CCNZ / HIREPOOL CONSTRUCTION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2015
Building the missing link to the Millwater subdivision You can barely go a day without hearing about the Auckland housing crisis and the residential developments that are intended to fix it. What’s less discussed, however, is the infrastructure that these developments will eventually depend on. Enter Ross Reid Contractors, which recently built a privately funded motorway connection between one of these developments and Auckland city.
3
CATEGORY
PROJECT: Wainui Road Interchange, Auckland CONTRACTOR: Ross Reid Contractors
36 Civil Contractors NZ in association with Contractor magazine
I
t’s a bit complicated, but here’s how the story goes. Ross Reid Contractors was engaged by WFH Properties to carry out the Wainui Road interchange works, a $16.9 million contract. Even though this was public infrastructure, the client had to fund this project to gain access to the land it owned on Wainui Road. This convoluted situation is a result of Auckland Council not being willing to release the land for development until this interchange was completed and operational. WFH and Highgate funded the project so that they could carry on with their development plans. The land they owned is one of the government’s Special Housing Area (SHAs) – land areas earmarked for the fast-track development of affordable housing. Basically, until the interchange was built, 900 lots owned by the client were on stand-by. Among other things, Ross Reid’s project included slip remediation works, the strengthening of the Wainui Bridge abutments, the upgrade and widening of 1.5 kilometres of the Millwater Parkway, upgrades to Wainui Road, street lighting installation, service relocation, and pavement construction (some of which took place within a live traffic corridor). Works started on 17 March 2014 and ended on 13 May 2015. Now built, and approximately 30 kilometres from Auckland’s CBD, the 700-metre-long ramps and roundabouts will serve
