Infrastructure For A Better Future podcast

25:56

In this episode of Infrastructure for a better future, Peter Nunns, Acting General Manager – Strategy at Te Waihanga, speaks to Professor Jim Hall, who is the incoming President of the Institute of Civil Engineers in the United Kingdom. They discuss the Commission’s work on a National Infrastructure Plan for New Zealand. Hall emphasises the importance of strategic infrastructure planning, sharing best practices, and addressing political short-termism. He also discusses the challenges of forecasting long-term infrastructure needs, the impact of climate change on infrastructure, and the necessity of prioritising resilience and adaptation.…

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Pricing our network infrastructure 26:58

42 weeks ago26:58

26:58

We use a number of funding mechanisms to raise most of the money we need to pay for our network infrastructure services. Good infrastructure pricing is needed for efficient and sustainable infrastructure investment. Sometimes funding approaches are obvious and connected to how much we use, like monthly electricity bills and mobile phone bills. Other times they are far less visible, like fuel excise that’s included in retail petrol prices or rates and taxes, which pay for many of the infrastructure services that we depend on. In this episode of Infrastructure for a better future, Te Waihanga Director of Economics Peter Nunns speaks to PwC Executive Director Lynne Taylor about our recent research that looks at how pricing works in New Zealand’s four main network infrastructure sectors: land transport, water, telecommunications, and energy.…

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Unpacking local government debt 21:57

52 weeks ago21:57

21:57

How does local government debt finance infrastructure? What are the options and what situations should they be used? In this podcast episode, Te Waihanga Senior Communications Advisor Shelly Biswell speaks to Principal Economist Graham Campbell about our recent research that looks into if local government is debt constrained. We unpack this research and look at how local government debt options have been used in the past. We also look at constraints to these options and what they could mean for future infrastructure projects.…

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Baselining the carbon impacts of education 24:13

1 year ago24:13

24:13

In this episode of Infrastructure for a better future, we look at the Carbon Neutral Government Programme, which aims to accelerate emissions reduction in the public sector. In particularly, we look at the work being undertaken by the Ministry of Education. As part of this programme, the Ministry has baselined its emissions across two and a half thousand schools and kura - no easy task. The work is just beginning, but it's already made a difference, through projects like the boiler replacement programme - which has a target to remove all coal boilers by the end of June 2025. Rebecca Robertshawe, Director or Projects and Programmes - Infrastructure Delivery at Te Waihanga, spoke to Tracy Finlayson, Programme Director - Emission Reductions: Schools and Kura at Ministry of Education, about the challenges of conducting this work, the successes, and what the next steps are for the programme.…

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Across the ditch: Choosing Victoria's future 38:43

1 year ago38:43

38:43

Population growth is one of the biggest drivers of infrastructure services. More people, means more transport connections, more housing and more jobs. Last year, Infrastructure Victoria published research titled Choosing Victoria’s future that sketches out five urban form scenarios and makes the case that when it comes to an urban footprint, we have a certain set of choices that we can make. These choices lead to different social, environmental and economic outcomes – from the dollars in your bank account, to the resting heart rate on your watch, to the amount that we collectively choose to spend on infrastructure services. In this episode of Infrastructure for a better future, Geoff Cooper, General Manager – Strategy at Te Waihanga speaks to Dr Jonathan Spear, Chief Executive at Infrastructure Victoria, about Infrastructure Victoria’s research.…

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Bridging the diversity gap 22:40

1 year ago22:40

22:40

We know that teams that reflect our communities can listen better, understand better and better engage with our communities, and together can build better more resilient infrastructure. So why is it that only 11% of infrastructure workers identify as women? In this episode, Te Waihanga Director - Leadership Nicola Richardson speaks to Stacey Mendonça, MNZM, Senior Quantity Surveyor and Estimator at Newcrest Construction, and Co-founder of the National Association of Women in Construction, about how we bridge the diversity gap and encourage more women into the construction sector.…

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Shared resilience and Māori communities 29:31

