ISSUE
104
MOVING TO NEW ZEALAND?
April 2018
In this issue... State of the nation P.1 Light rail not really about airport P.2 $28 billion funding package for Auckland Projects P.3 Transport surprise: Two big new roads for Auckland P.4 Skypath fully funded, Auckland Harbour crossing P.5 Franklincoutry.wordpress.com
Get in touch There are many ways to keep in touch with us at Catalyst. Obviously this monthly newsletter is one but we are very active on Linked In and would encourage those not already there to join our groups and link to our company page in order to receive the latest news. If that’s not enough we also have our blog pages, job board and Facebook pages to keep you in the loop. Having your details is only the first step in making the move to New Zealand a reality so get in touch now to discuss your plans and aspirations and we’ll do all we can to help. Follow us via the links below; linkedin.com/company/ catalyst-recruitment catalystrecruit.wordpress.com/ catalystjobs.co.nz/ christchurchrebuild.co.nz/ facebook.com/CatalystRecNZ
State of the nation Welcome to the Catalyst state of the nation for April 2018. To say it’s been a rather disrupted month is an understatement, with an early Easter weekend and then Anzac Day in the middle of last week, it’s fair to say we’re all looking forward to getting back to some normality! Anzac Day is the New Zealand and Australian equivalent of Remembrance Day in the UK and Europe and takes place on 25th April. The date itself marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers on the Gallipoli Peninsular during the First World War in 1915. Commemorations take place around the country with dawn remembrance services, poppy sales and other related events. Events around the world include a dawn service in Gallipoli (Turkey) itself and at the New Zealand War Memorial in Hyde Park in London. The change in government six months ago saw a complete reversal of ideology in many areas of New Zealand society including the move from a focus on cars to public transport. Such a significant change in position has caused some concern within the industry, primarily due to the lack of detail around this new direction. Thankfully at the end of last week a 10 year plan for Auckland was released offering some detail about the work ahead. Certainly there were some surprises, including two roads already earmarked by the previous government. Although reduced versions this time around many had envisaged those projects being put on the scrapheap. Hopefully this announcement will offer some security to the industry and we will see levels of activity continuing to rise. Construction The construction sector remains buoyant but with many Fletchers candidates in the market many roles are being filled quickly. That said there are still opportunities for overseas candidates and with more construction work ahead it is likely that the needs of the industry will grow again quickly. I would encourage anybody looking for a move to New Zealand to get in touch in preparation for those busy times ahead. pponder@catalystrecruitment.co.nz Civil and Infrastructure As mentioned earlier the new announcement in Auckland should hopefully see a lift in activity within the civil and infrastructure sector after a relatively quiet six months. Projects already started under the last government are still ongoing and we would expect to see more requirement as tenders are awarded and the new work gets underway. Key
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roles at the moment include a senior civil QS, a civil estimator, a senior technical manager with a focus on concrete, civil foreman focusing on drainage and pipelines and drainlayers for positions throughout the country. If you’re interested in making a move to New Zealand you should get in touch and start the process in preparation for a busy time ahead. pponder@catalystrecruitment.co.nz Engineering Movement at last! Speaking with one client last Tuesday they reckoned the market would go manic or slow even further. However, it is now clear that whoever is in Government, both sides recognise the huge infrastructure deficit and projects will only accelerate. Road, rail, water, bridges, buildings... it us all full on. You will see a number of adverts on ICErecruit over the coming months. Exciting times ahead! Send me an email to stay in touch and update me of your plans. Andy. ahopkins@catalystrecruitment.co.nz As you know there are various ways to keep in touch with Catalyst and at the moment we are making significant efforts to improve those lines of communication. LinkedIn is one of those formats and I am regularly posting articles and job vacancies on our company page. To make sure that you see those regular updates click this link, https://www.linkedin.com/ company/catalyst-recruitment and click the follow button on the company page. We look forward to seeing you there. Also keep an eye on our job board www.catalystjobs.co.nz where we will regularly place vacancies we are currently working on. Finally, I know many of you are on Twitter so please use this link, https://twitter.com/CatalystRecNZ, to follow us.
