A Low Impact Design (LID) Code of Practice was commissioned by Waitakere City Council to document best practice guidance in Low Impact Design (LID) stormwater management. The Council needed to understand the implications of adopting, or of transforming, international best practice, both in flooding and qualitative water quality terms, for the wider receiving environment within the Waitakere context and potentially greater Auckland.

Outcome: a ’living document’ describing watershed management techniques that are completely scalable for other urban/emerging urban centres, in both greenfields and urban retrofit contexts, covering: LID infrastructural solutions; stormwater management; deep water aquifer recharging and sustainable development research and community education; demonstration projects in the Northern Strategic Growth Area (NorSGA) area; future monitoring and research programmes.
 

Project Twin Streams (PTS) commenced in 2002 with the objective of restoring the riparian margins of over 28 kilometres of streams in the urban reaches of Waitakere City and to manage water quality within the catchment and cumulatively within the receiving environment of the Upper Waitemata Harbour.

The Centre is contributing to practical strategies and intervention techniques for the environmental restoration and enhancement of the PTS and Avondale Stream catchments and studying the potential for re-injecting stormwater into the underground aquifer network (aquifer recharge). This includes identifying suitable locations for aquifer recharge, creating scenarios for various contaminant flows and modeling the effect of flows on river health.

The Centre has provided the lead hydro-geology and LID experts in this project, doing research that will underpin a scientifically robust business case for an Integrated Water Resources Management Plan (IWRMP) for the long term management of the PTS catchment.
 

The Centre is assisting the EcoMatters Environment Trust (“EcoMatters” formed in 2002) in planning for the development and operation of the Auckland Sustainable Development Centre (ASDC). It is housed in the ‘EcoMatters House’ and ‘Sustainable Living Centre’ at Olympic Park New Lynn, to create a centre of excellence in fostering the sustainable management of water in the Auckland region.

The Centre is assisting in generating:

• new technologies
• the implementation of demonstration low impact devices
• water conservation and sustainability research
• education and training materials
• ongoing monitoring
• a community uptake monitoring programme.

The ASDC will translate statements of principles into action and display LID and environmental improvement projects.
 

Asset Management Plan Review
Review of an asset management plan for a major infrastructure service provider, bringing together plans for a number of smaller providers into a regionally integrated overall plan.
Outcome: the client can target process improvement resources into those areas which will have the most impact in the future, improving risk management and optimising investment decisions.

Investment Prioritisation Tool
Development of an investment prioritisation tool enabling an infrastructure provider to target investment at the assets with the optimal return on investment.
Outcome: the client can make investment decisions with confidence and measure the effectiveness of their investments relative to predicted performance outcomes.
 

Social Housing faces a rapidly shifting social and demographic environment. By assessing existing tactical plans, measuring housing distribution, and benchmarking both against global best practices, the Centre is exploring more efficient deployment of the Crown's second largest asset, a property portfolio valued at over $14 billion. Offering expertise in capital management, affordable housing development and urban planning for sustainability, recommendations are being produced based in sound academic research, practical application and social responsibility.

The Centre is assisting HNZC with a range of projects at the current time.

As New Zealand faces population growth and its attendant challenges, the Centre is positioned to help government leaders and place makers enhance the quality of infrastructure and the built environment.