My grandfather was – to put it politely – a very frugal man.  So, when he gave me advice that there are some things in life you should not skimp on, I paid attention.  The examples he used were a bed and shoes.  His reasoning was that you use them every day, you want them to work well and support you, and if you buy the right ones and look after them, they’ll last you a long time.  I have (mostly) followed his advice. 

What’s the relevance to infrastructure you may ask?  Until about six months ago, I would have said my grandfather’s advice also applied to infrastructure – buy quality, build it well, look after it and it will look after you. Given that, most infrastructure is, after all, a multi-generational investment.  What made sense for Grandad’s shoes also makes sense for bridges, doesn’t it?  Perhaps not all the time – and particularly if uncertain events conspire to massively reduce the asset life of the bridge or the shoes – think Cyclone Gabrielle, or the dog from next door.  If these events become more likely, should we buy bigger, stronger bridges and shoes to deal with the greater likelihood of these events? Or should we accept that ‘stuff happens’ and it’s better to have a lower up-front cost with the ability to quickly and cost-effectively respond or replace when disaster strikes?  We could also decide to protect or mitigate – I’m sure Grandad’s approach would have involved some ‘coaching’ of the dog (or its owner), but that’s not an answer for all critical infrastructure.   

How we respond to the increased likelihood of extreme events is occupying the thoughts of infrastructure professionals at all levels – from Government policy and funding considerations to design standards and approaches to asset management.  Just this month the Government announced the National Resilience Plan.  In releasing the plan, the Minister of Finance noted that “The North Island weather events have added a level of urgency to our infrastructure investment planning and highlighted the importance of building strong and resilient infrastructure…. Budget 2023 sets aside $6 billion for strategic investments as part of a National Resilience Plan”.  The Minister noted that the investment will initially focus on building back better from the recent weather events, and then focus on future-proofing road, rail, telecommunications and electricity transmission infrastructure. 

It’s clear that addressing vulnerabilities in our infrastructure systems to function during adverse conditions and quickly recover after an event is fundamental to the wellbeing of communities.  The challenge to all of us now is how we choose to respond.  At Vitruvius, a fundamental philosophy is that we are data-driven, in all aspects of our business, our designs and our advice to clients.  This is more important than ever in the case of addressing our infrastructure vulnerabilities.  There are very large costs to address the damage done in the recent events, let alone the costs to strengthen critical existing assets, and then to ensure that any new infrastructure we build is resilient and enduring.  Climate models, rainfall models, saturation models, and many other models, are now vital and need to be made available to all parts of the industry to ensure that all planning, development, and maintenance activities have the best possible information on which to make decisions.  Infrastructure Australia has recognised this in its Pathway to Infrastructure Resilience, which notes the critical importance of coordinating, sharing and standardising critical disaster and climate data collection for informed planning, action, and decision-making.   

What we’re working through now at Vitruvius as a business is what additional data we need, and how we use that data to make design or asset management decisions.  Should we design bigger and stronger?  Should we accept some level of failure of the asset, and ensure that any failure occurs in a way that is safe, somewhat expected and can be built back quickly and cost-effectively?  Or perhaps in some instances is the right answer simply that it does not make sense to build/develop in that location? One of the areas where we see a need for improvement is the robust and systematic mapping of hazards across infrastructure networks, to prioritise investment in maintaining those networks.   Most current investment in infrastructure is predicated by growth, or a desire to improve services or economic or social outcomes.  Recent events show that there is a need to think more clearly about where we should invest to prevent loss.   

It is important that we look to lessons from other jurisdictions.  One publication helping to guide some of our thinking is Principles for Resilient Infrastructure from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.  The paper lists principles and actions for resilient infrastructure, including ensuring designs contemplate safety if there is a failure, using nature-based solutions, committing to maintenance regimes, and embedding emergency management facilities.  All are actions we can undertake now, and can manifest in simple, powerful (but not necessarily attractive) solutions.  For instance, making sure that we minimise subsidence risks through quality site testing like soakage rates/percolation tests, and make the right decisions to balance capital costs with risk, cost, loss of time and ability to serve impacted communities in disaster situations. 

