The proposal also involves additional marine infrastructure to support the AC36 activities. This includes areas to accommodate vessels competing in associated challenger and regatta, support boats and superyachts associated with the syndicates and their supporters.
Auckland Council, the government and Emirates Team New Zealand agreed to Auckland as the host of America’s Cup in March.
Resource consent for the proposed America's Cup infrastructure has been lodged and is currently going through the regulatory process. This includes a direct referral to the Environment Court with a decision expected from the Court in October 2018.
The Downer - McConnell Dowell team will be collaborating with the Project Designers Beca and Tonkin & Taylor and working closely with Auckland Council and MBIE under an Alliance model. The Alliance will be led by Project Director Ian Campbell, who has delivered outstanding outcomes on major civil and marine infrastructure projects in New Zealand, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Most recently he was the Executive General Manager of the SCIRT Alliance which was responsible for rebuilding Christchurch’s earthquake-damaged horizontal infrastructure.
“We will be proud to deliver a legacy project and world-class infrastructure that delivers best value and benefit for ETNZ, Auckland, and our country,” says Ian Campbell
Downer and McConnell Dowell have worked collaboratively to deliver public realm infrastructure for many years, including Christchurch’s SH1 Russley Road Upgrade and Christchurch Southern Motorway Stage 2 and the City Rail Link 2 contract in Auckland. Both companies have vast New Zealand alliancing experience and have collectively delivered 19 Alliance projects in New Zealand.
Downer and McConnell Dowell will be represented on the Project Alliance Board by McConnell Dowell Managing Director Fraser Wyllie and Downer’s John Burden, Executive General Manager Infrastructure Projects.
The consortium will be working to a tight timeframe for a project of this scale - whilst the main AC36 races (Challenger and Cup series) will be held over January to March 2021 for Auckland, the race series starts in December 2020. Some of the syndicates want to be set up a year in advance, which means most of the infrastructure to host the team bases needs to be ready in late 2019.
Between them, Downer and McConnell Dowell have delivered a number of significant public infrastructure projects in Downtown Auckland, including Silo Park and the Wynyard Quarter Innovation Precinct, ASB Waterfront Theatre, Park Hyatt, Viaduct Events Centre, Te Wero Island, Gaunt and Halsey St Upgrades, Westhaven Promenade, the Holcim Depot, and the first two stages of City Rail Link.
About McConnell Dowell
Since 1961, McConnell Dowell’s building and infrastructure construction expertise has grown steadily. Our professional engineering and construction teams in Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia and the Middle East now deliver building, civil, electrical, fabrication, marine, mechanical, pipeline, rail, tunnel and underground construction projects for clients around the world.
With an extensive track record of wharves, jetties, ocean outfalls, breakwaters, causeways and submarine pipelines, McConnell Dowell brings over 50 years of award-winning marine design and construction experience to the America’s Cup infrastructure project. Previous projects include several ocean outfalls around New Zealand, twin 1,200 mm diameter pipelines across Botany Bay in Sydney, a 250 m continuous piled promenade deck and two circular cofferdams for the semi-submerged crystal pavilions as part of the $6.3B Marina Bay Sands Casino development, and the award winning Webb Dock Project at the Port of Melbourne.
