Inf aug sep15 digi

August/september 2015 Volume 5 No 4

Public-private partnerships • LGNZ Conference report • Productivity Commission Housing Report review

INFRASTRUCTUREAsiaPacific

In this issue

ACENZ Innovate Awards Saluting the best of the best

2 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz August/september 2015

Working high above sea level, up a wind-ing, mostly unsealed,

mountain road where snow is guaranteed every month were just a few of the challenges Ar-row faced during the Remarka-bles new base building.

The Arrow International team scaled them all to bring the Re-markables new base building project home by mid June this year in time for the 2015 ski sea-son and provide a fitting mark to the 30-year anniversary of the ski resort and of Arrow itself.

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

“The complex project had many unique and challenging issues for the Arrow team,” says Arrow’s Southern Director Nick Hamlin.

“Working 1,600m above sea level on a site only accessible by gravel road is difficult on its own, but this was compounded with sub-zero blizzard condi-tions and potential avalanch-es,” he says.

Innovative systems were im-plemented to tackle these 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,” says Mr Hamlin.

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

Many procedures and con-struction methodologies were put in place to ensure the safety of all the sub-contractors, con-sultants, visitors and Arrow staff.

These included precast con-crete walls, panels, columns, beams and double-T flooring which were designed for the basement and ground floor are-as to ensure they could be safe-ly delivered to site and erected quickly.

The first floor steel struc-ture was set up on the adja-cent learners’ slopes and then craned into place.

The façade is an insulated Kingspan panel product.

Stage one included the crea-tion 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 instal-lation 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

5,800 square metre, three-level base building modelled on the one at Coronet Peak - which was also built by Arrow in 2009.

It houses guest services, retail tenancies, gear rental, a snow-sport school and an extensive café and restaurant.

Team work key to Arrow success

The task of completing a multi-million dollar project on time in an extreme weather envi-ronment presents its own set of challenges

As some readers may be aware, I have recently been appointed by the government to the Local Government Commission for three years from 1st August 2015

Accepting a new commission

First Word


Leigh Auton Director, Auton & AssociAtes

“The commission may of its own accord, or if requested by the Minister of Local Government, consider matters relating to a local authority or to local government, and make recommendations on them to the Minister in respect of a local authority”

I am privileged to be appointed along-side Sir Wira Gardiner, who is the new Chair, and Janie Annear who has been

reappointed for the full three-year term. Sir Wira has had a distinguished public service career, while Janie is a former long-serv-ing Mayor of the Timaru District Council. My background is with the executive of local government, and more latterly within broader governance.

I pay tribute to the outgoing members of the commission, and in particular the Chair Basil Morrison. Basil has been a wonderful servant and leader of local government in New Zealand and internationally. Like many that have had an association with Basil, I have always appreciated his wit, charm and intellect.

It is not my intention to discuss the direc-tion of the Local Government Commission. This is more appropriate from the Chair on behalf of the commission, and for the Minister of Local Government, Hon Paula Bennett in terms of broader central gov-

ernment vision and strategy for the sector. Readers may, however, wish to read a re-

cent speech by the Minister to the Local Government Conference in Rotorua which gives a fairly clear message from her as to the government’s aspirations for the sec-tor. These aspirations have particular rel-evance to the infrastructural industry. The speech can be accessed at http://tinyurl.com/pl9m68m and I recommend it. More recently the Chair of the commission, Sir Wira Gardiner has amplified on the min-ister’s speech, and his statement can be found on the Local Government Commis-sion website.

I thought it might useful for the reader, within the context of local government or-ganisation and the ‘day-to-day’ activities of

the commission, to provide a snapshot of the commission’s work.

The commission is resourced by a divi-sion of the Department of Internal Affairs. The division has a Chief Executive Officer, Sandra Preston, with a resource comprised of a number of policy analysts and admin-istrators.

Reorganisation organisationThe Local Government Commission is an

independent statutory body established

under the Local Government Act 2002. The commission was first established in 1947 to consider proposals for local government reorganisation. Reorganisation is a core function of the commission, although the rules under which reorganisation takes place have changed over time.

Likewise, over this period, dealing with lo-cal authority representation arrangements has become a core function of the commis-sion.

The commission may of its own accord, or if requested by the Minister of Local Government, consider matters relating to a local authority or to local government, and make recommendations on them to the minister in respect of a local authority.

It also has a role in disputes between local

boards and the governing body of a uni-tary authority about the allocation of deci-sion-making responsibility and proposed bylaws.

The Chair of the Local Government Com-mission is also a non-voting member of the Representation Commission under the Electoral Act 1993.

The commission also undertakes other duties in respect of licensing trusts and ad hoc duties such as reviews on the operation of the Local Government Act.

The reader will be aware of a number of high profile amalgamation issues in North-land, Wellington and the Hawkes Bay.

It is not my intention to comment on these, other than to note that the commis-sion has an ongoing role in working with lo-cal government in these areas on the issues behind the initial proposals. In the Hawkes Bay, we all await the outcome of a poll be-ing undertaken in the area on a reorganisa-tion proposal.

For someone who has been closely in-volved in local government for around 40 years, the opportunity to serve on the Lo-cal Government Commission is an honour. I look forward to the role, working with and alongside local government which has such a critical role in the wellbeing of our society.

Basil Morrison Janie Annear Sir Wira Gardiner

FOCUS – Public Private Partnerships PPPGrowing international evidence shows that public-private partner-ships are a sensible way of funding large infrastructure projects according to Property Council NZ P12Why Skypath is not publically funded rather than a PPP is a moot point P24-25Plan A advises on how to win PPP bids P31A comprehensive KPMG report finds the PPP model is growing globally as one way to deal with a substantial infrastructure deficit P32-36 NZCID explains the mysteries of PPP P37-38 The Green Party ponders whether PPP are a blessing or a curse P39 LOCAL GOVERNMENTLGNZ promotes its10-point Funding Review Plan to incentivise economic growth P41 and P44Mobilise the regions to drive economic growth P42The LGNZ conference hears of the key issues worrying mayors and the chairs of local authorities P42Paula Bennet tells the conference that local government must face the need for change P43 INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATIONSApex Environmental adds a high performance economical answer to pond aeration problems P22-23Eco Retainer is a good news story about how Kiwi ingenuity has developed a way to turn environmentally damaging used tyres and waste concrete into a useful product suitable for a range of uses from retaining walls to road and bridge abutments P6-7Facebook chimes in with a programme linking families in a disas-ter P30Iplex Pipelines shows the way with cartridge style static pipe bursting to provide a trenchless solution to a Hutt City sewer main problem P9 Robinson Seismic to provide base isolation the Christchurch’s new Justice and Emergency Services Precinct P29 Solar Bright lights up icy roads P6St John and Samsung work together to improve communications P8Smart Mover takes the dangers out of moving heavy drums and chemicals P8Southeys Group solves an excavation problem on a Wellington construction site with hydro excavation and a specialist team P13 SECTIONSConstructionArrow International completes a $45 million project in the Remark-ables P2

August/September 2015


Editor Geoff Picken 0212 507 559

geoff@ mediasolutions.net.nz

Managing partner Phil Pilbrow

027 564 7778, 09 489 8663

[email protected]

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021 161 0602

Web development Neo Chen 021 507 318 [email protected]

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ISSN 2324-3163 (Print) ISSN 2324-3171 (Online)

IPLEX Pipelines P 9

NZCID P43

People Centric P29

Plan A P15

Red Cross P33

Robinson Seismic P29

Southeys Group P13

Apex Environmental P22-23

Arrow International P2

Bloxam Burnett & Olliver p11

Cancer Society P47

Chapman Tripp P35

EcoRetainer Systems P7

Electrix P48

Hopper- Infrasol P5 & P21

WATER >> WAsTEWATER mAnAgEmEnT by mATT sAvAgE

22 – www.infrastructurenews.co.nz AugusT/sEpTEmbER 2015 AugusT/sEpTEmbER 2015 www.infrastructurenews.co.nz – 23

Industry leaders in wastewater treatment

Apex Surface Aerators are manufactured in New Zealand which means lower costs and faster delivery

Check our website for full details

www.apexenvironmental.co.nz P 03 929 2675 E [email protected]

The Apex of cost and performance in wastewater pond aerationPond based biological management is one of the most common wastewater treat-ment systems in New Zealand. Aeration is essential but can be expensive. Apex Environmental has added a high performance, economical Kiwi answer to pond aeration solutions

Growing a microbial pop-ulation in a wastewater pond is a widely utilised

treatment - microbes eat the pollution entering the pond and turn it into carbon dioxide, wa-ter and more bugs. The bacteria that do the work require oxygen provided by mechanical aera-tion to breathe and effectively metabolise the con-taminants.

In tough economic times the capital and operating cost of aerators are putting both mu-nicipal and industrial budgets under strain.

Lower capital cost solutions for pond aeration to facilitate the process is prominent among the range of conflicting drivers being sought to improve perfor-mance.

In many cases, a lack of access to ready capital or cash flow constraints has increased the demand for surface rather than submerged aeration. In other instances, the use of shallow ponds minimises the benefits of submerged aeration and makes surface aeration the best choice for the project.

Traditional surface aeration solutions in New Zealand typi-cally involve imported products.

As units larger than about 45kW in capacity are usually oversize for international shipping, which adds significant cost to the end user.

Due to an inability to source high efficiency, reasonably priced units within acceptable timeframes from existing suppli-ers, Apex Environmental invest-ed in the development of a local solution to this local problem.

A local solutionThe combination of decades

of local expertise, lean manu-factur-ing and detailed hydrau-lic design has resulted in a low

cost, high efficiency solution manufactured in New Zealand, that can be delivered in as little as a fifth of the time of most im-ported options.

The locally produced aerators are provided with a foam filled Kevlar® float to provide ex-tremely robust and reliable flo-tation. Kevlar is about five times stronger than steel on a weight for weight basis - it is also used to make bullet proof vests.

The closed cell foam filling en-sures that even in the extremely unlikely event that the Kevlar® float is punctured, the buoyan-cy of the unit is maintained. An

additional benefit of local, lean manufacturing is that the aera-tors can be produced at around 20 percent lower cost than even the most competitive compara-ble imported products.

Existing pond upgradesOne of the key issues identified

for existing wastewater treat-ment plants, as opposed to new installations, is that the need for upgrades or an increase in aer-ation capacity usually require a very rapid response.This is not consistent with the four to six month delivery time usually re-quired to obtain an imported aerator. A common example is when a wastewater treatment plant operator experiences peak loading events that re-quire an urgent increase in aer-ation capacity in order to avoid breach of discharge consent or release of objectionable odour, only to find that the equipment required to increase their oxy-gen transfer capacity will take months to deliver. By manufac-turing locally and tooling up for a high level of production from the start, Apex Environmental is able to offer a typical delivery time of only four weeks for most sizes of aerator.

For select models, the longest lead time components are held in stock enabling a unit to be assembled to order in an even shorter time frame to provide a very rapid response.

The alternative for many op-erators can be significant legal action due to environmental non-compliance.

Success storyIn one recent such case where the site was al-ready operating at the absolute limit of their available power capacity, two 45kW Apex sur-face aerators were installed to replace two existing lower ef-ficiency surface aerators of the same size. With no change to the power consumption of the plant (as no more was available to use), the oxygen transfer rate was about double from what the previous aerators were pro-viding.

The very real risk of release of offensive odours from the

wastewater treatment plant was largely mitigated due to the subsequently raised oxygen lev-els in the treatment pond.

The drive to maximise efficiency

For treatment plant owners who are able to commit the additional capital up front and take a long-term view, sub-merged pond aeration is a sensible investment due to the signif-icantly reduced on-going operating costs associated with the higher efficiency of such a system. Payback on installing the more efficient submerged aeration option is generally less

than three years.In order to minimise power

consumption of wastewater treatment plants, Apex Environ-mental has been a champion of installing submerged fine bub-ble aeration in aerobic wastewa-ter treatment ponds.

Because the amount of oxy-gen that can be transferred into the water is proportional to the depth at which the air and wa-ter come into contact, this has clear advantages over tradition-al surface aeration systems.In a submerged pond aeration sys-tem, a blower is installed on the shore of the pond (typically in a small shed or building) and air

is blown down a floating man-ifold into fine bubble diffusers installed in the bottom of the pond. The diffusers, which are one of the key components of this system, are configured in such a way that they can be eas-ily removed from the pond for maintenance and cleaning.

Although significant power is required to blow the air into the bottom of a deep pond, at depths of 3 – 10m this is more than overcome by the addition-al oxygen transfer that occurs at this increased depth

.Whilst surface aeration sys-tems typically transfer 0.5-1.5kg of oxygen into the water per kW

of electricity used, submerged aeration systems are capable of achieving efficien-cies of 2-4kg of oxygen transferred per kW of power used depending on pond depth and the type of membranes used.

Dr Matt Savage is a chartered chemical engineer with a PhD in the design of equipment for industrial wastewater treatment. He has nearly 20 years international experience in the development, commercialisation and manufacture of wastewater treatment plant and equipment.

A wide range of surface aerators installed on an industrial wastewater treatment pond – New Zealand made Apex 45kW aerator in foreground, imported 45kW model behind

New Zealand made Apex Surface Aerator

Apex is able to offer a typical delivery time of only four weeks for most sizes of surface aerator

Floating manifold of a submerged aeration system installed in a wastewater treatment pond

Features & BenefitsConsiderably less expensive than other concrete or timber

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

Pre-engineered for most applications

Saves non-renewable cement resource

Potential to use NZ’s remaining supply of disposed tyres

Unlimited applications in construction and infrastructure works

Weight 4 to 4.5 tonnes, volume 2.88 cu.m,large footprint cover: 1.8 sq.m per block

Economical to transport

Eco-Retainer blocks can be used to build walls kilometres longEco-Retainer structures have the unique ability to be curved or angled while staying locked together. If the curve has a small radius, a concrete wedge segment can be inserted into the gap for enhanced visual appearance, strength and stability.

If you have used tyres for collection or drop-off, or you’d like to know more about end-use products like Eco-Retainer, talk to us today.

40Truck tyres or 110

Car tyres

6mMin radius

Unique tailored patterns can be inlaid on the facing plane

EcoRetainer

www.ecoretainer.comEco-Retainer Investing in a sustainable future www.ecoretainer.com

Call us today +64 21 572 603or alternatively +64 9 973 4709

track-recordproven

We provide electrical engineering, project management and maintenance services for asset owners and major infrastructure projects in Power, Water, Gas & Transport.

We apply proven approaches in both traditional and new smart technologies to support our clients.

To each and every engagement, we bring our experience and technical expertise along with our commitment to safety, quality and the environment.

electrix.co.nz Pride Performance Value

Contact Iplex

Iplex Pipelines provide a range of solutions

for harvesting, treatment, detention and

filtration of stormwater.

Services include design and supply or

design, supply and install options to suit

each individual client‘s needs.

For further information or to arrange

a quotation please contact the Iplex

Technical Services Team

0800 800 262

Iplex Pipelines Ltd, Head Office, Palmerston NorthFreephone 0800 800 262Phone: 06 358 2004 Fax: 06 356 2906www.iplex.co.nz

©Iplex Pipelines (NZ) Ltd. All information contained in this

brochure should serve as a guide only.

Iplex Pipelines does not invite any person to act or rely upon

such information and recommends that expert advice should

be sought for particular application intended.

Advancing best practice in the development of world class infrastructure for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

www.nzcid.org.nz

new zealand councilfor infrastructure development

August/september 2015 www.infrastructurenews.co.nz – 5

Hydro excavation equipment solves a dilemma on a Wellington construction site P13 In Wellington a large area of redundant and ailing waterfront infra-structure more than 100 years old has been revived so successfully it has won not one but two major industry awards P16-18PropertyWhen there is no silver bullet try buckshot – that’s essentially the approach the Productivity Commission has adopted in its 37-rec-ommendation draft report on Using Land for Housing P14-15TransportBloxam Burnett and Olliver is cited for a demonstration of “out-standing creativity and innovation in an example of best practice planning in an environmentally and culturally sensitive environ-ment” for its work on the Huntly expressway P11The Lower Hatea crossing is a spectacular 265-metre long North-land bridge inspired by the traditional Maori fish hook hei matau P19-21WaterWater New Zealand’s latest National Performance Review high-lights the continued critical importance of the 3 Waters P10Apex Environmental adds a high performance economical answer to pond aeration problems P22-23CommunicationsStraker Translations picks up an Innovative Service Product award for its cloud-based translation workbench. P26-27SecurityHoneywell puts out a digital dashboard to monitor control sys-tems at refineries, power plants and other automated production sites P27ManagementBeing assertive and clear with communication can save lives ac-cording to People Centric P45 CONTENT PARTNERSAuckland: Why a cycling and walking path tacked on to the har-bour bridge is not publically funded rather than a PPP is a moot point says Dr Joel Cayford P24-25. Evans Young says the Auck-land has managed to steal the limelight again with its poorly man-aged decisions. P46-47Housing: Joanna Bain and Raj Gurusinge say the Productivity Commission has adopted the “buckshot” approach in its 37-rec-ommendation draft report on Using Land for Housing P14-15LGNZ: Chairman Lawrence Yule makes the case for its Funding Review 10 point plan. P41Local Government Commission: Content Partner Leigh Auton is appointed to join a distinguished panel P3PPP: Connal Townsend says PPPs are a sensible way of funding large infrastructure projects (P12) Focus: Caroline Boot offers ad-vice on how to win PPP bids (P31) PPP: John Fitzgerald finds the PPP model is growing globally as one way of dealing with a substantial infrastructure deficit P32-36. PPP: Hamish Glenn sets out to explain the mysteries of PPP P37-38 PPP: Julie Anne Genter notes that from a simple cost-of-capital perspective it is not clear why PPP are a good idea P39Privacy: Catherine Somerville and Kate Fairbrother examine new rules being set down by the Director of Civil Aviation for the safe use of drones P45 Water: The sheer magnitude of 3 waters investment underscores the importance of having efficient and highly performing manage-ment says John Pfahlert P10Workplace: Moira Howson says that the ability to communicate in an assertive manner is a critical and potentially life-saving skill. P45

iNFrAstruCture >> iNNoVAtioNs


An EcoRetainer is a pat-ented, modular, and interlocking civil engi-

neering unit made from recy-cled tyres and recycled con-crete.

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 sug-gests that for large retaining projects Eco Retainer walls may be half the cost of any other de-sign for the same job.

The 4-4.5 tonne blocks are de-signed with dimples and locating channels to interlock at varying angles to form retaining walls, stop banks, sea walls and 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 diffi-cult to recycle.

Demand for the product is ex-pected to be such that produc-tion will be needed in at least one North Island location and one in the South Island.

“For a large infrastructure pro-ject, 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 implementa-tion,” says ERSL founder and engineer Stuart Monteith.

“On project completion equipment could be shipped back to ERSL. This flexibili-ty raises the prospect of local

communities eliminating stock-piles of waste tyres and using the resulting blocks in local in-frastructure projects,” he says.

End of life car tyres have been identified as a major en-vironmental 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 be prolonged and require in-

At last a sustainable, economical use for old tyres and recycled concreteEcoRetainer is a good news story about how Kiwi in-genuity has developed a way to turn environmentally damaging waste into a useful product

Solar Bright has come up with what it says is the world’s first icy-road

warning technology - with so-lar-powered blue road markers that flash blue when conditions are icy.

At least 800 blue road markers are already installed on state highway one around Dunedin, on state highway eight and in Central Otago.

Managing director Nicola Martin says after installing the road markers in Dunedin and Central Otago, 82 percent of traffic slowed down when the

markers were activated.

“We have had a lot of serious interest from other New Zea-

land cities and regions, insur-ance companies, St John, po-lice, shopping malls, airports, councils, hospitals, fire depart-ments and companies around New Zealand

The road markers are trialling with Tasmania Government and interest has come the UK, US, Canada, Russia, Europe and Japan.

“We soon hope to introduce a smart intelligent marker with telemetry capabilities, able to count, read traffic, monitor car-bon dioxide emissions and light levels,” she says.

Bronwyn Rhynd with CKL director Geoff Webster Environmental engineering consultancy Stormwater Solutions has joined forces with mid-size land development and civil engineering firm CKL as part of a strategic growth plan for both companies. CKL has over 70 specialist engineers and technical support staff across offices in Auckland, Hamilton, and Te Awamutu “We have worked closely on a number of projects and share a strong alignment of values,”says Bronwyn Rhynd, founder and Director of Stormwater Solutions who joins the CKL board.

The cold light of dayStrategic merger

“Large structures can be installed without specialist

equipment or major site works and will save significant time and money when deployed.”

Stuart Monteith


Features & BenefitsConsiderably less expensive than other concrete or timber

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

Pre-engineered for most applications

Saves non-renewable cement resource

Potential to use NZ’s remaining supply of disposed tyres

Unlimited applications in construction and infrastructure works


Economical to transport

Eco-Retainer blocks can be used to build walls kilometres longEco-Retainer structures have the unique ability to be curved or angled while staying locked together. If the curve has a small radius, a concrete wedge segment can be inserted into the gap for enhanced visual appearance, strength and stability.

If you have used tyres for collection or drop-off, or you’d like to know more about end-use products like Eco-Retainer, talk to us today.

