ICNZ Chief Executive Tim Grafton says.

“Experts are warning that New Zealand is woefully underprepared for the increasing threat of cyber attacks and it seems the public agrees,” he notes.

ICNZ estimates that cyber-related crimes cost NZ businesses over NZ$625 million, but concedes that this is probably a “conservative” figure because some businesses are reluctant to disclose a cyber-breach of their systems.

What is known is that global cyberattacks increased more than 2,000 per cent in the past four years, with about half originating from the Asia-Pacific region and roughly 75 percent of organisations in the region having experienced a cyberattack in the past two years alone.

Mr Grafton says while high-profile technology breaches such as eBay and Target occurred overseas, New Zealand was still at risk. “The hacking of NIWA’s supercomputer last year was a stark reminder that New Zealand is not immune to the increasing global threat of cybercrime,” he says.

“And the recent high profile computer hacking of emails and private messages has further emphasised the need for vigilance.”

The ICNZ survey’s findings are supported by ThreatTrack Security, a leading US cybersecurity firm which specialises in helping organisations identify and stop

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Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), targeted attacks and other sophisticated malware designed to evade the traditional cyber-defences deployed by enterprises and government agencies around the world.

ThreatTrack Security’s survey of 200 US IT professionals found that nearly 40 percent said it was either a “certainty or highly likely” that their organisation would be the target of an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) or targeted attack within the next 12 months.

Yet, while it is positive that so many security professionals are preparing themselves for a wave of advanced malware attacks their ability to effectively combat these threats is questionable, the ThreatTrack report notes.

The survey found that 35 percent of respondents reported end points on their network had been infected by malware that evaded their defences during the last 12 months: moreover, 58 percent of respondents cited the complexity of malware as the most difficult aspect of defending their organisation.

Organisations are responding by focusing on: • t raining their IT staff on new technology and cybersecurity strategies (50 percent) • i mplementing new policies (35 percent) • i nvesting in advanced malware detection technology (34 percent).

Increased expenditure on cybersecurity also pays dividends as 78 percent of companies with security budgets between US$750,000 and US$1 million reported infections, but that number decreased dramatically to 35 percent when security budgets exceeded US$1 million – demonstrating that organisations with the right resources

and making the right investments can significantly improve their security postures.

Some 50 percent of respondents overall said that email was the top threat vector through which their organisation encounters the most malware, with 34 per cent citing the web as their top threat vector for The hacking of NIWA’s APTs. supercomputer earlier last year was a stark reminder that Corporate cyber threats New Zealand is not immune However, while all APTs are to the increasing global threat vehicles for cybercrime not of Cyber-crime says Insurance all cybercrimes involved APTs Council Chief Executive Tim according to The Evolution Grafton of Corporate Cyberthreats, a recent Kaspersky Labs report Insider Trading Theft which notes that there are sig- Targeted Information: Pending nificant differences – despite M&A deals or contracts; upthe fact that both are based on coming financial earnings; future IPO dates monetary gain.

APTs specifically target more sensitive data including pass- Financial & Identify Theft words, competitive intelligence, Targeted Information: Emschematics, blueprints, and dig- ployee and customer personinformation; ital certificates and are paid for ally-identifiable by third-party clients or resold payment transactions; account numbers; financial credentials in the underground.

General cybercrime operations, meanwhile, are direct Technical Espionage “for profit” attacks and target Targeted Information: Password customers’ personal and finan- or account credentials, source cial information, which can be code, digital certificates; netquickly monetised and laun- work and security configuradered underground for ID theft tions; cryptographic keys; authentication or access codes and fraud.

Cybercriminals will either provide the hijacked information to Reconnaissance and Surveilthe third party who hired them lance: Targeted Information: System to steal it, or they will repackage and resell the data under- and workstation configurations; ground to interested parties keystrokes; audio recordings; such as nation states or com- emails; IRC communications; peting organisations. screenshots; additional infecThere are many different types tion vectors; logs; cryptographof targeted attacks, including: ic keys.

The reports revealed that the Economic Espionage primary method for infecting Targeted Information: Intellec- targeted organisations was tual property; proprietary infor- spear-phishing emails rigged mation; geopolitical, competi- with common vulnerabilities tive or strategic intelligence found in corporate applications or programs.

