40 | New facilities boosting regional resilience The Takapu Rise site serves multiple critical functions. It houses a back-up control centre, operates as a disaster recovery centre, Wellington Electricity and Aspec Construction T T Karen Phelps “We need to be able to operate quickly after a major event, so we have to have sites to operate from that are not our head office…” Wellington Electricity is investing heavily in infrastructure designed to ensure the region’s power supply remains operational even in the wake of a major disaster, with a new disaster recovery centre in Tawa and a purpose-built headquarters under construction in Upper Hutt. The company, which manages the local lines network delivering power to Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Porirua, began operating from its Takapu Rise disaster recovery centre in 2024. “It’s about being able to build resilience for our customers and provide benefit to the community,” says company CEO Greg Skelton, who has led Wellington Electricity since April 2009. He says the Takapu Rise site serves multiple critical functions. It houses a back-up control centre, operates as a disaster recovery centre, and contains a data centre with primary servers that run the operating systems essential to the business. The location in Tawa was carefully selected for its proximity to the main highway, ensuring good access, as well as its closeness to railway lines and other utility services the company might need during an emergency. “We need to be able to operate quickly after a major event, so we have to have sites to operate from that are not our head office,” explains Greg. “We don’t want a recovery centre being in the same area as our main office as it defeats the purpose.” The urgency of having such facilities became painfully clear following the Kaikoura earthquakes. “After the Kaikoura earthquakes we had damage to our head office and had to operate from our disaster recovery centre, so we know how important a good disaster recovery centre is,” Greg says. That experience informed the approach to the Takapu Rise project, which was project managed by Wellington Electricity’s Kevin Small, who Greg credits with great planning, coordination and execution. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT When the lease on the existing disaster recovery site was due to expire within 12 months, the company moved quickly to secure the commercial development at Takapu Rise. However, it didn’t simply move into a standard commercial building – the site was elevated to importance level 4 status to ensure it could sustain challenging earthquake response requirements. The company owns the premises outright, and the project included back-up generation capabilities and connection into its radio network. Aspec Construction handled the fit-out, working alongside the developer’s contractors to ensure a seamless end-to-end process. The complexity of the move itself required high-level planning. “It was a multi-layered move so we could continue to operate the business from two locations the whole time,” says Greg. “It required extremely detailed planning and project management.” The company’s headquarters building is also relocating, as the previous headquarters required earthquake strengthening, prompting a move to a temporary location. The new, purpose-built facility in Upper Hutt is currently under construction, and due for completion in February 2026. For Wellington Electricity, which supplies electricity to around 176,000 homes and businesses across more than 4650 square kilometres, resilience planning is critical. The company’s major customers include Parliament and government agencies, hospitals and emergency services, telecommunications providers and major infrastructure operators, such as Wellington International Airport and CentrePort. As one of 29 distribution companies in New Zealand, Wellington Electricity connects to the national grid at nine grid exit point locations within its region, transforming electricity to lower voltages for distribution through overhead lines and underground cables. With both the Takapu Rise disaster recovery centre now operational and the new Upper Hutt headquarters nearing completion, Greg says the company is positioning itself to maintain power supply continuity even in the most challenging circumstances – a vital capability for a region that has learned hard lessons about earthquake preparedness. Domestic | Commercial | Industrial Electrical Contractors Ltd Proudly supporting Aspec Construction With theirWellington Electricity Project “Serious Electrical Contractors”
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