In March 2023, the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa formally adopted the proposed City Rail Link (CRL) station names - Maungawhau Station (previously Mt Eden Station), Karanga-a-Hape Station, Te Waihorotiu Station and Waitematā Station (previously Britomart Station).
Please note that as this document was published following the official decision, the stations are referred to throughout the report as follows:
Maungawhau Station
Karanga-a-Hape Station
Te Waihorotiu Station
Waitematā Station (Britomart)
Use of te reo Māori in this document:
Our commitment to te reo Māori means that you will see the use of words and phrases in te reo Māori throughout this document as normal practice. A fully te reo version is also available at cityraillink.co.nz/crl-sustainability
Some definitions:
Aotearoa – New Zealand
Aroha - Love
Atua – Deity
Iwi – Tribe
Hapū - Kinship group
Kaitiaki/Kaitiakitanga – Guardian/Guardianship
Karakia – Prayer
Kotahitanga – Unity
Kura Kaupapa Māori – School based on Māori language and culture
Mahi ōkawa – Formal walkthrough/blessing
Mana whenua – People of the land
Manaakitanga - Hospitality
Matariki – Māori New Year
Mātauranga Māori – Māori knowledge
Oranga – Health/wellbeing
Otā - Native climbing plant
Papatūānuku – The Earth Mother
Pou – Principles/pillars
Ranginui – The Sky Father
Rangatiratanga – Chieftainship/right to exercise authority
Rangatahi – Youth
Raupō – New Zealand bullrush
Tāmaki Makaurau – Auckland
Tāne Mahuta – God of the Forest
Komititanga – To mix/to merge/junction
Te Ātea – The stars of the eternal cosmos
Te Ikaroa – The Milky Way
Te reo Māori – The Māori language
Taiao – Natural world/Environment
Te Hau - Air
Te Ipu a Mataaoho - Foodbowl of Mataaoho (deity of volcanoes)
Te Tiriti – The Treaty (refers to the Treaty of Waitangi)
Tikanga - Custom
Wai – Water
Wairua - Spirit
Whai rawa – Economy
Whakapapa – Geneology
Period of Reporting
This is the final City Rail Link Limited (CRL Ltd) Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability (HSES) Report. The following pages contain reporting for the 2024 calendar year and the full duration of the project to 31 December 2024. Find previous reports at https://www.cityraillink.co.nz/crl-sustainability to access more detailed case studies and lessons learned.
Foreword
This 2024 HSES Report is CRL Ltd’s final one, and it ends as it began eight remarkable years ago - demonstrating an outstanding and proven commitment to not only deliver a world class railway, but to also leave Auckland a better place and set higher Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability standards for the wider construction industry to follow.
From day one, sustainability has been the cornerstone of our thinking and our actions.
At the start of the City Rail Link (CRL) construction phase in 2016, we set out to be an exemplar for Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability, always mindful of the resources we use without creating unnecessary waste, and to
leave positive social and cultural legacies. We have never wavered from that ambition as we rapidly move forwards toward project completion and hand over to Auckland Transport and KiwiRail.
This past year, like those preceding it, has been busy – one that has reinforced the end of major construction and the new phase of fit-out works with the project celebrating key milestone after key milestone.
Completion of rail installation in the tunnels
Successful integration of CRL signals with Auckland rail network
Testing and commissioning the many systems needed to run CRL and its stations safely
Overhead Line Equipment successfully enlivened in both tunnels
Tunnel training for drivers and station staff
Tunnel training exercises with emergency services
Lighting and blessing station exteriors
Blessing of the tunnels
Restoration of Auckland’s historic
bluestone wall
Behind every successful milestone are people. CRL Ltd acknowledges the Health, Safety & Wellbeing, Environment, Sustainability and Social Outcomes teams and our Mana Whenua Forum who have worked with such passion and innovation to deliver on the project’s vision.