While there is a way to go, I am confident that, over time, Resilience in Design will become as common as Safety in Design in the way that we go about our work.  Innovation will be key!  Our industry is full of diverse people and ideas, and the time for them to drive this change is now.  We at Vitruvius are committed and look forward to being part of the solution. 

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Over the summer Vitruvius and Metlink have been working together to create digital twins of existing rail platforms across the wider Wellington Region. These digital twins are laser scanned digital versions of the assets found at each platform as well as hidden assets such as buried services, pipes and ducts. They provide Metlink with the underpinning information to inform their asset management strategy; as well as a blueprint to grow asset management capabilities.

However, how can we connect decision makers with the rich information of a laser scan and digital twins? The answer lies in asset information management.

An asset’s true value is realised by the transformation of asset information into simple and informative outcomes that each stakeholder finds relatable, and meaningful.

Working with Metlink, Vitruvius mapped the data journey from capture through to transformation and end use before collecting it. By understanding how data would be used, necessary steps were placed in the transformation process to ensure the outputs are both relatable, and meaningful. The approach taken by Metlink means they will see realise significant benefit in their long term asset management practices, including:

• Ensuring data is translated into GIS objects for use in the organisation’s geospatial system (accessible to the organisation, not just specialists).
• Defining data asset classes so assets can be individually created, tracked, and managed over their useful life (relatable at both a financial, and operation level).
• Converting data into engineering databases that can be used by suppliers to plan asset enhancements or renewals (practical and cost-effective as the same information can be reused for multiple purposes).
• Generating 3D models for network planning or future activities such as customer experience management (beneficial to multiple stakeholders at an engagement level).

The benefits above also provide opportunity for the organisation to engage with internal stakeholders in new ways as asset management capabilities grow. These may include informing maintenance strategies, health and safety assessments, region or route planning, even capacity and growth opportunities. They also provide opportunity for more immersive experiences such as AR or VR to assist in public engagement and future growth of the regions commuter rail services.

If you would like to learn more about our abilities to capture, transform and enhance asset management practices then please get in touch with one of our Business Leaders in Auckland, Tauranga or Wellington. We would love to speak with you.

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As a result, investment and delivery organisations are looking for a step change in the effectiveness and efficiency of how these portfolios, programme and projects are managed and controlled. Our clients are increasingly asking our highly experienced professionals to help them get clarity and solve problems, establish temporary organisations and introduce more accountable governance and decision-making capabilities, and implement frameworks, processes and controls to keep their portfolios, programmes and projects on track to deliver.

We strive to support our clients so that they can make decisions or provide direction that lets them set off, manage and control:

• Project Management: Deliver projects well
• Programme Management: Deliver projects together
• Portfolio Management: Select and prioritise the right projects

Often problems are not well defined or understood, solutions are not obvious and there are increasing programme and cost pressures involved. In these instances, traditional project management frameworks will not suffice. We don’t shy away from these daunting challenges. We take them on head on, side by side with our clients. These are the opportunities that really have a meaningful impact and demonstrate our value.

Project Management is the application of a process, using experience and knowledge to deliver a goal. Often the environments we come into are dynamic, processes may have a level of ambiguity, and frustrations are arising due to a lack of progress or vacuum of information. This is where instinctive project management is required – where agility, competence, experience, bravery and determination are needed to get things back on track.

We define this service as Project Management ‘Plus’ (PM+).

We are investing heavily in broadening our skills – and most importantly our mindset – to tackle the unique problems we and our clients face every day.