Yearbook 2015-2016

COMMUNICATIONS

New telecommunications cord to link Pacific nations

Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks and the Bluesky Pacific Group have joined forces to roll out a new submarine cable system spanning more than 9,700 km across the Pacific

T

he Moana Cable system will link New Zealand and Hawaii using the latest submarine cable technology, providing much-needed capacity and redundancy to address increased traffic requirements as mobile broadband and the provision of fibre access to homes and businesses take centre stage in the region.

Scheduled for completion in 2018, the Moana Cable system will comprise two main segments: • the first, based on two fibre pairs, will connect New Zealand to Hawaii over 8,000 km, serving Samoa and American Samoa and significantly enhancing route diversity for New Zealand • the second, based on one fibre pair, will link the Cook Is-

lands to the Samoa hub over 1,700 km.

It is also designed to accommodate the connection of additional Pacific island nations such as Niue, Tokelau and Tonga, which lie in close proximity to the New Zealand-to-Hawaii trunk, as well as French Polynesia on the east near the Cook Islands.

The cable’s new technology will significantly boost the 12 terabits-per-second (Tb/s) maximum capacity of the Southern Cross Cable, the cable currently connecting New Zealand to the US that was laid between July 1999 and January 2001.

The Moana Cable will be the first long-haul submarine cable in the Pacific islands region relying on the latest innovative 200 Gbit/s transmission technology,

with ultimate capacity between Hawaii and New Zealand of 20 Tb/s.

Bluesky has also signed a memorandum of understanding with RAM Telecom International Inc. for collaboration and interconnection with its SEA-US submarine cable linking Asia to Hawaii and the west coast of the US, which will enable the Moana Cable to provide connectivity from New Zealand and the Pacific to the US and Asia.

Bluesky Pacific Group has a strong track record as a submarine cable owner and operator, with its ASH Cable connecting American Samoa to Hawaii and SAS Cable connecting Samoa to American Samoa.

Anchor customers of the Moana Cable will include Bluesky Pacific Group companies and

existing ASH Cable customers, although Bluesky is currently in discussion with several other telecommunications companies and is confident it will have enough on board to lease data from the cable when it goes live.

Bluesky currently accesses New Zealand’s telecommunications network via Spark, offering SIM cards on the Spark network that allow for cheap calls to be made to Samoa and Cook Islands. “Bluesky will continue to focus on connecting Pacific Island communities in the Pacific, New Zealand, Australia and the United States,” Bluesky Pacific Group CEO Adolfo Montenegro assures.

Moana Cable will begin marine surveys and finalise a landing station and government approvals by March 2017, although the potential landing site was unlikely to be in Auckland, where the channels on the inner Hauraki Gulf are very busy with sea traffic.

Cable connectivity concerns eased with new investments New Zealand’s current reliance on two aging submarine telecommunications cables has sparked the development of more undersea systems.

The 30,500km-long Southern Cross Cable that connects New Zealand, Australia and Fiji to Hawaii and the west coast of the US is presently the main internet conduit.

Completed in 2001, it comes ashore at Takapuna and Whenuapai and has a capacity of 12 terabits per second (Tb/s).

New Zealand and Australia are also connected by the Tasman 2 cable that was built in 1992 and accordingly provides low capacity.

Growing fears about over-reliance on the Southern Cross Cables has spurred the development of more cables, with several consortia planning to lay cable in the near future.

Spark, Vodafone and Telstra have teamed up and are in the process of laying a new $100 million-plus submarine cable that will connect New Zealand and Australia.

The Tasman Global Access that will come ashore in Raglan in New Zealand and Oxford Falls, Sydney in Australia will feature two fibre pairs with total capacity of 20 Tb/s.

Similarly, the Hawaiki Cable is a new trans-Pacific submarine cable based on coherent fibre technology that will link Whangarei, Sydney, Oahu and Pacific City, on the US west coast.

Designed with capacity of over 25 Tb/s, the 14,000km-long, $300 million cable is scheduled to enter service by the end of 2017.

Yearbook 2015-2016

Finally, Moana Cable is a submarine cable system through the Pacific to New Zealand being rolled out by Bluesky Pacific Group and Alcatel-Lucent by 2018.

The Moana Cable will connect New Zealand to Hawaii through Samoa and American Samoa while also linking the Cook Islands to the Samoa hub, although Bluesky also plans to expand the Moana Cable to reach Niue, Tokelau and French Polynesia.

