Infrastructure report: Making a big contribution

Te Mihi, Contact Energy's newest geothermal power station in Wairakei.

Bill Bennett talks to McConnell Dowell CEO about the firm's major undertakings.

McConnell Dowell managing director Roger McRae says his firm has played a role in three of New Zealand's largest infrastructure projects: the $500 million Te Mihi geothermal power plant for Contact Energy; the $1.4 billion Waterview Connection project and the Christchurch horizontal infrastructure rebuild.

Last week Deputy Prime Minister Bill English opened the Te Mihi plant near Taupo. It is New Zealand's largest geothermal station capable of generating 166 MW of renewable energy.

Eventually it will replace the ageing Wairakei Power Station.

McRae says the original plan was to build two generating plants, but that is on hold as there is not enough demand to justify the investment at present.

Te Mihi was built as a EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) project, this means the consortium building the plant had to hand over a functioning power station to the client, Contact Energy.

McRae says it was completed in a tight time-frame given the complexity of the job.

Though the handover took place in May, McConnell Dowell still has maintenance obligations at the site.

The Waterview Connection project is being delivered by an alliance of seven partners including McConnell Dowell and Fletcher Construction for the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA). Officially the project is due to complete in March 2017, McRae says it's on target to open before the end of 2016.

With a value of $1.3 to $1.4 billion it is the largest road project ever undertaken by the NZTA.

"The size is a sign of the times, in recent years there has been a trend towards ever bigger projects. They're not just getting bigger, they are also more complex.

"We see that as one of our advantages, McConnell Dowell is able to deliver large-scale projects around the world. We have the relationships with technology providers, designers and contractors worldwide and can bring their expertise to our projects."

The business certainly has scale. Globally McConnell Dowell has revenues of A$3 billion and 800 employees. New Zealand makes up about 1700 of that and accounts for $500 million.

Roger McRae.

McConnell Dowell was one of the five founding members of Scirt, the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team which is responsible for rebuilding the city's horizontal infrastructure -- roads and water networks -- that was damaged in the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. The team was set up after the first earthquake and its role was escalated after the 2011 earthquake.

McRae says Scirt has been one of the city's success stories and the alliance of engineering and construction companies has worked well.

He says the team has done a good job mobilising resources. One of the key features of Scirt is that the infrastructure rebuilding work is moving ahead even while the networks are still being designed. Today the project is halfway to completion.

NZ and Pacific Projects

• Christchurch infrastructure rebuild (SCIRT)

• Waterview connection - 2 x 3-lane tunnels. 2.4kms long. A NZ first and the largest tunnel boring machine ever in Australasia - $1.4b

• Lower Hatea River crossing Whangarei. First bascule road bridge built in NZ in the last 50 years

• Rosedale Ocean Outfall Auckland - 3km tunnel and marine outfall for Nth Shore City Council - $105m

• Hobson Bay Tunnel, Auckland. 3km long tunnel - $120m

• Mercer to Longswamp Motorway Waikato

• Te Mihi Geothermal Power Station - for Contact Energy, $500m

• Cook Islands Port Authority's $24m Avatiu Port Redevelopment

• KiwiRail's $9m Bridge 298 Replacement