Whether it be gaining Programme Management accreditations such as MSP, Infrastructure Procurement qualifications, or pursuing personal and business leadership growth through Whakaaro leadership programmes, our team is continually improving to become well-rounded engineers, planners, advisors and project management professionals who can offer PM+ on any given project, regardless of sector or scale.

Ultimately Vitruvius strives to raise performance and set up projects for sustained success. Working alongside clients as partners is the key to ensuring this success and we are proud of the long standing relationships that we have formed.

Projects are a journey, a pathway of discovery, where lessons are learned and successes are celebrated. It’s about enjoying the adventure – this is a core value at Vitruvius and is at the heart of

PM+.

If you would like to learn more about our PM+ offering, get in touch with one of our Business Leaders in Auckland, Wellington or Tauranga. We would love to speak with you.

Auckland          Bradley Jones

Wellington         Antony Cameron

Tauranga           Scott Williamson

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Upgrading the station so more passenger trains can run between Porirua and Plimmerton is a key goal for KiwiRail, and Vitruvius has worked alongside them for over two years to assess requirements and options, complete concept and detailed design, obtain consents and support the procurement and construction phases.

The complete project scope involves building nine new turnouts at Plimmerton Station, a new platform/shelters, extending the pedestrian underpass, installing five new gated pedestrian crossings, plus all associated overhead line equipment (OLE), signaling and drainage

This is a significant project for our team and one of the largest we’ve ever been involved in. The project is a complex one, and because it involves the North Island’s Main Trunk line (NIMT), most physical work can only be carried out over long weekends/public holidays and quiet periods such as Christmas/New Year when passenger trains aren’t running and freight services are reduced to the absolute minimum. Detailed planning to maximise the work completed during these times has therefore been essential.

Since completing the design, Downer has been appointed as the principal contractor for the physical works whilst Vitruvius is now undertaking the role of the engineer’s representative, effectively acting as conduit between Downer and KiwiRail over the two-and-a-half year construction period.  Vitruvius will also provide design support throughout the construction phase for any unforeseen issues that arise on site.  The extensive knowledge and solution driven approach Vitruvius hold will offer both Downer and KiwiRail the fastest and most effective way of solving problems during the build phase.

“Entering the construction phase late in 2021 was a major milestone for KiwiRail and Vitruvius as we have been at the heart of the project since the early feasibility stage,” explains Major Projects Team Leader Simon Cave. “Most of our Wellington office and about half of the Tauranga office has been involved at some point. It’s been incredibly exciting to be in the construction phase and see our design and hard work take shape.  “We had a significant ‘wheels free’ period over the 2021/2022 Christmas period, with no trains running. That period involved the underpass extension, re-surfacing the existing platform, installation of a new concrete level crossing and the installation of a new rail cross-over. The project team consisted of around 100 committed individuals working around the clock throughout the Christmas block, with all planned work being completed safely and on time. A huge achievement.”

“We want to build a legacy not only for a modern transport experience, but also set a new standard as to how rail teams can work together.”

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During my time at Vitruvius, some of the significant projects I have assisted in include:

• Wellington, Porirua Area Capacity Enhancement (PACE) – Drawing and drafting components for: New stormwater drainage & service details for Plimmerton Train Station, Steyne Ave temporary crossing, mainline pedestrian crossing and general assistance across the PACE sector.
• Opotiki, Pirirakau Road Development (40 lot subdevelopment) – Project delivery and Project management through communication with client & contractor and refining project specific Schedules of Prices in Excel.
• Aongatete, Scalar Testing – Performing scalar tests along a 1 km private driveway for preparation to upgrade the existing metal road to asphalt.