49

WATER

Combining forces could save councils millions Three Waikato councils could save nearly half a billion dollars within the next three decades by forming a ratepayer-owned company to manage water infrastructure

I

ndependent consultants Cranleigh recommends Hamilton city, Waipa and Waikato councils transfer their water assets into a single ratepayer-owned and council-controlled organisation (CCO).

Councils should retain ownership of stormwater assets but outsource their management to the CCO says the report, which was commissioned by the councils last year to scrutinise three options for the delivery and management of water services.

Cranleigh Managing Director Paul Bayly says forming a CCO would “conservatively” save the community more than $468 million over 28 years or $107 million over 10 years.

Hamilton residential ratepayers could pay about $38 less a year for water and wastewater based on 2015/16 charges and Waipa ratepayers about $68 less for water services, while Waikato District ratepayers could reap $106 in savings a year.

The CCO would also offer sev-

eral other benefits including: • a much stronger regional water network • cleaner drinking water and wastewater • a greater likelihood of attracting and retaining expert water staff • and the creation of a regional centre of excellence other councils could tap into.

The savings of nearly half a billion dollars are significant on their own, Mr Bayly says. “But it is the non-financial advantages, including unlocking the region’s economic potential, which are just as important,” he believes.

“For example, some industries can’t even operate in the subregion because of challenges around water and the way the current model works.”

The report recommends a jointly-owned CCO should be a not-for-profit company acting in the best interests of water customers. Transferring publicly owned water assets into a private company is not an option as privatising council-delivered

water services is against the law in New Zealand.

Any surpluses gained from savings should be reinvested in the waters network to improve environmental performance or returned to water customers as reduced water costs, the document says.

It recommends a board of six directors appointed by all three councils govern the CCO, with a joint committee of elected councillors to overview the company’s performance and set the parameters under which it could operate. “The delivery of water is a core activity and we very strongly believe that councils, as owners of the company, should have a strong influence.

“We are not in any way suggesting that councils ‘walk away’ from water. We’re saying entirely the opposite. For the good of the region, we believe there needs to be a far stronger, more comprehensive and longer-term focus on water infrastructure by people whose only role is to deliver the best

Cranleigh Managing Director Paul Bayly: “Forming a CCO would conservatively save the community more than $468 million over 28 years or $107 million over 10 years”

possible water services at the best price. At the moment, water infrastructure is fighting for its share of funding among all the other services that councils are responsible for. ” The report investigated two other options, including retaining the status quo with all three councils continuing to run their own water operations, but says the status quo would always offer “only basic service delivery and performance and at a higher cost to ratepayers.”

Similarly, an enhanced shared services (ESS) concept that would pool the councils’ water teams in one unit to manage most water services for all

Waikato councils leading the way

T

he council-controlled organisation (CCO) concept recommended for the Waikato could be suitable for many more councils in New Zealand, says Water New Zealand Chief Executive John Pfahlert. “I’m not sure that a CCO is the best answer in every circumstance, but probably for most,” he believes.

The challenge is that the 3 Waters components of most councils in New Zealand are too small and really need to be combined with their neighbours to gain the best value from a 3 Waters CCO. “Once you remove the 3 Waters and/ 50

or roading from their balance sheets to be operated commercially the residual council functions comprise less than half of most council activities – hence the resistance to change.”

Council amalgamations would be the logical alternative to a CCO, Mr Pfahlert suggests, while an enhanced shared services (ESS) arrangement could also be a viable alternative for some councils, citing Wellington Water as a good example. “It provides a larger number of people to an organisation where there is the ability to retain specialised

staff, much more so than in a smaller unit,” Mr Pfahlert observes. “It also attracts better quality staff.”

Water New Zealand therefore expects to see more councils adopt either the CCO or ESS approach in coming years. “I believe that as smaller councils come under financial pressure to replace aging infrastructure that councils will look to merge services with adjoining councils,” Mr Pfahlert predicts.

There will also be the increased exposure to the success of other models operating around New Zealand for them to draw on, with obvious candi-

Water New Zealand Chief Executive John Pfahlert: “I believe that as smaller councils come under financial pressure to replace aging infrastructure that councils will look to merge services with adjoining councils”

Yearbook 2015-2016

three councils would generate operating expenditure savings of $64m over 28 years and estimated capital expenditure savings of $40m over 28 years, but coordination costs could easily exceed the savings.