Light rail not really about airport Should Auckland spend billions of dollars on a “tram to the airport?” If that was really the question, then the answer would be “no”. But that’s like saying State Highway 1 is only for trips between the Bombay Hills and Wellsford. Should Auckland build a new 23km rapid transit line, with vehicles carrying 500 people each, running at high frequencies, in dedicated lanes giving a fast, reliable journey? A line that links Auckland’s biggest and fastest growing employment areas (the city centre and the airport), that passes by 10 per cent of the city’s population and supports the growth of thousands of new homes from Mt Roskill to Mangere? A line that relieves increasing bus congestion in the city centre, and all for the same price as the 3.5km City Rail Link? Well, that’s an entirely different question with an entirely different answer.
Dominion Rd buses off Symonds St frees up space to run more buses from other parts of the city. As an added bonus, it sets up the possibility of being extended to provide rail services to the North Shore. There is nothing light about the capability of light rail. In Seattle, a similar system carries more people than our entire rail network. The case for light rail on Dominion Rd to Mt Roskill is strong. The previous government recognised this and last year included it in their joint planning work with the council, after first investigating whether better buses could achieve the same thing (spoiler, they couldn’t).
The light-rail project between the city centre and Auckland Airport needs to be built. But just because the line goes from the city to the airport doesn’t mean it’s only about those trips. In fact, it’s not really about the airport much at all.
Which brings us back to the airport. The number of people travelling to and from the airport is growing quickly. Air passenger numbers will soon hit 20 million a year (up 5 million in the past 5 years). In the coming decades that is expected to reach 40 million. There are now regular horror stories of trips to and from the airport taking as long as flights, despite the completion of road projects intended to do the opposite. But the airport alone is not worth building light rail for, especially given that a fast bus link to a rebuilt Puhinui train station will be running by late 2020. In fact, detailed transport modelling suggests that barely 10 per cent of people using this line will be heading to the airport for their flights.
Light rail emerged as a serious idea in early 2015 to deal with Auckland’s growing bus congestion problem. Auckland has been successful in increasing public transport ridership over the past 25 years - from 33 million annual boardings in the mid-1990s to 92 million today. Bus usage alone has more than doubled to 65 million and now more than 50 per cent of people entering the central city every morning do so not in a car. Without this, Auckland’s huge population growth would have truly ground the city to a halt with over 200,000 extra trips on our roads daily. The growing use of buses, trains and ferries is starting to create problems of its own. The City Rail Link, now under construction, will allow us to run more trains. But our rail network does not serve the central isthmus, the southwest, the northwest or the north. Many of our key bus corridors in the city are already over capacity, or will be within a few years. Every morning around 140 buses an hour travel along Symonds St, more than the bus lanes can handle. As a result, buses regularly bunch up leading to delays for the thousands on board. This problem will only get worse over time. Light rail upgrades our busiest bus corridor, Dominion Rd, to modern light rail with a new route through the city. The project also upgrades Queen St and the town centres along Dominion Rd as high quality urban spaces. Taking the
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Instead, the Mt Roskill to airport section of the light-rail system is about connecting the people who work in and around the airport. It’s about the people who live around Mangere, and have never had good public transport to the airport or the wider city. And it’s about supporting a transformational growth programme across a swathe of Auckland. There are huge tracts of Housing New Zealand land in Mt Roskill and Mangere that will become prime redevelopment opportunities with light rail in place. There’s also Onehunga, perhaps Auckland’s most complete suburban town centre with massive growth potential. Light rail shouldn’t, and can’t, just be a transport project. It must also be a growth project. Matt Lowrie is the director at urban advocacy group Greater Auckland Source: NZ Herald, Matt Lowrie
Projects in the joint GovernmentAuckland transport programme, known as Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP), include: • Committed projects like the City Rail Link and Northern Motorway improvements. • Light rail, or modern trams. • Eastern busway (PanmureBotany). • Airport-Puhinui State Highway upgrade, including a high quality public transport link to an upgraded Puhinui railway station. • Bus priority programme, to more rapidly grow Auckland’s bus lane network and support faster, more reliable and more efficient bus services. • Albany-Silverdale improvements.
bus
• Lower cost East West Link to address key freight issues in the area. • Papakura-Drury widening.
motorway
• First phase of the Mill Rd corridor. • Penlink road (motorists will pay a toll to help fund this). • Walking and cycling programme to expand the network and complete key connections, such as Sky Path. • Significant programme safety improvements.
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• New transport infrastructure to enable greenfield growth • Network optimisation and technology programme to make the best use of our existing network. • Rail network improvements including electrification to Pukekohe, additional trains and other track upgrades.
