Darlow says it isn't just roads and water. There are now a number of social infrastructure projects in the pipeline with fresh spending on schools, prisons and hospitals. He says New Zealand's universities are also wisely building in preparation for future demand.
"Since Auckland University acquired the Newmarket campus there's been a lot of investment there," he says.
"Fletcher Construction built laboratories at Newmarket and is currently finishing the university science block on the main site. Soon there will be an exciting new project replacing the engineering faculty building which will be a world standard research facility.
For a long time we didn't spend enough on roads, broadband, water quality and social infrastructure. Now we're catching up.Graham Darlow
Darlow expects public infrastructure investment to continue at a steady and consistent level for another 15 to 20 years. "There are big projects in the pipeline. In Auckland there is the City Rail Loop, a second harbour crossing and future investments by Watercare," he says.
Earthquake recovery construction spending in Christchurch is set to peak in the next two years.
Darlow says the home repair work is now coming to an end but there is still a need to repair infrastructure and demand for new buildings in the city centre.
"A new stadium is on its way and there is more work at the university. Christchurch City Council's building needs strengthening and new building work is needed there. The city centre anchor projects are now coming to market."
Christchurch reconstruction is scheduled to take another 15 years. Figures from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment estimate that in cost terms the city is only one-third of the way through its spending on rebuilding.
Much of the current and future infrastructure is being financed by public-private partnerships. Darlow says PPPs are a good model to achieve the outcomes government is looking for.
"It accelerates workflows, brings projects to market faster and means people get the benefits of projects earlier. It also speeds things up for the construction sector."
At the same time, PPPs give organisations like ACC, New Zealand Superannuation and private sector investors an opportunity to provide the equity and debt to finance projects here.
Darlow says that's good for New Zealand because if investors weren't able to put that money here it would go overseas.
He says the New Zealand Government has been particularly smart in the way it uses PPPs.
"The road projects use the availability PPP model which the best approach -- it avoids some of the problems with earlier road projects overseas when projected demand levels weren't met.
"Government wisely held back at first to see what the rest of the world did with PPPs," he says.
"It watched the mistakes and observed when things worked.
"Then it moved in and brought the best expertise from overseas, the top procurement people with the right skills and experience have been recruited to make these projects work."
Darlow says the biggest challenge Fletcher faces is finding people with the right skills to work on the projects.
The lack of spending between the 1970s and 2000s meant a lot of New Zealanders with construction expertise headed overseas to greener pastures.
The good news is that many of those people are now coming back, particularly New Zealanders who have been working in Australia.