“The success of an ESS model would be wholly dependent upon strong cooperation and goodwill between member councils over many years,” the report adds. “Shared services models are rarely successful over a longer term because they rely on the goodwill and collegiately of all parties and a very strong process of joint decision-making.”

Mr Bayly says plans were already in place to address those issues, with the three councils looking to spend a combined $764 million over the next decade on water infrastructure.

“But the funding challenges, given predicted population growth, are very real and it’s ratepayers and developers who pay for it.”

The report found the three councils could save $104 million over 28 years by sharing more services but said coordination costs could “easily exceed the savings.” The success of a shared service model would depend on “continued strong goodwill” between the councils over many years and was rarely

successful, the report admits.

Mr Bayly says the report did not consider any issues around tariffs, including water meters.

“This report is about infrastructure,” he insists. “It’s got nothing to do with how individual councils may or may not choose to recoup their costs.”

The report estimates that a CCO would see staff numbers across all three councils reduce by 36 over three years. “This is within the levels of normal staff turnover so we would anticipate

very few, if any, redundancies. “ Waikato Mayor Allan Sanson, who chaired the governance group of councillors overseeing the report, said the recommendation to form a CCO was now “squarely in the hands of individual councils.”

Only a recommendation has been received, he notes. “No decisions have been made and won’t be made for some time yet and certainly not without public input,” Mr Sanson assures. “There’s a lot of ques-

tions that have to be answered and each council will need to consider the report separately and come to its own conclusion.”

If the CCO recommendation is accepted, councils will undertake a special consultative process, meaning a final decision on whether or not to form a CCO is unlikely until after the consultation is complete and community feedback considered.

dates for early adoption probably places where dialogue is already underway regarding council amalgamation such as Hawkes Bay. “They will be in a position to judge the risks of alternative approaches based on the experiences of their colleagues.”

All in all, Water New Zealand supports the report’s findings.

“Evidence suggests that larger administrative units administering 3 Waters assets deliver improved outcomes for ratepayers,” Mr Pfahlert explains.

“The development of Wellington Water is a good example – even though they do not own the assets.”

New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development Chief Executive Stephen Selwood is equally enthusiastic and believes the Hamilton City and Waipa and Waikato district councils should be commended for looking at innovative ways to improve services to ratepayers at lower costs. “It’s encouraging to see Waikato councils front-footing emerging challenges and seeking out new opportunities,” he says.

The Cranleigh report’s findings of close to half a billion dollars of savings over the next 30 years and $107 million over the next decade are consistent with experience elsewhere,

including Scotland, Tasmania and Auckland, Mr Selwood observes.

“In Scotland, a publicly owned special-purpose water company has achieved 40 percent savings in operating costs whilst dramatically increasing capital investment in water infrastructure to provide better services to users,” he notes.

“Closer to home, Watercare has realised $104 million in savings per annum following its consolidation of water services in Auckland, at the same time as scale has enabled upgrades to Rodney and Franklin’s infrastructure that was not affordable under the for-

mer council structure.”

The Cranleigh report has also met with the initial approval of Local Government New Zealand, with President Lawrence Yule commenting that it has been “positive” to see the work of the Waikato Mayoral Forum explore options around its future delivery of its three waters.

“This aligns with a key theme in LGNZ’s wider project 3 Waters, to establish a clearer picture of the performance of drinking and wastewater assets and services and consider options for increasing performance around service and infrastructure delivery.”

Yearbook 2015-2016

51

PARTNERSHIPS

Creative crossing receives recognition A spectacular 265-metre-long Northland bridge inspired by the traditional Maori fish hook hei matau has struck gold yet again

W

hangarei’s Lower Hatea River Crossing won a well-deserved Gold Award in the 2015 Innovate NZ Awards of Excellence, the annual awards of the Association of Consulting and Professional Engineers of New Zealand (ACENZ).

The striking $32 million construction was a fitting winner of a competition that seeks to celebrate the best projects in the built and natural environments,

having won a slew of other prizes since it was opened in July 2013.

Based on a Maori design representing strength, good luck and safe travel over water, the bridge’s form perfectly reflects its function as the ‘fish hook’ (J beams) cantilevers and rolls back to raise the bridge deck.

The 380t bascule centre section smoothly opens to accommodate the passage of marine traffic underneath, while the

road section handles more than 8,000 vehicles per day to provide a critical link in Whangarei’s Strategic Road Network.