40Truck tyres or 110

Car tyres

6mMin radius


EcoRetainer

www.ecoretainer.comEco-Retainer Investing in a sustainable future www.ecoretainer.com


Considerably less expensive than other concrete or timber


6mMin radius




6mMin radius




6mMin radius




6mMin radius




6mMin radius


novative thinking. Its rivers have been choked by silt due to liquefaction and bank ero-sion. Parts of the Port Hills are still closed due to rock-falls and residents in many suburbs are still battling land slips,” says Mr Monteith.

“It is not just a matter of con-tributing to waste minimisation. To be sustainable, the company

must demonstrate it can op-erate profitably. A number of companies have seen a possi-ble business opportunity in re-cycling or re-using waste tyres but have failed either through poor technology, lack of fund-ing or poor business skills. ERSL is different,” says Mr Monteith.

“Our solution is deliberately low tech and has the potential

to re-use a large number of tyres each year in a way that is environmentally beneficial.”

This is a solution which ad-dresses many of the challenges faced where new building and reconstruction is expensive and slow.

“Large structures can be in-stalled without specialist equip-ment or major site works and

will save significant time and money when deployed,” says Mr Monteith.

EcoRetainer walls can be erected in hours forming per-manent structures.

“If at a later stage a decision is made to replace the EcoRetain-ers, they can easily be removed and put into service somewhere else,” he says.

EcoRetainer

Eco-Retainer Investing in a sustainable future www.ecoretainer.com

Wall to wallEco-Retainer Ltd has developed another great product utilising New Zealand’s end-of-life tyres. Tyres are collected from throughout the North Island and recycled at the company’s Auckland and Waikato plants.

Eco-Retainer looks like a plain concrete block, but inside is a compressed bale of 40 truck tyres or 110 car tyres, bound by galvanised high tensile steel wire. The blocks are designed with dimples and locating channels to interlock at varying angles, allowing flexibility in building:

✔ Retaining walls

✔ Bunker walls

✔ Stopbanks

✔ Sea-walls

✔ Landscaping features

✔ Road & bridge abutments

and many other uses.

New Zealand needs a sustainable solution to the used tyre problem. Products like Eco-Retainer are making a difference. Motorway or river bank retaining walls built with Eco-Retainer blocks may usefully recycle hundreds of thousands of old tyres.

a constructive approach to recycling tyres!

Super-fast installationBeing modular and easier to lift, Eco-Retainer blocks can be installed onsite much quicker than conventional retaining systems. Constructing retaining walls has never been easier!


EcoRetainer




✔ Retaining walls

✔ Bunker walls

✔ Stopbanks

✔ Sea-walls








EcoRetainer




✔ Retaining walls

✔ Bunker walls

✔ Stopbanks

✔ Sea-walls










“St John has an inno-vative strategy for integrating technol-

ogy into their services. Giving access to our market-leading technologies will help enable St John to bring these plans to fruition,” says managing direc-tor of Samsung New Zealand, Kenny Yeon.

“The two organisations have a mutual vision of improving lives through technology,” she says.

Initially, the partnership will center on St John’s needs in the technology space, with Sam-sung’s hardware and solutions expertise being implemented to improve services, productiv-ity and connectivity.

One of the first projects will include the roll-out of Samsung tablets into ambulances, as part of a new electronic system de-signed to replace handwritten clinical notes.

Using the smart devices, am-bulance officers can forward pa-tient information electronically to an emergency department, specialist or GP – all while on the road.

Samsung technology will also be used in St John Clinical Con-trol Centres in Auckland and Christchurch.

Thirty-four inch curved mon-itors, designed to mimic the natural curvature of the eye, will offer an immersive and more comfortable workstation en-vironment for the 130 St John personnel answering 111 emer-gency calls and dispatching ambulance resources 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Samsung will also look to sup-

port the development of the St John in Schools programme - empowering, educating and giving young people the confi-dence to care for themselves in their community.

“The partnership with Sam-sung is a positive part in the advancement of the organisa-tions’ services,” says St John chief executive, Peter Bradley.

“Technology has a significant role to play in enhancing patient care and the working lives of our staff and volunteers. Working with Samsung’s technology ex-perts and having access to their new product solutions means a positive and strong partnership that will benefit New Zealand communities.”

St John ambulance officers treat and transport more than 425,000 patients a year.

St John partners with SamsungSt John and Samsung Electronics New Zealand have entered into a partnership ar-rangement to collaborate on technology solutions to improve operations in ambu-lances and clinical contact centres

Samsung New Zealand managing director, Kenny Yeon marks the occasion with St John chief executive Peter Bradley

Smart low-tech solution for balanced, safe and reliable manual moving

Daryn Murray knows about health and safety – he has to if he is to survive.

Working for 15 years as a shearing contractor with up to 80 staff and another 15 years as a shearer has given this South-land inventor a solid foundation and understanding of the im-portance of health and safety in the workplace.

“Shearing is an industry that pays on performance so we are always looking for more effi-cient ways of doing things. And

safety – well that’s up to each in-dividual to take ownership of.”

The Smart Mover can load easily off pallets, be used safely on uneven surfaces or handling hazardous chemicals in steel or plastic drums.

Today the Smart Mover has extended its reach way beyond the farm gate.

A mini version is finding a ready market with small busi-ness operators who cannot justify the expense of a forklift and both sizes are impressing

bigger companies who find the Smart Mover more efficient than a forklift and less likely to cause product damage.

“The hero is the Smart Mov-er which allows the drum to be delivered safely by one person into the Smart Tipper, ready for dispensing or inverting the con-tents,” he says.

“It wasn’t just dairy farmers who were struggling, it was people involved in a range of areas including logistics, retail, manufacturers.

Central Southland Freight op-erations manager Corey Price says the company’s drivers love the Smart Mover.

“The balance is perfect and it takes all the strain and hassle away. You can even walk it along with one hand.”

Occupational Therapist Jane Llyal of NZROT told Mr Murray that he has “designed a beauti-fully balanced product to allow the drums to be moved easily, using an upright body posi-tion.”



Action Civil Ltd Ltd (ACL) were awarded Hutt City Council’s Westminster

St sewer renewal in 2012.The project consisted of in-

stalling about 800 metres of DN225/150 SN16 sewer main with additional sewer laterals to each of the surrounding prop-erties.

The DN225 sewer main was installed using traditional open cut methods, they began in-stalling the sewer laterals after the main was completed using open cut methods as well.

Production was very slow, some days only two sewer lat-erals would be completed. With many laterals to be renewed ACL explored using faster methods.

ACL Director David Murtagh called Iplex Pipelines to ask how productivity could be in-creased.

Iplex had introduced David to “static pipe bursting” a year before, providing case studies and technical support to prove that 6-8 sewer laterals could be renewed every day using a technique called “Cartridge Style-Static Pipe Bursting”.

This method is completed by installing short lengths of Re-strainTM PVC-U gravity sewer pipe incorporating a threaded pipe socket, spigot and a rub-ber ring joint.

This Cartridge Style method has been proven successful during installations in Auckland,

Bay of Plenty, New Plymouth, Hastings, Whakatane, Master-ton, Wanganui, Oamaru and Invercargill.

Recently contractors in Christchurch City have began installing Restrain where more than 2000 kilometres of sewer laterals were destroyed during the Christchurch earthquakes - ACL contacted contractors to confirm that 6-8 laterals in-stalled per day was possible.

They then engaged Iplex Pipelines and the equipment supplier to complete a trial in-stallation at the Westminster Street project. A trial date was set.

Iplex and the equipment sup-plier’s staff arrived on site at 9.50am with the Restrain pipe and bursting equipment in hand - ACL had already exca-vated the exit pit and a 1.2m x 1.2m entry pit at the trial prop-erty boundary.

The equipment supplier set up the Hammer Head PB30 hy-draulic portable burster using an excavator as the hydraulic power source.

By 10am the burster was in place and the first lead pipe of Restrain was connected to the pull head.

By this time also, Iplex had trained ACL’s installers and pull back began immediately install-ing pipe cartridge style, one pipe after another, in the entry pit.

ACL were amazed how simple

and fast this method was, by 1022am - just 22 minutes after beginning - the first sewer later-al had been installed. “Bugger - how easy was that … I wish we had got onto this technology earlier, ACL’s Ben Jones said.

“We could have installed each sewer lateral within the trench while the open cut main was being constructed”.

ACL immediately ordered more Restrain pipe and pur-chased the burster on the spot, they continued to install the re-maining laterals using this tech-nique.

“I was anti towards pipe burst-ing first up, but time restraints pushed me to review faster methods. I am pleased I chose to use this technique as it deliv-ered a nice tidy solution using a very small low impact, footprint. It’s a brilliant method, by switch-ing to this technique mid stream it saved us time and money”. David Murtagh commented.

From open cut to trenchless methods – save time and money

Restrain being installed within small entry pit in a narrow grass berm - tunnelled beneath existing front fence immediately above - and (right) the connection using traditional rubber ring joint PVC fittings

RestrainTM was developed for installation using trench-less technology methods including guided auger bor-ing, micro tunneling, horizontal directional drilling, slip lining and hydraulic, static pipe bursting

PIPelIneS >>SPonSored ArTICle

June/July 2015 www.infrastructurenews.co.nz – 9

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.

0800 800 262www.iplex.co.nz

innovative

Stormwater, sewer, roading and trenchlessAquacellAquacell™ is a stormwater management cell designed for use in infiltration, attenuation or storage / reuse applications. Individual cells are assembled together to form an underground structure for use in commercial, industrial or residential siteshttp://tinyurl.com/pp86af5

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 accord-ance with Transit NZ Specification NRB F/2: 1989, construction work-site drainage, subsoil drainage under carriageways or drive-ways, drainage of rubbish tips and public land fill sites.http://tinyurl.com/nqsuovs

RestrainFor gravity pipeline projects using trench-less technology. Applications include gravity sewer, stormwater, electrical and telecommunication ducting. Suitable for use with horizontal directional drilling, au-ger boring, guided boring, pipe bursting/cracking.Product detail: http://tinyurl.com/p9uaotvCase Studies: http://tinyurl.com/ox25u5s

Apollo Biaxially oriented PVC pressure pipe for use in water and waste water pipelines. With exceptional toughness and impact resist-ance, 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 Zealand and available in the size range DN100 – DN300mm. Manufactured in accord-ance with AS/NZS4441. Product detail: http://tinyurl.com/pocxtflCase Studies: http://tinyurl.com/pkr68v9

Novafuse Fusible PVC FPVC™ provides the only available method of installing a con-tinuous. monolithic, seal ring–free PVC pipe, capable of use in numerous trenchless or conventional open-cut installation. Appli-cations include pressure and non pressure pipelines for drinking water, wastewater, electrical, industrial and telecommunications industries. Fused and installed throughout the US, Canada, Cen-tral America, Hawaii, and NZ.Product detail: http://tinyurl.com/pduvfsgCase Study http://youtu.be/VUR5v7raSH0

Poliplex PE100PE100 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 waste-water to sewer rising mains, irrigation mainlines and above ground pipelines.

Flowtite GRP PipeGlass reinforced polymer pro-ducing a high strength, cor-rosion 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 ap-plications and conventional trenched pipeline and is also available in jacking pipe and slip-lining pipe options for trenchless installa-tion.

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 4765NOVAKEY PVC-U Pressure Pipe Metric Pipe Series 1. Standards: AS/NZS 1477

For technical services Iain McNaught 027 243 3000, Frank O’Callaghan 027 495 4523, Todd Randell 027 211 4838

Leading new Zealand manufacturer of plastic pipelines and systems for the infrastructure sectorIplex quality product and technical support

Civil pipeline systemshttp://tinyurl.com/pjztopzIplex Case Studieshttp://tinyurl.com/pb4taxf

Telecommunications, electrical and gashttp://tinyurl.com/nbljtup

PN

infra_june_july15_1-31.indd 9 19/06/15 3:51 pm

The pipe entry pits were small in comparison to the open cut excavations, most lateral con-nections were made within the entry pit excavated between the footpath and each proper-ties front fence.

In some cases this space was less than one metre and install-ers were able to tunnel beneath fences and other abandoned services, then install pipe in ex-tremely tight spaces.

All connections to the main and existing house sewer lat-eral were made using common rubber ring jointed PVC fittings.

By using this technique it not only allowed the contractor to increase his installation rate but it had other benefits too, these include: Westminster St remained open while the Re-strain pipe was being pulled into position, less truck move-ments due to less excavation and overall lower installed cost.

For technical services Iain McNaught 027 243 3000, Frank O’Callaghan 027 495 4523, Todd Randell 027 211 4838 Check out the full range of Iplex products at www.iplex.co.nz or a selection of infrastructure targeted products at www.infrastructurenews.co.nz/node/1017

WAter


The value of the total asset base managed by current NPR participants exceeds

$21 billion, with water supply infrastructure accounting for about $8.29 billion, wastewater infrastructure about $9.8 billion and stormwater assets almost $3.18 billion.

The total replacement value for all the country’s in-ground pipeline assets is estimated to be about $45 billion. The invest-ment during 2013-14 by district and city council participants was significant – $561.96 million in operations and $917.5 million in capital. As well, over $1 bil-lion in revenue was generated to help finance these services.

The sheer magnitude of all these assets and continued investments underscores the importance of having efficient-ly managed, highly performing assets.

The 2013-14 report collates and assesses asset perfor-mance, financial management, customer service and social and environmental criteria, and is the first to include overseas benchmarking.

The number of NPR partici-pants (regional, territorial local authority and council-controlled organisations) has improved markedly in recent years – from eight for the 2007-08 review to the current 31, which represents over 70 percent of the country’s population.

International benchmarking studies referred to in the report include a Canadian National Water and Wastewater Bench-marking Initiative, a Pacific Water and Wastes Association Utilities Benchmarking study, a European Benchmarking Co-operation report, an Aus-tralian National Water Com-mission National Performance Report (Urban Utilities) and the International Benchmarking

Network for Water and Sanita-tion Utilities Blue Book 2014.

One of the encouraging things about the latest Water New Zealand report is that the me-dian age of NPR participants’ water pipes is similar to that of European benchmarking partic-ipants (34 years in NZ compared to 36 years in Europe).

However, the economic sus-tainability of NPR participants ranks rather low against in-ternational benchmarks when using cost coverage ratios, metrics that relate revenue to expenditure. That is, NPR participants’ revenue does not appear to cover costs for most participants.

An economically sustainable entity will have revenues that cover total costs by a ratio of 1.0 or more. But NPR partici-pants have a median total cost coverage ratio of 0.64, signif-icantly lower than the median total cost coverage ratio of 1.03 of European benchmarking par-ticipants.

Cost coverageOperational cost coverage is

also lower than international benchmarks, with a median of 0.95 among NPR participants compared with a median of 1.09 for over 1,000 utilities par-ticipating in the benchmarking exercise run by the World Bank.

However, NPR participants are better than the Australians in some things, with the median NPR participant charge being $742 for the delivery/treatment of 200 cubic metres (cumecs) of water and wastewater services. This is just over half the median charge for residential water and wastewater in urban Australia during 2012-13 of approximate-ly $1,280.

Median water and wastewater charges include NPR partici-pants that reported no targeted

charges associated with water or wastewater service delivery. Two authorities reported no tar-geted water charge and three had no charges for wastewater. Targeted charges were even less common for stormwater, with nearly half (14 of 29) NPR participants having no targeted stormwater charge.

Stormwater systems general-ly have lower revenue-to-cost ratios than water and wastewa-ter systems. Four participants do not generate any revenue directly associated with their stormwater systems. For four others, contributions from de-velopers involved in new subdi-visions or building projects con-stituted the majority of these participants’ 2013-14 revenue stream.

But revenue variations are also large. Metropolitan sector par-ticipants have median annual revenue that is over four times higher than that of their rural counterparts, with Auckland’s Watercare, the country’s largest 3 Waters entity, having 2013-14 revenue of just over $400 mil-lion; roughly 400 times higher than Wairoa’s total 3 Waters- related revenue.

On average 94 percent of non-residential properties were metered, but only 29 percent of residential properties, with av-erage metering coverage of 33 percent across all participants. This is lower than Pacific Island participants in the Pacific Water and Waste Association bench-marking exercise that had av-erage metering coverage of 68 percent.

Despite low metering cov-erage, 13 NPR participants

reported using some form of residential usage-based water charging. For 12 participants this included a combination of fixed and user-based charges, and for Auckland’s Watercare charging for water was 100 per-cent usage-based. Two partici-pants also reported using tiered water charging regimes that pe-nalised high water usage.

Median current real losses of NPR participants were 161 litres/service connection/day. This value was twice as high as participants in an urban Austral-ian benchmarking study which had median annual real losses of 79 litres/service connection/day.

The median residential water use of NPR participant cus-tomers was 231 litres per head per day, higher than median residential water use volumes reported in Pacific Island and World Bank benchmarking ex-ercises but on a par with Cana-dian benchmarking.

Benchmarking for continuous improvement involves periodic performance assessment and subsequent performance im-provement. The NPR provides participants and decision-mak-ers with that performance as-sessment, which they should use to identify opportunities for further performance improve-ments.

John Pfahlert is Chief Executive of Water New Zealand, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes and represents organisations within the water industry in New Zealand

Recent report reveals mixed performancesWater New Zealand’s latest National Performance Review highlights the continued critical importance of water, wastewater and stormwater services - collec-tively known as the 3 Waters

John Pfahlert, Chief Executive, Water New Zealand

ACeNZ iNNoVAte AWArds


Bloxam Burnett and Olliver (BBO), in conjunction with principal sub-consultants

Tonkin and Taylor and the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), took home a Silver Award of Excel-lence for the Huntly project at the recent ACENZ Awards.

The award is for outstanding and innovative engineering pro-jects and was judged on techni-cal excellence of design, inno-vation, elegance of the solution, environmental considerations and the client relationship.

This latest accolade builds on the Supreme Best Practice

Award won by BBO at the re-cent New Zealand Planning In-stitute’s national awards, where BBO’s planning and resource management practices were cited.

The judges there described the project as ‘demonstrating outstanding creativity and in-novation in an example of best practice planning in an environ-mentally and culturally sensitive environment.’

The Huntly Section of the Waikato Expressway involves 15 kilometres of four-lane ex-pressway, 4 million cubic me-

tres of earthworks, an 80 metre cut through the Taupiri Range, more than 100 hectares of for-est, bush and wetland enhance-ment and the permanent pro-tection of a sacred lagoon and two pa sites.

“Even with large complex pro-jects, by engaging with people early and including them in the design and development process, you can achieve out-comes that are acceptable to everyone, and avoid the cost and time of major planning hearings,” says BBO managing director John Olliver.

The project team partnered with iwi to ensure that Huntly section recognises the rich cul-tural history of the area.

This close collaboration and engagement with key affected parties throughout the design phase resulted in there being no need for resource consent hearings and only a brief hear-ing to finalise the wording of designation conditions, and no appeals to the Environment Court.

“The Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway will make a sizeable ecological contribution to the area,” says NZTA high-ways manager, Kaye Clark.

“Collaboration with key stake-holders such as Waikato-Tainui, the Department of Conserva-tion, Waikato Regional Council and Waikato District Council, along with good planning, cre-ated such a positive outcome”.

A number of pou will be in-stalled along the route and dis-tinctive designs reflecting the awa (river) and native wildlife will be incorporated on several of the bridges. The historic pa sites of Otaahau and Te Uapata will also be recognised.

The Waikato Expressway is one of seven Roads of Nation-al Significance identified by the government as key to unlock-ing New Zealand’s potential for economic growth.

While the Huntly sec-tion of the Waikato Expressway is one

of BBO’s flagship projects, it is one of many Waikato projects the group has been delivering, quietly and efficiently, since the company’s foundation by Mar-tin Bloxam, John Olliver and Reece Burnett in 1993.

BBO has played key roles in completing the Ohinewai, Te Rapa and Ngaruawahia sec-tions of the Waikato Expressway over the last 10 years.

A mix of engineering, plan-ning and surveying skills has

More recognition for Bloxam Burnett and Olliver at ACENZ AwardsHamilton-based consulting engineers, planners and surveyors Bloxam Burnett and Olliver have received another award for their work on the Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway which gets underway in September

underpinned a diverse range of residential, commercial, indus-trial and infrastructure projects.

Notable examples include the Northgate Industrial Park currently under construction at Horotiu and the PWC Centre in Hamilton’s central business district where BBO worked for the client, McConnell Property, to secure resource consent and undertake civil engineering, traffic design, and land survey-ing.

BBO has also been involved in the staged consenting, civil en-gineering and traffic design for

the The Base retail centre for 10 years, and are the lead consult-ants for the Titanium Park busi-ness park at Hamilton Airport.

A key current project is the redevelopment of the Tem-ple View area on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-ter-day Saints which involves a

Multi-disciplinary skills pay off for BBO

brownfields master-planning, consenting and implementa-tion process to revitalise and renew the area.

The results of that work will become apparent in the next year or so as construction takes place.

