Our culture is founded on expertise, creativity and progressive thinking, and customers continue to come to McConnell Dowell with complex projects that require unique solutions. More than half a century ago, two talented, creative Kiwis with a powerful drive to make things better began a construction company.

Simply put, creativity is the use of original ideas and imagination to create something special. Sixty years ago, New Zealand engineers Malcom McConnell and Jim Dowell did just that by harnessing their combined creativity to establish McConnell Dowell, a construction company with a pioneering spirit and a willingness to tackle even the most challenging projects.

In 1961, from their small-office base in New Zealand, the pair quickly took McConnell Dowell to Australia and Asia. In 1982 the then privately-owned company was listed on the New Zealand stock exchange as a result of its merger with Hawkins, and over the following decade continued to expand its operations: globally into Asia and the Middle East, and with the purchase of the Electrix business. In the early 1990s a majority stake in the company was acquired by Canadian equity partners, and then in 1999 this stake was purchased by LTA (subsequently Aveng) in South Africa. Aveng eventually bought out minority shareholders to take full ownership of McConnell Dowell in 2003.

In 2008, McConnell Dowell purchased building firm Built Environs which has in recent years expanded its operations into NZ with the award of the contract to construct the iconic new Auckland City Mission HomeGround Development project.

Today, the New Zealand and Pacific business is a significant part of the McConnell Dowell and Aveng Groups. It is one of four key businesses comprising McConnell Dowell (along with Australia, South East Asia and Built Environs), and is delivering numerous key projects in New Zealand and the South Pacific. We are proud to employ more than 400 employees directly in New Zealand, as well as hundreds more indirectly through specialist sub-contractor arrangements on our many projects.

Our culture is founded on expertise, creativity and progressive thinking, and customers continue to come to McConnell Dowell with complex projects that require unique solutions. In this way, nothing has changed for almost 60 years. We continually challenge ourselves to find the best solution for every project and this, along with our high-quality safe, systematic and structured approach, has earned us the trust and loyalty of our customers.

It is this attitude and our innate ‘Kiwi ingenuity’ that has been key to our continued success both locally and globally. Our flexible ‘can do’ attitude means we adjust well to local conditions and assimilate easily into local communities overseas.

Over decades we have built thousands of iconic, landmark assets and facilities for customers and communities. Our expertise spans transport, rail, building, civil, fabrication, marine, mechanical, pipelines, tunnels and underground construction.

During the Think Big decade, the company was involved in many of the associated projects including Marsden Point Oil Refinery, Clyde Dam, Motonui and the New Zealand Steel expansion, as well as the Electrification of the North Island Main Truck Line in the early 1980s.

More recently, we have delivered iconic New Zealand projects including the Wynyard Edge Alliance, building critical infrastructure for the 36th America’s Cup, the $1.4B Waterview Connection, the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) and the Mangere BNR Wastewater Treatment Plant.

A selection of our current projects: 

• 36th America’s Cup Infrastructure
• Old Mangere Bridge
• Christchurch Southern Motorway
• Auckland Airport TDP Fuel Line Project
• Christchurch Southern Motorway Stage 2
• City Rail Link C2
• Hunua 4 Section 11
• Lyttelton to Woolston Pipeline
• Lyttelton Tunnel Deluge
• Old Mangere Bridge
• Port Nelson Wharf Upgrade
• Puhinui Bus/Rail Interchange
• Pukekohe WWTP Upgrade
• SH20 Waterview Tunnel Maintenance and Operations
• Snells Algies Ocean Outfall
• St Mary’s Tunnel and Outfall
• Westland Milk Ocean Outfall
• Te Mato Vai
• ADF Maritime Works Package