However, the apparent simplicity and effortless opening of the new bridge belies the complexity and high level of engineering that have gone into it – particularly when the type of bascule constructed at Lower Hatea is so rare.

Lower Hatea is a single leaf counterweighted rolling bas-

Clever solutions to complex problems Much of the credit for the success of the Lower Hatea project was due to Auckland-based consulting engineer Novare/ Gaia (formerly Peters & Cheung), which led the project team and carried out structural and geotechnical design.

Their efforts resulted in a bridge which: • satisfied the needs of pedestrian, cyclist, road and river users • met the budget • provided the opportunity for local resources to contribute to its construction • reflected best engineering practice • and minimised maintenance costs over its design life.

There were challenging geometric problems to go with design innovation for the firm 52

and its joint venture partners, including the fact that the deep, soft alluvial sediments overlying the site and the on-going settlement of the landfill on Pohe Island would clearly play a critical role in the way the bridge was designed and built.

The geology at the site generally comprised soft to firm silt and clay alluvium and a grid of timber piles needed to be driven through the silts to support the geogrid reinforced approach embankment to the bridge.

The eastern abutment on Pohe Island was located on a landfill site with refuse fill heights of up to 12m thick which was experiencing ongoing settlement; a problem which was limited by constructing an embankment made of lightweight expanded polystyrene and capped with a

thin concrete slab.

Meanwhile, the bascule span itself consisted of two structural steel “J-beams” supporting a lightweight orthotropic steel deck that was unique in New Zealand and reflected international state-of- the-art design.

The counterweights at the top of the “J-beams” balance the weight of the orthotropic deck and minimise the power needed to raise and lower a bascule span which was designed to operate in gale force winds.

During an earthquake the eastern and western halves of the bridge were designed to undergo out-of–phase longitudinal and lateral movements, which had to be accommodated by the bascule span.

A critical aspect of the design therefore limited these rela-

cule that opens hydraulically using rams from one side in the centre of the bridge and counterweights which work with gravity to reduce the energy needed to raise the deck.

There are only a handful of structures of this type in the world and there was really no precedent for how to construct the bridge to ensure it opened smoothly, safely and within a reasonable time frame.

The unique design delivered by award-winning UK bridge specialist Knight Architects and the structure’s function result in a one-of-a-kind bridge that achieves the rare quality, as ACENZ judges noted, of being practical as well as aesthetic.

With works below water level, through a former landfill and over an operational channel, and incorporating civil, mechanical, electrical, and hydraulic engineering, the project was frequently logistically and technically challenging.

The design team was led by New Zealand consultants Peters & Cheung (now Novare Design), McConnell Dowell

tive movements to a level that could be accommodated by the bascule span, seismic analysis showing it was necessary to use a group of small-diameter driven piles and a pile cap at each pier and the abutments to limit the lateral sway of the bridge.

The spans, which have been carefully proportioned to harmonise with the bascule span while providing a very efficient structural solution, are supported by V-shaped reinforced concrete piers.

A feature of this pier’s V-columns is the large post-tensioned pre- stressing tendons that extend down their length to give them the extra strength required to support the bascule span, while a special pier houses the hydraulic rams that open and close the 400-ton bascule span.

Yearbook 2015-2016

“There are only a handful of structures of this type in the world and there was really no precedent for how to construct the bridge to ensure it opened smoothly, safely and within a reasonable time frame”

delivered the bridge works and overall management of the joint venture that comprised 65 percent of the work scope, while local Whangarei roading contractor Transfield Services undertook the remaining roading works and bridge approaches.

McConnell Dowell’s decision to engage specialist offshore capability was a key decider in their team’s selection to deliver the project, the Whangarei District Council (WDC) having sought an iconic structure that was functional, safe – and critical for a moveable structure – reliable.

Knight Architects’ international reputation combined with mechanical designer Eadon Consulting’s experience constructing movable structures throughout the world gave council confidence that the Lower Hatea Bridge would be operative as well as physically striking.

The contract was delivered on an early contractor involvement (ECI) basis as a ‘target-cost’ cost reimbursable contract – if it costs more than the quoted cost both share in the cost overrun and if it costs less both share the benefit.

The greater collaboration and innovation permitted by the ECI model was well-suited to the Lower Hatea project – WDC Yearbook 2015-2016

had a tight budget to deliver the bridge and the ECI structure allowed the joint venture to explore more radical options that may not have been considered under a traditional contract model, helping to bring the project within budget.

