Structural steel made from recycled materials is to be produced at the new plant planned for Hampton Downs. Photo / 123rf
The growth of the Waikato region is being credited as the main driver behind a new $100 million steel manufacturing plant at Hampton Downs.
The plant, on a 53ha site at 61 Hampton Downs Rd, Te Kauwhata, will process about 20,000 tonnes of recycled steel each year, and create more than 200 jobs once complete.
But some locals say the project is unsustainable and warn it will put pressure on roads and contaminate air and waterways.
National Green Steel Limited applied for fast-track approval to build and operate a structural steel manufacturing plant in July 2025. An expert panel granted fast-track consent in March.
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop said in a statement last month New Zealand had a “major infrastructure deficit”.
“We need to deliver infrastructure faster, and we need the supply chains to back that up,” he said, adding projects like Green Steel “can do both”.
Green Steel already recovers metal resources from end-of-life vehicles, sheet metal and beams from its collection yards in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Putāruru and Christchurch.
The Hampton Downs site would include a remelting steel shop and a scrap steel plant producing structural steel for construction from recycled material.
For the steel mill, electric arc furnace technology would be used to produce high-quality structural steel with a lower carbon footprint.
All products would be made onsite, with the company’s main Auckland yard relocating to Waikato.
Green Steel’s general manager, Brett Howlett, told the Waikato Herald the project would be a game-changer for New Zealand’s steel industry.
The plant aims to produce steel predominantly for the New Zealand market.
“We used to export, or we still do export all our metal once it has been processed. But in the future, we won’t be exporting,” Howlett said.
“We will ... remake steel products here in New Zealand, rather than exporting it overseas and then reimporting it.”
Howlett said securing the site had taken years, with Hampton Downs chosen for its size, location, community benefits and easy access to main roads.
Waikato was a “significant area”, chosen “mainly” for its position in the so-called golden triangle.
“I think the whole area has got a whole lot of potential and growth, [and] I look at how the area [has] changed in the last 10 years,” he said.
“It would be good to have a good employer in the area so people don’t have to travel so far for work.”
He said employment opportunities in the area were “quite limited” and the plant would create about 220 jobs, from ancillary work to logistics.
Howlett had been involved in the project since it began. He was glad to receive fast-track consent.
Locals David and Wendy Saxton, who have lived and farmed on the property adjacent to the Green Steel project for more than 40 years, say they are not happy.
The expert panel invited the pair to comment on the proposal, which they did on November 14.
They opposed the development and said using the fast-track process was an abuse of the system.
In their submission, the Saxtons said the application failed to show “significant regional or national benefit”, but instead showed “significant environmental impacts”, including contamination to air, water and soil.
They claimed approval would see an “increase in the country’s CO2 emissions and a decrease in electricity availability to the wider community”.
The Saxtons said the project would only add “additional burden” to transport systems.
“This application should be declined.”
Harness Downs Ltd also wanted the application declined.
It cited many risks in its submission, including “severe cultural harm, irreversible archaeological loss, and significant wetland degradation”.
It also said the project was non-compliant with the Waikato regional plan, breached tikanga Māori obligations and had no guarantee of power supply.
The main Green Steel entrance would also impinge on access to the Harness Downs site.
“The land is rurally zoned and is not for industrial purpose.”
Despite concerns, the project was granted fast-track consent subject to conditions, including those from Ngā Muka Development Trust, which represents five marae within Waikato-Tainui.
Green Steel and Ngā Muka began “early” consultation two years ago, which helped address their concerns, including the removal of a proposed flock waste site at Whangamarino.
Ngā Muka chairman Haydn Solomon told the Waikato Herald its “main reservation” was the flock site.
“Once this was [removed], our board were a lot more relaxed and open to the actual project itself,” he said.
He said Green Steel “agreed” to all conditions, including but not limited to accidental discovery protocols.
Other strict conditions agreed were regimental monitoring and testing programmes with mana whenua regarding ground and surface water treatments, and discharge and air emissions.
Solomon said concerns about kōiwi (human remains) previously found on the site were also addressed through appropriate cultural processes, with remains reinterred at Taupiri.
The site was “spiritually and culturally” cleared.
Green Steel also agreed not to disturb or build on that area.
As long as conditions were met, the trust supported the project.
Solomon believed the project would “significantly reduce” environmental impacts compared with conventional mills, and bring a massive boost to the country’s economy.
“It will revolutionise the steel industry in New Zealand so we can produce our own steel [right here].”
Waikato Regional Council’s decision, reissued with minor corrections in April this year, was to “grant the applications sought subject to conditions”.
The council’s regional consents manager, AnaMaria d’Aubert, said in the submissions there were “no outstanding issues” about the project that weren’t already being addressed.
But she said further explanation from Green Steel was “warranted in some instances” to clarify how some effects would be better managed.
“But overall, [the council] does not consider that there are any ... impediments to this fast track process,” she said.
The council’s decision and all inputs of the fast-track process are available on the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) website.
Waikato District Mayor Aksel Bech believes the project would bring “long-term economic resilience” to his elected area.
“It is a good use of strategically placed land, [and] the infrastructure will be developer-funded,” he said.
Bech believed it would bring “significant” benefits, with “robust consent conditions” in place to manage effects on local communities.
With the plant expected to create over 200 jobs, he expected a rise in demand for housing, retail, and services around Hampton Downs, Meremere, Te Kauwhata and Huntly.
Construction of the plant has not yet begun.
Bech said there are plenty of conditions of consent to be met before construction began.
The Green Steel project was the 13th approved under the Government’s fast-track process.
Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.