Sustainability became a “business-as-usual” function with dedicated support onsite from our contractors, in the CRL Ltd boardroom and from project sponsors Auckland Council and the New Zealand Government. This broad level of acceptance delivered the support needed for our goals.
In a year of rapid progress, detailed planning and collaboration allowed CRL Ltd to successfully adapt to quickly changing programmes of work and continue to meet its goals.
Key to this was recognition that neither CRL Ltd nor its main contractors, Link Alliance, could reach the project’s finish line on its own. The challenge was tackled on two fronts: the rewarding contribution of the eight Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau iwi represented on CRL’s Mana Whenua Forum continued to reinforce the importance of our commitments; secondly, establishing the One Client Alliance, the combined expertise of CRL Ltd and Link Alliance, together with Auckland Transport and KiwiRail – supported by Auckland Council and Auckland One Rail, operator of the city’s metro services - ensured targets right across the project were met.
Building on the work already successfully completed by Downer Soletanche Bachy Joint Venture (contract 1), Connectus (a McConnell Dowell and Downer Joint Venture (contract 2), March Bessac Joint Venture (contract 6), KiwiRail and CRL Ltd (contract 8).
Carbon Footprint
Substantial environmental dividends will come with the upgrade and modernisation of the wider Auckland rail network to coincide with the opening of CRL. More frequent, reliable and faster train services will encourage people to leave their cars at home, reducing carbon emissions and easing pressure on roads for those who need to use them.
With construction nearing completion, the total reductions in the carbon footprint for C3, the main CRL delivery contract are projected to be:
embodied carbon: 27,583 tCO2-e (13%)
construction energy: 6,968tCO2-e (22.9%)
annual operational energy for the stations, tunnels and streetscape: 296 tCo2-e (22%).
The project achieved a saving of over 21,285 tonnes of CO2e by replacing cement with fly ash alone. Shotcrete used 12.5 percent replacement and most other concrete a 30 percent replacement.
A new level of acceptance and the practical application of cement replacement on the project shifted the needle on sector practices which are required to decarbonise the construction and infrastructure sectors.
Together, these gains helped underpin one of the year’s significant highlights when the project submitted its application for As-Built certification to the Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC). The application is the final of six certifications across the Design and As-Built stages of the project’s main works. All the ratings obtained during the life of CRL construction will be used to determine the ISC’s final overall rating for the project which will be issued in 2025.
Iwi Innovation & Social Impact
CRL’s innovative and ground-breaking relationship with Māori in Tāmaki Makaurau was established before project construction began. Our richly rewarding collaboration with the Mana Whenua Forum is delivering an international railway with an appropriate Aotearoa setting that acknowledges the city’s past as well as its future. The many gains from our relationship are reflected in CRL’s designs, environment and sustainability goals, procurement policies, providing pathways for young people into employment, and worker support and wellbeing.
CRL made an early mark on the world stage in 2019 ahead of 70 other countries when judges at an international architectural competition recognised the project’s ‘powerful expressions’ of indigenous cultural identity in its station designs.
Aucklanders have seen those ‘powerful expressions’ revealed during the year via designs unique to New Zealand at Te Waihorotiu, Karanga-a-Hape and Maungawhau Stations. Māori tradition and storytelling is also reflected in the interior design of the three stations.
43 young Māori and Pasifika graduated from an on-site programme creating a pathway for training and employment opportunities, an initiative boosting the pool of qualified workers for New Zealand’s wider construction industry.
CRL hosted a further 66 university summer interns.
With Mana Whenua Forum support the project has awarded over $146m in contracts to Māori and Pasifika businesses – seven percent of Link Alliance’s total spend.
The Mana Whenua Forum leads tikanga at on-site events marking beginnings, endings and other milestones.
Health & Safety
Health and safety (H&S) have become an even stronger focus as the stations and rails are progressively electrified with the aim of ensuring all workers are safe onsite and can go home to family and friends at the end of a shift.
