Let’s Get Wellington MovingMaking it easier and safer to get around New Zealand’s capital

Developing a fit-for-purpose business case

With several business cases underway concurrently, the IBC had to ensure alignment and integration across initiatives to enable a compelling investment story. Aurecon advocated the development of consistent evidence across the programme and within the project – avoiding duplication of effort or inconsistency across projects.

LGWM is a complex and ambitious programme with multiple stages and stakeholders. A key part of Aurecon’s role during the IBC was to drive the programme and decision gates that LGWM needs to go through, ensuring alignment of the various partners in a complex political environment.

Engaging the local community in the project

LGWM means significant change to how Wellingtonians travel around their city, including the introduction of a new form of public transport – mass rapid transit.

To engage the community in the project and ensure their views and perspectives were used to shape the final solution, Aurecon led a comprehensive and accessible engagement process, over a tight six-week period, that enabled everyone with a stake in the city’s transport network to participate. We provided quality information through a highly visible public and stakeholder engagement campaign.

This promoted a range of channels, including an interactive, easy-to-navigate digital engagement platform – Hello to the future of Wellington transport. Our team closely monitored social and digital channels and real-time data from participants to adjust messaging or channels reach when there were gaps in knowledge, or information misunderstandings.

In addition, there were more than 40 face-to-face meetings (in-person or online), 18 open days for communities, and high quality webinars with subject matter experts offering informed discussions with participants. More than 80 per cent of campaign participants said that the information our team provided was engaging and useful.

Aurecon used best practice engagement sentiment analysis with digital data analytics to report on findings from the engagement process, which allowed us to make sense of complex information and capture insights to feed into future phases of work.

Working with Mana Whenua

Aurecon has assisted with developing a strong relationship with Mana Whenua partners Taranaki Whānui and Ngāti Toa Rangatira. Mana Whenua are represented in the governance as members of the Governance Reference Group and in the more operational aspects of the Programme as members of the Iwi Partnerships Working Group.

Exploring carbon and community outcomes

Reductions in carbon emissions were a key target for the Programme. Aurecon undertook technical advisory work for the Programme and IBC to advise on embodies carbon for construction options and projected emissions and savings. These assessments were important in confirming a multidisciplinary approach and arriving at options that encompassed the desired outcomes for the different clients.

The carbon assessment used Waka Kotahi’s Carbon Assessment Tool for Investment (CATI) to provide measurable comparisons between the options in embodied and enabled carbon.

Aurecon quantified the relative difference in embodied carbon across the programme options and assessed the impact of each option on reducing emissions from vehicles. This work then enabled us to identify the programme options with the greatest potential to reduce carbon over the lifecycle of the infrastructure. We also assessed the potential carbon impacts of the programme through a holistic lens, considering such issues as:

• The need for mode shift as well as the transition to electric vehicles
• The uncertainties of predicting future travel behaviour
• The importance of investing in transport infrastructure that enables behaviour change
• The role of urban development and densification in reducing emissions

Aurecon is now working to further develop the CATI tool to provide a higher-level lens on what types of transport infrastructure to invest in.

Aurecon also carried out initial work to understand the potential impact the LGWM Preferred Programme Option may have on liveability for Wellingtonians, including active modes, safety, enterprise, green space, and social infrastructure.

Digital technology helps stakeholders understand options

Aurecon produced a digital visualisation of options for the Basin Reserve and Mt Victoria Tunnel assessed in the IBC, which provided technical experts with a much greater understanding of the true impacts of each option.

Some of the aspects of these visualisations were further refined for use during public engagement to describe potential future states to the community. These visualisations will also be used for future applications such as costing options, an indication of land take, and assessing and communicating construction impacts. They will be further enhanced for use in future community engagement.