McConnell Dowell, Fletcher, Obayashi, Beca, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Tonkin & Taylor consortium prove winning formula for NZTA’s significant Waterview link.
The New Zealand Transport Agency has today awarded Auckland’s Waterview connection contract to a consortium of partners including constructors, McConnell Dowell, Fletcher Construction and Obayashi Corporation, and designers Beca, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Tonkin & Taylor.
The consortium will work together with NZTA to deliver the project and the partners bring significant expertise to the project, including specific tunnel design, system and construction expertise at both a local and international level. This is the single largest project ever delivered in New Zealand to date.
The Waterview connection is integral to the completion of Auckland’s Western Ring Route, a ‘road of national significance’ project for New Zealand which will facilitate better movement across Auckland particularly between the north, west and south of the city.
Context
Completing Auckland’s Western Ring Route is a ‘Road of National Significance’ (RoNS) project. It includes constructing the key Waterview Connection project, as well as capacity and safety improvements to SH16 between St Lukes and Westgate.
Once completed, the Western Ring Route will provide a 48km alternative route around Auckland, reducing dependency on SH1 particularly around Auckland’s city centre and Harbour Bridge. As one of the Government’s RoNS projects it is key infrastructure project enabling economic growth regionally and nationally.
Background
In 2009, the Government identified seven of New Zealand’s most important transport routes that require priority development to reduce congestion, improve safety and support economic growth. These seven roads are known as ‘Roads of National Significance’ (RoNS). RoNS are identified as critical future roads to ensure that transport
users have access to significant markets and areas of employment and economic growth.
Completing the Western Ring Route from the Maioro Street Interchange (SH20) to the Great North Road Interchange (SH16-20), and from St Lukes Interchange (SH16) to Westgate has been identified as one of these seven RoNS.
Several other key projects are required to complete the Western Ring Route, including the SH16/18 Hobsonville Deviation and SH20/SH1 Manukau Extension projects. Construction is currently underway on these projects, which are being progressed outside of the Government’s RoNS programme.
Benefits of the Western Ring Route
Completing Auckland’s Western Ring Route will facilitate better movement across Auckland particularly between the north, west and south of the city. It will have a number of benefits for the Auckland region, including:
- More predictable travel times across the region,
- Better links to major employment and residential centres (including areas of future growth, such as the fast-growing western suburbs of Auckland),
- Improved access to Auckland’s CDB and International Airport,
- A strategic alternative to SH1, reducing reliance on SH1 and the Auckland Harbour Bridge,
- Economic growth benefits, by enabling commuters, businesses, tourists and freight to move around the region faster and by improving business productivity ,
- The creation of new jobs, from construction of the project and also from economic growth as a result of the completed motorway,
- Improved safety, reliability, capacity and efficiency of SH16,
- Reduced congestion and air pollution caused by ‘stop-start’ motoring on motorways and local roads,
- Improved public transport, cycling and walking opportunities by redirecting traffic off local roads, providing new bus shoulder lanes and cycleways, and improving existing bus shoulder lanes and cycleways.
SH20 Waterview Connection
The Waterview Connection project will extend from Maioro Street in Mt Roskill to the Northwestern Motorway (SH16) at Waterview by Great North Road. As the last link in the Western Ring Route, it will improve Auckland’s highway network by providing an alternative to SH1 and a motorway link from the CBD to Auckland airport. It is estimated to cost $1.4 billion. This is the single largest project ever delivered in New Zealand to date and forms an integral part of the Western Ring Route which will facilitate better movement across Auckland particularly between the north, west and south of the city.
Bid Process
The project has been tendered as a competitive alliance. This is the third competitive alliance that NZTA have run, the other two being the Manukau Harbour Crossing (completed by Fletcher and Higgins) and the Te Rapa Bypass, still in progress by Fulton Hogan.
The competitive alliance began in November 2010 and bids closed on 16 June 2011. There were two bidders in the process, including the winning consortium selected by NZTA (McConnell Dowell, Fletcher Construction, Obayashi Corporation, Beca, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Tonkin & Taylor).
The other bidder was a consortium between Leighton Constructors, Fulton Hogan, John Holland, Aecom and Sinclair Knight Merz.
Engineering, construction and project management
The winning bidder includes constructors McConnell Dowell, Fletcher Construction and Obayashi Corporation, and designers Beca, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Tonkin & Taylor. The companies bring a wide breadth of knowledge and expertise to the project that balances strong local presence and general construction expertise, specific tunnelling expertise and international best practice.
Construction
• McConnell Dowell
Founded in New Zealand 50 years ago, McConnell Dowell is the largest tunnelling contractor in New Zealand with two recent successfully completed tunnels in Auckland (Project Hobson and Rosedale Outfall, each of these was 3 km long). McConnell Dowell have major engineering, construction, building and maintenance experience and employ approximately 7,500 personnel worldwide.
• Fletcher Construction
The largest contractor in New Zealand with 100 years construction experience. Fletcher have extensive NZTA experience (Grafton Gully, Central Motorway Junction, North Shore Busways, Manukau Harbour Crossing, Victoria Park Tunnel, Tauranga Harbour Link and others) and alliancing experience.
• Obayashi Corporation
Bringing extensive international tunnelling expertise to the project is Obayashi Corporation. Obayashi is one of the world’s leading construction contractors and have completed over 1,000 tunnels in the last 45 years. They bring major civil construction experience and very strong technical skills, particularly around tunnelling, from Japan and around the world.
Design
• Beca
New Zealand’s largest consulting engineering company, Beca is one of the largest employee-owned engineering and related consultancy services companies in the Asia Pacific.
• Parsons Brinckerhoff
Headquartered in the USA, Parsons Brinckeroff brings strong tunnelling and general civil construction international expertise. With offices in New Zealand, most of the expertise for this project will be coming from Australia.
• Tonkin & Taylor
Founded in 1959, Tonkin & Taylor is a New Zealand owned, international environmental and engineering consultancy with strong geological and geotechnical design capability and the largest in their field in New Zealand.
ENDS
About McConnell Dowell Corporation Limited:
McConnell Dowell is a major engineering, construction, building and maintenance contractor delivering infrastructure to the building, mining, oil & gas, power, petrochemical, social & public infrastructure, transport and water sectors.
The Group has a broad construction offering with complete multi-discipline capability in building, civil, fabrication, electrical and mechanical works and are engineering and construction specialists in pipeline, tunnelling, marine and rail construction.
The Company employs approximately 8,000 personnel throughout Australia, Asia, New Zealand, the Pacific and the Middle East.
ENQUIRIES:
Angeleen Jenkins
Director / General Manager - New Business
McConnell Dowell Corporation Limited
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