Over 12,000 people have been inducted onto the CRL project, with up to 2000 working on it at any one time.
Safety requirements evolve proactively by staying in front of risk management as the project’s stages have shifted from demolition, utilities upgrades, civils works, tunnelling, working under mining regulations, constructing buildings and streetscapes, fitting the project out with architectural and rail systems, and multiple energisations in the stations and tunnels.
CRL Ltd and Link Alliance believe strong leadership and embedding the right structures and processes has paid off. With more than 20 million work
hours recorded, our main C3 stations and tunnels contract reports two on-site accidents requiring hospital admissions.
Past & Future
CRL will transform Auckland city, encourage growth in jobs and promote commercial and residential development, contributing to Auckland’s future growth and prosperity. The past is not forgotten, either.
Work has started on reassembling, block-by-block, Auckland’s heritage bluestone wall in the central city. The 19th century wall in Albert Street was removed temporarily for CRL construction. The restored wall, however, must make room for the future – its new location is 1.5 metres further east from its original position to accommodate the tunnels and Te Waihorotiu Station.
The project has an extensive programme of urban realm works to make CRL stations attractive destinations for travellers. Te Komititanga - a pedestrian square replacing a busy road in front of Waitematā Station (Britomart) has quickly become a focal point downtown for Aucklanders.
The project is supporting work by Auckland Council and Auckland Transport and their streetscape upgrades and improvements to bus connections to maximise the benefits CRL will bring.
Across all aspects of our work, the project has much to be proud of. The CRL team is leaving an outstanding legacy for Auckland and New Zealand. All those who have consistently demonstrated the very best in outstanding teamwork, innovation and design have every right to regard the positive improvements they have made to public transport, to city and country, and to health, safety, environment and sustainability with immense satisfaction and pride. We hope the achievements and learnings from the CRL will be taken to the next level by New Zealand's next major infrastructure projects.
Patrick Brockie, Chief Executive Officer, City Rail Link Ltd
Introduction, Pou and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
In our final HSES Report we celebrate our achievements in delivering the CRL by summarising the results across each of the main works contracts (C1, C2, and C3), enabling and network delivery (C6 and C8) and the reconfiguration and enhancement works at C9.
Our reporting concludes as construction nears completion and CRL becomes part of the wider transport network.
A final ISC As-Built Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) rating for the project will be issued in 2025, marking the successful conclusion of a rigorous process verifying the sustainability performance of the project over the three main works contracts. The project remains on track to meet the targeted ‘Excellent’ rating. No small achievement for the largest infrastructure project completed to date in Aotearoa.
These achievements are guided by the CRL Mana Whenua Forum pou which define the outcomes iwi wish to see from the project, with each pou being equally important and forming the foundation to ensure the CRL and Mana Whenua partnership contributes to the wellbeing of future generations. The project is also guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and supports targets within goals: 1,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14 and 15.
Project Overview
The CRL will transform the centre of Tāmaki Makaurau for many generations to come. The once dead-end station Waitematā (Britomart) downtown has been transformed into a through station entering new twin underground tunnels which travel to two new underground stations midtown, Te Waihorotiu at Victoria and Wellesley Streets and Karanga-a-Hape with entrances at Mercury Lane and Beresford Square, and onto a revitalised Maungawhau Station.
When CRL is built, the capacity of Auckland’s rail network will increase. There will be more regular trains at peak times and more trains into and out of more parts of the city centre
The number of people within 30 minutes by train from central Auckland –New Zealand’s biggest employment hub – will double
Providing a world-class rail network will reduce reliance on cars
At peak times, up to 24,000, building to over 54,000 people, will come and go from the new CRL stations – equivalent to another 16 lanes of motorway or three more Auckland Harbour bridges
The CRL will be the catalyst for significant development of new commercial properties, with thousands of homes to be built around its stations, providing people with better access to housing, public transport and employment opportunities
Contract Summary
The CRL project is divided into six delivery contracts, with Link Alliance delivering the main works – the stations and tunnels.