Scott Bready of BBO (centre) alongside Kaye Clark of the NZ Transport Agency and Tonkin and Taylor’s Peter Cochrane with the the ACENZ Silver AwardTaupiri Maunga

The Huntly Section of the Waikato Expressway includes an 80 metre cut through the Taupiri Range

WHEN PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND UTILITIES IS PARAMOUNT

Growing international evidence shows that public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a sensible way of funding large infrastructure projects

Working together to create change

CommeNt >> property


connAL townsenD chief executive , ProPerty counciL nZ

This is because unlike the public sec-tor’s traditional funding methods the private sector has a commercial and

financial incentive to optimise construction and management of infrastructure projects.

Often, what is distinctly lacking in public service delivery is private sector experience and expertise, which leads to inefficient, lengthy, and costly outcomes that cause delays, frustrations and a loss of faith and trust.

In July, Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) produced its Funding Review Plan that made 10 proposals to encourage more ‘fit-for-purpose’ funding methods to help incentivise local economic growth.

For a number of years Property Council has advocated for tools that incentivise economic growth and we welcome their inclusion in the plan. Councils around the country need the right ‘tools in the toolbox’ to adequately and appropriately fund and deliver infrastructure for their cities and re-gions.

To do this, central government needs to come to the party. Property Council has been calling for more collaboration be-tween central government, local govern-ment and the private sector as one of its core advocacy positions.

Without the willingness of all parties to participate and pull their share of the weight, New Zealand’s lagging infrastruc-ture will continue costing us growth via the loss of skilled workers, housing shortages, and stagnating economies.

Currently, the inability of central and local government and their lack of will has led to years of pulling in different directions and excessive debt levels. The status quo has become unsustainable. Property Council agrees with LGNZ’s statement that it is fu-tile to discuss local government funding in isolation, as central and local government and the private sector must all be part of the conversation if they want to achieve shared goals and objectives.

Countries across the world are adopting PPPs as a means to fund crucial infrastruc-ture. Dublin’s Railway Procurement Agency does an excellent job of stating simply its tangible benefits. These include:• delivering efficient, cost-effective pro-

jects, value for money through optimal risk transfer and management

• integrating design and construction with financing, operation and maintenance

• adding value by synergies between pub-lic authorities and private sector through the cross-transfer of skills, knowledge and expertise

• mitigating capacity constraints and bot-tlenecks in the economy through higher productivity of labour and capital re-sources in the delivery of projects

• using competition and greater construc-tion capacity to deliver projects

• using a performance incentive/regula-tory regime to implement accountability for service delivery

• prociding innovation and diversity in the provision of public services.

Cost cuttingThe New Zealand Social Infrastructure

Fund (ASIF) states that in Australia, on av-erage the cost overruns of PPP projects are 1 percent of the project total compared to the 15 percent of the total of non-PPP pro-jects.

It attributes the significant margin to the public sector being able to pay for infra-structure assets over an extended period and focus on frontline services under PPPs, rather than having to manage capital works and maintenance.

Outside of central government funding; development contributions, financial con-tributions, and rates are the main funding sources for our infrastructure. There are many (and increasing) cases of single res-idential dwellings incurring up to $30,000 in development contributions charges. The only way to recover this cost is to pass it

on to the customer, which is untenable and causes its own challenges around housing affordability.

This reinforces the need for PPPs. ASIF reports that 3 percent of PPP projects in Australia are delivered ahead of schedule compared to the whopping 24 percent of non-PPP projects that run behind schedule (based on a value-weighted average basis).

The reason is obvious; the private sector partner is more motivated to complete the job ahead of time and deliver quality results because payment does not usually begin until the project is built and delivers the necessary level of service.

LGNZ’s plan also emphasises the impor-tance of councils in New Zealand welcom-ing private investment in infrastructure, “every project funded by private capital means one less call on council and commu-nity resources”.

Central government must support local government by empowering it to achieve the changes it needs to improve service de-livery. The plan refers to the pressure under which local government is meeting its cost burdens imposed by central government, via increasing rates or reducing spending of other activities. The Productivity Com-mission has also previously highlighted central government’s lack of consultation with local government when developing and implementing new regulations that are too costly.

According to the OECD Economic Survey of New Zealand, our lack of infrastructure is the reason why others will not do busi-ness here. As global players, we are pay-ing a hefty price because of it. Now more than ever, we need central government, local government, and the private sector to come to the negotiating table and begin an open and honest dialogue about fund-ing infrastructure and embracing non-tradi-tional procurement practices to move New Zealand forward.

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

spoNsored ArtiCle


HYDRO-ExcavationNon-destructive and Non-mechanical Excavating

E: [email protected]: NEW ZEALAND: 0800 493 7639AUSTRALIA: 1800 986 082INTERNATIONAL: +64 27 275 4306

www.southeysgroup.com Auckland • Wellington

It was always going to be dif-ficult getting the spoil out from the basement of the

Moleworth St site. With only about 0.5m to 1.5m headroom, the use of heavy machinery was ruled out. A vertical lift of around 15 metres over distanc-es up to 50 metres added to the difficulties.

Whilst Southeys was initially unsuccessful and the work was awarded to a local competitor Hydro Excavation specialist, Southeys was asked to take the project over, after the initial contractor walked off-site after only six weeks of work.

Not a lot could be done with the site until the concrete could be poured to strengthen the foundations - the problem needed to be solved fast if the project was to stay on track.

“We had originally employed a quantity surveyor, so we knew how challenging the project was going to be,” says Southeys chief executive Rob Southey.

“There was a huge level of urgency on what was a chal-lenging and difficult site. Excel-lent gear was needed - there had been a lot of blockages in getting spoil to the truck so we needed to be quite innovative in how to overcome that prob-lem,” he says.

Whatever Southeys did, it worked. Mr Southey is a little coy in discussing the company’s competitive edge but within a week they were onsite and after

It's all about quality operators using quality equipmentWhen Fletchers wanted to add a few storeys to a building in Wellington, the company needed to exca-vate around the existing foundations so they could be strengthened

just another week had removed as much spoil with Hydro-excavation as had been re-moved in the full six weeks before they came on the job.

After two months onsite, the job was done and Fletchers found plenty of oth-er uses for hydro- evacuation in the project, like excavating around lift shafts and other tight areas.

The success of a project is a reflection of the quality of the people you work with and the quality of the equipment you use, according to the Southeys’ mantra.

“Fletchers are an extremely professional company to work for and on this job the compa-ny’s foreman Kevin was great to work with and all over the tasks that needed to be completed,” says Southeys general manager Dave Gulliver.

“The Southeys guys who worked on the site with our foreman Dan Mirko were also superb – working in those con-ditions in a building site in the middle of winter in Wellington is not a lot of fun, no matter how good the equipment is,” he says.

“Using the best equipment with a highly motivated and well trained staff is a winning formula,” he says.

Safe low pressure solutionHydro-excavation uses a

low pressure stream, which a trained technician uses to wash soil away without disturbing sensitive utilities.

It is not to be confused with hydro-blasting or hydro-demo-lition which uses up to 40,000psi for applications like removing paint, scale and hard calcium deposits to cutting steel.

Southeys now designs its own equipment and builds it through a joint venture with Warkworth based MS Engineer-ing.

“It means our Hydro- excavation equipment is tailor made for the New Zealand mar-ket and can be easily custom-ised to cope with the special conditions of any given pro-ject,” says Mr Southey.

Water pressures are limited to between 1500psi and 2200psi

as Southeys believes that pres-sures higher than 2500psi run the risk of damaging utility covers or cable casings and increase the risk of operator injury.

Water usage is minimised using the latest in green tech-nology and pressures can be reduced to protect things as sensitive as tree roots when lo-cating underground utilities.

Other uses for Hydro- excavation include trenching through utilities or landscaping, cleaning over or under utility services and the ability to work in the proximity of energised services.

“The Molesworth St project shows its ability to work in con-fined areas where conventional excavation equipment is not possible and in precision evacu-ation for the placement of foun-dations,” says Mr Southey.

There was only about 0.5m to 1.5m headroom so the use of heavy machinery was ruled out

With 10.5 cubic metres of storage available, the truck was able to stay onsite all day, empty overnight and be ready for work again in the morning

The finished job with foundations strengthened and earthquake absorbers

installed


When there is no silver bullet try buckshot – that’s essentially the approach the Productivity Commission has adopted in its 37-recommendation draft report on Using Land for Housing

Productivity commission takes

buckshot approach to land supply

CommeNt >> HousiNg

JoAnnA BAin rAJ gurusinge

A key theme in the commission’s multi-faceted inquiry into New Zealand’s 10 fastest-growing urban

areas is the need for integrated planning. Specifically, the commission notes that there is little point in zoning more land for residential development unless infrastruc-ture services are available so that the land can actually be developed.

An obstacle to achieving this alignment is the lack of integration between the Re-source Management Act 1991 (RMA), the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA) and the Land Transport Management Act 2003 (LTMA).

This problem is widely understood and has led a number of local authorities to de-velop spatial plans, setting out the antici-pated pattern of growth in a city over a long period of time (e.g. 30 years), and providing for the associated release of land and provi-sion of infrastructure.

The commission observes that there is lit-tle data available on how effective spatial plans are, but submissions from territorial authorities identified a range of benefits, including greater intra-regional coopera-tion and more efficient infrastructure use and investment. The commission has fo-cussed on how the spatial plan process might be improved.

It comments that one issue with the long-term planning horizon is that policies set-ting urban limits and density or intensifica-tion targets, unless monitored and adjusted in response to market developments, can become too rigid, “creating negative im-pacts on housing supply.”

A major barrier to the efficient implemen-tation of spatial plans is the time and cost of transferring them into RMA regulatory plans. Spatial plans are prepared under the LGA consultation mechanism, and currently do not have any special legal status under the RMA.

They must therefore be translated into re-gional policy statements and district plans through RMA processes, involving cost/benefit evaluation under section 32 of the RMA and further public participation.

One remedy, recommended by several local authority submitters, is to remove or relax the section 32 and consultative ob-ligations in the RMA, but the commission identified significant risks with this ap-proach. Chief among these is that many people do not sit up and take notice until the RMA plans are brought into play.

Certainly, this was our experience in Auckland. It was only when the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan was publicly notified, rather than at the Auckland (spatial) Plan stage, that our clients became interested in making submissions, as this is where the ‘rubber hits the road’, and the impacts on property owners’ interests really crystal-lise. (Auckland Council is now over halfway through hearings on the Proposed Auck-land Unitary Plan, and therefore well pro-gressed in terms of translating its spatial plan into land use rules.)

A new regime?The commission’s preferred solution to

easing the translation of spatial plans into land use regulation is to create a new leg-islative avenue for larger or faster growing cities that combines elements of the RMA, LGA and LTMA.

This could include a 30-year infrastructure strategy, already required under the LGA, longer term transport planning and think-ing about the growth of the city, and the development of associated land-use rules, as currently occurs under the RMA.

Council Long Term Plans and Annual Plans would remain separate, as they fo-cus more on service delivery and need to remain flexible to changing community/council priorities.

Separate legislation with a single purpose would be required. If the regime is to be effective, the commission considers that it will need to exhibit certain design charac-teristics.

Focussed and targeted: spatial plans must hone in on the key activities for the growth, development and functioning of the city and the provision of development capacity for housing - e.g. land supply, in-frastructure supply and transport services. Large numbers of objectives and goals that have no strong relation to the use/demand for land, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport, are likely to com-plicate the plan’s implementation.

One size does not fit all: the regime should be voluntary so that local authorities can choose the statutory planning structure that best suits their particular circumstanc-es and can avoid scenarios where unneces-sary costs are imposed on smaller regions. Spatial plans tend to work best for larger cities, with smaller rural councils report-ing fewer difficulties in working within the framework of the three Acts.

More central government involvement: spatial plans should be developed in part-nership with central government agencies and signed off by both the Cabinet and the relevant local authority. Central govern-ment’s only engagement currently in the spatial plan process tends to be through the NZ Transport Agency. However, its role and fiscal exposure in the provision of es-sential services is much wider, extending, for example, to education and health.

Robust: robust regulatory analysis and development, in a similar vein to a section 32 evaluation under the RMA, is required. This could be achieved through peer re-view by the Treasury’s Regulatory Impact Analysis unit, or through the establishment of an Independent Hearings Panel to as-sess proposals and provide recommenda-

August/september 2015 www.infrastructurenews.co.nz –15

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tions (similar to the Panels for the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan and the Christchurch Replacement District Plan).

The commission’s proposal will require sig-nificant legislative reform and clever design. And even a well-designed system, if it is to be voluntary as the commission proposes, will depend for its success on the take-up

rate. In this context, it is worth asking wheth-er greater central government involvement would be desirable or whether it would tend to inhibit local authorities from engaging.

We await the commission’s final report, which is due by 30 September, and the gov-ernment’s response to that report, with in-terest.

Joanna Bain is a senior associate at Chapman Tripp, specialising in environment, planning and resource management law, while Raj Gurusinge is a solicitor at Chapman Tripp specialising in environment, planning and resource management law

“A major barrier to the efficient implementation of spatial plans is the time and cost of transferring them into RMA regulatory plans”



Wellington’s Clyde Quay Wharf may no longer host luxurious

ocean liners but it has found a stunning new lease of life as a prestigious mixed-use develop-ment.

The original wharf was built between 1907 and 1910 to meet the needs of the burgeoning Port of Wellington and was the first reinforced concrete wharf in the city.

The imposing structure found a new purpose in 1964 when the Overseas Passenger Terminal was built for cruise liners, but unfortunately the vision of the wharf as a gateway for visitors was never fully realised as the popularity of sea voyages de-clined in favour of air travel.

The terminal was then used as a restaurant and exhibition space for many years before Wellington Waterfront Ltd is-sued a design brief 11 years ago for the redevelopment of the wharf and the Overseas Pas-senger Terminal.

The brief identified a number of design issues and objectives including:• a high-quality development

was essential considering the visual prominence and signifi-cance of the Overseas Passen-ger Terminal

• the design needed to attract enough visual complexity to excite and sustain interest

• as part of the waterfront prom-enade Clyde Quay Wharf is both a shared pathway and a flat public recreational open space where pedestrians have priority over vehicles

• the building, which had to in-crease the amount of shelter available to pedestrians

• the new development had to offer much greater poten-tial for public interaction with wharf-level uses than the pre-vious building which had few active edges and provided limited points of entry

• and the redevelopment need-ed to provide an opportunity to improve public access to the water.Recalling the submission pro-

cess Willis Bond Project Man-ager David McGuinness says his firm’s proposal for a private sector mixed-use development answered the brief and also relieved the public purse of

the burden of cost while en-suring the city and its citizens gained a valuable asset. “On the strength of our proposal, we were granted the right to re-develop the wharf in return for a 125-year lease on it and the terminal building.”

This classic ‘win/win’ scenario ensured an urban waterfront as-set was redeveloped and a sig-nificant capital sum was paid to the council to invest in develop-ing public open spaces on the waterfront.

Willis Bond & Co’s win-ning proposal included 76 high-specification apartments on levels one and above, with retail and civic spaces at wharf level for public use and enjoy-ment.

It also found a unique solution to the requirement for balanc-ing public and pedestrian ac-cess with an increased number of vehicles requiring entry to the wharf. “This was addressed through accommodating the majority of the parking below the wharf in a specially engi-neered car parking facility,” Mr McGuinness explains. “This solution allowed us to main-

tain an emphasis on creating a strong, high-quality pedestrian and public environment around the wharf.”

The redevelopment site also had to conform to the Regional Coastal Plan for the Wellington Region (RCP) and its subordi-nate Lambton Harbour Devel-opment Area policy.

“Designed to stand the test of time, the new building ful-ly meets current seismic, wind loading and structural durability requirements and is support-ed almost completely on 200 new piles,” Mr McGuinness says. “The wharf has also been strengthened to meet modern building standards and the new sub-wharf parking area enhanc-es its strength.”

Panel powerThe building retains a num-

ber of key heritage features in-cluding four large glass mosaic panels now housed in the two cut-through portico areas and the iconic spire. “The building is an elegant addition to the wa-terfront and reflects the scale, form and articulation of the original structures of the Over-

Redeveloped wharf ties up national awardsA large area of redundant and ailing waterfront infrastructure more than 100 years old has been revived so successfully it has won not one but two major industry awards


seas Passenger Terminal and the wharf while standing out as a distinctive new landmark in its own right,” Mr McGuinness maintains.

Construction company LT McGuinness began work on the 250-metre long building in mid-January 2012. It involved a huge number of people with more than 1,000 workers and an additional 300 consultants, designers and experts working on the redevelopment over the course of the project.

LT McGuinness Contracts Manager John Malthus says his team engaged cutting-edge construction and design tech-niques to deliver the interna-tional-standard development in a unique position in Wellington Harbour in excess of 100 per-cent of the Building Code.

“The site shape and location produced some unusual chal-lenges as it was long and skinny and had water on three sides, while the southern end was ac-cessed via a public road that fed nearby apartments and the

Various innovative and original approaches and solutions were adopted

within the project including:• essentially a new contempo-

rary building but with clear reflection and enhancement of heritage townscape values, and respectful integration of valued salvaged components and forms

• public amenity and access, with commercial and high-end apartments configured to complement and support each other to contribute to a mixed-use waterfront com-munity in a sustainable and responsive manner

• the integration of open pub-lic space with commercial/ private use to enhance public access to the wharf with new amenities such as multiple lev-els, a fishing wharf, enhanced shelter and cross-wharf access

• open space design keys the

• the project provided the mechanism to revive a large area of redundant and ailing waterfront infrastructure in an economically and socially sus-tainable manner

• integration of sub-wharf car parking/servicing with seismic strengthening and repair of the wharf

• clustered apartment model with minimal corridors, multi-ple cores and a high number of through (double aspect) apartments

• breaking down a large new apartment population into a number of discreet clustered communities with individual addresses

• a systems approach with a high level of flexibility and owner customisation incorpo-rated into the process, design and construction.

development directly into the wider waterfront promenade and landscape

• external air conditioning units are cleverly hidden within the building‘s roof line so they are not visible from the outside

• a high level of acoustic sepa-ration was specified between apartments - any service item that penetrated the ceiling was carefully reviewed to en-sure it did not provide a short- cut for sound transfer

• the under-wharf car park re-quired highly specified ma-rine grade concrete, on-site pre-casting of large floor sec-tions above high tide and hy-draulic lowering into the sea

• valued heritage components of the previous building were retained and integrated with new architectural interven-tions developed in response to context, use, and changing culture of the waterfront

Unique design aspects

Continued on page 18



marina. Deliveries to the site were carefully scheduled to en-sure trucks weren’t backed up,” Mr Malthus says. “A gateman was employed to ensure de-liveries were quickly managed and the public was kept safe.”

The original concrete wharf structure was retained for cost and heritage reasons, but re-medial preparation was neces-sary. “Demolition of some of the existing structure involved hanging scaffolding, which was submerged at high tide,” Mr Malthus explains.

Conventional machinery would not fit below the wharf, so the construction team had to use jackhammers and wire saws. “The wharf and piles were strengthened with carbon fibre wraps and concrete donut jack-ets on the tops of the piles and

210 new piles were bored and driven in to a depth of 30 me-tres between the existing piles through holes specially drilled in the wharf deck.”

The watertight residential car park covering about 200m x 17.5 m posed its own set of chal-lenges, which eventually saw 28 car park floor slabs weighing 90 tonnes poured on site beneath the wharf before being lowered into place – a standout engi-neering achievement.

The team was reminded of the sea’s immense power as there were only four-hour windows of opportunity either side of low tide. “Formwork was set up on ledges below the wharf and 40mpa marine-grade concrete was poured above the tide lev-el under lights and in standing room of just 1.2 metres,” Mr Malthus explains. “Once cured, synchronised jacks allowed

formwork removal and the slab to be lowered into place.”

Stitchbeams, the hydrophilic water-tightness technology and the PVC water bar cast into the concrete slab were all complet-ed within five days of each sec-tion being put in place. “The tidal window of opportunity meant a lot of working around the clock, with 1.2 metre coffer dams placed across each sec-tion to provide dry conditions,” Mr Malthus adds.

The Beca lead on the project Nick Baty adds “Ventilation was another critical aspect of the sub-wharf parking facility. We designed a solution which incorporated air intakes inte-grated within the façade on the west side of the building and discharges on the east side down through the wharf. The system was carefully integrated to minimise loss of useable area

Key companies• Owner: Clyde Quay Wharf Redevelopments LP• Developer: Willis Bond & Co• Construction: Company LT McGuinness• Architect: Athfield Architects• Services Engineer: Beca • Structural Engineer: Dunning Thornton

Some 28 car park floor slabs weighing 90 tonnes were poured on site beneath the wharf before being lowered into place

• Mechanical Engineer: Beca• Quantity Surveyor: Rider Levett Bucknall• Project Manager: Willis Bond & Co• Work start date: January 2012• Date of Practical Completion: 31 July 2014

at the wharf level.” Beca, the building services

consultant on the project, also designed innovative solutions for a centralised heating/cool-ing system for the apartments, acoustically insulated service fit-outs for lights, sprinkler heads and supply/extract grilles and external plant yards above stair-wells which cleverly concealed rooftop mechanical plant areas.

The hard work paid off when the project received the Su-preme Award in this year’s pres-tigious Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Buck-nall Property Industry Awards, shortly after Clyde Quay Wharf opened in June last year.

Less than two months later the Clyde Quay Wharf scooped a Gold Award in the 2015 Inno-vate NZ Awards of Excellence organised by the Association of Consulting and Engineering Professionals of New Zealand (ACENZ) to celebrate the best projects in the built and natural environments.

