Friday August 22 2014
UK Olympics Infrastructure Lessons Shared with NZ Leaders
The man responsible for delivering the London Olympic complex on time and one billion pounds under budget - Sir John
Armitt – was in New Zealand this week.
Sir John spoke to more than 350 public and private construction and infrastructure leaders, who were gathered in
Auckland for the NZ Council for Infrastructure and Development (NZCID) Building Nations 2014 Symposium. Sir John also
met with Treasury officials and Minister Gerry Brownlee to share infrastructure innovations and discussions underway in
the United Kingdom.
Sir John has suggested the UK government set up an independent National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) to identify the
UK’s long-term infrastructure needs and help build political consensus around critical infrastructure developments.
Collaboration, cooperation and communication between the client and the construction team were the key factors in the
Olympic projects’ success, according to Sir John.
Peter Cunningham, Senior Commercial lead for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and an attendee at the
NZCID symposium, is collaborating with CERA to coordinate 16 different public sector agencies in charge of the
Christchurch rebuild.
“I was very interested to hear about ways in which the building of the Olympic projects succeeded and how those ideas
could be used in the rebuild and larger infrastructure projects.”
Mr Cunningham said he was especially interested in the Target Price Design Concept procurement model that was utilised
by the team at the Olympics.
“This is a model that enables the client and the construction team to work together to negotiate and then agree on the
target price for the project. The model creates the environment for collaboration, and incentivises the supplier to be
innovative and deliver the project under budget,” Said Mr Cunningham.
High level team to visit UK
During the symposium, British High Commissioner Jonathan Sinclair, announced that a NZ infrastructure delegation would
visit the UK in November. The delegation will be led by NZCID and supported by UK Trade & Investment.
“It was great to have such a visionary as Sir John in New Zealand, and we look forward to showing off his outcomes to
delegation members when they are in London.”
Mr Sinclair said the mission would provide an excellent opportunity for delegation members to continue the discussions
begun in Auckland this week.
ENDS