2 years ago29:31

29:31

How are researchers currently seeking to understand the role that indigenous communities play in infrastructure development including post-disaster recovery? How has engineering teaching changed to consider these issues? As part of our research into Māori engagement in infrastructure, Clare Sinnott, Writer and Researcher at Te Waihanga spoke to Dr Matthew Hughes, Senior Lecturer - Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at University of Canterbury about shared resilience and Māori communities.…

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Is our critical infrastructure vulnerable? 23:52

2 years ago23:52

23:52

Is our critical infrastructure vulnerable? What does New Zealand need to do to ensure that it has the planning capabilities to effectively deal with natural disasters and other events when they occur? In this episode, Te Waihanga Senior Communications Advisor Simon Thomas speaks to Chair of the New Zealand Lifelines Council Roger Fairclough about the Council's recent Critical Infrastructure National Vulnerability Assessment. Roger spoke about how communities and the infrastructure sector can do more to prepare for events that impact on the delivery of infrastructure and how the interdependence of infrastructure supply means that planning is more crucial than ever. Read the Critical Infrastructure National Vulnerability Assessment on the New Zealand Lifelines Council website: https://www.nzlifelines.org.nz/…

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Taking the long view – a tale of two bridges 23:28

2 years ago23:28

23:28

Much of the infrastructure we build today will still be in use a century from now. Would we make better infrastructure decisions if we thought more about the long term?

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Planning for an uncertain future 25:23

2 years ago25:23

25:23

The future is uncertain. While we can do our best to predict what will happen next month, next year, or fifty years from now, we can’t be sure what will actually happen. In this episode, Te Waihanga Senior Economist Nadine Dodge catch up with Brad Singh, to learn about how the transport team at Wellington City Council is dealing with uncertainty in their business. Brad talked about many sources of uncertainty – from climate change to labour supply to aggregate availability – and what we can do in the face of uncertainty to plan for future generations.…

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Thinking ahead: Protecting land for infrastructure 17:39

2 years ago17:39

17:39

While the future is uncertain, when done well, corridor protection – designating or acquiring land for infrastructure in advance of when it’s needed – can have benefits for day and tomorrow. In this episode of ‘Infrastructure for a better future’, Nadine Dodge, Senior Economist – Strategy at Te Waihanga talks with KiwiRail representatives David Gordon, Capital Planning and Asset Development Officer, and Marija Batistich, Senior Corporate Counsel, about how corridor protection works in practice for KiwiRail. Corridor protection is discussed in one of our recent reports, ‘Protecting land for infrastructure: How to make good decisions when we aren’t certain about the future’. Our report findings suggest that designating or acquiring land for infrastructure in advance can make it cheaper and easier to build the infrastructure we need, from neighbourhood schools to major public transport routes. Research: Protecting land for infrastructure: How to make good decisions when we aren’t certain about the future | New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga (PDF 6.3 MB)…

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A global view of infrastructure project costs 28:58

2 years ago28:58

28:58

Large-scale and complex infrastructure projects, often take longer and cost more than expected, but some places seem to get better results than others. In our latest podcast, we take a global view of infrastructure project costs and why certain places are better at delivering infrastructure on time and in budget. Peter Nunns Director - Economics at Te Waihanga speaks to Dr. Eric Goldwyn from New York University and the Transit Costs Project, and Liz Innes, Director - Investment and Reviews at Te Waihanga, to take a deeper look into global infrastructure costs. This sits alongside our report, The lay of the land: Benchmarking New Zealand’s infrastructure delivery costs…

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Stormwater and resilience 16:37

2 years ago16:37

16:37

Te Waihanga Principal Advisor - Strategy, Nik Green recently spoke to Senior Advisor - Delivery Christian Gamst about stormwater and resilience. This is part of our work to understand the severity of the January 2023 Auckland Anniversary weekend storm resulting in stormwater flooding in Auckland, the impact of the storm on Auckland’s infrastructure and the issues or weaknesses this event has raised about stormwater management and our infrastructure system. This sits alongside our report, The 2023 Auckland Anniversary weekend storm: An initial assessment and implications for the infrastructure system.…

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More than a labour of love 21:00