Commenting on the project, Willis Bond & Co’s Managing Director Mark McGuinness says it was “immensely rewarding” to be part of a project that in-jected hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy while also keeping key skills in Wellington during the glob-al financial crisis. “The project was the largest private devel-opment underway in New Zea-land and shows that although Wellington tends to fly below the radar nationally, it is moving forward and progressing.”

Continued from page 17



Whangarei’s Lower Ha-tea River Crossing – Te Matau A Pohe -

has won a well-deserved Gold Award in the 2015 Innovate NZ Awards of Excellence, the an-nual awards of the Association of Consulting and Profession-al Engineers of New Zealand (ACENZ).

The striking $32 million con-struction was a fitting winner of a competition that seeks to cel-ebrate the best projects in the built and natural environments, having won a slew of other priz-es since it was opened in July 2013.

Based on a Maori design rep-resenting 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 400t bascule centre sec-

tion smoothly opens to accom-modate the passage of marine traffic underneath, while the road section handles more than 9,000 vehicles per day to pro-vide a critical in Whangarei’s Strategic Road Network.

However, the apparent sim-plicity and effortless opening of the new bridge belies the complexity and high level of en-gineering 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-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 a major challenge was to construct the bridge to ensure it opened smoothly, safely and within the consented 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.

The design team was led by New Zealand consultants Peters & Cheung, McConnell Dowell delivered the bridge works and overall management of the joint venture that comprised 65 per-cent of the work scope, while local Whangarei roading con-tractor Transfield Services un-dertook 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 deliv-er the project, the Whangarei

District Council (WDC) having sought an iconic structure that was functional, safe – and crit-ical for a moveable structure – reliable.

Knight Architects’ internation-al reputation combined with mechanical designer Eadon Consulting’s experience con-structing moveable 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 quot-ed 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 had a tight budget to deliver the bridge and the ECI struc-


Creative crossing receives recognitionA spectacular 265-metre long Northland bridge in-spired by the traditional Maori fish hook hei matau has scooped gold yet again

For the latest in Infrastructure innovation, case studies and news plus the same for Local and National government activities, visit our website www.infrastructurenews.co.nz



ture allowed the joint venture to explore more radical options that may not have been consid-ered under a traditional con-tract model, helping to bring the project within budget.

With works below water level, through a former landfill and over an operational channel, and incorporating civil, me-chanical, electrical, and hydrau-lic engineering, the project was frequently logistically and tech-nically challenging.

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 pil-ing.

Knight Architect’s distinctive fish hook design was embraced by Whangarei District Council and the challenge for the Mc-Connell Dowell team became to construct this innovative form using structural steel and still achieve the required budget.

Testing the domestic mar-ket 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 fab-rication to the quality standards and timeframe required and at a cost that was a significant dis-count to local suppliers.

Engineering expertiseThe moveable section of bas-

cule bridges are typically con-structed in situ, but the Lower Hatea navigation channel had to remain open during con-struction so three bridges were constructed – one each side to the navigation channel and the third the moveable 400T Bas-cule section.

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

Following the launch the nec-essary mechanical and electrical connection works were quickly made to allow the bridge to operate 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 atten-tion 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 work-ers in line with the company’s Home without Harm – Everyone Everyday philosophy.

“It was great working with Mc-Connell Dowell and Transfield,” said WDC Group Manager In-frastructure 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 design team. “McConnell Dowell put up a fantastic team and the quality of workmanship is the


Much of the credit for the success of the Lower Hatea project was due

to Auckland-based consultants 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 pedes-

trian, 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 ge-ometric problems to go with design innovation for the firm and its joint venture partners, including the fact that the deep, soft alluvial sediments overlying the site and the on-going set-tlement of the landfill on Pohe Island would clearly play a crit-

ical role in the way the bridge was designed and built.

The geology at the site gen-erally 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 experi-encing 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 structur-al steel “J-beams” supporting a lightweight orthotropic steel deck that was unique in New Zealand and reflected interna-tional 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 need-ed to raise and lower a bascule span which was designed to op-erate in up to gale force winds.

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

A critical aspect of the design therefore limited these rela-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 driv-en 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 har-monise with the bascule span while providing a very efficient structural solution, are support-ed by V-shaped reinforced con-crete piers.

A feature of the one main support 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 this special pier also houses the hydraulic rams that open and close the 400 ton bascule span.

Clever solutions to complex problems


best I have experienced in more than 30 years in the business,”.

Once the council decided that Knight Architects had fan-tastic credentials, “we had the best team in the world”, he

adds. “The tender design upon which the price was based hard-ly changed at all in what was a technically challenging pro-ject,” Mr Peters noted.

Mr Weston adds that McCon-

nell Dowell pulled together its six-member, joint-venture team and it took only from April 2011 to October to get all parties comfortable with the devel-oped design, have it evaluated

under Q-based methodolo-gy and achieve New Zealand Transport Agency sign-off. “We were running a lot of stuff at the same time,” he observed.

“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.”

WAter >> WAsteWAter mANAgemeNt


The Apex of cost and performance in wastewater pond aerationPond-based biological management is one of the most common wastewater treat-ment systems in New Zealand. Aeration is essential but can be expensive. Apex Environmental has added a high performance, economical Kiwi answer to pond aeration solutions, says Apex chief executive Matt Savage

Growing a microbial pop-ulation in a wastewater pond is a widely utilised

treatment - microbes eat the pollution entering the pond and turn it into carbon dioxide, wa-ter and more bugs. The bacteria that do the work require oxygen provided by mechanical aera-tion to breathe and effectively metabolise the con-taminants.

In tough economic times the capital and operating cost of aerators are putting both mu-nicipal and industrial budgets under strain.

Lower capital cost solutions for pond aeration to facilitate the process is prominent among the range of conflicting drivers being sought to improve perfor-mance.

In many cases, a lack of access to ready capital or cash flow constraints has increased the demand for surface rather than submerged aeration. In other instances, the use of shallow ponds minimises the benefits of submerged aeration and makes surface aeration the best choice for the project.

Traditional surface aeration solutions in New Zealand typi-cally involve imported products.

As units larger than about 45kW in capacity are usually oversize for international shipping, which adds significant cost to the end user.

Due to an inability to source high efficiency, reasonably priced units within acceptable timeframes from existing suppli-ers, Apex Environmental invest-ed in the development of a local solution to this local problem.

A local solutionThe combination of decades

of local expertise, lean manu-factur-ing and detailed hydrau-lic design has resulted in a low

cost, high efficiency solution manufactured in New Zealand, that can be delivered in as little as a fifth of the time of most im-ported options.

The locally produced aerators are provided with a foam filled Kevlar® float to provide ex-tremely robust and reliable flo-tation. Kevlar is about five times stronger than steel on a weight for weight basis - it is also used to make bullet proof vests.

The closed cell foam filling en-sures that even in the extremely unlikely event that the Kevlar® float is punctured, the buoyan-cy of the unit is maintained. An

additional benefit of local, lean manufacturing is that the aera-tors can be produced at around 20 percent lower cost than even the most competitive compara-ble imported products.

Existing pond upgradesOne of the key issues identified

for existing wastewater treat-ment plants, as opposed to new installations, is that the need for upgrades or an increase in aer-ation capacity usually require a very rapid response.This is not consistent with the four to six month delivery time usually re-quired to obtain an imported aerator. A common example is when a wastewater treatment plant operator experiences peak loading events that re-quire an urgent increase in aer-ation capacity in order to avoid breach of discharge consent or release of objectionable odour, only to find that the equipment required to increase their oxy-gen transfer capacity will take months to deliver. By manufac-turing locally and tooling up for a high level of production from the start, Apex Environmental is able to offer a typical delivery time of only four weeks for most sizes of aerator.

For select models, the longest lead time components are held in stock enabling a unit to be assembled to order in an even shorter time frame to provide a very rapid response.

The alternative for many op-erators can be significant legal action due to environmental non-compliance.

Success storyIn one recent such case where the site was al-ready operating at the absolute limit of their available power capacity, two 45kW Apex sur-face aerators were installed to replace two existing lower ef-ficiency surface aerators of the same size. With no change to the power consumption of the plant (as no more was available to use), the oxygen transfer rate was about double from what the previous aerators were pro-viding.

The very real risk of release of offensive odours from the

A wide range of surface aerators installed on an industrial wastewater treatment pond – New Zealand-made Apex 45kW aerator in foreground, imported 45kW model behind

New Zealand made Apex Surface Aerator


Industry leaders in wastewater treatment

Apex Surface Aerators are manufactured in New Zealand which means lower costs and faster delivery

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wastewater treatment plant was largely mitigated due to the subsequently raised oxygen lev-els in the treatment pond.

The drive to maximise efficiency

For treatment plant owners who are able to commit the additional capital up front and take a long-term view, sub-merged pond aeration is a sensible investment due to the signif-icantly reduced on-going operating costs associated with the higher efficiency of such a system. Payback on installing the more efficient submerged aeration option is generally less

than three years.In order to minimise power

consumption of wastewater treatment plants, Apex Environ-mental has been a champion of installing submerged fine bub-ble aeration in aerobic wastewa-ter treatment ponds.

Because the amount of oxy-gen that can be transferred into the water is proportional to the depth at which the air and wa-ter come into contact, this has clear advantages over tradition-al surface aeration systems.In a submerged pond aeration sys-tem, a blower is installed on the shore of the pond (typically in a small shed or building) and air

is blown down a floating man-ifold into fine bubble diffusers installed in the bottom of the pond. The diffusers, which are one of the key components of this system, are configured in such a way that they can be eas-ily removed from the pond for maintenance and cleaning.

Although significant power is required to blow the air into the bottom of a deep pond, at depths of 3 – 10m this is more than overcome by the addition-al oxygen transfer that occurs at this increased depth

Whilst surface aeration sys-tems typically transfer 0.5-1.5kg of oxygen into the water per kW

of electricity used, submerged aeration systems are capable of achieving efficien-cies of 2-4kg of oxygen transferred per kW of power used depending on pond depth and the type of membranes used.

Dr Matt Savage is a chartered chemical engineer with a PhD in the design of equipment for industrial wastewater treatment. He has nearly 20 years international experience in the development, commercialisation and manufacture of wastewater treatment plant and equipment.

Apex is able to offer a typical delivery time of only four weeks for most sizes of surface aerator

Floating manifold of a submerged aeration system installed in a wastewater treatment pond


One of Auckland Council Mayor Len Brown’s priorities for Auckland is the delivery of “lower rates and more sustainable debt”

Learning from mistakes and international

best practice

COMMENT >> publiC-priVAte pArtNersHips

Dr JoeL cAyforD consuLtAnt

He writes “we are developing alter-native funding options for transport, our first public private partnerships

(PPPs) and new commercial sponsorships”.The mayor says “The Skypath project is

likely to be one of Auckland’s first PPPs, and will eventually enable a great vision - a cycle and walking path stretching across Auckland’s harbour bridge”. Why Skypath is not a publicly funded piece of cycling in-frastructure, and whether it should be a PPP or not is a moot point.

Other council PPP projects have been de-livered in New Zealand, including the high-ly controversial wastewater scheme known as Ecocare at Mangawhai Heads, which was initiated by Kaipara District Council in 2002.

Construction began in 2008 and the offi-cial opening was held in early 2010. Les-sons still being learned from this project include a major inquiry by the Office of the Auditor General which was released in No-vember 2013, a judicial review to the High Court in 2014 brought by Mangawhai Rate-payers and Residents Association (MRRA), and an appeal to the Court of Appeal by the MRRA which is set down for hearing in late August this year. At issue is whether the council has the legal right to enforce rate collection for the PPP bank loan funding a project that was decided by council unlaw-fully.

International literature indicates that while urban areas across the globe are character-ised by their own complex issues, the finan-cial challenges are much the same - at all levels of economic development there is a far greater financing need for urban de-velopment projects than can be provided by the traditional public purse alone. Auck-land’s transport infrastructure issues are a case in point.

Recognising this, governments around the world are turning to PPPs as one pos-sible financing option for large-scale investments in the provision of basic in-frastructure assets and to assist urban re-

generation. Many cities in the northern hemisphere have used and applied PPPs since the early 1990s. New Zealand has been one of the slowest countries to learn how to utilise PPPs in ways that maximise their advantages and minimise their disad-vantages.

Deloitte is one of a number of internation-al consultancies that have relevant experi-ence in providing advice regarding PPPs. They advise that not all infrastructure and services are suited to PPPs - contrary to the opinion of many local government politi-cians who view any private investment as low-hanging fruit and a way to avoid rate increases. Because of this, great care needs to be taken in the evaluation and structure of any PPP a council might undertake.

Three stagesDeloitte recommends a three-stage pro-

cess. The first of these stages is a screening assessment against relevant high-level crite-ria to determine if a project is even a can-didate for a PPP. Next comes the strategic assessment stage, which may be thought of as a preliminary delivery-model business case. And finally comes the value-for-money assessment, which attempts to quantify the difference in cost to council between tradi-tional procurement (i.e. council funding) and PPP procurement.

The high-level criteria that need to be satisfied before even thinking of a PPP ap-proach for an urban project include, for ex-ample:

• are there likely to be at least three bidders for the project

• are there precedent projects in other cities• is there a potential revenue component

for the private sector participant• can payment be tied to measured perfor-

mance • is there scope for innovation in the design

of the solution? I note here that Auckland Council’s PPP

policy whose “purpose is to allow council to consider if procuring a project through a public-private partnership (PPP) will de-liver the best value for money outcome for council and its stakeholders” does not rec-ognise the range of high-level criteria that international best practice calls for, and instead focuses on the last step – which is important of course – and that is the val-ue-for-money assessment.

Considering the two PPP examples men-tioned earlier, the answer to these high-lev-el questions would mostly be “no”. But in the case of Skypath, the answer is “yes” to the last two payment questions, whereas for Ecocare the answer would be “no” – and this exposes a major disadvantage of PPPs which must be managed.

While a PPP involves a relationship be-tween a public entity and a private partner who is responsible for the delivery of the project, there is also the bank or lender providing the finance. In the case of Eco-care the lender appeared to take not the least interest in the project because it be-lieved it was “protected” from anything going wrong by the so-called “protected transactions” provision of the Local Gov-ernment Act, and that even if things turned to custard Kaipara District Council could and would enforce rates to repay the loan. Investor due diligence was not required.

However international best practice sug-gests that where the investor is appropri-ately tied into PPP arrangements then it becomes as interested as the other parties are in the success of the project. Stringent

“Learning from international best practice and from mistakes that have already been made in New Zealand will play an important role in assessing and selecting effective PPPs for urban projects”

standards result in a bank seeking out their own set of technical, legal, and other advi-sors to monitor the progress of the project.

Separate contracts can provide addition-al guarantees between the lender and the public authority to allow for closer monitor-ing of construction timelines and budget-ary conditions. In the event that a private company does not perform the project agreement obligations, lenders can rectify the problem by going as far as to replace the private partner. That would have been a turn-up for the cards at Mangawhai.

Potential problemAnother potential disadvantage of PPPs

that is recognised in the literature is the risk of loss of control of public assets. In view of the fact that the private sector absorbs a significant portion of project risk, impor-tant decisions over outcomes are typically shared with that partner. This can result in the loss of public control over important decisions concerning a range of public is-sues – for example, how basic public goods

such wastewater and transport services should be delivered and priced.

In the case of large urban projects, such as the regeneration of downtown Auckland where a PPP is being established between private investor Precinct Properties, Auck-land Council, and transport infrastructure provider Auckland Transport, there is a risk that public interest issues in public space provision for CBD residents, playgrounds for kids and high pedestrian amenity envi-ronments will be pushed down the priority list if they compromise or complicate PPP objectives.

Alternatively, second-best options for these amenities might be required of the private developer as part of the partner-ship, risking a public backlash because of perceptions these services are provided at least cost and are of low quality.

Poor governance of a major urban PPP can generate considerable resistance to private sector participation. If a service is undermined due to a drive for profit, or if there is slow responsiveness to a problem,

the predictable result will be strong public resistance to the partnership and a general distaste for private sector involvement in the urban sector overall.

Keeping the public well-informed and supportive of the urban project is an on-go-ing challenge for all governments. Auck-land Council should facilitate early and constant dialogue with stakeholders in ad-dition to providing widespread information regarding public issues to allay speculation and deal with concerns.

Learning from international best practice and from mistakes that have already been made in New Zealand will play an impor-tant role in assessing and selecting effec-tive PPPs for urban projects, and appropri-ate governance structures will be necessary to ensure outcomes that meet reasonable public interest expectations and needs.

Dr Joel Cayford is a planning consultant, blogger and planning researcher/teacher at the University of Auckland, and a former city and regional councillor

The Skypath cycle and walking stretching across Auckland’s harbour bridge is likely to be one of the city’s first PPPs but should it be PPP or a publicly funded cycling infrastructure?


CommuNiCAtioNs


Grant Straker’s post-army career plan was to be-come a successful com-

mercial pilot – or so he initially thought.

Unfortunately, a driving acci-dent cut short his plans so he returned home to New Zealand in 1994 to study mechanical en-gineering at Waikato University.

Having taught himself pro-gramming, the West Auckland native left his engineering job to start his own company, after initially selling software to com-panies to fulfill their own trans-lation needs.

“I had never even switched on a computer until I was 30, but I found I had a gift for pro-gramming so I started a com-puter programming business in my front room in Ponsonby in 1999,”Mr Straker recalls.

Together with wife Merryn he founded Straker Translations as a web content provider in 2009 before pivoting to a ‘full’ trans-lation service provider in 2011, turning his seemingly remote Auckland location into a clear competitive advantage.

“We start our working week earlier than the rest of the world, but because we are prin-cipally working in the cloud and use technological solutions to drive our business, time zones and geographical boundaries aren’t really an issue,” Mr Strak-er explains.

The company enjoys the fact that it’s operational 24/7, pro-viding ultra-fast translation ser-vices and carving out a high profile in a $40 billion global translation industry. “That’s why we have a presence in Bar-celona and additional offices around the world,” the founder and Chief Executive says.

“No matter where in the world the client is located, we can answer queries through our customer service team, provide

instant quotes, process jobs through our project managers and begin the translation pro-cess immediately.”

One of the fastest translation companies in the world, Strak-er Translations has focused its technology by:• simplifying and automating

the content import and export process

• building a cloud-based trans-lation workbench for transla-tors

• and developing a compre-hensive project and translator management system.The advantages gained

through a technology platform created and owned by the com-pany results in “much higher” gross margins than the industry average and helps acquire new customers with a “much easier and faster” service.

Cloud coverStraker Translations’ compet-

itive advantage lies in its ma-ture, stable and modular cloud-based technology platform, which the company has been developing since 2010. “The platform’s main advantage is that it simplifies and speeds the translation process,” Mr Straker maintains.

A key element in the compa-ny’s technological philosophy is reducing the traditional obsta-cles associated with translation projects. “We reduce human touchpoints from beginning to end by automating the service to provide a faster and simpler system.”

The Straker Translations plat-form supports more than 100 different file formats, includ-ing MS Word, Excel and many others, which can be instantly translated into more than 80 languages by machine transla-tion.

The human translator then

uses his or her experience and expertise to apply specific rules regarding grammar, cultural nu-ances of language, and other variables to create the perfect translation match.

“Our desktop publishing team can also apply layout chang-es to translation projects – for example, some languages use more character space than oth-er languages – to provide a per-fectly translated document.”

The company has embraced machine translation as a core part of its technology platform. “When used in conjunction with our human translation teams, we believe we have the fastest, most accurate and effective solution in the translation indus-try,” Mr Straker says.

In addition, the Straker Multi-lingual Translation Engine elim-inates the need for localisation, centralises the translation of content application, leverages all the interactive functionality of the main site and avoids lan-guage workflow complexities. “Our team of translators also get in-context views of their translations, while clients have a smooth online proofing and sign-off system.”

The firm’s 5,000 in-house, con-tracted and freelance profes-sional translators are evaluated

and tested for quality and skill in their chosen language pair before they join the company and are continually evaluated and rated after each project they complete. “This maintains quality and enables us to match the very best translators with the right expertise and expe-rience to each translation pro-ject,” Mr Straker believes.

These factors in turn help maintain quality and increase work speed. “Our translators are also constantly tracked for quality via such things as spot checks, reviews and client feed-back by our in-house team of senior translators and skilled project managers.”

Localisation is a big issue for clients and there are many ex-amples of companies not gain-ing a complete understanding of local differences in terms of everything from language and culture to working practises, or perhaps simply replicating a campaign from one territo-ry in another. “Sometimes this doesn’t work,” Mr Straker ob-serves. “We have the human and technological skills to pro-vide world-class localisation services.”

The proxy-based website translation system takes away the hassle of having to alter

Spreading the wordIt’s a big leap from a British army paratroop regiment to founding one of the world’s fastest growing transla-tion companies – not to mention landing a prestigious Hi-Tech Award as well

Grant and wife Merryn receive the Grow Wellington Hi-Tech Innovative Service Product Award from Grow Wellington Chief Executive Gerard Quinn (left)

seCurity


an existing website, buying in expensive tools, or involving a busy web technical team. “Costs also tend to be very low for this kind of website transla-tion,” Mr Straker adds.