Some of the most prominent highlights from my time at Vitruvius include:

• Working with a view! Scalar testing in Aongatete provided a fantastic sight from Mount Maunganui, all the way to Bowentown. In addition, the weather was perfect to conduct the Scalar tests.
• Vitruvius paid for me to fly down to the Wellington office for the two weeks leading up to Christmas. The Wellington office needed support ensuring that the work for PACE was delivered in time before the KiwiRail construction period (over Christmas to New Years). During those two weeks, we were able to smash out the design delivery and head into Christmas without missing the deadline.
• The end of year Christmas party was the best I’ve had yet! Kicking things off with a trip to Rotorua to venture out with the Duck Tours where we had a wonderful drive around key landmarks with plenty of games and activities along the way. The next major activity included riding down the luge at Skyline. All food and drink was provided at all points along the way. All in all, a remarkable day out with plenty of hilarious moments that will be cemented in my memory forever.

Whilst contributing to a range of projects, there were plenty of learning opportunities that have now provided me with more skills under the belt. Some of these include:

• With plenty of work revolving around excel use, I was able to further my knowledge with greater formatting, overall efficiency improvement, utilizing tables, manipulating dates, generating a visual (and self updating) timeline using graphs and a number of handy formulas.
• AutoCAD is a tool I was able to develop throughout a number of the drafting and drawing projects I was involved in. I learnt the importance of xrefs, creating blocks, viewports, title block setup, rev clouds and a general optimisation in efficiency.
• Familiarising myself with the New Zealand Contract Standards (AS/NZS 3915:2005 & AS/NZS 3910:2013) was crucial before assisting in the project delivery sector for the Opotiki works to understand appropriate communication between client/contractor and the respective obligations.

While this is a somewhat lengthy summary, there are still plenty more other events, highlights and skills which I haven’t mentioned. With all being said, working with Vitruvius was a highlight in itself. The culture within the workplace was, and still will be exceptional.

Ryan Henderson

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COVID has changed the game and reliability, routine and resilience can no longer be taken for granted. That’s why Vitruvius has developed an encompassing Wellbeing Strategy to look after our people and ensure they have the tools they need for both at work, and in their personal lives.

We focused on four key areas to begin with – physical health, mental health, social responsibility and our work environment – and took an in-depth look at each area with a quarterly focus. We also provided a half day off for each staff member as paid ‘wellbeing leave’ and gave them $100 to invest in their mental health by doing something of their choice that made them feel energized!

Our goal is to help staff continuously improve their skills and engagement in each area, recognising that techniques that work for one person aren’t necessarily going to work for everyone else.

We kicked things off by promoting physical health at the beginning of last year. Our Tauranga staff took on the legendary Mount Everest Challenge where the goal is to climb Mauao 38 times in 50 days (the equivalent height of Mount Everest), while our Wellington team did rock climbing and F45 sessions.

That was followed by hosting Nigel Beach for a workshop on stress, anxiety and living in the modern age of comfort. He taught us Wim Hof breathing techniques and how exposure to cold baths and showers can help improve our mental and physical health. We gained a lot from this session and highly recommend it to everyone!

To enhance our social responsibility, Vitruvius has partnered with the Graham Dingle Foundation and donated time to the amazing work they do to help young people overcome life’s obstacles. Some of our Wellington team hosted mock job interviews for older teens to help them prepare for the workforce.  In addition, the Tauranga office volunteered their time to a local environmental project in Whakamarama to improve pest control and protect our native species, whilst the Wellington office volunteered their time through planting 1000 trees at Ascot Park with Conservation Volunteers New Zealand and Porirua City Council.

And finally in the latter months of the year, we turned our attention to our work environment, undergoing ergonomic assessments of our workstations and looking at office aesthetics to make office life more comfortable and enjoyable. Real plants have now replaced fake ones and we organised a mini putt competition to inject more fun into our lives!

We’re measuring the success of our Wellbeing Strategy in a number of ways – by monitoring staff turnover, tenure, sick leave and productivity. We also ran an engagement survey to directly seek opinions and feedback and were thrilled to know that almost everyone (96%) feels proud to work at Vitruvius and would recommend our company to family and friends.

We will continue to focus on what we are doing well and what defines our culture and way of working.

