Beca was proud to be one party that assisted the project group that undertook the award winning Mangawara Bridge. Responsible for the planning, business case, initial design and project support, Beca Regional Manager for the Waikato Richard Douch says that the stakeholder group made a complex project that much easier. “There are very few projects I’ve worked on that had that support from a group of stakeholders for a single outcome. They met on a regular basis, often fortnightly and every stakeholder we needed to engage with was around the table, which made the process run extremely smoothly,” he says. The consenting process was worked on in parallel with the development of the business case, also led by Beca. A consenting strategy outlined the consent requirements, the constraints within the planning and policy Beca — Delivering solutions for theWaikato regulations and the opportunities. Overall, the strategy provided the blueprint for working through the consenting process with minimum fuss, says Richard. Alongside the consenting strategy was the consultation strategy. This identi ed who was to be engaged with, why they were being engaged with, what they are being engaged on, when they would be engaged with and by whom. Richard says that the strategy outlined the key principles to be applied through the process being clarity and consistency of message, transparency, having an open mind and promptness of response. Richard says that because Beca had a local presence it was very familiar with the region and could more easily engage on the ground with residents. Once again, key members of the project group were involved in every discussion. “This meant the neighbours could ask any questions they wanted to and get answers straight away. It was incredibly valuable and ended up being an easier project to consent overall because of this.” Beca Senior Project Manager, Tom Snaith, who was also heavily involved in the project, says that the power of the project group cannot be underestimated: “Everyone didn't always agree but they were able to have robust discussions, which meant issues weren’t allowed to fester and could be dealt with successfully. The group was phenomenal; I’ve never seen anything like it. They moved forward in a really productive way.” Richard says because the project group embraced Beca as part of the team early on Beca could add real value: “We had worked with many stakeholders before so there were pre-existing relationships, which were strong,” says Richard. “We were never seen as on the outer and there was a trust from the beginning so we could also contribute on aspects of the project that were outside our contract to add additional value.” As Beca has multi-disciplines in-house the project group only had one company to deal with on multiple aspects of the project. Richard says this also meant Beca could leverage its expertise in working on complex multi-discipline projects. “We work well as part of a team,” adds Tom. “The spirit of the group was strong when we came along and we were pleased to be able to add value to and enhance that for the overall bene t of the project. Our mind-set is also similar to the project group – we focus on outcomes.” “This project was not about a bridge,” says Richard. “It was about how to connect the village to Taupiri Maunga and to get people there safer. It’s a great feeling to have been part of the team that helped deliver that.”
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