Setting the Table for Success

Image: Pipeline and Civil Supervisor Peter Nati and Managing Director Hugh Goddard at Auckland’s Akoranga pipe bridge, done for Watercare. 

The challenge facing New Zealand is no longer identifying infrastructure needs, it is converting those opportunities into successful delivery outcomes, writes Hugh Goddard, Pipeline and Civil Managing Director.

Budget 2026 contained some encouraging signals for this country’s infrastructure sector. Commitments to major projects such as the Northern Corridor PPP, the Piarere to Tirau Expressway and other transport investments reinforce the Government’s commitment to infrastructure as a driver of economic growth and productivity.

Alongside these announcements sits another significant opportunity. The Government’s Water Done Well reforms have the potential to unlock between $45 billion and $60 billion of water infrastructure investment over the next decade. While transport remains New Zealand’s largest infrastructure sector, water investment is likely to be of a similar scale and substantially larger than most other areas of infrastructure spending.

Taken together, these investments represent one of the most significant infrastructure pipelines we have seen in decades.

For the civil construction sector, that is undoubtedly positive news. However, as I reflected on the Budget and the industry commentary that followed, I found myself thinking less about the funding announcements themselves and more about what happens next.

Opportunities to outcomes

The challenge facing New Zealand is no longer identifying infrastructure needs. Whether it is transport, water, resilience, energy or community infrastructure, there is no shortage of projects requiring investment. The challenge is converting those opportunities into successful delivery outcomes.

Funding creates opportunity. Delivery creates value.

One of the lessons from previous infrastructure cycles is that investment alone does not guarantee success. Projects need to be developed, packaged, procured and delivered. Client organisations need the capability and capacity to bring work to market. Contractors need confidence to invest in people, equipment and innovation. Supply chains need visibility of future workloads to build capability and improve productivity.

This is where I believe New Zealand has a significant opportunity. As an industry, we often focus on the projects themselves. Perhaps we should spend more time focusing on the conditions that enable those projects to succeed.

In simple terms, we need to set the table for success.

One area where this is particularly relevant is infrastructure renewals. Too often, they continue to be delivered as a series of small standalone projects. Every project requires separate planning, procurement, pricing, mobilisation and administration. While the intention is usually to achieve value for money, the outcome can sometimes be the opposite.

Take watermain renewals as an example. A directional drilling crew can install significant lengths of pipeline when operating continuously across a coordinated programme of work. Yet many renewals are still delivered through a stop-start cycle of individual projects, each requiring separate procurement and mobilisation activities. Valuable delivery capacity is consumed by process rather than production.

Efficiencies matter

By contrast, aggregating work into larger programmes and longer-term delivery frameworks enables contractors to plan resources more effectively, invest with confidence and achieve greater productivity. In an environment where infrastructure demand exceeds available funding, these efficiencies matter.

The same principle applies to the major projects announced through the Budget.

Those such as the Northern Corridor PPP and the Piarere Expressway will create significant opportunities for contractors, suppliers, and small and medium enterprises throughout this country. While the headline contracts may be awarded to large delivery teams, the success of these projects will ultimately depend on hundreds of subcontractors, specialist contractors and suppliers working throughout the supply chain.

SMEs are not just participants in the supply chain – they are essential to delivery capacity, regional capability and workforce development. They employ apprentices, invest in local communities, develop specialist expertise and provide much of the industry’s frontline delivery capability. The extent to which they can invest in people, equipment and innovation will have a direct influence on the success of our infrastructure programme.

This creates an important responsibility for clients and lead contractors alike.

The procurement models, contract structures, risk allocation and performance measures established at the outset of a project often determine the behaviours that follow throughout the delivery chain. Clients play a critical role in setting the table for success.

When clients place genuine emphasis on safety, sustainability, workforce development, innovation and collaboration, those priorities are far more likely to be reflected in delivery. When procurement models encourage programme thinking, longer-term relationships and shared outcomes, contractors can invest with confidence and focus on continuous improvement.

Challenges remain

Over recent years, our industry has made progress in health and safety performance, workforce development and environmental standards. There has also been a clear shift in procurement frameworks, with increasing recognition of broader outcomes, including sustainability, workforce capability, local supplier participation and social value.

However, challenges remain. Health and safety outcomes still lag behind leading international benchmarks, workforce shortages persist, and inconsistent procurement practices continue to limit the full realisation of these objectives.

These are positive developments, but they only succeed if they are carried consistently throughout the delivery chain.

Conversely, when procurement ultimately rewards only the lowest upfront cost, margin compression, risk transfer and short-term decision-making inevitably follow. These pressures flow through the supply chain and ultimately reduce investment in capability, safety, innovation and workforce development.

The result is often a false economy. While costs may appear lower at the point of procurement, the long-term consequences can include lower productivity, increased levels of harm, reduced resilience within the supply chain and higher whole-of-life costs for asset owners.

Many SMEs are expected to invest in training, support apprentices, improve environmental performance and contribute to safer outcomes while competing in environments where price remains the dominant differentiator.

If we genuinely want better outcomes for our industry, those expectations cannot stop at the head contract. They need to be reflected consistently throughout the supply chain.

Planning leads to safety

Recent findings from the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum’s State of a Thriving Nation 2025 report reinforce why this matters. The report estimates workplace harm costs New Zealand approximately $5.4 billion every year and highlights a clear relationship between productivity and safety performance. Countries with stronger productivity outcomes tend to have lower rates of workplace fatalities and serious harm.

This reinforces a point our industry is increasingly recognising: productivity and safety are not trade-offs – they are outcomes of the same system conditions.

Well-planned projects are generally safer projects. Organisations that invest in capability tend to perform better. Effective risk management improves both productivity and safety outcomes. 

Procurement settings that encourage collaboration, planning, innovation and long-term thinking are more likely to deliver stronger results across productivity, safety and quality.

Put simply, safer workplaces are not only better for people – they are also a key contributor to a more productive and sustainable industry.

Capturing the full value of the investment

As this country embarks on one of its largest infrastructure investment programmes in decades, we have an opportunity to do more than simply build assets.

We have an opportunity to improve productivity. We have an opportunity to strengthen local contractors and suppliers. We have an opportunity to develop apprentices, encourage innovation and improve environmental performance.

Most importantly, we have an opportunity to create a safer and more capable industry. None of these outcomes will happen by accident.

They will be influenced by the decisions made today by clients, policymakers, industry leaders and contractors. The procurement settings established at the beginning of projects will shape the behaviours and outcomes achieved throughout the delivery process.

Budget 2026 and Water Done Well provide the opportunity. The challenge now is ensuring we capture the full value of that investment.

Systems create the enduring legacy

Funding may create the headlines, but it is the way we deliver infrastructure that will ultimately determine the legacy of this investment programme. If we focus solely on lowest upfront cost, we risk creating a false economy that delivers greater harm, lower productivity and larger maintenance liabilities in the future.

If we get the settings right from the start, we have an opportunity to maximise the value of every infrastructure dollar invested while building a safer, more productive and more capable industry. That is the real opportunity presented by Budget 2026 and Water Done Well. The assets we build will matter, but the systems we create to deliver them may prove to be the more enduring legacy.

That starts with setting the table for success.