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We are delighted to introduce our first two appointments.

Bradley Jones will head our Auckland office as the Business Leader. Bradley has more than two decades’ experience as a chartered civil engineer, programme manager and project controls specialist across rail, aviation, water, civils, maritime and coastal schemes, and new commercial buildings and refurbishments.

Brad grew up in South Africa and continued his education in the UK, spending many years working in London on significant rail and aviation projects. Notably a four-year Airline Relocation Programme at Heathrow Airport worth $1.4b per annum over 3 years to allow for airport, facility and airfield upgrades as well as airline alliance co location.

We are thrilled to now have his expertise on hand to help guide the development of key infrastructure projects in Auckland that Vitruvius is heavily involved in. Bradley has a passion for leadership, and we are so proud that he will be leading the Auckland team.

And Louise Baker is our new Technical Director focusing on Transport and Sustainability. Louise has lived in Aotearoa for 16 years. Louise hails from the UK where she completed a Masters’ degree in Environmental Science, Policy and Planning. Her technical strengths lie in transport planning, travel behaviour change, smart mobility, decarbonisation and sustainability.

Our Managing Director, Neil Mason met Louise through the delivery of the $1.4bn Western Bay of Plenty Transport System Plan project last year, where Louise was one of the Challenge Team members. Neil was so impressed he felt the immediate need to get her into the Vitruvius team!

Louise has presented at many national and international conferences and her expert opinions on the future of mobility in New Zealand are sought after by clients. Over the past decade she’s been heavily involved in many key transport projects right across the country.

Louise’s arrival adds another level of diversity to Vitruvius’ expertise in strategy, travel demand management, smart mobility and sustainability. She is passionate about helping cities to become more liveable and find their place in nature, and our clients nationwide will greatly benefit from her expertise and desire for positive change.

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Vitruvius’ success is built on the relationships we develop with our clients. Our team members are at the heart of this business model, so we invest heavily in ensuring our team enjoys the work they do and the environment they work in.

“We put a lot of effort in ensuring that our team are well supported and have access to everything then need to carry out their work. We set a high benchmark for quality, and we are driven by working amongst other highly competent people that all strive for results and celebrate together when we work hard and achieve,” explains General Manager Kim Brown.

In order to sustain and improve our culture, Vitruvius re-examined its company values last year with the input of our whole team. This was invaluable as our revitalized values are intrinsic to how we operate. Our values make our team feel proud and the external feedback we received is that Vitruvius means business and believes in our people!

Our values are:

• Committed to connection
• Believe in bravery
• Continually improving
• Strength in diversity
• Enjoy the adventure

“Our value on enjoying the adventure is because we all want choices,” Kim Brown, General Manager says. “Every day our staff choose Vitruvius as an employer, the clients we work with, and the projects that we work on. There is a lot of empowerment at Vitruvius and this can be daunting but also enlightening. There are no ceilings and only the brave will keep moving forward with us, improving, and driving us to be the best.”

All of our staff have personal development plans which focuses on what they want to get out of their roles, and what will keep them engaged and motivated to achieve. This year we launched a specific wellbeing strategy and have looked in-depth at four key areas: physical health, mental health, social responsibility and our work environment. Each quarter we plan different activities around one of these areas and our staff have thoroughly enjoyed these sessions.

It’s important we invest in our people and as part of our Business Improvement Programme, we look across the entire employee lifecycle to attract, develop, engage and retain. We recognise that all aspects are equally important to be balanced to have a high performing, motivated and competent workforce.

Our culture can be summed up by simply saying ‘it’s the way we do things around here’. Our HR framework, processes, systems, tools of the trade, physical work environment, opportunities to learn and grow, combined with our rituals, relationships, conversations and feelings (of belonging, support, care, connection and friendship) is what makes Vitruvius such a special place to work.

We couldn’t be prouder of our team and being named a finalist at the 2021 Tauranga Business Awards.