$28 billion funding package for Auckland roading and public transport projects unveiled $28 billion transport programme has been unveiled for Auckland in what’s been described by the Government and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff as the country’s largest ever civil construction programme. Its backers say the work will help create a 21st century transport network for the city. “Together, we will invest $28 billion over the next decade to unlock Auckland’s potential. We will be building vital projects including light rail, Penlink and Mill Rd, heavy rail and bus upgrades, safety improvements, and more dedicated cycle lanes,” said Transport Minister Phil Twyford. The investments are made possible by a $4.4b funding boost resulting from the Auckland regional fuel tax (RFT), increased revenue from the National Land Transport Fund, and a new funding mechanism, Crown Infrastructure Partners, Twyford and Goff said at Newmarket railway station. Earlier today, the Herald reported the Government will fund two major new roading projects in Auckland. One is Penlink, in the north, providing a new connection between the Whangaparaoa Peninsula and the Northern Motorway. Motorists will pay a toll to use the road - a measure National has criticised as a “triple whammy” for motorists. Penlink will run through Stillwater to join the motorway at Dairy Flat, taking pressure off the heavily congested arterial route through Silverdale. Twyford told the Herald the new Government will allocate $200 million to get the road built within the next 10 years. The other project is Mill Rd in the south, improving the connection from Manukau through Takanini to Drury. Both roads have been favoured projects of the former National-led Government. But until today they did not feature among the key elements of the Labour-led Government’s transport strategy for the city. “This plan is funded to deliver the projects we are committed to,” Twyford said. “This $28 billion plan will create a congestion-free rapid transit network and boost other alternatives to driving to help free up the roads, enable growth, and improve safety for drivers and others. “Goff said: “ATAP balances the need to deal with Auckland’s immediate and pressing transport needs, as well as being transformational for the future. “ATAP reflects the need for efficient roading for green and brownfield housing development, new transport corridors and major arterial routes. But as Auckland grows we need to move from a focus on roading to a more balanced approach that promotes public transport and active transport networks.
“Auckland has to contribute its share and the regional fuel tax allows us to do that. The more than $4 billion expenditure it unlocks is critically important to progressing a better transport system for Auckland. “To raise the same sum from rates would result in a total rate increase of over 13 per cent this year. Alternatively, to do nothing would see Auckland become increasingly gridlocked. “New forms of revenue such as an RFT to invest in our transport network and light rail to supplement buses, ferries and heavy rail are critical for an efficient and effective Auckland transport system. Auckland’s growth means additional investment in these areas is vital for us to tackle congestion problems,” Goff said. “ATAP represents a significant increase in investment in our transport network, but we still need to find innovative ways to fund further development such as PPPs [public-private partnerships], special purpose vehicles or infrastructure bonds.” ATAP includes $1.8b in funding for light rail. A work programme is under way to leverage sources of investment capital outside of ATAP for light rail, and an announcement will be made soon. Under ATAP, Auckland is expected to receive 38 per cent of the National Land Transport Fund over the next decade, proportionate with the region’s growing share of New Zealand’s population. However, Goff says that this “still falls short of Auckland’s projected 55 per cent share of the country’s population growth over the next decade”. Source: Bernard Orsman, NZ Herald
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Transport surprise: Two big new roads for Auckland One is Penlink, in the north, providing a new connection between the Whangaparaoa Peninsula and the Northern Motorway. The other is Mill Rd in the south, improving the connection from Manukau through Takanini to Drury. Penlink has been a priority project for all MPs and local body politicians based in the north of the city, including Labour list MP Marja Lubeck, who is based in Albany. Under the original ATAP it was scheduled for the second decade, but the update last August moved it into the first decade. Penlink will run through Stillwater to join the motorway at Dairy Flat, taking pressure off the heavily congested arterial route through Silverdale. Twyford told the Herald the new Government will allocate $200 million to get the road built within the next 10 years. It will be a two-lane highway, future proofed to enable later expansion to four lanes. Twyford said the work will include measures to ease congestion at the Silverdale interchange and improvements to the Northern Busway. He expected Penlink would be built as a publicprivate partnership (PPP), which means it’s likely to be a toll road. National also proposed it as a toll road. The expansion of Mill Rd will serve fast-growing industrial and residential areas to the south of the city. The previous Government allocated $82 million to the project in its own ATAP funding, but Twyford said only $2m of that was ever spent. Mill Rd, like Penlink, was originally scheduled for the second decade of ATAP, but last year was moved into the first decade. Twyford said $500 million will be allocated to Mill Rd in the next 10 years. “It’s a vital artery in South Auckland and is essential to managing the surge in growth in the southern corridor.” The work will be on stage one, at the northern end of the project. Twyford said they would add capacity to the existing two-lane local road, relieve congestion at intersections, make safety improvements at the north end, connect to the new special housing areas and provide a new interchange at Drury South. There will also be route protection and land purchases to enable stage two, at some stage in the future, which will focus on the southern section of the road. The funding of both projects will come as a surprise to many because recent transport debates have focused more on public transport and cycling. But in the recently released draft Government Policy Statement on Transport, 78 per cent of the funding nationwide was scheduled for roads. Twyford said ATAP 2 is the result of “months of work” by central Government, Auckland Council and Auckland Transport. “We’ve got a new set of priorities now. The new ATAP will be an important step towards creating a worldclass transport system for Auckland by creating a genuine congestion-free alternative to the current situation.”