For example, the eastern bridge approach was a former landfill site subject to ongoing consolidation and settlement creep, and the team saved close to $2 million by developing an alternative method whereby aggregate pre-load was left to settle for 12 months rather than using ground improvement piling.

Knight Architect’s distinctive fish hook design was embraced

by Whangarei District Council and the challenge for the McConnell Dowell team became to construct this innovative form using structural steel and still achieve the required budget.

Testing the domestic market revealed that the required steel could not be purchased within budget, so McConnell Dowell’s Shanghai procurement and quality assurance division identified a manufacturer who could provide the steel and fabrication to the quality standards and timeframe required and at a cost that was a significant discount to local suppliers.

The distinctive design of Whangarei’s Lower Hatea River Crossing won a Gold Award in 2015

Engineering expertise The moveable section of bascule bridges are typically constructed in situ, but the Lower Hatea navigation channel had to remain open during construction so three bridges were constructed – one each side to the navigation channel and the third the movable 380T Bascule section.

This section was assembled on the newly constructed western bridge and then launched across the 25m-wide navigation channel to the eastern bridge; a challenging task given that failure to land safely and correctly balanced on the other side would have been catastrophic.

Following the launch the necessary mechanical and electrical connection works were made to allow the bridge to open, necessitating seven-day working weeks to minimise the river closure.

Work over water, at height and involving heavy lifting obviously creates an added risk of injury.

Yet McConnell Dowell’s attention to detail in the planning process, combined with a very robust and interactive safety management system, ensured that there was no serious harm or lost-time injuries to site workers in line with the company’s Home without Harm – Everyone Everyday philosophy.

“It was great working with McConnell Dowell and Transfield,” says WDC Group Manager Infrastructure and Service Simon Weston. “They are extremely professional contractors who pulled the project in extremely close to budget.”

It was a sentiment echoed by Duncan Peters of the Novare/ Gaia design team (formerly Peters and Cheung). “McConnell Dowell put up a fantastic team and the quality of workmanship is the best I have experienced in more than 30 years in the business,” he says.

Once the council decided that Knight Architects had fantastic credentials, “we had the best team in the world”, he adds. “The tender design upon which the price was based hardly changed at all in what was a technically challenging project,” Mr Peters notes.

Mr Weston adds that McConnell Dowell pulled together its six-member, joint-venture team and it only took from April 2011 to October to get all parties comfortable with the developed design and table of contents, have it evaluated under Q-based methodology and achieve New Zealand Transport Agency sign-off. “We were running a lot of stuff at the same time,” he observes.

53

LAST WORD >> Local Government

Evan Young Business Development Director, Hopper Developments and INFRA-SOL

The silly season sets the scene

As we approach year’s end, we all reflect on what, if anything, we’ve actually achieved over the past 12 months

W

ere we effective? Did we make a difference? Or did we just carry on, accepting that we are but a small cog in a much larger anonymous machine?

It’s at such times as this all those commentators’ lists start appearing – ‘year’s best this’, ‘year’s worst that’, ‘most valuable player’, even ‘most effective politicians’ (an oxymoron if ever there was one).

I don’t intend to follow the tried and true recipe for filling a page and showing how clever I am with some of my observations

pired in Wellington. Recent alumni include Lianne Dalziel, Fran Wilde and Harry Duyhoven to name but a few that come immediately to mind.

The transition from the central to the local stage seems to bring out the best of Labour’s qualities, which is not an observation one can readily make of National converts.

If Phil Goff can establish a vision and common goal for our largest city that carries Auckland citizens with him (rather than the condescending tolerance displayed by our present incumbent); exert a sense of finan-

time of zoning rather than leave it to an applicant to sort out as the last box to tick as currently occurs. This should present some very interesting decisions and sound bites.

Beyond that, it’s more a rationalisation of processing and establishment of a set of National Standards to provide uniformity across the nation in definition, measurement and application of common standards.

It’s only taken 25 years to recognise some of these inconsistencies – let’s hope it’s not a further 25 before some of the more con-

“The transition from the central to the local stage seems to bring out the best of Labour’s qualities, which is not an observation one can readily make of National converts” and pithy comments; rather I’d prefer to look at two of the events which have occurred recently and have the potential to influence local government in 2016 and beyond.

