Old scrapers in action
In the April issue we featured the making of Auckland International Airport, which opened in January 1966. THE AIRPORT WAS FIRST mooted back in 1929...
Category : Historical
By the Dry Cardrona
Featured photo: SIR GEORGE GREY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, AUCKLAND LIBRARIES It is a now a direct, all-sealed, and exceptionally scenic link between Queenstown and Wanaka, but...
Commemorating 60 years – The Rimutaka Rail Tunnel
It’s 60 years since the Rimutaka Rail Tunnel opened. Due to its solid construction it has required minimal maintenance over its life and is set...
Devonport’s Calliope Drydock – favored by fate
When it opened 130 years ago Devonport’s Calliope drydock was the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Dug by hand in a little over three years,...
The Masher – a seismic breakthrough
by Vijay Naidu
Wellington’s Te Papa museum is internationally renowned for its fine collection as well as its ingenious earthquake-proof technology – the 135 base isolators (lead-rubber bearings)...
We shall not forget: the Kiwi pioneers and engineers on The Western Front
Many Kiwi engineers and civil construction workers were the backbone of the New Zealand forces in WW1. They included such industry-making figures as Arnold Downer,...
Lest we forget
The land wars in New Zealand were preparation for the terrain-tortured European battlefields of WW1 in that Maori defences featured ramparts, bunkers and trenches...
Paying respect to Arnold Downer’s legacy
by Vijay Naidu
Of the handful of family names indelibly etched in the history of our civil contracting industry is Downer, founded by engineer Arnold Downer over 80...
An electrifying leap of faith
At its completion in 1965, Lake Benmore was immediately hailed as a landmark piece of civil engineering and construction – for its height, capacity and...