Cont ract Works
DSC Downtown Shopping Centre (DSC)
Construction of tunnels below the Commercial Bay retail and tower development site.
C1 Waitematā Station (Britomart)/Lower Queen St
Construction of underground tunnels from Waitematā Station to the DSC site, weight transfer of the Chief Post Office building onto new structural foundations, and creation of temporary Waitematā Station passenger facility.
C2 Albert St (Customs St to Wyndham St)
Trenching and tunnelling from the DSC site to the Wyndham Street intersection on Albert Street.
C3, C5, C7 Alliance Tunnels & Stations package
Contractor
Precinct Properties and Fletcher Construction
Downer New Zealand and Soletanche Bachy
Completion Status
Completed – April 2019
Completed – October 2021
Connectus Joint Venture (McConnell Dowell and Downer NZ
Design, procurement, and delivery of rail, tunnels and station infrastructure and systems across the City Rail Link area and rail and Link Alliance
Completed – October 2020
Target – November 2025
station systems integration, testing and commissioning from Waitematā Station to Maungawhau Station.
C6 Mt Eden Stormwater Main
Stormwater line replacement in Mt Eden.
C8 The Strand (I) and Ōtāhuhu
Additional platforms and turnback facilities at Ōtāhuhu and upgrades to the Strand station.
C8 Newmarket
Rail works, new crossover comprising of new realigned trackwork, realigned overhead line equipment, and associated signalling equipment.
C9 Waitematā Station (Britomart) East
Reconfiguring of Britomart East junction to enable an increase in trains per hour capacity, including structural alterations to the existing tunnel, track slab, and platforms. Also includes access enhancement works at the Strand Station (Strand II).
2024 Highlights
March Bessac Joint Venture
Libbett Ltd (Ōtāhuhu only) and KiwiRail Holdings Ltd (Ōtāhuhu and The Strand (I))
KiwiRail Holdings Ltd
Completed – August 2019
Completed – Jan 2019 The Strand (I) and Oct 2020 (Ōtāhuhu)
Completed – August 2024
KiwiRail Holdings Ltd and Martinus Rail NZ Ltd
Completed –February 2025
January Deconstruction of the temporary station building behind Waitematā Station (Britomart) began. 92% of the materials were recycled or salvaged for reuse.
February
The installation of the last of the two 3.45 kilometres of track was completed.
March
The Maungawhau Station sky element façade designed by local iwi artist Tessa Harris (Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki) was unveiled showing the tears of Ranginui.
April
Backfill of the Maungawhau tunnel portal was competed with 85,000 tonnes of fill covering the structures built below.
May
Guests from Pourewa Nurseries planted Otā, a native climbing plant, on trees at Fenton Street near Maungawhau Station.
June
CRL celebrated the arrival of Matariki by lighting up striking new Te Waihorotiu and Maungawhau Stations.
July
New CRL signaling systems were integrated with existing which will allow trains to operate seamlessly and safely between the new tunnels and the existing network.
August
Live CRL emergency drills with Fire and Emergency New Zealand began testing underground emergency response plans.
September
Karanga-a-Hape’s sky element designed by Reuben Kirkwood (Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki) was blessed. Panels wrap around upper station levels to protect ventilation and air intake systems, their diamond pattern design representing Te Ātea and the place of Aotearoa in Te Ikaroa.
October
Link Alliance won the:
Innovation and Excellence in Air Quality Award CASANZ - Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand
VINCI Environment Award for Reuse and Recovery 2024: Oceania Region
November
Mana Whenua Forum representatives conducted a mahi ōkawa through the full length of the tunnels ahead of testing.
December
Hundreds of rods representing raupō were installed within the Wellesley street entrance foyer in Te Waihorotiu.