Simply speedyThe website translation pro-

cess has been equally stream-lined and simplified: • the client provides the URL

and the company provides a quote based on how many words and how much of the site needs to be translated

• the translation is exported and translated ‘in context’ before being completed, re-viewed and approved.It then goes live, with the lan-

guage switched out as the re-quests go through the server. “So the client ends up with an identical site without the hassle – it really is as simple as that,” Mr Straker maintains.

Innovations such as these drove rapid expansion, Strak-er Translations establishing its Barcelona production centre in 2013 and expanding the sales team following an increase in overseas market opportunities and revenue. “This came off the back of a successful Google Ad-Words strategy first developed in 2011,” Mr Straker adds.

Straker Translations’ 10,000-plus clients are evenly spread over various industries in nu-merous countries, including legal services, media and mar-keting, manufacturing and en-gineering, financial services and technology telecommuni-cations. “Our growing portfo-lio of blue-chip clients includes Caterpillar, Fletcher Building, Fonterra, The Huffington Post, Samsung and Yellow Pages.”

The top language translations are English, French, Simplified Chinese, Spanish and Italian, but the remainder is an even spread across many languages. “Our most popular services are multilingual website transla-tions, technical documentation and InDesign translation servic-es,” Mr Straker confides.

The company’s continued suc-

cess has been proven statistical-ly and recognised officially – the translation industry’s leading research analysts, The Common Sense Advisory, rank it in the top 100 companies out of more than 27,000 global vendors op-erating in the sector. “We were the only New Zealand company to appear in the top 100,” Mr Straker notes.

The NZ Hi-Tech Award’s Grow Wellington Innovative Hi-Tech Services trophy is the latest ac-colade for an organisation which the judges recognised as “one of the world’s fastest-growing translation companies, with a cloud-based translation plat-form that enables translations to be delivered with speed and simplicity 24/7, ensuring even the most urgent translations are delivered without issue.”

It’s an impressive achievement for a company less than five years old which doubled its rev-enues over the past couple of years to turn over more than $8 million last year, but Mr Straker is aware that he and his team can’t rest on their laurels.

“As more and more com-panies want faster results, so cloud-based translation com-panies are having to look for faster ways to translate clients’ materials,” he notes. “Market expectations for translations are changing rapidly and clients want faster, easier and more cost-effective solutions.”

He’s taking solid steps to meet these needs with plans to raise between $5 million and $20 million through an initial pub-lic offering (IPO) on the nas-cent NXT exchange for smaller, high-growth businesses and a separate funding round seeking money from private investors.

“The main purpose of the IPO would be to raise growth cap-ital rather than provide an exit for shareholders because we in-tend to build on our successes to date and cement our hard-earned position as one of the world’s fastest and best trans-lation companies,” Mr Straker says.

Honeywell Process Solu-tions (HPS) has launched the first digital dashboard

designed to proactively moni-tor, measure and manage cyber security risk for control systems for refineries, power plants and other automated production sites that are at increasing risk of cyber attacks.

The Honeywell Industrial Cy-ber Security Risk Manager is designed to simplify the task of identifying areas of cyber securi-ty risk, providing real-time visibil-ity, understanding and decision support required for action.

It monitors and measures cy-ber security risk in multi-vendor industrial environments, which is a major concern according to a global survey on cyber security conducted by Ipsos Public Af-fairs in September 2014.

More than 5,000 adults in 10 countries were surveyed about the threat of cyber attacks on critical industries in their coun-tries, three quarters of whom said they were fearful that cy-ber criminals could hack into and control major sectors and elements of the economy. In addition, two-thirds of those sur-veyed thought that the oil and gas, chemicals and power indus-tries were particularly vulnerable to cyber attacks.

The Honeywell Industrial Cy-ber Security Risk Manager is designed to change that by pro-viding guidance on the potential impact of threats and vulnerabil-ities as well as possible resolu-tions, thus making it easier to manage cyber security risks.

Risk Manager uses advanced technologies that translate complex cyber security indica-tors into clear measurements and key performance indicators (KPI), and provides essential in-formation through an easy-to-use interface.

The intuitive workflow allows users to create customised risk notification alerts and perform detailed threat and vulnerabili-ty analysis so they can focus on managing risks that are most important for reliable plant op-erations.

Risk Manager means industri-al customers don’t need to be cyber security experts, Mr Zin-del says. “The easy-to-use in-terface allows users to prioritise and focus efforts on managing risks that are most important for reliable plant operations, protecting against vulnerabili-ties and threats such as insecure network and system configura-tions, rogue devices, intrusion attempts and malware – the list goes on.”

Monitoring plant assets within and across all security zones of a plant, including third-party sys-tems, Risk Manager understands security zones, is aligned with ISA 62443 and is able to calcu-late accurate risk scores.

Risk Manager’s real-time meas-urement of risk is in line with industry standard risk manage-ment methodologies so that risk scores can be used consistently and accurately throughout a cor-poration’s risk and governance efforts.

Digital dashboard slashes cyber security risk

The Honeywell Industrial Cyber Security Risk Manager is the first digital dashboard designed to proactively monitor, measure and manage cyber security risk

trANsport


Already they are being widely used in the real estate industry, for aerial

photography in all forms and in news gathering, and new appli-cations are developing quick-ly – even if we have yet to see the arrival of postal ‘delivery by drone’ in New Zealand.

The efficiency and produc-tivity potential they offer is im-mense. They can also be a fun, if expensive, recreational toy.

But they are aircraft and pose a number of safety risks, espe-cially close to controlled and busy airspace and over densely populated areas. There are also significant privacy implications.

So it was only a matter of time before the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) joined aviation regulators around the world in setting down some rules for use. These came into force on 1 August.

Operators must obtain prior consent from people before they fly over them or their land. If this cannot be obtained, or is im-practicable, application can be made to the Director of Civil Avi-ation for a certificate of approval.

The operational regulations are in two parts. Part One ap-

Drones – an excellent tool within limitsThe use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) or drones (pilot-less aircraft) is growing exponentially in New Zealand, according to Catherine Somerville and Kate Fairbrother

plies to RPAs weighing 25 kg or less and requires that the oper-ator:• ensure before each use that

the aircraft is safe to operate• takes all practicable steps to

minimise hazards to persons, property and other aircraft

• flies only in daylight• gives way to all crewed air-

craft• keeps the RPA within eye-

sight (i.e. not through binoc-ulars) and clear of cloud

• doesn’t fly above 120 metres of the ground

• is familiar with the airspace restrictions applying in the area of operation

• doesn’t fly closer than 4 km of any aerodrome

• obtains an air traffic control clearance when flying in con-trolled airspace

• and doesn’t fly in special use airspace without the permis-sion of the controlling author-ity (e.g. military operating ar-eas, low-flying zones).

RPAs weighing between 15 and 25 kg must also be con-structed or inspected, ap-proved and operated under the authority of a person or associa-tion recognised for this purpose by the CAA. Currently the only approved organisation is Model Flying New Zealand.

Operators who cannot comply with the Part One minimum re-

quirements, or who wish to fly an RPA weighing more than 25 kg, must be certificated by the Director of Civil Aviation under Part Two of the regulations.

To obtain a certificate, appli-cants must submit an “exposi-tion” showing that they have identified and mitigated all relevant hazards and risks. Each application will be considered on its merits.

All RPAs must operate within

a permitted radio frequency to avoid harmful interference to air traffic control or cell phone and emergency services. Peo-ple who use the wrong frequen-cies can be prosecuted under the Radiocommunications Act 1989.

Privacy paramountRPAs have the potential to be

intrusive when fitted with cam-eras. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has recommend-ed that users follow its guide-lines for CCTV use.

These include clearly identify-ing before use that the purpose for using the RPA is justified and that there are no equally effec-tive alternatives; having a clear plan about how the system will be operated and how the pri-vacy impacts will be minimised, collecting only necessary imag-es and using them only for the purposes for which they were collected.

Catherine Somerville is a partner at Chapman Tripp specialising in environment, planning and resource management law who also has a pilot’s licence, while Kate Fairbrother is a senior solicitor and specialises in corporate and commercial law with an emphasis on ICT, outsourcing, commercial contracting and e-business

Drones are becoming increasingly common in New Zealand, with the University of Canterbury, for example, investigating the possibility of using them to help fight fires

“They are aircraft and pose a number of safety risks, especially close to controlled and busy airspace and over densely populated areas”

Catherine Somerville Kate Fairbrother

INFRASTRUCTURE >> iNNoVAtioNs


www.peoplecentric.co.nz

Thirty years of research has shown that 70% of all major change efforts in organisations fail to deliver the expected results in the medium to long term – frequently due to a lack of engagement and commitment by the people directly involved.

Contact PeopleCentric to find out how we can help you engage your people and develop a productive and safe workplace climate.

why are things not happening as you planned?

The IL4 classified building will be protected by a system of 50 lead rubber

bearings and 83 slider bearings - IL4 means that after an earth-quake the Precinct needs to be standing and fully operational.

Robinson Seismic worked with Holmes Consulting Group base isolation specialist Alan Park to design and customise the bear-ings to the precinct require-ments.

“This is a critical building for the city and our modelling shows that it would remain fully operational after a substantial earthquake, and that people and property inside would be thrown around much less,” says Robinson Seismic’s Kate Can-derle.

“In an earthquake, this build-ing would roll gently with the punches.”

A common misconception is that base isolation is expensive, when in fact it adds very little

to overall construction costs of new buildings, she says.

“Base isolation minimises earthquake strengthening re-quirements to surpass required levels of building code compli-ance, which also saves money, and there are substantial insur-ance benefits as a result.

“Our system will allow the pre-cinct to move around 250mm sideways in an earthquake the size of February 2011, or up to 600mm in a larger event,”.

Lead-rubber bearings are a New Zealand invention by Penguin Engineering found-er, the late Dr Bill Robinson, a world-renowned earthquake engineer. The company’s name was changed to Robinson Seis-mic in 1998.

His invention is in use in more than 5,000 buildings world-wide, including at least 14 in New Zealand, notably Te Papa Tongarewa, Parliament Build-ings and Christchurch Women’s

Hospital. The hospital is the only build-

ing in Christchurch that was base isolated prior to the two major earthquakes and it re-mained fully operational during and in the aftermath of both of them.

The Justice and Emergency Services precinct will be cush-ioned by 133 isolators com-pared to 147 under Te Papa, 135 under the Wellington hos-pital and 40 under Christchurch Women’s Hospital.

“Both rubber and lead make excellent base isolation materi-als as, while they are very strong and stiff vertically, they flex hori-zontally if the ground moves beneath them, then return to their original shape,” says Ms Canderle.

“The rubber acts as a spring returning the building to its original position and the lead acts as a shock absorber to dampen the energy generated

by the earthquake.”Once completed at end of

2016, the three-building pre-cinct will house Christchurch’s justice and emergency services, including a purpose-built emer-gency operations centre and New Zealand’s first shared 111 emergency call centre for the entire South Island.

Key links

Use of Lead Rubber Bearings Internationally www.robinsonseismic.com/case-studies-earthquake-engineering.html

What are Lead Rubber Bearings? www.robinsonseismic.com/our-products-base-isolators.html

About Robinson Seismic Ltd www.robinsonseismic.com/about-us-seismic-design.html

About Dr Bill Robinson www.robinsonseismic.com/bill-robinson-story.html

Kate Canderle 021 148 2140 or email [email protected]

www.robinsonseismic.com

Steady path for justice and emergencies in an earthquake

Robinson Seismic a world leader in the research, development and manufacture of seismic isolation and vibration will provide base isolation to Christchurch’s new Justice and Emergency Services Precinct


COMMUNICATION

Until lately Social Media has been largely over-looked as a potentially

invaluable health and safety tool.

Increasing numbers have been turning to Facebook to get information about what’s happening around them and to check in on whether their friends and family are safe in times of disaster.

Over 2.5 million New Zealand-ers use Facebook every month on average, making it a power-ful tool to assist organisations, communities and families pre-pare for, respond to and recov-er from disasters.

Throughout the world and including New Zealand organ-isations like the American Red Cross, World Food Program USA, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service and Feder-al Emergency Management Agency use Facebook as part of their disaster response strat-egies.

These organisations employ Facebook in a variety of ways, from providing tips on keep-ing people and property safe, sharing important updates as a storm front or fire approaches, or rallying people to help oth-ers after disaster strikes.

An example close to home is, of course, the Student Vol-unteer Army, whose members took to Facebook to help oth-ers, particularly the elderly, in Christchurch after the devastat-ing earthquakes in 2011.

Civil Defence and the Met-Service also make effective use of Facebook to communicate important information when se-vere weather strikes New Zea-land.

Facebook aims to help every-one get more out of its services during difficult times, and as part of that strategy the com-pany has developed a range of guides and tools for organisa-

tions as well as individuals.

Prepare & respondJune saw the launch of a New

Zealand version of Prepare & Respond, a collection of world-wide best-practice examples for councils, civil defence teams and other emergency services to connect with their constitu-ents and better prepare for and respond to natural disasters.

The guide offers tips and case studies on how to maximise the impact of Facebook Pages, which are the foundation for a two-way communication with the community of people inter-ested in an organisation’s work.

The different features of Face-book Pages – like Timeline, Cover and Profile Photos, and the About section – allow an organisation to inform and en-gage members of the public as well as employees or volunteers from other stakeholders.

For example, the guide pro-vides tips about how organisa-tions can manage their Page posting strategy to provide people with the information they need before, during and after a disaster. • before: create a Page post-

ing strategy to keep people informed in advance of any disasters. Regularly posting helps your organisation stay front of mind as a credible and reliable resource during disasters. For example, post relevant tips to remind peo-ple of the steps they can take to prepare for a disaster that can strike at any time, like an earthquake, or severe weath-er or flooding.

• during: timing is crucial – post regularly with photos and vid-eos, share links to more in-depth information, and, when appropriate, target posts to people in specific locations. Respond to questions and feedback in the comments

sections of your posts.• after: post direct and clear in-

formation about where com-munity members can receive assistance and how they can help in the recovery effort through donations or volun-teering opportunities.Ensuring that a Page post-

ing best-practice strategy is in place can allow councils and other front-line responders to engage the public and help keep people informed.

Safety checkIn times of disaster or crisis its

services have become an effec-tive way to check on loved ones, particularly when large numbers of people are displaced.

This was evident during the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan when more than 12.5 million people were affected nationwide and more than 400,000 people were evacuated.

During that crisis people used technology and social media to stay connected and Facebook’s engineers in Japan took the first step toward creating a tool – Safety Check – to make it easier to communicate with others.

It is in these moments that communication is critical for people in the affected areas and for their friends and fami-lies anxious for news.

If activated by Facebook, the Safety Check tool, which is available globally on Android, iOS, feature phones and desk-top, provides a simple and easy way for an individual to let their friends and family on Facebook know they are safe. It also al-

lows friends and family to check in to see if their loved ones in an area affected by an emergency are safe.

Facebook decides to activate the Safety Check tool based on criteria about severity and type of incident, and in consultation with relevant government agen-cies in the affected area.

The company also works closely with local government authorities including the Minis-try of Civil Defence to identify if the tool can be helpful during an emergency.

To date Facebook has acti-vated Safety Check three times – after Typhoon Ruby, Cyclone Pam and the recent Nepal Earthquake – and millions of people have marked them-selves safe and millions more friends and family have seen safety notices that their loved ones are safe.

The comments on these safe-ty notices from loved ones are typically expressions of love, gratitude and relief, confirming how impactful social media can be in times of disaster.

Download the Prepare & Respond guide at https://www.facebook.com/disaster/app_190322544333196

Mia Garlick is Head of Policy at Facebook New Zealand

Harnessing the power of social mediaThe sheer ubiquity of social media makes it an essen-tial element in every disaster preparedness kit argues Head of Policy at Facebook New Zealand Mia Garlick

Tips for how individuals, groups and communities can get the most out of Facebook before, during and after disasters

Prepare & Respond

Help your community with READINESS

Engage in on-going RECOVERY efforts

Help build community RESILIENCE

Support and organise RESPONSE AND RELIEF initiatives

https://fb.facebook.com/redcross

https://fb.facebook.com/redcross

https://fb.facebook.com/WFPUSA

https://fb.facebook.com/WFPUSA

https://fb.facebook.com/nswrfs

https://fb.facebook.com/nswrfs

https://fb.facebook.com/FEMA



https://www.facebook.com/disaster/app_190322544333196




Tendering for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects which involve several parties in the bid process is a challenging task

How to win PPP bids

FoCus >> publiC priVAte pArtNersHips

cAroLine Boot MAnAging PArtner, PLAn A

“The value in appointing an independent Bid Director for these jobs is immense – as long as you select the right person for the job”

Each party brings its own culture, sys-tems, and pride to the table. Align-ing those different teams to deliver a

compelling tender on time – and making all of the tender’s components work effectively together – is one of the hardest tasks a bid team will ever face.

Understanding and leveraging the indi-vidual strengths that each party brings to the table is a critical first step, as is clear-ly defining roles and responsibilities. In collaborative tenders, there’s a far higher chance of inconsistencies within the doc-ument – and it’s a lot touchier to resolve these issues.

The value in appointing an independent Bid Director for these jobs is immense – as long as you select the right person for the job. What should you look for in a Bid Di-rector? Resilience springs to mind. Strong positive connections and credibility with all the major players, including your client. A strong leader. Calm under pressure. Apo-litical - that’s important! Knowledgeable and experienced in managing the tender process. Great people skills. A strong ne-gotiator.

Once you have your Bid Director on board, s/he will assemble the rest of your team and front/facilitate the overall deci-sions that are needed to get the job under way. You’ll want to tap into his or her insight into the optimal mix of partner companies to form your consortium.

S/he will research the project and the cli-ent’s background carefully to drive the most important selection factors into the heart of your offer. And they’ll make those priorities clear to all who work on the bid.

For very large or significant bids, it’s also worthwhile to engage a Bid Manager. While the Bid Director takes a governance role for the duration of the project, managing liai-sons between the consortium partners and with the client, the Bid Manager takes re-sponsibility for preparation of the delivera-bles. That’s a skill that takes outstanding co-ordination and project management skills.

Seven stepsHere are seven important fundamentals

that will need to be covered by the Bid Manager:

Put in place a culture of keeping to dead-lines from the start – writing and assem-bling a major tender document is a tightly staged process, involving repeated reviews which eventually need to fold together in the final document. There’s often no room for late entries; and a slack deadline pro-

cess will directly reduce the quality of your bid.

Delegate effectively and monitor pro-gress tightly – set an initial task to gauge the quality and timeliness of the respons-es from your contributors. This helps you identify who will struggle with delivering a quality response, and who the recalcitrant slackers are. Apply pressure and extra re-source to those hot points from day one.

Involve all reviewers in the first bid strat-egy meeting – the seagull treatment (fly in, squawk a lot, crap on everyone, then leave) is a time-honoured tradition of tender re-viewers. Time and time again, late-entry reviewers do more damage to a well-struc-tured document than good. Get them in on the ground floor, or not at all.

Write your Executive Summary straight after the first bid strategy meeting – then circulate it to all the main contributors with a limited timeframe for comment. This is a powerful alignment tool, and it shows you are serious about getting the writing start-ed.

Thoroughly scope and allocate tasks – on multi-party tenders, it can be easy for some tasks to fall through the cracks. Don’t leave

it to chance that the right parties will take ownership of their contributions – it’s easy in these situations for one party to assume that another has it in hand.

Use an overall Bid Editor – on smaller projects this role could form part of the Bid Manager’s role, but on larger tenders the Bid Manager is likely to be too busy with managing inputs to also keep a close eye on quality control.

A Bid Editor will help to produce a co-hesive document which consistently pre-sents the ‘win themes’ and doesn’t reek of one party preparing one section and a different party preparing another. Leave this unchecked and your client may think that they’re not dealing with a strong and aligned team.

Communicate, communicate, communi-cate – a breakdown in communication can have disastrous impacts. A good Bid Man-ager will keep all parties up to speed with changing requirements and expectations, and work to resolve any issues before they impact on getting the right solution into the tender box on time.

To compete as a high-performing con-sortium for a PPP, and Alliance or a De-sign-Build project (or any kind of multi-par-ty bid), you will need to prove that you already have strong well-organised working relationship. If you can demonstrate a co-hesive and coordinated team approach in your bid document, the evaluators will have greater faith that you can work effectively together through the project.

Caroline Boot is the Managing Partner of Plan A Tender Specialists and Clever Buying ™. She and her colleagues are dedicated to improving the skills and tools used by both clients and suppliers engaged in tendering. For more information, see www.plana.co.nz or www.cleverbuying.com or phone 0800 752 622

FOCUS >> PUbliC Private PartnerShiPS

32 aUgUSt/SePtember 2015

Recent estimates indicate US$57 trillion in global infrastructure investment

will be required over the next 15 years for transport, power, water and telecommunications, simply to keep up with project-ed global GDP growth.

Public-Private partnerships (PPPs) continue to play a key role in the delivery of critical infrastructure the world over; however the status of global markets is changing. Although every country in the world has its own approach to developing and funding infrastructure, un-til recently the PPP model has been narrowly defined – par-ticularly within mature markets.