The post Vitruvius Named ‘People & Culture’ Finalist For 2021 appeared first on Vitruvius.

Vitruvius were engaged by KiwiRail and Waka Kotahi in 2019 to look at options for repairing this key tunnel on the main north line. It had been damaged in both the 2013 Seddon earthquake and subsequent 2016 Kaikoura earthquake. And to make matters more complicated, State Highway One ran straight over the top of it.

“After all the work they had done on North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) projects recovering all other sites further south, if this tunnel failed again, it could potentially close the main north line and SH1 down for months,” explains Vitruvius Project Engineer Bryce Hourigan.

“The main challenge was the existing structure was either going to have to be reconditioned, which would be quite costly, or realigned elsewhere. There were several options we looked at for maintaining the existing structure, but they were all pretty expensive. One of the options was to realign around the existing tunnel and that’s what KiwiRail chose to do.”

The new structure is 150m away from the original tunnel and involved realigning both the railway track and state highway. The railway is now 60m shorter and straighter, allowing trains to run at 80km/hr instead of 55km/hr, increasing overall line speed.

“Curves can require a lot of maintenance, especially tight curves. The tunnel itself was on a reasonably tight curve and the lining inside the tunnel showed historic scars from wagons scraping as they go through. That was one of the challenges with the existing tunnel and its alignment. We’ve straightened the alignment up – it now has one less curve and we’re using larger radius curves so it’s more efficient now. It’s also going to require less maintenance in the long run.”

Vitruvius took care of the topographic survey, road and rail geometric design, and digital engineering for this project. A detailed 3D model was built with help from Holmes Consulting, who designed the new tunnel structure, and Tonkin & Taylor who designed the Geotech aspects to design the main rail and road cut. “We basically cut 400,000m³ of dirt out of the hill to realign the rail through that section,” Bryce says.

Vitruvius also provided KiwiRail construction support for setting out the rail track into its final position. The project is particularly significant for the company because it’s the largest 3D model it has built to date and is the first model Vitruvius has done that incorporates both road and rail design (not just rail).

“This project represents a lot of firsts for us. It is pretty impressive to stand on site at the end of it and see the finished result. It’s very rewarding to see how closely it has been constructed to our model. It’s a great illustration of our BIM expertise and how design documentation can be produced ready for construction from a digital model.”

The post Road & Rail Between Kaikoura and Blenheim Now Straighter, Faster and More Resilient appeared first on Vitruvius.

We will continue to work with our existing clients (KiwiRail, Auckland Transport plus others) as well as project partners to deliver key Auckland metro projects such as the City Rail Link (CRL) readiness programme and additional projects,

These projects will completely transform the way Aucklanders move around their city – and are only the beginning of what’s to come.

Vitruvius has a key role to play in all of these programmes, with activity in the CRL and RNGIM teams ramping up at a significant speed. Up until now, our Tauranga and Wellington-based staff have travelled extensively and worked remotely to partner with our clients. But nothing beats daily face-to-face contact and it’s those close working relationships that Vitruvius is renowned for.

Our company founder and Managing Director, Neil Mason, will head the new Auckland office until an Auckland Director is appointed. “We’re looking to hire five staff initially and will then scale up to meet future market requirements. We anticipate the quality and complexity of the tier one infrastructure projects that we are working on will attract the best in the business.”

In addition to the Director position, Vitruvius is looking to immediately recruit a new Auckland-based Programme Manager, Programme Scheduler, Senior Engineer and Project Engineer.

General Manager, Kim Brown says “There are some unique advantages to working with us.  We are a highly successful team that operate a relationship-based ethos both internally and externally with our clients.   As well as gaining exposure across all facets of interesting, high profile projects, we are a great bunch of talented people who are aligned and driven by our amazing company values and culture.”

For more information on the positions available, please visit the careers page of our website https://vitruvius.co.nz/join-our-team/#current_vacancies.

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