Downer New Zealand paid its employees $804 million in wages and salaries during 2024, up from $763 million in 2023, according to accounts filed with the New Zealand Companies Office.

The group generates revenue through the maintenance and management of transport infrastructure, utility infrastructure maintenance services in the areas of gas, electricity and water, servicing and installation of infrastructure in the telecommunications sector and facility management.

Downer NZ is part of Link Alliance and working on New Zealand’s largest transport contract – the urban rail link – with Vinci Construction Grands Projets SAS, Soletanche Bachy International NZ, WSP NZ, Aecom NZ and Tonkin + Taylor.

In recent months it has moved from its New Zealand headquarters on Stanley St. in Parnell.

September 16, Downer’s Hawkins won the new $800 million domestic jet terminal contract at Auckland Airport.

The work is expected to be completed in 2029.

Robertson told the Herald the works would be an “economic engine”, creating 2,500 jobs at its peak and supporting many thousands more, particularly in South Auckland.

Hawkins has worked collaboratively with the airport in an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) phase since February 2022 and is on site to deliver a package of enabling works for the National Jet Terminal under a separate contract.

The project will be delivered under a collaborative contract model with master design drawings provided by the client and comprises three work packages: a new head office, a new 240m entrance wharf and engineering works civilian landside.

Over the five-year delivery program, commercial packages will be progressively prepared by Hawkins and offered to the subcontracting market on an open-book basis, Downer said.

Robertson previously said the two years of work leading up to the contract were crucial.

“This has helped the airport better position itself and define how it wants to deliver it, getting our input. The value of ECI is that it allows the client to consider constructability and the practical way of delivering things in order to get the best value for money,” he said in September.

But it’s not just the last two years that have been decisive for this huge victory.

“We have worked with the airport for around 40 years and have a long-standing relationship. This is a crucial project for the airport and a turning point for all of Auckland, connecting domestic and international terminals.

In its 2024 results presentation to the ASX, Australia, Downer EDI said the business as a whole had A$38.5 billion of work in progress. This meant a high proportion of guaranteed revenue for FY25.

He cited improving the risk profile and quality of work being done through disciplined tendering and improved business review processes.

Anne Gibson was the HeraldA real estate editor for 24 years, he wrote books and covered real estate extensively here and abroad.