Countries such as the UK, Can-ada and Australia have benefit-ted from a wide variety of pri-vate investment opportunities in infrastructure and developed rigorous PPP procurement and governance frameworks over time.

In broad terms, the PPP ap-proach has traditionally referred to either the availability style model (with core service reten-tion for social infrastructure) or the concessionaire model in-cluding demand risk (prior to the recent lack of market appe-tite for demand risk).

Now, as global markets ma-ture, the range of PPP models has expanded and many dif-ferent models are considered applicable. This may be influ-enced by a variety of econom-ic, financial – even political – factors. In many cases, value for money and changes in risk

appetite drive the structural change – especially in the wake of the financial crisis, which has required governments to be-come more flexible.

The traditional model is changing in the UK, US and Australia

In the UK, a range of alternate structures have been consid-ered for new assets. The Non Profit Distributing (NPD) model of Scotland (and now Wales) is

one example. Unlike the tradi-tional PFI model, the NPD mod-el does not strictly involve pri-vate equity investment; instead providing subordinated debt.

As a result, while shareholders may receive a return on capital invested, under the NPD model returns are essentially fixed at the time of contract execution. Surpluses may reduce the ser-vice payment, with any surplus remaining at the end of the con-tract distributed to the public sector authority (rather than as dividends to private investors). This model was applied recent-ly in the Dumfries and Galloway Acute Services Redevelopment Project, which will result in the development of a new district general hospital for Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.

Demand in the US has also led

to the development of various innovative, large-scale trans-port projects. This includes the Ohio River Bridges Project, which involves the construction of bridge facilities and motor-ways that require collaboration between the Ohio and Indiana state authorities and the appli-cation of two different funding mechanisms (a PPP and a Pub-lic Activity Bond offering). The proceeds from the tolls are split equally between the states.

Australia’s recent transactions have also included a range of funding and financing models. In relation to economic infra-structure and toll roads, the use

of an availability style model has enabled the continuing provision of critical infrastruc-ture during a period of low in-vestor appetite for demand risk. This model is now being further augmented to address planned future recycling of capital fol-lowing establishment of proven demand – for example, West-Connex (see sidebar below).

In addition, governments na-tionally are encouraging mar-ket-led proposals, which to date have predominantly tar-geted major civil works projects across the transport and freight portfolios.

In respect of social infrastruc-ture projects, recent transac-tions have ranged from full pri-vatisation of services through to a blend of availability and performance-by-results models

(such as the recently transacted Ravenhall Prison Project in Vic-toria).

The trend towards service-led PPPs is expected to increase in NSW with its preparedness to consider full outsourcing of services, as demonstrated by the Northern Beaches Hospital Project.

In addition, a range of service contestability engagements (ar-rangements involving the pur-chase of complex services from the non-government sector) are drawing on the key principles of PPPs, such as linking payment mechanisms to performance and ensuring a clear allocation of key risks to clearly define ser-vice requirements between the parties.

Trends in social infrastructure investment

In relation to social infrastruc-ture, governments around the globe are looking to new mod-els of partnership between the public and private sectors to provide more efficient and ef-fective social service delivery

KPMG Australia National Infrastructure Projects Group Specialist Advisor John Fitzgerald: “Public-Private partnerships continue to play a key role in the delivery of critical infrastructure the world over”

Changing with the timesThe traditional public-private partnership model is evolving as countries around the world face a substan-tial infrastructure deficit says John Fitzgerald

PPP connects the westA 33km integrated road project to complete and expand the M4

and M5 corridors in Sydney and improve links to the airport and port precincts, the West Connex project is planned to be deliv-ered in three stages over 10 years.

A NSW government-owned company is funding the initial Stage 1 works currently under construction, which consist of the M4 wid-ening and extension from Parramatta eastwards to Haberfield.

Stage 2 will increase capacity on the M5 and skirts the Sydney

Airport and Port Botany in Sydney’s south-east, with construction due to start soon. Once demand has been established, the state-owned company will look to raise capital via the securitisation of tolls following the proofing of traffic demand forecasts for the in-itial stage – including by issuing bonds to superannuation funds – to fund the construction of subsequent stages.

The proposed model is similar to San Francisco’s Bay Area Toll Authority, which operates eight tolled bridges in the city and has raised private capital for new projects by issuing bonds.

“As governments look to maximise value and reduce costs associated with private sector finance, innovative models catalysed by the financial crisis are likely to result in permanent structural changes within the sector”

aUgUSt/SePtember 2015 33

that contributes to the public benefit.

The past decade has seen the evolution of social investment (SII), which provides finance to organisations addressing social problems with the explicit ex-pectation of a measurable so-cial, as well as financial, benefit.

The UK has played a leading role in this initiative, establish-ing a Social Investment Task-force during its G8 presidency in 2013 which seeks to raise awareness amongst potential social ventures, intermediaries and investors. Other OECD countries, including Australia, Canada and France, have also played a role in developing the SII market.

The take-up and appetite for differing models and structures varies between local jurisdic-tions. Opportunity exists for greater adoption nationally.

A number of other recent justice sector initiatives have included payment-by-results concepts, including recidivism and reintegration targets within the Ravenhall and Wiri prison PPPs in Australia and New Zea-land. NSW has also considered the use of Social Benefits Bonds

(equivalent to an SIB), targeting improved criminal justice out-comes.

Mega projects Nationally and globally there

has been a continuing trend towards the ‘mega project’, re-ferring to large-scale complex projects, frequently proposed in response to transport chal-lenges created by urban mobili-ty requirements.

Affordability is a key issue given the size of the funding requirement for many of these projects, exacerbated by cur-rently constrained fiscal envi-ronments. As a result, adaptive and innovative PPP arrange-ments are required, including the flexibility to apply a range of procurement models within the one project.

Models are increasingly re-quired to interface across large civil works packages procured under alternate arrangements, as well as existing operational arrangements (such as potential franchisees).

Given the sheer magnitude of funding required for projects of this scale, the ability to attract alternate private sector funding

to reduce the reliance on direct government contributions de-rived from traditional taxes and fees will be critical to facilitate the continuing procurement of mega projects.

Innovative project-specific funding sources may incorpo-rate a mixture of user-pays ar-rangements (potentially follow-ing demand-proofing periods) as well as other appropriate value capture mechanisms, in-cluding special assessment di-rect benefit taxation, developer contributions and transit-ori-ented development revenue receipts.

Bundling of multiple smaller scale projects

At the other end of the PPP spectrum, there are a number of recent examples of small-er-scale, geographically dis-persed projects being bundled together under the banner of a single large scale multi-asset PPP.

Although the bundling of a few facilities (including numer-ous school projects) has been implemented across a number of jurisdictions nationally and internationally, new projects of

a significantly larger scale (both in terms of deal value and ge-ographic disparity) are now be-ing considered.

The recent Pennsylvania Bridges Project, for example, bundles 558 geographically dis-persed bridges into one large project with a 42-month delivery deadline and a 28-year contract term (see sidebar page 34).

Advantages of this approach include standardised due dili-gence and documentation pro-cesses and improved chances of attracting institutional inves-tors to projects otherwise too small to be considered attrac-tive.

Funding and financing trends As governments look to max-

imise value and reduce costs associated with private sector finance, innovative models cat-alysed by the financial crisis are likely to result in permanent structural changes within the sector.

A number of different ap-proaches to the funding and financing of PPP/PFI projects have emerged since the finan-cial crisis in 2008.




Key trends include:

Capital contribution Numerous projects through-

out Australia and internationally have now been executed using the capital contribution model as governments seek to solve affordability issues and improve Value for Money (VfM). There are a range of issues to be con-sidered, including the quantum, timing and certainty of the sen-ior debt repayment.

A number of variances have been adopted nationally, par-ticularly with respect to the timing of the contribution in-cluding:• pro-rata contribution during

construction (i.e. contribut-ed as a proportion of private sector finance drawn down by the PPP co.)

• delayed drawdown during construction (i.e. as D&C phase contributions after significant contribution of pri-vate sector debt and equity)

• upon completion of construc-tion (i.e. upon the successful achievement of Commercial Acceptance)

• repayment at a specified point during the Operating Term (for example once a ‘steady state’ of operations has been reached, referred to as a Satisfactory Operations Date).

The optimal timing of the Government Contribution (GC) needs to be considered from both VfM and risk transfer per-spectives. An earlier GC may re-sult in prima facie, better quan-titative VfM because the total capital funding requirement is reduced, including lower capi-talised interest, fees and costs. However, government may be perceived to ‘take back’ some

risk that would otherwise have been transferred to the PPP co.

Unsolicited/Market-Led Pro-posals and Inverted Bid

Private investors within the market are initiating a number of alternate funding structures, including the provision of unso-licited proposals and the insti-tutional investors’ inverted bid model. Governments nationally have introduced frameworks by which to assess unsolicited or market-led proposals.

Although this approach en-courages significant private sector innovation and invest-ment in public infrastructure, one of the key challenges for the market and government alike is the demonstration of unique attributes and justifica-tion of negotiating with a single party for significant opportu-nities (often heavily subsidised or requiring significant govern-ment intervention). The private sector must carefully balance the degree of work undertak-en and investment required to demonstrate uniqueness, given the proposal may not be ac-

ceptable to government, or the opportunity offered to market.

The ‘inverted bid model’ is a proposed new procurement process championed by Aus-tralian superannuation funds to facilitate greater institution-al investment in Australian in-frastructure. Under the current procurement model, Australia’s major infrastructure investors, rarely, if ever, participate in greenfield PPP projects either as bid sponsors or primary eq-uity investors. Yet, combined, they control the majority of in-

frastructure investment in Aus-tralia. This is largely due to a lack of appetite to invest signif-icant at risk capital (in bid costs)

for the scale of investment as-sociated with most PPP transac-tions, compared with alternate investment opportunities.

Under the proposed ‘invert-ed bid model‘ the traditional bidding process is reversed by fixing the terms of project financing through a funding competition, prior to the ten-dering of construction, opera-tion and maintenance (includ-ing raising any additional debt following determination of the proposed solution).

This approach seeks to lev-

el the playing field for long-term equity investors seeking reasonable returns over the economic life of the asset ver-sus fees generated during the initial bidding, structuring and delivery of the asset. Although this model may be successful in attracting greater institutional investment, challenges would likely present, particularly in relation to the pricing of equi-ty and debt in the absence of a fully developed understanding of the technical solution and as-sociated risks.

Non-Profit Distribution (NPD)Following concerns regard-

ing excess profits generated from early PFI projects in the UK, the Scottish government announced that PPP projects could also be procured using the NPD model. As the title suggests, the model does not allow for profit distributions to

Building better bridges

The Pennsylvania Rapid Bridge Replacement Project is a new initiative that seeks to address the state’s structurally deficient bridges, which number approximately 4,500. The

bridges largely consist of crossings on smaller highways in rural areas, and are geographically dispersed across the state. The pro-ject aims to replace 558 bridges in three years, with construction

4 | Public Private Partnerships

What is needed?

We believe there are a range of key factors and structural reforms required

to ensure that the PPP model and market are ready to respond to the immense

challenge outlined by the Australian Infrastructure Audit.

A stronger and more reliable pipeline providing greater visibility

of the investment opportunity to allow the market to respond with

appropriate capacity and capability, improving overall value for money.

Return of long-term project financing, facilitated by the re-emergence

of debt capital markets to increase appropriate alternate financing sources.

Attraction of alternate funding sources to offset the immense funding

requirement, particularly in relation to user-pays and transport related value

capture opportunities.

Greater facilitation of payment by results and social impact investing,

linking performance and payment to improved social outcomes.

Better information and operational performance data to facilitate continuing

enhancement of newly originated infrastructure, as well as the identification

of potential savings and modifications of existing service arrangements.

Political stability and sponsorship of long-term infrastructure plans, providing

confidence to market participants and allowing efficient delivery of projects.

Development of new asset classes suitable for PPP delivery, including

the packaging of large-scale civil infrastructure maintenance works,

to address the significant infrastructure maintenance backlog.

complete by the end of 2017, and adopts a 28-year contract term. The project will be financed using up to US$1.2 billion in PABs

issued by the US Department of Transportation, which will be tax-exempt and account for the majority of the total project capital costs. The project will be led by Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners, with 11 key subcontractors, forming a consortium of financing and engineering firms.


“A number of different approaches to the funding and financing of PPP/PFI projects have emerged since the financial crisis in 2008”


equity investors; private capital is contributed as subordinat-ed and senior debt with pre-agreed margins.

Any additional returns result in an offset to the service payment (reduced payment) or a pay-ment from the PPP co. to the procuring authority at the end of term. In general terms, the model is underpinned by the following key principles:• enhanced stakeholder in-

volvement in management of projects – a Public Interest Director and non-voting ob-server sit on the PPP co board

• no dividend-bearing equity –

the project financing vehicle only contains subordinated and senior debt

• capped private sector re-turns, with surplus profits being returned to the pub-lic sector entity by way of an offset to the availability pay-ment.

Several transactions have now closed, with the most recent being the NHS Dumfries and Galloway Acute Services Hospi-tal Redevelopment. The mod-el seems to have been readily accepted by the debt, sponsor and contractor market, prob-ably helped by the very liquid

and aggressive equity market in the UK.

Availability-style economic in-frastructure PPPs

Civil projects, typically road PPPs that had recently used availability style payments to address concerns regarding de-mand risk, are now beginning to incorporate future provision of tolling securitisation following an appropriate demand-proof-ing period, providing funds for future stages and other in-frastructure. Recent examples include the US 36 Managed Lanes and Australia’s WestCon-nex Project.

Value captureA broad assortment of fees or

taxes levied on defined groups of beneficiaries expected to benefit from the provision of a particular project, typically transportation-oriented devel-opment, ranging from sales of air rights to increased land val-ues and improved productivity resulting in a larger tax base. Recent examples include Cross-rail 2 (UK) and Hudson Yards New York (US).

PPP deals closed FY06-FY10

Portugal

406

88

201Germany

120

313Ireland

231

294

India

261

533

Belgium264

United Kingdom

234

276

255

Spain

285

Brazil

313

395

315

Canada

417 491

Australia

653

1,168

United States

710

254

France

327

Average deal value (US$m)

Source: IJ Online data (accessed 15 May 2015) and KPMG analysis

Ave

rage

nu

mb

er o

f d

eals

clo

sed

per

an

nu

m

PPP deals closed FY11-FY14

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Change in average number and size of PPP transactions from FY06-FY10 to FY11-FY14

150%%

cha

nge

in a

vera

ge n

o. o

f dea

ls c

lose

d pe

r ann

um

% change in average deal value

100%50%-50%-100%

-50%

-100%

100%

India

50%

Belgium

United StatesFrance

AustraliaGermany

Ireland

Portugal

United Kingdom

Spain

Canada

Brazil


12,000

Average value of PPP deals closed

-

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

Transport Social Other

Ave

rage

val

ue

of

dea

ls (

US

$m)

FY06-FY10 FY06-FY14

FY06-FY10 FY06-FY14

-

20

40

60

80

100

120

Transport Social Other Ave

rage

nu

mb

er o

f d

eals

per

an

nu

m

Average number of PPP deals closed per annum




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Strong foundations



Congestion pricing/ market-based pricing

The introduction of variable tolls, including dynamic tolling arrangements for road projects, to help manage congestion, al-lowing motorists to self-select travel times based on perceived time value. Recent examples in-clude the Washington Interstate Route 95 Express Lanes Project (US) and the M6 Toll (UK).

Government syndication guarantees

Governments guarantee the syndication, becoming the lender of last resort in the event the transaction is not fully syndi-cated. Recent examples include Australia’s Victorian Desalina-tion Project.

Debt competitionGovernment selects a pre-

ferred bidder based on assur-ance of a financeable bid, and that preferred bidder, in consul-tation with government, then procures debt using a debt competition. The UK’s M25 PPP and Bristol Southmeade Hospi-tal are recent examples.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF)TIF is created by the genera-

tion of additional tax revenues based on an increase in the tax

base, not an increase in the tax rate or a new tax. TIF is collect-ed within the area directly af-fected by the new infrastructure that catalyses the increased tax base. The Greater Paris and the Grand Paris Expressway, the UK’s Crossrail 2 and the Detroit Red Wings Hockey Stadium are classic examples.

Government senior debt (‘wide equity’) model

Originally developed in Cana-da, under this approach govern-ment provides all debt and the private sector provides a great-er proportion of equity (e.g. 80 percent debt/20 percent equi-ty). Fort St John Hospital and the BC Cancer Agency Centre were both funded this way,

Private Activity Bonds (PABS) Application of tax-exempt

debt instruments for private investment in highway or sur-face freight transfer facilities, resulting in access to the low-er cost of capital from the US tax-exempt bond market. The Pennsylvania Bridges Capital Beltway Hot Lanes PPP (US) is a prime example.

Bond marketThe financial crisis saw the

widespread collapse of mono-line insurers and project finance bond markets (for instance in

the UK and Australia). Recent innovations in bond financ-ing structures such as delayed drawdowns and forward pur-chase bonds have seen a slow re-emergence of bonds (out-side North America) as a poten-tial source of project finance in PPPs, typically in the secondary markets. The San Francisco Bay Area Toll Authority, the Victorian Desalination Plant Refinancing and the WestConnex Project were financed in this fashion.

TIFIA (US) credit assistance programme

A US federal credit pro-gramme for eligible surface transportation projects of na-tional or regional significance. Under this programme, the US Department of Transportation is authorised to provide three types of credit assistance – di-rect secured loans (most com-monly used), loan guarantees and standby lines of credit – to attract greater private sector investment. The Ohio River Bridges East End Crossing is an example of this type of financ-ing.

UK guarantees schemeProvides credit support, lev-

eraging off the UK’s sovereign credit rating, to stimulate con-tinuing investment in infrastruc-

ture. In relation to PPPs spe-cifically, co-lending has been considered alongside other funders on a pari passu basis, providing procuring authorities with an alternative to the capi-tal contribution model. Recent examples include the Mersey Gateway Bridge, the Bendigo Hospital Project and the Sydney Convention Centre.

Concluding thoughtsUltimately, investors and the

public alike have increasingly high expectations around trans-parency, reporting standards and operational optimisation of PPP projects both during and after project construction. In adopting models that seek to leverage governments’ credit ratings and lower cost of bor-rowing, it is important that the incentives and integrity of the PPP model be retained – any approach should be cognisant of potential risk of take-back by government, while continuing to pay a premium within the PPP structure. Overall value for money must be preserved.

John Fitzgerald is Specialist Advisor, KPMG Australia National Infrastructure Projects Group

Public Private Partnerships | 98 | Public Private Partnerships

Mature growth markets

High growth markets

Mature steady markets

Small developing markets

Low growth markets

No information available

Mature stagnant market

CanadaThe Canadian market continues to deliver an impressive and transparent pipeline of greenfield opportunities within a strongly supported political environment. It also contains an active secondary market.

United StatesThe US provides one of the largest infrastructure markets globally, with a substantial requirement for private investment. Almost all jurisdictions have now introduced specific legislation to enable PPP investment, with a primary focus on the transport sector.

North America Current focus of PPP players globally, with Canada providing the most active mature market in the world and the US representing a potentially significant new opportunity, given emerging political commitment.

Emerging markets – India, Latin America and SE Asia PPPs are increasingly used in growth markets such as India, Brazil and SE Asia. Developing nations are introducing PPP procurement regimes and policies to attract foreign investment. Although private sector investment remains challenging, these markets are constantly being reviewed for investment readiness and actively pursued.

United KingdomFormerly one of the leading PPP jurisdictions, the UK PFI (now PF2) market, is in decline. Although some pipeline exists for NPD projects in Scotland and Wales, England's PF2 has just two projects currently in procurement, with no visible future pipeline at this time.

AustraliaA mature and continuing PPP market, PPP deal flow has recently strengthened after a slight contraction in the wake of the financial crisis. The need for significant private investment in the nation's infrastructure (highlighted in the recent Australian Infrastructure Audit) is anticipated to result in the emergence of a variety of innovative funding and financing models.

ChinaChina's Government is actively promoting use of PPPs as a reform tool and the main procurement methodology for infrastructure projects, targeting foreign and domestic players.

Classification of PPP markets


Public Private Partnerships | 98 | Public Private Partnerships

Mature growth markets

High growth markets

Mature steady markets

Small developing markets

Low growth markets

No information available

Mature stagnant market

CanadaThe Canadian market continues to deliver an impressive and transparent pipeline of greenfield opportunities within a strongly supported political environment. It also contains an active secondary market.

United StatesThe US provides one of the largest infrastructure markets globally, with a substantial requirement for private investment. Almost all jurisdictions have now introduced specific legislation to enable PPP investment, with a primary focus on the transport sector.

North America Current focus of PPP players globally, with Canada providing the most active mature market in the world and the US representing a potentially significant new opportunity, given emerging political commitment.

Emerging markets – India, Latin America and SE Asia PPPs are increasingly used in growth markets such as India, Brazil and SE Asia. Developing nations are introducing PPP procurement regimes and policies to attract foreign investment. Although private sector investment remains challenging, these markets are constantly being reviewed for investment readiness and actively pursued.

United KingdomFormerly one of the leading PPP jurisdictions, the UK PFI (now PF2) market, is in decline. Although some pipeline exists for NPD projects in Scotland and Wales, England's PF2 has just two projects currently in procurement, with no visible future pipeline at this time.