Awards
2024 International Tunnelling Association Beyond Engineering – Silver Award for the project’s non-engineering feats
2024 CASANZ – Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand – Innovation and Excellence in Air Quality Award
2024 SiteSafe Kalmar Construction Mental Health and Wellbeing Award: Link Alliance
2024 VINCI Regional Awards:
Environment Award for Reuse and Recovery
Innovation Award for the Link Alliance Dust Risk Prediction Tool (DRiPT): Oceania Region
Innovation Award for the Link Alliance Vinci Health Safety Performance Index
Joint Winner Judges Choice Award for the Progressive Employment Programme
2023 C3 Infrastructure Sustainability Certification Leading Design Rating
2022 C1 Infrastructure Sustainability Certification Leading As Built Rating
2021 C2 Infrastructure Sustainability Certification Excellent As Built Rating
2017 C1 Infrastructure Sustainability Certification Leading Design Rating
2016 C2 Infrastructure Sustainability Certification Leading Design Rating
2023 New Zealand Workplace Health & Safety Awards – Safeguard Awards 2023 – Health and Safety Representative of the Year
2023 Infrastructure Sustainability Council Awards – ‘Enduring Impact’ Award –Berenize Peita Kaiwhakahaere Hua a Hapori CRL
2023 New Zealand Procurement Excellence Awards – Environmental Impact of the Year
2023 New Zealand Procurement Excellence Awards – Social Impact of the Year
2023 New Zealand Procurement Excellence Awards – Supreme Award
Infrastructure Sustainability Council Awards – Excellence in Social Outcomes – Highly Commended
2022 Building Nations 2050 Impact Awards – Decarbonisation Outcomes Award (Projects over $20m)
2022 NZ Safety Blackwoods Workplace Health & Safety Awards – Engagement –Best initiative to encourage worker engagement in health & safety – Mata Whānui te Tirohanga – The Film
2021 Tāmaki Makaurau Zero Waste Award – Joint winner with TROW Group –'Innovation – Anga whakamua' award
2021 VINCI Environment Awards – Oceania Circular Economy Evolution of Practice
2021 VINCI New Zealand – Health & Safety Award – Leading Change
2021 Public Relation Institute of New Zealand – Bronze – Community Relations and Engagement
2021 CCNZ Excellence Awards – C2 Hynds Construction Award
2021 Engineering New Zealand – Co-winner Arthur Mead Award – Large Projects
2019 Solentanche Bachy Green Idea Award – Sustainable Waste Management
2018 Sustainable Business Network’s Supreme Award – NZI Transforming New Zealand Award
2018 Sustainable Business Network – Efficiency Champion
2018 Deloitte Energy Excellence Awards – Large Energy User Initiative of the Year
2017 New Zealand Procurement Excellence Awards – Sustainability Project of the Year
Health, Safety & Wellbeing
Mahia te mahi, hei painga hei oranga mo tātou katoa
To do the work for the good of everyone
CRL Ltd aspires to health, safety and wellbeing excellence in everything we do.
CRL Ltd has continued to monitor and support the delivery of safety excellence across the project through site visits, engagement with workers, frontline supervisors and emergency responders as the project continues its testing and commissioning phase. Performance is summarised on the previous page.
CRL Ltd has monitored 20 individual H&S performance indicators which cover all activities critical for the project to effectively manage potential H&S risks.
Environment
Ko au ko te taiao, ko te taiao ko au.
I am the environment, and the environment is me.
Environmental management plans and over 500 separate resource consent conditions set high standards and govern the actions the project takes to achieve environmental compliance across noise and vibration, traffic access and parking, social impacts and business disruption and discharges to air, land and water. Extensive monitoring continues across all sites.
Link Alliance’s Dust Risk Prediction Tool (DRiPT) to manage and control CRL construction dust emissions was recognised with a 2024 Innovation and Excellence in Air Quality
Award from the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand.
