Vector gets fired up by big deal

Mark Franklin

There isn't much baseball played in East Tamaki, but energy network company Vector is pulling a phrase from the United States' favourite game to describe one of the biggest projects on its books.

It's the "triple play" - a rare deed that in baseball involves three consecutive outs.

In the case of Vector, the triple play is winning the job of installing electricity lines, gas pipes and fibre optic communication at one of Auckland's biggest property developments, at Highbrook, East Tamaki.

The company, owned by Auckland power users, is promoting the contract as proof it is more than a power lines company, as it moves towards a partial privatisation and share market listing later this year.

Chief executive Mark Franklin is enthusiastic about what the $1 billion Highbrook development means for Auckland, but is also proud of Vector's role in winning in what he says was a competitive bidding process.

Highbrook covers more than 153 ha of land on the Waiouru Peninsula and will cater for 9000 to 12,000 workers. It is being developed in stages over the next 12 to 15 years.

The project will create up to 550,000sq m of buildings on former farm land with a mix of commercial and light industrial uses expected.

Two-thirds of the development is owned by Macquarie Goodman, with the rest owned by the Highbrook Park Trust.

"This is just the start," said Franklin, who wants the Highbrook project to be a model for the future of Vector as a major infrastructure manager.

With Vector putting in gas, power and telecoms itself, trenches need only be dug once, and maintenance is simpler.

Competition for the job at Highbrook was fierce and its location near the Otahuhu power station meant added incentives for Vector's rivals.

The station puts electricity into the national power grid, meaning there is a "grid exit point" next door.

A successful rival to Vector could plug straight into the national power grid, take the power, and distribute it among the shops, small factories and offices of Highbrook, bypassing the Vector network altogether.

Other companies could install the gas, others the powerlines and yet others the fibre. Vector made its coverage of all areas a big selling point.

Vector will not be retailing gas, electricity or telecommunications at Highbrook, instead providing the infrastructure to allow others to sell their services into the area.

While other companies, such as Telecom, may lay their own fibre into the area, Vector is confident the 10Gbps capacity of its cabling will be more than sufficient for bandwidth-hungry companies.