The first is the long expected, and worst kept secret, announcement by Phil Goff confirming his candidacy for the Auckland Mayoralty.

That this has been heralded for most of 2015 means there’s little in the way of ‘shock’ value in the announcement, but it has put the lingering fear that Mayor Len would confound public expectation and stand for a third term well and truly to bed.

For this small mercy alone, the Labour Party has earnt the grateful thanks of the third of NZ’s population who live in Auckland. Who knows, it may even affect their polling in the national rankings.

Contrary to what many commentators are saying about recycling redundant national politicians into local government, I believe there is a lot to be said for recognising and taking advantage of the experience, knowledge, discipline and contacts senior national politicians can bring to City Hall.

Labour in particular has provided many effective, inclusive and popular community leaders long after their use-by date has ex54

cial probity rather than spendthrift desperation; and is able to show a demonstrable improvement in the recognition, planning, timing and delivery of the basic infrastructure necessary for a major metropolitan city to function he will leave a legacy far greater than anything he has achieved on the national stage.

The second significant event was the introduction of the government’s proposed amendments to the RMA. That these were a watered-down shadow of the promises offered by National before the Northland by-election was expected, and there has been much commentary on the effectiveness or otherwise of the measures proposed.

What has been interesting has been the general level of acceptance across the board for change, in the seemingly desperate belief that any change has got to be an improvement.

Even the potentially contentious iwi consultation provisions negotiated by the Maori Party have generally been seen as a step in the right direction, as it appears it will have the effect of engaging with Maori earlier in the planning process and require the consenting authority (i.e. politicians) to consider cultural and treaty issues at the

tentious provisions are also addressed.

Except for the expected opposition by the Greens, all the major parties (it doesn’t seem fair to consider Peter Dunne’s party major or relevant) appear to be supporting the amendments through the initial readings.

Changes will occur; it’s only to be expected. Compromise will prevail, but hopefully the thrust and direction will survive through to enactment and councils will then embrace the challenge to finally meet the original stated aim of RMA – to be ‘enabling‘ legislation.

It’s with these two unrelated events that we have the potential to define the achievements of 2015 and the hopes for 2016. Much better than being remembered for a popularity poll on a national flag that no-one seems to really care about.

Thus we end this Yuletide sermon. It only remains for me to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a prosperous New Year and a safe and happy break.

Evans Young is Business Development Director for Hopper Developments and INFRA-SOL Tel: 09 477 0015 • Email: evans@hoppers. co.nz • www.hoppers.co.nz Yearbook 2015-2016

Communication

Technology taking off New Zealanders are starting to question the impact of technology on their life, their jobs and their children’s futures, a technology industry leader says

New Zealand’s technological education is evolving too slowly and putting a generation at risk, says New Zealand Technology Industry Association Chief Executive Graeme Muller

“W

e expect to see an increasing public awareness and desire to engage in discussion about the role of technology throughout New Zealand in 2016,” New Zealand Technology Industry Association (NZTech) Chief Executive Graeme Muller predicts.

Cybersecurity is a growing issue, and NZTech recently ran a Security Summit to coincide with the new national cybersecurity strategy and bring together industry and government leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities.

“The biggest concern is that global research shows that the incidence of cyberattacks is increasing rapidly and that almost 50 percent are now malicious,” Mr Muller observes. “This has become big business for criminals and a major cost for businesses.”

The chances of a business being attacked are now 22 percent within a 24-month period with the average costs in the hundreds of thousands, he notes.

“The NZTech Security Summit and the new cybersecurity strategy both identify the need for strong public-private partnerYearbook 2015-2016

ships in order to protect New Zealand citizens, businesses and national infrastructure from cyberattack.”

Mr Muller believes the biggest impact from technology will come as the economy finds better ways to use technologies such as cloud services, big data, mobility, robotics and 3D printing. “NZTech is undertaking a detailed economic impact study to examine both the economic and social benefits that technology is bringing to the country in areas such as rural New Zealand, education, healthcare, small businesses and other sectors.”

Yet the recent OECD report on Students, Computers and Learning showed that even though New Zealand has relatively high levels of computer and internet use in schools it is experiencing declines in reading and maths performance as measured by the OECD PISA tests.

Mr Muller notes that this year the UK made computational thinking and computer science a compulsory part of the curricula, alongside English and maths, from year one. “What worries NZTech is that our education system is evolving too slowly and a generation is at risk.”

55

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