CRL Ltd and its contractors continue to focus on proactive management of construction effects to minimise impacts on nearby neighbours. A series of events were held to give stakeholders an opportunity to visit CRL construction sites up close, both overground and underground to appreciate the stations taking shape.
Sustainability
Toitū te marae a Tane-Mahuta, Toitū to marae a Tangaoroa, Toitū te tangata.
If the land is well and the sea is well, the people will thrive.
Reducing our carbon footprint, avoiding waste and leaving a positive social and cultural legacy for Tāmaki Makaurau are the key elements of CRL’s aims for sustainability excellence. These aims inform all aspects of the project, from design, through construction and operation.
CRL Ltd’s Sustainability Strategy has
five key focus areas:
Reducing resource consumption
Zero waste to landfill
Social outcomes
Mana whenua outcomes
Governance and reporting
CRL Waste Diversion
CRL has had an aspirational target of zero waste since the beginning of the project and we've come much closer than many expected.
CRL Sustainability in Numbers (from 2017 – to 31 December 2024)
Social Outcomes
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.
With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive.
The CRL Ltd Social Outcome Strategy formed the foundation for delivery of social outcomes to a level that has been recognised both nationally and internationally for its excellence. The strategy focused on connecting people to real opportunities through employment, training, social innovation and future workforce development with a focus on Māori, Pacific people and youth.
This included a series of five youth focused programmes that have now concluded.
Mana Whenua
A partnership between CRL and mana whenua was established in 2012 through the creation of the CRL Mana Whenua Forum. The CRL Mana Whenua Forum is made up of eight Auckland iwi and provides the structure to realise the partnership between mana whenua and CRL Ltd.
The contribution of Mātauranga Māori and sharing of cultural values continues to deliver better sustainability, environmental, design, health, safety and wellbeing outcomes.
Designs at all three stations reflect the Māori creation myth of Ranginui and Papatūānuku, and their son Tāne Mahuta. Traditional designs at the stations acknowledge other important figures, including Maungawhau Station which depicts the atua Mataaoho.
Governance and Reporting
The project's sponsors, the Crown and Auckland Council, expect CRL to be designed, constructed and operated to achieve sustainability excellence, as set out in CRL Ltd’s Statement of Intent, and as reported to Sponsors annually against the Statement of Performance Expectations.
ISC has been engaged to verify and provide sustainability performance ratings across the three main contracts. CRL Ltd adopted the ISC’s IS framework as a comprehensive rating and certification tool for evaluating sustainability across project design, construction and operation to evaluate and drive sustainability performance.
The framework was adapted with mana whenua to ensure it is appropriate within the context of Tāmaki Makaurau. As-Built IS certification has been obtained for C1 (Leading), C2 (Excellent) and C3 is currently being verified.
As part of this verification process in FY24, Toitū Envirocare completed an external audit of the Project's energy model for C3 and confirmed that the model was sound. Notwithstanding this, CRL Ltd acknowledges that quantifying Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions is subject to inherent uncertainty as scientific knowledge and methodologies are still evolving in this area, as are GHG reporting and assurance standards.
To track the project's success in achieving sustainability outcomes, the ISC verified the 'base case' created by the Link Alliance, estimating the energy and materials needed to build and operate the City Rail Link without sustainability interventions. CRL Ltd then developed a detailed design with initiatives to reduce resource consumption, comparing it against the base case to quantify improvements.
To meet decarbonisation targets, the Link Alliance calculated the project's wholeof-life carbon footprint for construction and 100 years of operation. Initiatives to reduce this footprint during design and construction, were then identified, implemented and the actual footprint then compared to the original base case.
For the final As-built IS Rating, Link Alliance have back-cast from the final footprint to measure the impact of sustainability initiatives. This method of back casting provides a more accurate picture of actual savings.
Data on pages 26 and 27 refer to the original base case and comparative savings for each contract, while whole-of-life savings on page 6 are based on C3 backcast savings, currently undergoing verification.
