Good!
We are proud to present work & people productive in the community that inspires us, paves a way toward thriving & aspiration for change.
This, is what good looks like.
On the ground
18 December 2023
Source: supplied
From failed bridges to compromised power and water services. Visits to weather-blasted East Coast infrastructure has given key government advisers insights which will help shape work on recovery and resilience.
Organised by the Thriving Infrastructure team the two-day programme of site visits and presentations for the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, and Treasury mid-August raised a lot of questions as well as providing valuable insights, participant Geoff Cooper says.
Geoff, General Manager Strategy for Te Waihanga, says the visits underlined the interdependencies amongst services and providers. “In some cases having a bridge taken out affected transport and travel,” he said. “But if the bridge also carried other services – like water or power – then its loss reverberated further.
“At worst those interdependencies can mean a cascade of failure.”
Many business continuity plans assumed some services would continue to function, he said. Not many anticipated such a range of losses.
“Some construction firms could not get going - their head office was flooded, or machines and trucks were taken out. Or their workers’ homes were flooded, trapping them there and curtailing the response further. This all played out as we were moving from the emergency phase to recovery. “
If roads are out then every aspect of recovery is compromised, he said. Not only is the supply chain disrupted but essential personnel like water quality experts needed to assess contamination are also shut out.
Source: supplied
Overall the group got what they were hoping for - what he describes as a cross-cutting picture of the way infrastructure reacted in total, and differences between its different parts.
The Thriving Infrastructure approach provided a great model for understanding how to work together, he said. “We had a great cross-section – the sector, government asset owners, private providers like Unison”
The tour also raised lots of questions – “Do we need a greater number of Bailey bridges? What role, if any, did river management have in the performance of bridges? Why did Bridge X go out – was it river management? Something else? Was it carrying other services like pipes for wiring? What was the risk management approach, and the points of difference, for different services? How did the approach to insurance differ across sectors, and what did that mean for the time to reinstate a service? How was coordination with central agencies managed and was it more or less effective than the approaches taken in Christchurch and Kaikoura? What was the experience of dealing with Wellington for different aspects of infrastructure”
Much of what’s being learned will inform Te Waihanga’s next Infrastructure Strategy, due in 2026. Produced every five years, it’s a blueprint for the future which not only considers performance under stress but other priorities like decarbonization and infrastructure for growth.
But there are immediate needs – like workforce. Right now Te Waihanga and others are looking at the work required in the Gisborne area, and the number of workers required –significantly greater than the local market can supply. That raises questions about the other services required – not least housing. To help inform the response, Te Waihanga has published a market capacity tool which converts expected capital works into a required workforce
“And if we’re going to have more severe and more frequent events, we need to be thinking about resilience of smaller or more remote communities? For instance, what role might distributed infrastructure services, like solar panels, water tanks and starlink, ultimately play for remote communities?”
The field trip underlined just how tumultuous Cyclone Gabrielle and previous weather events had been and how quickly national priorities for infrastructure can change.
Source: supplied
“The Infrastructure Commission’s role is to advise on the ability of our existing infrastructure to meet community expectations over the next 30 years. When it comes to resilience, the North Island weather events remind us how critical many infrastructure services are in times of emergency.
And we as a commission need to understand different experiences, how and what you need and when.”
“In the face of a rapidly changing climate, these issues must remain front and centre in our capital investment thinking.
“What does a fit-for purpose infrastructure sector look like? And how can we help it emerge?”
Tour organiser, Thriving Infrastructure project lead Charlene Donald, said Cyclone Gabrielle and other storms caused terrible heartache and losses for many East Coast residents and businesses.
“We hoped that by facilitating these site visits we could contribute to policy, strategy and operations coming together in delivering better and more resilient infrastructure rebuilds for communities.