AustraliaA mature and continuing PPP market, PPP deal flow has recently strengthened after a slight contraction in the wake of the financial crisis. The need for significant private investment in the nation's infrastructure (highlighted in the recent Australian Infrastructure Audit) is anticipated to result in the emergence of a variety of innovative funding and financing models.

ChinaChina's Government is actively promoting use of PPPs as a reform tool and the main procurement methodology for infrastructure projects, targeting foreign and domestic players.

Classification of PPP markets


There’s been some confu-sion emerging from the recent review of Mt Eden

remand prison’s operations contractor, Serco, but the con-cept is really quite straightfor-ward.

First and foremost, it’s impor-tant to note that the public and the private sectors cooperate on every single infrastructure project. Under more traditional approaches to procuring public assets like roads, schools, hos-pitals and prisons (and basically anything else that requires con-struction), the public sector con-tracts private sector companies to design, build, maintain and sometimes operate the assets. The public sector funds each of these activities out of revenue from taxes and contracts par-ties, generally independently, managing a tender process for each stage of project delivery.

This approach works well for the overwhelming majority of infrastructure projects as it al-lows public agencies to drive competition without costs get-ting out of control, either from the public or the private sector’s perspective.

The downside is that the pub-lic sector carries significant risk at each stage of infrastructure delivery and loses the ability to gain efficiencies – particularly whole-of-life efficiencies – from bundling different activities.

For example, when price de-termines who wins a tender process to design or build a piece of infrastructure, there is a risk that long-term operat-ing costs are passed onto the public agency who will own the asset in a bid to reduce upfront construction costs. That’s not a good outcome for taxpayers.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) address this by bundling all phases of project delivery into one single tender process. Private sector companies team up to design, build, finance, maintain and, sometimes, op-

erate an asset on behalf of the public.

In the New Zealand context the public sector owns the asset in law at all times and private fi-nance must be included for the process to be a true PPP.

PPPs are able to leverage long-term operational savings from better upfront design and construction by allocating risk more efficiently than under oth-er procurement options. The basic principle is that the party best able to manage a par-ticular risk should manage that risk because they will have the sharpest incentive to minimise problems.

However, risk allocation, fi-

nance structuring and fully inte-grated whole-of-life operational design for an asset that will last three or so decades is expen-sive and can be time consum-ing. So PPPs tend to work best for larger and more complex projects with opportunity for the private sector to innovate.

At the end of the day, every PPP must be able to beat a comparator generated by the public sector or the project won’t go ahead as a PPP.

Strategic toolIt would be fair to say the

above summary of PPPs has evolved over time and that the original drivers for injecting pri-vate finance, in particular, into public project procurement are more interesting.

In PPP pioneering countries, including the UK, Australia and Canada, PPPs were first used to shift public debt onto private balance sheets in order to get around various financial and po-litical obstacles.

That is, generating whole-of-life savings for the taxpayer through private sector innova-tion and risk allocation didn’t always take priority. Sometimes, simply being able to shift pay-ments for the construction of expensive public assets into the future was enough to justify a PPP. For smaller public author-ities needing tens of millions of dollars in the bank to get a project off the ground, the at-tractiveness of 20 or 30 much smaller annual payments could be seductive.

Indeed, for many councils, health authorities and others on fixed budgets, a choice be-tween no asset or a privately fi-

nanced asset at higher cost was an easy choice; the harder part was the creative accounting needed to convince Treasury officials that the cost of private finance was worth it.

As a result, a number of early PPPs in places like the UK did not deliver value for money and have subsequently led to public backlash.

Much of this backlash has been led by labour unions, who have been the fiercest critics of PPPs. That’s because a second strategic motivation for intro-ducing PPPs overseas was to get around heavily unionised industries in order to realise la-bour efficiency gains.

By choosing PPP over tradi-tional procurement, and includ-ing long-term maintenance and, where possible, operations into a contract, authorities were able to avoid some of the more prescrip-tive requirements to use specific labour resources and grant spe-cific working conditions.

New Zealand largely avoided

the more contentious aspects of PPPs as between 1999 and 2008 public infrastructure was not allowed to be privately fi-nanced. Although one could argue that this moratorium ex-acerbated New Zealand’s infra-structure deficit, it also allowed us to develop our own, unique and in some cases world-lead-ing PPP models which to date have avoided the least desir-able aspects of international PPPs.

New Zealand PPPsTo a great extent, New Zea-

land PPPs operate the way PPPs are intended. All private finance must remain on the balance sheet, removing the attraction of pure financial motivations for selecting a PPP over other models. This helps ensure value for money remains the principal objective from any procure-ment process.

Projects are outcome-focused and significant efforts are tak-en to avoid input specification. The Wiri prison PPP provides an outstanding case in point. The purpose of the Wiri pris-on was never a fixed number of cells of a certain size. It was, and is, to keep a given number of inmates inside; to keep them safe; and to reduce their reof-fending when they are released. The entire project is structured to ensure these three principal outcomes.

“New Zealand is yet to promote a PPP in housing, but the level of demand combined with the dominance of the private sector in property development suggests significant potential”

Proven partnerships offer plenty of potentialPublic-private partnerships remain something of a mystery to many New Zealanders, even those operating in the infrastructure sector, Hamish Glenn believes

Hamish Glenn



Performance payments are based on these metrics and penalties are imposed when targets are not met. That means all aspects of the deal are meas-ured, monitored and bench-marked to constantly gauge performance.

Under traditional procure-ment, this type of approach is technically not impossible, but rarely if ever occurs. Design tends to be specified, construc-tion is subject to cost minimisa-tion and operation gets handed over to public monopoly pro-viders who are poorly moni-tored and inadequately bench-marked. As a result, the same patterns of crime, incarceration, release and re-incarceration are reproduced infinitely, giving New Zealand one of the highest rates of recidivism in the devel-oped world.

A defined objective of New Zealand authorities from the introduction of PPPs is to tap the expertise and learning of the private sector. As public services tend to be monopo-lies and “inward-looking”, op-portunities for innovation and new ways of doing things are limited. By introducing a private sector partner into the provision

of otherwise public services, au-thorities can gain learning over service provision which can be extended across the sector.

In fact, this has been one of the principal benefits not only of the Wiri prison deal, but also from Transmission Gully, where New Zealand’s most experi-enced and proficient procurer of public services – the New Zealand Transport Agency – has identified wider benefits that it can now apply across its full procurement programme.

The future To date, only two PPPs have

become operational: the Wiri Prison and Hobsonville schools agreement. Another two have been awarded but are not yet operational (Transmission Gully motorway and a second bundle of schools) and one is under tender – the Puhoi motorway.

In addition, the Skypath walk and cycleway across the Auck-land Harbour Bridge and the Christchurch Convention Cen-tre are currently being devel-oped as PPPs and parties are working through project details.

No decisions have been made, but PPP has been moot-ed as a potential option for light

rail in Auckland, the additional Waitemata Harbour Crossing and it is likely that the health sector could see a PPP at some stage.

There have been no PPPs in health to this point. This is un-usual as this is the sector with generally the widest use of PPP overseas. Given a developing need for capital investment in New Zealand hospitals and the presence of extensive hospital PPP experience across parties currently participating in the New Zealand market, health could be the ‘next cab off the rank’ for private investment.

Exactly how the sector devel-ops will depend heavily on the monitored performance of PPPs already underway. With the ex-ception of the isolated pre-1999 initiated Kaipara District Coun-cil-managed wastewater pro-ject, New Zealand PPPs are yet to suffer a significant issue, ei-ther in terms of private partner performance failure or public sector procurement fault.

However, risks remain that is-sues in other parts of the sector will impact public perceptions. Leading these concerns is the outcome of a review underway at Mt Eden Remand Prison.

The South Auckland Correction Facility (aka Wiri Prison) is one of only two PPPs to date to become operational in New Zealand, the other being the Hobsonville schools agreement, while Mount Eden Remand Prison is an operations outsourcing agreement

There, an operations out-sourcing agreement has been reviewed following evidence of contract breaches. While quite distinct from a PPP, the contract was nevertheless leased to a private partner, allowing some degree of confusion to emerge publicly.

In practice, a PPP at Mt Eden would have tied service provid-er Serco to a longer term agree-ment with other private parties, including equity investors. The added rigour provided by in-vestor exposure over a longer term contract can help sustain higher levels of performance in accordance with the contract.

A final sector which may emerge as a priority for PPPs, conventional or otherwise, is the development sector. New Zealand is yet to promote a PPP in housing, but the level of demand combined with the dominance of the private sector in property development sug-gests significant potential.

The advantage with an inte-grated development PPP would be the public sector being able to prescribe some bottom lines in terms of affordable housing while transferring some devel-opment risk to the private sec-tor.

The opportunity for real val-ue uplift would be if the public client was able to tie in social support services and perfor-mance metrics into the agree-ment. This type of arrangement remains a possibility in Tama-ki in Auckland, and elements could still be adopted in the Christchurch CBD rebuild.

Hamish Glenn is Senior Policy Advisor at the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development



Many governments are under pressure to keep taxes low while still

investing substantially in infra-structure. In the past few dec-ades, public-private partner-ships (PPPs) have been mooted as a win-win model that will enable better projects to be delivered sooner, for less public money.

However, there is conflicting evidence about their effective-ness. Particularly in the case of transportation infrastructure, there are many reasons to be-lieve that private finance cannot offer significant advantages.

Investment partnerships be-tween governments and the private sector are not new. The private sector has been con-tracted to design, construct and maintain infrastructure in most western countries for a very long time. But in recent decades PPPs have become a preferred financing model for infrastructure projects in many Asia-Pacific countries.

From a simple cost-of-capital perspective, it’s not clear why PPPs are a good idea. Using private rather than public bor-rowing can increase the overall cost of new infrastructure. Gov-ernments can generally borrow for infrastructure investment at lower interest rates than those faced by the private sector.

The New Zealand Treasury explicitly acknowledges this in its analysis of the Transmission Gully motorway PPP. But for ide-ological and political reasons, public funding often seems to be off the table.

In theory, by using private fi-nance, PPPs harness the profit motive of the private sector to ensure the projects are com-pleted efficiently. The other side of the same coin is that the private sector also carries the

financial risk. This frees up the government

to provide the vision and lead-ership needed for transforma-tional projects – drumming up public support for the disrup-tion that’s inevitable as a new transport corridor is carved out, for example.

The reality is often very differ-ent from the theory. The pur-ported fiscal discipline of the private sector has not lived up to the expectation that only economically beneficial pro-jects will get built. Taxpayers have still ended up shouldering significant costs when projects have gone wrong.

Part of the difficulty is that there are many market distor-tions and indirect pricing in the transportation sector. This

means that a project that de-livers significant transport and economic benefits, like addi-tional public transport servic-es, may not be commercially viable. On the other hand, new motorway capacity, which has very high marginal costs, won’t be commercially viable simply because it doesn’t make eco-nomic sense.

Project pitfallsThe Cross City tunnel in Syd-

ney is a good example of a pro-ject that didn’t make economic sense, being built by private in-vestors with wildly over-optimis-tic expectations of how many people would be willing to pay to use it.

Initial uptake was expected to be 35,000 cars a day but was just 20,000. Patronage was ex-pected to rise to 85,000 a day

after six months. With patron-age failing to rise, a three week, toll-free period was implement-ed, which saw patronage rise to 57,000 a day, only to fall back to 27,000 when the toll was reinstated. Tolls were tempo-rarily halved in early 2006, rais-ing patronage to 33,000 a day. Two years after it opened, only 35,000 cars a day were using the tunnel.

The Sydney Airport rail line is an example of a good project being undermined by commer-cial imperatives, and taxpayers being left to foot the bill. A PPP was used to reduce public costs of construction – the New South Wales government paid $700 million to construct the tunnel and line while private entity Air-port Link paid $200 million to construct the stations and got the right to operate the line.

Although an airport rail ser-vice is desirable for a city like Sydney, and technically it func-tions well, it didn’t achieve the patronage forecast by Airport Link because the private op-erator needed to set fares at a

price that many were unwilling to pay.

In 2005, the line was carry-ing 14,000 passengers per day compared to a forecast of 48,000. Airport Link went into receivership blaming low pa-tronage. The state government was bound by contract to make up shortfalls in Airport Link’s revenue below forecast levels. When the patronage failed to materialise, the government had to spend $800 million in extracting itself from those con-tractual obligations.

I suspect governments often know that the original business cases for their PPPs don’t stack up, and that’s why they withhold key information and modelling from the public.

The WestConnex motorway project has been described as the biggest transport project in

Sydney since the famous har-bour bridge. After months of asking to see the WestConnex business case and being turned down, New South Wales politi-cian Mehreen Faruqi built her own model. This showed that for the project to break even, the toll would need to be set at three times the level the gov-ernment had promised.

Traffic forecasts for PPP mo-torways have been systemati-cally overblown. A 2012 analysis showed that in Brisbane the airport link road had seen only 39 percent of the forecast traffic and the Clem7 tunnel only 26 percent.

The Eastlink Melbourne toll road had only seen 65 percent of the originally forecast traffic. Sydney’s Cross City and Lane Cove tunnel projects had only experienced 38 percent and 50 percent of forecast traffic re-spectively.

When the business cases rest on toll revenue predictions based on vastly inflated traffic forecasts it’s no wonder these projects often fail. The Cross City tunnel has been in receiv-ership twice in eight years. The Lane Cove tunnel was put into liquidation shortly after its com-pletion and then sold off about $1 billion below cost.

Litigation arising from the Lane Cove project ended up in the NSW Supreme Court. The court heard that traffic forecast-ers essentially made up traffic predictions to retrofit the pro-ject’s commercial goals, focus-sing only on peak periods.

“The purported fiscal discipline of the private sector has not lived up to the expectation that only economically beneficial projects will get built”

A blessing – or a curse?Do public-private partnerships really deliver value for money? Green Party Transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter has her doubts

Julie Anne Genter: “The rate of high-profile PPP failures is a cause for concern”

WAINUISADDLE

BATTLE HILLFOREST FARM PARK

PAUATAHANUIINLET

PAEKAKARIKI

WHITBY

LINDEN

WAITANGIRUA

PORIRUA

Transmission Gully Route Map

Transmission Gully Project

WellingtonGatewayPartnership

N

MACKAYS CROSSINGINTERCHANGE

STATE HIGHWAY 58INTERCHANGE

JAMES COOKINTERCHANGE

CANNONSCREEK BRIDGE

KENEPURUINTERCHANGE


These Australian experiences back up a 2008 French study that found winning PPP bidders generally over-forecast traffic volumes by an average of 25 percent.

Irresistible incentivesPPP bidders have incentives

to overestimate traffic volume and bid accordingly. Govern-ments often prefer to bail out failing PPPs rather than re-ten-der, because re-tendering can be more expensive and cause long delays.

Private sector participants know this and can structure their finances in ways that mean as soon as future profits are threatened by changing condi-tions, they can start making the case for government bail outs. Inflated traffic forecasts can play a key role in this type of dubious business planning.

Even when traffic forecasts are not contentious, PPPs can lock the forecasts in as self-fulfilling prophecies. If a company has a PPP contract that relies on 50,000 vehicle movements, for example, a government can be constrained around new poli-

cies that might decrease overall vehicle movements for the sake of something like reducing car-bon emissions.

Some commentators suggest that PPPs can be improved by setting a guaranteed return on investment in dollar terms, rath-er than a period of time during which a toll can be levied. But this doesn’t fully solve the issue. Rather, it may just lead to higher tolls being charged for longer, with the effect that people con-tinue to avoid the road.

A version of this is the “avail-ability model” being used to fund the Transmission Gully motorway project in Welling-ton. This road, which provides an alternative route out of New Zealand’s earthquake-prone capital city, will sit on top of a major fault line.

Privately, government officials have admitted that with all the incremental improvements made to the main motorway over the past few decades, the case to build the Transmission Gully road is probably defunct. But publicly, the government refers to it as an “eagerly await-ed and well supported… monu-

mental milestone”.Under the Transmission Gul-

ly PPP, the government pays nothing upfront or during the five-year private sector build. As long as the road is available for use in five years’ time, the government will begin making annual payments to the con-tractor, which will continue for 25 years at a total cost of $3 billion. It doesn’t matter how many people actually drive on the road.

The government will presum-ably raise this money by some combination of borrowing, toll-ing the road itself, or raising taxes such as petrol taxes. The major risk – that traffic volumes won’t increase – is borne by the government.

It’s a very real risk: traffic vol-umes have been falling along the route that Transmission Gul-ly duplicates. The private road builders face no use-related risk. As long as they get the job done on time, they’ll get paid.

Today’s government faces a low level of risk too; it may not be around when the first pay-ment is due. It is future gov-ernments that are locked into

these PPP contracts that de-mand billions of dollars to be paid out at some future date. Today’s government gets the credit for turning the first sod on the project, but by the time the bills start piling up they’ll be someone else’s problem.

The current model of private profits and public risk com-pletely defeats the point of PPPs, which is to use the market to manage the risk. There are other ways to make the projects cheaper – such as using public borrowing.

The rate of high-profile PPP failures is a cause for concern. When politicians or investors say PPPs are a new innovative way to get critical infrastruc-ture built – better quality for less money – we should be very suspicious. Those investors will do very well out of a risk-free investment with guaranteed re-turns for 25 years – but only at taxpayers’ expense.

Julie Anne Genter is a Green Party list MP based in Auckland and the party’s spokesperson for finance, transport and youth

The Transmission Gully PPP requires the government to pay nothing upfront or during the five-year private sector build


COMMENT >> lOCal gOvernment

LGNZ’s Local Government Funding Review 10-point plan: incentivising economic growth and strong local communities is the culmination of LGNZ’s year-long review of local government funding

Delivering stronger local communities

and economies

Lawrence YuLe President, LocaL Government new ZeaLand

Providing an environment that supports local government’s ability to part-ner with others to efficiently achieve

shared goals, and offering incentives for all parties to encourage local economic growth, are vital parts of the conversation and a key aim of the 10-point plan.

We launched this plan on 21 July at our annual conference in Rotorua because lo-cal government is facing unprecedented economic and demographic change and increasing community and government ex-pectations.

To respond to this change, a broader ap-proach is required, which involves:• increasing public understanding of local

government services• seeking a strong community mandate• efficient and effective performance of

services• and strong partnerships with local volun-

teer organisations, local businesses and central government.

The plan focuses on key actions and policy decisions needed to provide great-er funding flexibility for councils and de-scribes the next steps for local government and its sector partners.

We need to put ourselves and our com-munities in the best possible position to manage significant issues such as region-al economic development, demographic shifts, climate change and rapid technolog-ical advancement.

LGNZ reinforces that the review is not about increasing the tax burden nor is it about a quantum funding uplift. This is about leading a principled discussion with our key partners around more fit-for-pur-pose funding options.

The document is a principles-based man-ifesto designed to inspire conversation and action about options for an effective local government funding regime.

It is led by four guiding principles:• an effective partnership between local

and central government around shared goals and strategies, pragmatic testing of new ideas, and strong incentives for both arms of government to perform

• recognition of the value of the private sector and community by recalibrating relationships with those sectors to incen-tivise partnerships and the achievement of shared goals

• a local government which is open to innovation in service delivery, funding and financing within an environment of strong fiscal discipline

• and a diverse set of funding tools for New Zealand communities to respond to the different challenges they face, with property rates as a cornerstone supple-mented by revenue sources that equip local communities to meet current and future opportunities.

Rates remainLGNZ emphasises that property rates

should remain a cornerstone but that lo-cal government needs a wider set of fund-ing sources at its disposal. This includes a strong incentives-based regime, to lead to better performance of both arms of gov-ernment to meet the needs of communi-ties.

Incentives such as a share in value uplift arising from additional economic activi-ty can improve outcomes for local com-munities. We see a strong opportunity to test these ideas through Special Econom-ic Zones. The right incentives can create greater innovation in service provision, and provide a more diverse range of available funding tools.

LGNZ is advocating for the following key proposals:• an agreed priority and action plan to ad-

vance “special zones” for growth to test new ideas and drive economic prosperity

• when new centrally imposed costs are considered (and particularly where na-

tional benefit applies) a cost-benefit anal-ysis and agreed cost sharing with central government should be mandatory

• mandatory rating exemptions should be removed

• the application and administration pro-cess of the rates rebate scheme should be simplified to increase uptake

• better guidance is needed to assist councils to make decisions on trade-offs about whether to fund services from pric-es (user charges) or taxes

• road-user charges, targeted levies and fuel taxes should be allowed where it is economically efficient

• councils should be able to retain a share of any value uplift arising from additional economic activity related to local inter-vention and investment

• local authorities should receive a propor-tion of any mineral royalties attributed to local activities

• allow councils to levy specific charges and taxes on visitors where economically efficient

• reconsider the decision to limit the range of community amenities funded through development contributions.

LGNZ acknowledges that local govern-ment needs to play its role. Achieving excellence is not just a case of ensuring councils possess funding mechanisms that correspond appropriately to their func-tions.

It’s important local government should be open to innovation in service delivery, fund-ing and financing, and we should operate to the highest standards of fiscal discipline. This is a core focus of LGNZ’s recently an-nounced Performance Uplift Programme.