2 years ago21:00

21:00

We need our cities to be attractive and inclusive places to live. An important aspect of achieving this is by ensuring our infrastructure services are accessible to everyone. Two Auckland Transport advisory groups – the Public Transport Advisory Group (PTAG) and the Capital Project Advisory Group (CTAG) have been true catalysts for change and have been at the forefront of making Auckland's transport network work for all. Jane Godfrey, Senior Advisor - Strategy at Te Waihanga spoke to Alison McLellan, former representative for Headway, the Brain Injury Association Auckland, and Chris Orr, former representative for Blind Low Vision New Zealand about their work on the advisory groups.…

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The climate cost of consenting 21:38

2 years ago21:38

21:38

A recent report commissioned by Te Waihanga looks at how and why the consenting system needs to change for Aotearoa to deliver on it's net-zero targets. Sapere Research Group completed the research. Ross Copland, Chief Executive at Te Waihanga spoke to Corina Comendant, Senior Managing Economist at Sapere about the findings of the report.…

Infrastructure for a Better Future

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Infrastructure in a complex world 27:34

2 years ago27:34

27:34

A changing macro-economic and geopolitical environment can act as either a headwind or tailwind to better infrastructure. In this complex world how does Aotearoa New Zealand make sure it can deliver successful infrastructure projects? How, and to what, do we shift our priorities as a small country at the bottom of the pacific? How do we compete for the talent we need to produce world-class infrastructure? Geoff Cooper, General Manager - Strategy at Te Waihanga, speaks to David Skilling, Director at Landfall Strategy Group, about these questions and more.…

Infrastructure for a Better Future

1
Benchmarking the Cost of Infrastructure 28:53

2 years ago28:53

28:53

To solve New Zealand's infrastructure challenges we need to deliver quality infrastructure at an affordable price. So, how much does it cost to build infrastructure in New Zealand? And how do we compare with other high-income countries? That's the subject of a report that we published last month, entitled ‘The lay of the land: Benchmarking New Zealand's infrastructure delivery costs’. In our report, we draw on research from Oxford Global Projects, who provide expert advice on infrastructure project management and benchmarking around the world. In this episode we're joined by Andreas Leed and Dirk Pöker from Oxford Global Projects, who will discuss their findings and share some of their broader insights. Andreas is head of data science at Oxford Global Projects and Dirk is a research analyst and PhD candidate at the University of Alicante in Spain.…

Infrastructure for a Better Future

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Managing an award winning project 20:13

2 years ago20:13

20:13

Earlier in 2022, a culvert replacement project won the award for Excellence in Environment and Sustainability, Best Public Works Project ($2–5 million) and Supreme Asset Management Excellence at the 2022 IPWEA (Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia) New Zealand Asset Management Excellence Awards. At first glance, it might be hard to understand how a culvert replacement project could attract so much interest, but this project highlights the important connection our infrastructure has with our people and places, how important it can be to get infrastructure right for its place, the environment surrounding it, and the people who use that environment. Blake Lepper, General Manager - Infrastructure Delivery at Te Waihanga spoke to Kathryn O’Reilly, Senior Project Manager at Waka Kotahi and Kat McMullen, Civil Engineer at WSP about how they managed this award winning project.…

Infrastructure for a Better Future

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Is our construction sector productive? 24:49

3 years ago24:49

24:49

A recent report by Te Waihanga highlights the importance of productivity growth in reducing construction costs and addressing workforce demands. In this episode, the authors of the report, Hannah Ouellet Economist (secondment) and Peter Nunns Director of Economics, discuss their findings. Read the report…

Infrastructure for a Better Future

1
Congestion Charging in Stockholm 26:54

3 years ago26:54

26:54

In episode two of our Infrastructure for a better future series we look to Stockholm. Stockholm was one of the first cities in the world to implement a congestion charge to reduce its traffic – and it worked. Following implementation of the charge, traffic was reduced by 20% and congestion by 30% to 50%. Not only that, but public perception of the charge swung markedly in its favour after a well thought out trial. Geoff Cooper, General Manager – Strategy at Te Waihanga, spoke to Gustaf Landahl, former Head of Department – Environment and Health Administration in Stockholm, about how the city took decisive action to implement congestion charging.…

Infrastructure for a Better Future

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Health Infrastructure 14:06

3 years ago14:06