Webuild has been involved in the North East Link project in Victoria, Australia, to include a key interchange for new 6.5km, 3-lane twin tunnels connecting the M80 Ring Road to the Eastern Freeway, expected to open in 2028.
Webuild has been involved in the North East Link project in Victoria, Australia, to include a key interchange for new 6.5km, 3-lane twin tunnels connecting the M80 Ring Road to the Eastern Freeway, expected to open in 2028.
Aotearoa New Zealand is standing at a crossroads in infrastructure development. Population shifts, climate resilience, urban transformation, and the accelerating need for low-carbon systems are converging to form a decade of unprecedented demand and opportunity.
As a company that delivers some of the world’s most complex projects and transforms thevision of our clients into a tangible asset, Webuild sees firsthand that the value of infrastructure is not measured by the moment construction ends, but by the transformation it enables long after the cranes have gone.
The conversation in New Zealand should be less about projects and more about what kind of national legacy the next wave of infrastructure investment will create.
Infrastructure is not a cost. It is an investment in capability. When we build new transport corridors, water security assets, hospitals, or large-scale renewable and transmission projects, we lay the foundations for competitiveness. These assets unlock efficiency, connect industries to markets, embed digital technologies, and create conditions for public and private investment to flourish. A cost-first mindset reduces major projects to budget lines; an investment mindset recognises they are productive assets with long-term economic return.
Marco Assorati is Senior Executive Vice-President, Operations Oceania, Webuild.
Drawing on Webuild’s experience across Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Asia–Pacific region, four clear themes emerge — each highly relevant to New Zealand’s infrastructure ambitions.
1. Cities grow into the infrastructure they build
Large urban centres that commit early to rapid transit, resilient water systems, and integrated multimodal networks avoid decades of catch-up costs. Auckland’s current momentum echoes global city-shaping efforts where metros, corridors, and resilience infrastructure helped unlock new economic paths.
Climate-driven flooding, extreme rainfall, and rising seas demand a new standard for water and near-shore marine infrastructure. Globally, the most successful solutions blend traditional engineering with nature-based design and data-driven planning approaches increasingly relevant in New Zealand’s storm-impacted regions.
3. Sustainable construction is no longer optional
From low-carbon concrete to circular construction practices, infrastructure programmes worldwide are shifting from carbon-intensive delivery to regenerative frameworks. New Zealand’s ambitious climate targets make this transition not just desirable, but essential.
4. Digital engineering is a catalyst, not a bonus
The adoption of digital twins, advanced tunnelling control systems, and integrated project data environments reduces risk, improves safety, and dramatically increases certainty, which are critical factors for complex, multi-year projects.
Building the workforce New Zealand needs requires thinking beyond individual projects and focusing on long-term capability. To deliver the upcoming pipeline—spanning complex transport infrastructure, near-shore marine, water management, climate adaptation and critical lifeline upgrades, the country must significantly expand and upskill its workforce.
Global experience shows this happens most effectively through two complementary approaches: embedding structured legacy planning into every major project, with clear training pathways, knowledge transfer programs and defined opportunities for local SMEs and regional suppliers; and pairing international expertise with deliberate global-to-local capability building through exchanges, mentorships and shared technical leadership.
Countries that take this approach develop enduring expertise that lasts well beyond project completion.
Communities as co-authors of infrastructure
No reputable global contractor approaches major projects solely as technical exercises anymore. Around the world, projects succeed when communities have ownership of the outcomes.
The Māori concept of kaitiakitanga — guardianship and stewardship — aligns powerfully with modern infrastructure principles: sustainable design, cultural respect, and environmental guardianship.
Community partnership is not a procedural requirement but a source of insight that strengthens the vision of the project into tangible outcomes.
The supply chain as a strategic asset
Infrastructure systems are only as strong as their supply ecosystems. New Zealand’s suppliers - fabricators, manufacturers, engineering firms, transport operators, and equipment specialists - have shown extraordinary resilience, but the upcoming pipeline will require more scale and diversification.
Global insights highlight three levers that help supply chains thrive:
Predictability: Multi-year visibility enables suppliers to invest confidently in equipment, technology, and people.
Standardisation: Common design approaches, specifications, and digital standards improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Innovation partnerships: Co-development of materials, modular systems, and digital tools accelerates capability and embeds resilience locally.
These principles can support New Zealand’s ambitions to build a more self-reliant, future-ready supply chain.
An era of opportunity for iconic infrastructure
New Zealand faces a suite of infrastructure opportunities that will shape the country’s trajectory: next-generation transport solutions, water resilience projects, connectivity corridors, energy storage and grid flexibility.
These are not simply projects, they are nation-defining investments that can lift productivity, climate resilience, livability, and economic competitiveness for decades.
What will determine whether the country captures this opportunity is not the scale of investment alone, but the approach: collaboration, transparent risk allocation, cultural partnership, digital innovation, climate-aligned design, and a relentless focus on capability building.
Project Ceres, led by Perdaman Chemicals & Fertilisers, is a landmark US$4.5 billion urea manufacturing plant in Karratha, Western Australia, set to be Australia's largest.
Toward a more collaborative infrastructure future
Across the world, the most successful megaprojects Webuild has delivered share a common ecosystem: early contractor involvement, integrated and interdisciplinary teams, mature digital environments, and delivery models that reward performance rather than simply shift risk. These ingredients consistently unlock better value, stronger certainty, and more sustainable outcomes.
New Zealand’s shift toward earlier collaboration is an encouraging signal — and a strategic opportunity to embed global best practice into the country’s next generation of major infrastructure. When infrastructure is viewed not as a cost to be contained, but as an investment in national cohesion, resilience, and long-term economic transformation, the benefits extend far beyond the balance sheet.
The decade ahead will test New Zealand’s collective ability to plan, fund, and deliver major projects at the pace required. But it also presents a rare chance for the country to set a new global benchmark in how large, complex infrastructure can be delivered — sustainably, collaboratively, and with a clear vision on long-term value.
If New Zealand embraces that mindset, the projects built in the coming years will become the foundations of the next century.
