Value, for generations to come
As an almost 100-year-old New Zealand business, we think and plan generationally. Our biggest contribution to the water needs of future generations starts by maximising value for New Zealanders, today.
Value measured in: Care, Readiness, Responsiveness, Capability, Continuity, Commitment, Teamwork and Capacity
Care
Nelson Tantragee Water Treatment Plant
Client: Nelson City Council
Fulton Hogan has steadily optimised Nelson’s Tantragee water treatment plant since building it 20 years ago. The result? Its performance is the equal of any new plant. With Council and Fulton Hogan’s commitment to constant improvement, the same should also apply in two decades time, and beyond.
Together they have:
- Made 156 process improvements in the last two years, alone.
- Achieved 100% compliance, despite multiple extreme weather events.
- Reduced annual energy and chemical costs by an average of $80,000.
- Increased resilience with an additional pipe from the Maitai water source.
- Increased membrane life by up to 40%, delaying around $1M of capex.
- Introduced aeration to the Maitai catchment, switched to ACH as flocculent and reduced sludge by 75%.
- Introduced a water turbine to generate power for the offices.
“There is no more critical asset to Nelson, yet it is the one over which I never lose sleep.”
– Nelson City Council Group Infrastructure Manager and Deputy Chief Executive, Alec Louverdis.
The pictures are 20 years apart. In the second, Nelson City Council Group Infrastructure Manager and Deputy Chief Executive, Alec Louverdis (second left) is celebrating the plant’s 20 years of continuous operation with Fulton Hogan Nelson Regional Manager Gavin Stobie (left) and current Nelson Mayor, Nick Smith, and former Mayor, Paul Matheson. Alec and Gavin are also in the picture two decades earlier.
Readiness
SAVE – Smarter Automated Valve Exercising
Clients: Various
It pays to be prepared
Across New Zealand thousands of old, suboptimal valves may be out of sight, but they should not be out of mind. They should receive the equivalent maintenance traffic lights receive, given their pivotal role in the safe, secure flow of water.
This is the philosophy behind Smarter Automated Valve Exercising. With SAVE, Fulton Hogan is helping councils better identify and monitor their valves’ condition for faster, less disruptive repairs, extending valve life, improved decision-making, maintenance scheduling and the health and safety of operators.
Smarter Automated Valve Exercising combines Automated Careful Logic™ valve exercising with a GIS and asset management system to ‘exercise’ valves and provide real-time information on any valve’s condition and position metrics.
“SAVE is helping asset owners better understand a key part of their network to improve their planning for the future.”
– Fulton Hogan Gisborne Utilities Divisional Manager, Adrian Van Zyl.
Pictured is Fulton Hogan’s National Water Performance Manager Patrick Gledhill exercising a valve with SAVE at Christchurch International Airport.
Responsiveness
Emergency Saint Leonards Reservoir repair
Client: Dunedin City Council
When the call goes out...
Our Dunedin Water team won the 2025 Civil Contractors NZ Otago Awards by turning on a dime to get Dunedin’s water supply back running aft a slip severed the main waterline. Contacted at 10am on Friday, the system was operational by 2pm on Sunday, the team having:
- Assessed the damage.
- Developed a solution.
- Secured emergency pipes.
- Drawn together a team, including external support from ProCivil.
- Manually hauling and installing pipes over steep terrain.
- Quality checked the facility.
“The emergency repair work was executed with remarkable efficiency and professionalism. Fulton Hogan’s proactive and collaborative approach ensured swift restoration of the water supply to the St Leonards community, minimising disruption and maintaining essential services..”
– Dunedin City Council Capital Delivery Team Leader, 3 Waters, William Clifford.
The team are pictured hauling the temporary pipes up Signal Hill as part of the emergency repairs.
Capability
Te Mārua Water Treatment Plant Optimisation
Client: Wellington Water
Showing what’s possible
In just 10 months, Fulton Hogan built a new dissolved air filtration (DAF) system for Wellington Water, adding 20 million litres per day to Wellington’s network as part of the Te Mārua Water Treatment Plant Optimisation project.
In doing so:
- The risk of Level 3 summer water restrictions fell from 70% to 1% over the 2024/25 summer.
- The new trains came in ahead of the 31 October 2024 stretch target. (Two further DAFs have been added, bringing capacity to 140 million litres per day).
- All just 30 metres from a major fault line, requiring planning and construction to account for a one-in-2500-year earthquake.