We need to lead New Zealand’s commu-nities through this change, but we need strong collaboration with government and private sector partners. LGNZ anticipates a productive and constructive discussion between local and central government, business and communities, to address the proposals and to implement the solutions communities need.

LGNZ’s full 10-point plan: incentivising economic growth and strong local commu-nities is available at www.lgnz.co.nz.

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

Local Government

lOCal gOvernment


LGNZ’s new transport study, Mobilising the Regions, highlights the economic

and social impact of strategic transport decisions nationally and in our regions and the di-rect link between regional de-velopment, national prosperity, social well-being and cohesive-ness.

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule says that decisions affect-ing New Zealand should be made with full consideration of their regional impact.

“Nearly 40 per cent of New Zealand’s total GDP is located in our regions. This means that if New Zealand’s regions are doing well, so is New Zealand,” says Mr Yule. “Quite simply, local, regional and national ob-jectives should be shared and linked.”

Local government, like central

government, has a huge role to play achieve strong regions throughout New Zealand. “One of LGNZ’s major strategic policy priorities is for a shared national approach to regional develop-ment and growth across New Zealand,” Mr Yule says. “This is critical to lift economic growth over the next decade. And that means investment in all our re-gions and all our communities.”

He says the report has impor-tant implications for New Zea-land’s economic outcomes and social connectivity. “The study will provide the foundation for a better understanding of the importance all modes of our transport network and the im-pact on regional economic de-velopment,” Mr Yule believes. “We see that an ‘all of New Zealand’ approach is needed to strengthen both our communi-

ties and our economic potential as a country.”

The study’s earlier findings show:• a fit-for-purpose transport

network is essential for re-gional economic growth - and social cohesion. A regular, reliable transport service re-quires good road linkages, a suitable rail network, an airline that services regional hubs, and ports that connect local communities and pro-ducers to markets in other locations.

• regional transport deci-sion-making should be linked to consistent criteria across regions and across trans-port modes. Different modes of transport have different policy drivers. For example, commercial decisions for air, central and local government

policy for roads and com-bined commercial and gov-ernment policy for ports.

• these decisions should be joined-up to national and re-gional economic and social objectives. LGNZ says the study is criti-

cal given the recent changes in regional air travel and dis-cussion on the future of rail, and this raises important ques-tions about the resilience of the transport links that connect our regional populations and economies. “We need an in-tegrated transport policy that supports economic growth and social connectivity for the peo-ple in New Zealand’s regions,” Mr Yule maintains. “Local input into national transport policy decisions is imperative to the success of our regional econo-mies.”

Mobilising the regions to drive economic growthLocal Government New Zealand (LGNZ) President Lawrence Yule highlighted the important need to ensure a shared national approach to regional development and growth across New Zealand and the critical role transport infrastructure plays at the 2015 LGNZ conference in Rotorua

The Taking the pulse of lo-cal government in New Zealand 2015 presenta-

tion at the LGNZ conference provided an intriguing snapshot of the way mayors and chairs viewed several major issues

Commissioned by Simpson Grierson and Local Government New Zealand, the report identi-fies what Mayors and Chairs of local authorities think are the major issues facing their com-munities and organisations.

The report is based on a survey carried out in May/June 2015 which received responses from Mayors and Chairs of 60 rural, provincial, metropolitan and re-gional councils throughout New Zealand – a response rate of

nearly 80 percent.

Key findings include:• investment (either external

investment into a district/re-gion, iwi investment or local business growth and invest-ment) is seen as the top op-portunity for communities

• 68 percent of respondents said economic growth and job creation are the biggest chal-lenges for Mayors and Chairs

• 66 percent said funding and affordability issues are the major impediments Mayors and Chairs face for successful community outcomes.

Local authority leaders were asked for their views on sev-eral key initiatives includ-

ing the Long Term Plan pro-cess, RMA reforms and local government reorganisation.

The responses were mixed; the Long Term Plan process having many challenges and the RMA reforms complications while re-organisation is seen as less of an issue this year.

The survey produced 10 key findings:• investment provides the

greatest opportunities• economic growth and jobs are

the greatest challenges• funding and affordability is-

sues are still major• impediments• the consultation document

has improved

• engagement with communi-ties

• opinion is divided on the RMA decision-making

• framework• there is strong support for re-

stricting third party• participation• there is conditional support

for central government• direction• there is strong support for rat-

ing regime reform• and increasing the mix of

funding options• reorganisation is considered

less of an issue• the NZ Transport Agency is

still making the most• effective central government

contribution.

Taking the pulseEconomic growth and job creation are the biggest challenges for local government leaders according to a report by a leading commercial law firm

Local Government

lOCal gOvernment

Local Government


Local government devel-oped in a pretty ad-hoc fashion without any stra-

tegic thinking about what it should do, Local Government Minister Paula Bennett claims.

The proof, Ms Bennett says, is that by 1912 there was one elected representative for every 15 adult men in the country, and we had 3,877 local authorities serving a population of about 1 million people.

Councils owned and oper-ated businesses ranging from abattoirs to zoos, one built a hydroelectric dam, and another owned a fishing fleet.

“We need to call time on what has been a relentless focus on how many mayors we have, or for bureaucrats to decide what your local democracy should look like,” Ms Bennett insists.

“Now, more than ever, New Zealanders expect you to re-dedicate yourselves to focusing on the issues that matter to your people, your communities.”

This means more jobs, sus-tained growth, and sensible spending on reliable infrastruc-ture. “I want local government to do more work in this space,” she says.

Ms Bennett admits that there are areas where it makes sense for local authorities to work to-gether, but now is the time to take a mature look at the struc-ture that is needed to lock in change.

“I imagine there are some who

think that because the commis-sion has decided to take large reorganisation off the table for greater Wellington and North-land, and because I have clear-ly stated I will not legislate for large amalgamation that you can all continue as you have - well you can’t.”

It is not in the best interests of the people of New Zealand, Ms Bennett believes. “We simply have to look at growth across a region, and your current struc-

ture does not strategically or cohesively support that,” she maintains.

The Local Government Com-mission is therefore going to work alongside communities to ensure that the country have the right structure, legal-ly, financially, and with the right accountabilities to ensure sus-tainable growth in its towns and cities.

The commission will be “working up various structure options’ for each region to look at and decide what works best for them, and then where necessary the government will legislate to either set up a new council-controlled organisation across a region – or even to take something away.

Ms Bennett stresses that she has “zero interest” in imposing

unwanted change. “But you know that our regions are not as cohesive as they need to be to support our challenges and our future growth.”

The government is aware of the cost pressures many coun-cils face, and the Funding Re-view document shows local government is thinking about different mechanisms to man-age growth. “Structural change should be one of them.”

First and foremost local gov-

ernment needs to demonstrate that it can live within its means. “Ratepayers are not willing to pay more for services while they see waste.”

Year ending March 2015, local government wages and salaries increased 2.3 per cent, the high-est since 2012, and significantly above CPI, the central govern-ment, and private sectors.

And the recently released LGNZ Survey identified that local government was rated poorly on trust to make good spending decisions, value for rate dollars spent, and manag-ing finances.

“I expect you to look closely at your costs and have free and frank conversations about what is driving your expenditure and whether that discretionary spend is assisting your council

to achieve its strategic goal,” Ms Bennett advises. “This is exactly what the government has been doing, with our Better Public Service targets driving a more integrated delivery of ser-vices in a way that gets results and saves taxpayers’ money.”

Recent discussions at the Cen-tral-Local Government Forum produced a strong set of shared priorities that will underpin this work over the next few years. These are:• creating strong regional econ-

omies• resilient local infrastructure• ensuring strong resilient com-

munities across New Zealand.“Each are focused enough to

stand on their own, but togeth-er, they’re a bold statement of our collective commitment to seeing all corners of the country thrive,” Ms Bennett concludes.

Change necessary for good growthLocal government must face the need for change the minister responsible told the recent Local Government New Zealand conference in Rotorua

“Our regions are not as cohesive as they need to be to support our challenges and our future growth:

Local Government Minister Paula Bennett: “Ratepayers are not willing to pay more for services while they see waste”

Advancing best practice in the development of world class infrastructure for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

www.nzcid.org.nz

new zealand councilfor infrastructure development

LOCAL GOVERNMENT


The manifesto is the cul-mination of Local Gov-ernment New Zealand’s

(LGNZ) year-long review of lo-cal government funding and follows its discussion paper re-leased in February 2015.

It focuses on key actions and policy decisions needed to pro-vide greater funding flexibility for councils and describes the next steps for local government and its sector partners.

The manifesto is led by four guiding principles:• an effective partnership be-

tween local and central gov-ernment around shared goals and strategies, pragmatic testing of new ideas, and strong incentives for both arms of government to per-form

• recognition of the value of the private sector and com-munity by recalibrating rela-tionships with those sectors to incentivise partnerships and the achievement of shared goals

• a local government which is open to innovation in service delivery, funding and financ-ing; (within a environment of strong fiscal discipline)

• and a diverse set of fund-ing tools for New Zealand communities to respond to the different challenges they face, with property rates as a cornerstone supplement-ed by revenue sources that equip local communities to meet current and future op-portunities.

The principles-based docu-ment is designed to stimulate conversation and action about options for an effective local government funding regime.

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule says providing an envi-ronment that supports local government’s ability to partner with others to efficiently achieve shared goals, and the incentives

for all parties to encourage lo-cal economic growth, are vital parts of the conversation and a key aim of the 10-point plan.

“We are launching this plan because local government is facing unprecedented econom-ic and demographic change and increasing community and government expectations,” says Mr Yule.

“We need to put ourselves and our communities in the best possible position to man-age significant issues such as re-gional economic development, demographic shifts, climate change and rapid technological advancement.

“We need to lead New Zea-land’s communities through this change, but we need strong collaboration with government and private sector partners.”

LGNZ reinforced that the re-view is not about increasing the tax burden nor is it about a quantum funding uplift. “This is about leading a principled dis-cussion with our key partners around more fit-for-purpose funding options,” says Mr Yule.

Property rates should remain a cornerstone but local gov-ernment needs a wider set of funding sources at its dispos-al, including a strong incen-tives-based regime to lead to better performance of both arms of government to meet the needs of communities.

“Incentives such as a share in value uplift arising from addi-tional economic activity can im-prove outcomes for local com-munities,” Mr Yule believes. “We see a strong opportunity to test these ideas through Spe-cial Economic Zones.

“The right incentives can cre-ate greater innovation in service provision, and provide a more diverse range of available fund-ing tools,” says Mr Yule.

LGNZ acknowledges that lo-cal government needs to play

its role. “It’s important local government should be open to innovation in service delivery, funding and financing, and we should operate to the highest standards of fiscal discipline,” Mr Yule maintains. “This is a core focus of LGNZ’s recently announced Performance Uplift Programme.”

LGNZ anticipates a produc-tive and constructive discussion between local and central gov-ernment, business and commu-nities, to address the proposals and to implement the solutions communities need, he adds.

The 10 proposals are:• an agreed priority and ac-

tion plan to advance “special zones” for growth to test new ideas and drive economic prosperity

• when new centrally imposed costs are considered (and particularly where national benefit applies) a cost ben-efit analysis and agreed cost sharing with central govern-ment should be mandatory

• mandatory rating exemptions

Ten steps to successLocal Government New Zealand’s Local Government Funding Review 10-point plan: incentivising economic growth and strong local communities was launched at the 2015 LGNZ conference in Rotorua

should be removed• the application and admin-

istration process of the rates rebate scheme should be simplified to increase uptake

• better guidance is needed to assist councils make de-cisions on trade-offs about whether to fund services from prices (user charges) or taxes

• road user charges, targeted levies and fuel taxes should be allowed where it is eco-nomically efficient

• councils should be able to re-tain a share of any value uplift arising from additional eco-nomic activity related to local intervention and investment

• local authorities should re-ceive a proportion of any mineral royalties attributed to local activities

• allow councils to levy specific charges and taxes on visitors where economically efficient

• reconsider the decision to limit the range of communi-ty amenities funded through development contributions.

Former Lord Mayor of Ad-elaide Stephen Yarwood proved a stirring opening

speaker at Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) annu-al conference in Rotorua, ex-horting delegates to generate stronger performance and cre-ate better outcomes for cities, towns and regions.

“As Lord Mayor of Adelaide my vision was to make a shift from a ‘big government – small community’ to a ‘small govern-ment – big community,’ says Mr Yarwood. “It is important to motivate communities to create great things and great places.”

Former Lord Mayor shares insights

Local Government

COmment >> management


Why do so many behavioural assessments include a measure on effective communication?

The importance of being assertive

moira Howson senior consuLtant, PeoPLecentric

More specifically, why do they ad-dress the ability and willingness of people to communicate asser-

tively with others? The reason is that organ-isations that enable and encourage people to communicate assertively have stronger safety cultures than others. If people can confidently state their views as in “I am not comfortable doing it that way, there is a saf-er way of doing it” then it is clear that less incidents may occur.

Why assertive communication is important

The importance of assertiveness isn’t new. An aviation disaster in the late 1970s focused attention on the inability of the flight crew to effectively communicate with their captain when two Boeing 747s from Pan Am and KLM collided on take-off at Tenerife airport in 1979. Amongst the vari-ous causes for the crash was one that could have clearly led to a different outcome; on the Pan Am flight, the first officer’s inability to assertively tell the captain to abort the take-off ultimately led to the death of 583 people. As a result, training with particular emphasis on the merits of assertiveness training for cockpit crew members was rec-ommended.

The need for assertiveness skills has also long been recognised in medicine: for nurses, the ability to deliver an appropri-ately assertive response to a potentially harmful situation is a critical, and potential-ly life-saving, skill.

There are evident issues of hierarchy at play in the aviation and medical industries, but the ability to communicate assertively is important across industries and power structures. In New Zealand it is often not the fear of asserting your views against the boss’s, but a dislike of being seen to be different, a “tall poppy”, “too big for your boots”, or “rocking the boat”.

What assertiveness is and isn’tAssertiveness is not rocking the boat! It is

verbal and non-verbal behaviours that ena-ble individuals to maintain respect for self and others, satisfy their needs and defend their rights in a manner that does not dom-inate, manipulate, abuse or impose.

It is being able to stand up for yourself –even in the most difficult situations – mak-ing sure your opinions and feelings are considered and not letting people always get their way. It requires a healthy sense

of self and acknowledging that you deserve to get what you want and operate in a safe manner in a safe environment.

People who don’t state their views or stand up for themselves are passive. It may be that they want to be liked and thought of as ‘nice’ or ‘easy to get along with’, so they often keep their opinions to them-selves – especially if they are shy or those opinions conflict with others.

Many people are concerned that if they assert themselves others will think of their behaviour as aggressive, but there is a difference between being assertive and aggressive. Assertive people state their opinions while still being respectful of oth-ers, and aggressive people attack or ignore others’ opinions in favour of their own.

Aggression is based on winning. When you are aggressive you take what you want regardless, and you don’t usually ask. As-sertive people are forthright about their wants and needs while still considering the rights, needs and wants of others.

Plus, contrary to popular belief, people can communicate their concerns and needs without permanently damaging important working relationships if it is done well.

Positive “pushback” Doing it well can be thought of as “pos-

itive pushback” – the ability to deliver an appropriately assertive response to a po-tentially negative or harmful situation. A positive pushback is executed by looking someone straight in the eye, and saying with an even, non-stressed tone what is wanted or needed. If you want to be really assertive include the word “I,” such as “I really think we should stop and review our approach now. ...”

Assertiveness training Assertiveness training teaches people the

difference between assertive, aggressive and passive communication. It helps people identify their own barriers to assertiveness and apply techniques to remove them.

By increasing awareness of the reasons why people avoid communicating asser-tively they can recognise and change them. Some people may have low self-esteem and believe they are not worthy of having their needs met. They are passive. Some people find it so difficult express their wants it comes rushing out in anger, or they are so self im-portant they believe their needs should be met regardless. They are aggressive.

Training increases the awareness of these emotions and how to respond to them. It addresses the language of assertiveness, using strong “I” statements and appropri-ate non-threatening non-verbal language. This increases the ability to tailor your com-munication style to the preferred one of others. Scripting statements and role-play-ing enable participants to practice the art of assertive communications.

The benefitsLike most training, there are ancillary

benefits beyond its targeted objective. For example, if employees are comfortable as-sertively communicating their needs, con-flict in the workplace will be more quickly surfaced and resolved.

People will be able to state their needs confidently rather than passively or aggres-sively, or even less desirable, a combina-tion of both. Imagine a workplace where everyone could express their needs calmly and confidently, and people heard them. It would make not only for a safe place to work, but also a healthy one!

Moira Howson is a Senior Consultant at PeopleCentric, a team of industrial and organisational psychologists who work with a variety of organisations to maximise employee potential and promote the value of psychology in driving business performance

“Assertive people state their opinions while still being respectful of others, and aggressive people attack or ignore others’ opinions in favour of their own”

laSt WOrD >> lOCal gOvernment

It’s been interesting sitting on the sidelines watching all the toing and froing as councils around the country have undertaken their long-term plan hearings, capital works and funding deliberations – all leading to the annual striking of rates

Come back stamp duty – all is forgiven

evans YounG, director HoPPer deveLoPments

Again Auckland has managed to steal the limelight with its poorly man-aged late introduction of a fixed

charge transport levy to kick-start Mayor Len’s inner city train set. That the public re-sponse was predictable is a given, that the political reaction was farcical is becoming the accepted norm. The public posturing and finger-pointing was embarrassing to observe, with no winners and as usual the poor ratepayers were the losers.

2015 was the perfect storm for coun-cil. Auckland produced QV revaluations throughout the district, the managed tran-sition from individual legacy council rating regimes to a single city-wide rating policy ended and equalisation of the previously inequitable skewing of the commercial/res-idential funding ratio was introduced.

Add in the rampant Auckland property market and you got wild extremes in prop-erty values depending on location, signif-icant adjustments (up and down) to aver-age rate movements, depending on which legacy council area a property is located, and an extraordinary adjustment (up) to the residential percentage of rate take. It’s no wonder commentators, critics and general naysayers had a field day.

But to add an extra fixed charge at the last minute (exacerbated by quoting it would be no more than $99/residential rate account, but omitting to point out it was GST exclusive and the final impact would be +$114), and then have a very public mini revolt in the council chamber (where everyone knew the eventual outcome, even if the participants pontificated to an-yone who would quote them on how out-raged and offended they were that things had deteriorated to such an extent) was made even more farcical by council spend-ing some $90K on telemarketers to phone and advise those most affected ratepayers of the impending surprise due in the mail anytime soon.

I can just imagine the conversation: This lack of judgement and performance must surely cause concern at the prospect and acceptance of more amalgamations nationwide.

Rates relativeAn interesting comparison was made af-

ter the event as to the comparable rates paid by similarly valued properties in Auck-land, Wellington and Christchurch. With an approximate $750K-valued property, Auck-land is significantly lower in rates paid – and it doesn’t allow that in Wellington and Christchurch there are additional regional council rates to factor in.

While this is not necessarily a valid com-parison given the wide-ranging average and median property values in those cen-tres, it does show that in general Auckland appears to getting (demanding??) more at-tention than it deserves and the rest of the country is suffering as a result.

Now we have the Phil Twyford/Andrew Little Tweedle Dee/Tweedle Dum act, tak-ing 1 and 1 and getting 11 to prove the old adage ‘there’s lies, damn lies and statistics’ in accounting for offshore purchasers of a particular ethnicity driving the Auckland property boom.

Do we really need all this c#*p?? I don’t. I’m glad I sold up two years ago and

moved well out of the reach of Auckland. I might not agree with all the decisions my elected politicians make on my behalf at my new abode, but I can disagree with them in private without the rest of New Zealand wading in and passing ill-informed comment about topics which don’t impact on much less concern them and giving Mayor Len and his assorted sideshow of clowns the semblance of relevance in the affairs of New Zealand Inc.

If we really want to address Auckland’s housing crisis, and associated funding co-nundrum, why can’t we simply re-introduce stamp duty on property sales, with all rev-


Hello? Good evening sir, am I speaking to the bill-payer in the household?

This is a courtesy call to let you know your council cares,

and would like you to know your

2015-16 rates are increasing by over

$1,000 from last year.

What, you interrupted my

evening to tell me that?!

Yes sir, your council cares and wants you to be

informed.

Then why have my rates increased by

so much??

I can’t say sir, I’m not privy to such

information. Enjoy the rest of your

evening, good bye.


“If we really want to address Auckland’s housing crisis, and associated funding conundrum, why can’t we simply re-introduce stamp duty on property sales, with all revenues going to the area in which the sale takes place?”enues going to the area in which the sale takes place?

This would certainly silence those local politicians who wring their hands at the thought of unbridled development, growth and rapidly escalating property values if they were to siphon off two or three percent of the sale price.

Central government could set differing

levels or exemptions for first-home buyers, principal residences and investment, com-mercial and industrial properties, so as to target particular classes of purchaser.

In all it seems to be a simple way to address a complex problem in a uniform, consistent manner across the country, rather than look-ing at isolated temporary occurrences and responding in a kneejerk, populist manner.

Evans Young is Business Development Director for Hopper Developments and INFRA-SOL. Tel: 09 477 0015 Email: [email protected] www.hoppers.co.nz

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