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SCIRT
CATEGORY 4: Projects with a value greater than $100 million
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Creating a stronger Christchurch
After the devastating earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, Christchurch was faced with a rebuild of immense scale and scope. The government sought value for money, a quick, effective and flexible response, and probity.
By September 2011, SCIRT (Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team) had been set up. Its vision statement was to: “Create resilient infrastructure that gives people security and confidence in the future of Christchurch.”
Within five years, and funded by the government and the Christchurch City Council, the team had repaired Christchurch’s severely earthquake damaged, publicly owned horizontal infrastructure (wastewater, freshwater, stormwater, roads, retaining walls and bridges).
The SCIRT programme delivered a remarkable $2.2 billion worth of projects on time and to budget. It also created a ‘learning legacy’ that highlighted the importance of a strong, sustainable approach to a post-disaster rebuild.
Head contractors were: City Care; Downer NZ; The Fletcher Construction Company; Fulton Hogan; and McConnell Dowell Constructors.
The rebuild was really a ‘programme of hundreds of projects’. Delivery teams were concurrently delivering 20 to 30 projects at a time. A detailed programme was required for each project and these were coordinated into a master milestone programme that also coordinated with stakeholders outside of SCIRT, including other earthquake recovery programmes.
The programme of projects approach was one of the reasons for the SCIRT alliance structure comprising a central Integrated Services Team (IST), led by the executive general manager and the Alliance Management Team (AMT), and separate Delivery Teams, provided by the NOPs.
Arranged under 12 headings, Alliance objectives set out the direction and client expectations as SCIRT tackled the biggest civil construction rebuild programme in the country’s history. Some objectives were politically and economically driven by the government. Others were aspirational, such as throwing down the gauntlet to an industry with an unenviable safety record to lift its game.
Cost was $2.22 billion, the project began May 4, 2011, with an interim alliance agreement, and was completed June 14, 2017. l