“Moving at pace is challenging on any major project. But when it involves the careful co-ordination of asset development and management teams and their sometime diverging interests, and a system-wide awareness of potential ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ effects, it is at another level.”
Wellington Water’s Chief Advisor for Drinking Water, Laurence Edwards.
Continuity
Wānaka’s expanded wastewater treatment plant
Client: Client Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC)
Living by ‘100% operational’
Since 2000, Wānaka’s population has grown four times faster than New Zealand’s as a whole.
In doubling the existing system’s capacity to 7,873 m3/day with a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) fill-and-draw activated sludge system with high efficiency oxygen transfer, Fulton Hogan did not have the luxury of turning the existing plant off.
The primary challenge was undertaking all the upgrade and expansion tie-ins in a live environment. A dozen tie-ins between the new plant and the existing facility required meticulous planning with QLDC and QLDC’s O&M contractor, Veolia.
Our Civil division took ‘100% operational’ a step further, designing and building a diffusor maintenance innovation that enables aeration to occur while diffusers are cleaned, with lifting mechanism below the rotary decanter arm.
“The innovation with the diffuser lifting mechanism was a highlight. Beginning as a ‘wouldn’t that be a good idea’, becoming a sketch plan, then a working drawing, then a completed reality in short time was an exceptional achievement.”
Trent Beckman-Cross, former QLDC Project Manager.
Commitment
Waimea Community Dam
Client: Waimea Water Ltd
A giant insurance policy
The Waimea Community Dam is New Zealand’s largest climate mitigation project.
Like a giant environmental insurance policy for the region, it is the first large dam built in New Zealand in more than 30 years. In building it with partner Taylors Contracting, it;
- Introduced a new generation of constructors to new techniques and technology.
- Involved concrete specifications that exceed that of almost any other structure.
- Maximised efficiency through the latest 3D scanning and surveying technology.
- Saved approximately 1,176 tonnes of CO2 emissions by having between 30% and 50% by volume fly ash with the cement.
- In 1.7 million hours worked on the project, there were no lost time injuries.
“The completed dam is significant regional infrastructure, securing water supply for the Nelson Tasman region for the next 100+ years.”
Waimea Water Ltd Chairman, David Wright.
Teamwork
3 Waters Maintenance Contract
Client:Hastings District Council
Teamwork, by design
Havelock North’s 2016 gastroenteritis outbreak and resulting $100M of additional capital investment in Hasting’s water system was followed soon after by Cyclone Gabrielle.
When Fulton Hogan assumed the HDC 3 Waters maintenance contract in 2017, ensuring the best use of finite resources and keeping the community safe were at the top of the priority list.
This was a catalyst for pioneering ‘Intertwine’ - a best practice contractor-client collaboration programme built on a deep commitment to continuous improvement, with intensive feedback loops to highlight and address issues and opportunities.
The accolades have flowed; HDC and Fulton Hogan won the 2025 Hawkes Bay CCNZ Excellence in Asset Management Award and were finalists in the Excellence in Asset Maintenance category of the 2025 National CCNZ awards for their collaboration built around Intertwine.
“Collaboration doesn’t happen by accident. The relationship between Fulton Hogan and Hastings District Council has matured into a high trust, transparent partnership resulting in solutions that are mutually beneficial and sustainable."
Hastings District Council 3 Waters Manager, Steve Cave.
Capacity
Auckland Connections Programme
Client:Watercare Services Ltd
Making great connections, every time
Every year Watercare Services connects an average of 10,000 new properties to their water network.
From individual houses in infill developments to large multi-home developments and industrial sites from Walkworth to Pukekohe, each connection has two things in common.
They are critical to the growth of Auckland. They are a major touchpoint between Watercare and the community. And they are installed by Fulton Hogan.
The Fulton Hogan team of 45 are essentially the face of the Watercare Services on site, demanding high levels of technical proficiency, interpersonal skills and quality management.
After eight years involved with new connections, Watercare’s New Connections Manager Rohit Chand knows, first hand, the challenges of meeting a high volume of connections in a demanding environment.
"We depend on Fulton Hogan to deliver every time, for satisfied customers and unblemished health and safety record. The team is always on the same page as us and it is a very healthy relationship, all-round."
Watercare New Connections Manager, Rohit Chand.
Pictured is Vinz Domantay and Shanai Papali conducting a water connection on a 150 pvc main for a 3-way manifold for residential water meters in Auckland East.