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He confirmed the central focus would be on public transport, especially rapid transit. That means light rail and dedicated bus routes like the Northern Busway. There would also be a renewed emphasis on walking and cycling infrastructure, and on improving the safety and efficiency of local roads. “Improvements to roads are important to support the rapid greenfields growth in some parts of the city,” he said. Drury is one of those areas. The Auckland Council expects it will see over 40,000 new homes built and around 20,000 new jobs created in the next 30 years. Putting the focus on rapid transit means there will be more projects than those already announced. The Government has already said it wants to build light rail from downtown Auckland through Mt Roskill and Mangere to the airport, and a new rapid busway from Puhinui (near Manukau) to the airport. Twyford confirmed other rapid transit projects would also be funded, but declined to say what they would be. He and Goff will announce the details of ATAP 2 at midday today. Extra rapid transit projects that could be started in the next 10 years include light rail alongside the Northwest Motorway to Westgate, a rapid bus route from Manukau through Botany to Howick, a rapid bus route through Hillsborough and more rapid bus routes on the North Shore.
Controversial project Skypath fully funded, additional Auckland Harbour crossing brought forward A controversial cycling and walking path annexed to Auckland Harbour Bridge has cleared a significant hurdle, with full funding now guaranteed by Auckland Council and the Government. Auckland Council today unveiled the Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP), a high-level, $28 billion plan. “I am more than relieved that SkyPath has finally been signalled for funding. This was a long journey for myself and Bevan Woodward, who was the original proposer of SkyPath,” ATAP steering group member and North Shore councillor Chris Darby saidr”It has been 12 years in the making, and I am looking forward now to getting on my bike with thousands of others from the Shore and riding the bridge.” Previously, SkyPath was going to be a public-private partnership, but it crash-landed in early 2017, when the council’s construction partner Downer pulled out, saying it no longer agreed with the fixed price set for the contract. Earlier, in 2016, six residents’ groups were in mediation with the council over the resource consent. By the end of the year, an Environment Court judge had rejected a legal appeal by the Northcote Pt Heritage Preservation Society, clearing the way for building SkyPath. Now, the government funding put SkyPath back on track. Critically for Northcote Pt residents, concerned about a large volume of cyclists pedalling through their historic suburb the north of the bridge, ATAP also fully funded Sea Path, a walking and cycling path leading from SkyPath to Takapuna. It was envisaged the two projects would built concurrently, so they joined up, fellow North Shore councillor Richard Hills said. Another significant project, an additional Auckland Harbour crossing had been brought forward by 15 years in Thursday’s announcement from 2048 to the mid 2030’s. The harbour crossing would most likely start with a light-rail tunnel, with roading added later. While building will start in the second decade of the 30-year plan, work would start immediately with a route to be finalised and protected. The light rail route was envisaged to travel north along the current bus route with a line, called
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“a spur” branching off to central Takapuna. “That occurs because Takapuna has been identified as a metropolitan centre and it builds on those foundations that we [the council] have been putting in place in the Auckland Plan and the Unitary Plan,” Darby said. For the first time, the North Shore’s notoriously congested Lake Rd had been identified as a priority in a transport plan, as had another infamously dangerous road on the North Shore, Glenvar Rd. There was a big investment in road safety measures, including red light cameras and protected cycleways. Darby pointed out the regional fuel tax had made the city’s first fully funded transport plan, in recent years, possible. Source: Jodi Yeats, Stuff
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