Auckland Council’s Healthy Waters team has turned a major infrastructure emergency into a milestone in sustainable engineering, with the successful rebuild of the Greville Road stormwater culvert, right beneath one of Auckland’s busiest roads.
When severe storms hit in early 2023, part of the stormwater culvert under Greville Road collapsed. This vital link to the Northern Motorway carries around 19,000 vehicles each day, and urgent work was needed to protect the road’s structural integrity and restore safe stormwater flow.
But this wasn’t just a patch-up job.
Auckland Council’s General Manager Healthy Waters Craig McIlroy says the team’s focus from day one was not just repair, but resilience.
“This project moved beyond temporary, quick-fix solutions,” says Mr McIlroy.
“It delivered a robust and sustainable system designed to manage larger stormwater flows and support the growing needs of the Albany area.
“And the team achieved incredible results under emergency conditions, while not further disturbing the community.”
The project, which ran from December 2023 to May 2025, cost $19.6 million and was fully funded through Auckland Council’s Healthy Waters capital budget. Despite the complexity of laying a 275-metre pipeline near a historic landfill, the job came in under budget at $1.4 million for key components and delivered environmental benefits well beyond expectations.
One of the most innovative aspects was the use of low-carbon concrete pipes, a first for this size of stormwater infrastructure in Auckland. This reduced emissions by 16%, cutting over 60 tonnes of CO₂, which is the equivalent of 122 car trips from Cape Reinga to Bluff.
Low carbon bend pipe used in the Greville Road project.
Efficiency and sustainability went hand in hand. The team reused equipment from other projects, including a 2.1m tunnel boring machine from the Ports of Auckland. Concrete waste and aggregates were also recycled or reused, keeping over 95% of waste out of landfill.
During tunnelling, 650,000 litres of stormwater were reused on-site, eliminating 22 heavy vehicle trips to landfill and saving more than 360 kg of CO₂. Even solar-powered monitoring systems job—saving over $1 million and avoiding the emissions that come with manufacturing new machinery were deployed, cutting reliance on diesel generators.
Low carbon bend pipe used in the Greville Road project.
The environmental benefits of the Greville Road project will continue long after the last pipe is laid including 7,000 native trees that are being planted along the site to control erosion, improve habitats, and contribute to Auckland’s Urban Ngahere Strategy—a city-wide effort to restore the urban forest.
The project was delivered in collaboration with McConnell Dowell, Hynds, AWA Environmental, and local planting teams including Wai Ora Partnerships. More than a third of the project’s suppliers were local businesses, with over $530,000 spent with social enterprises and Amotai-registered providers.
“This is the kind of forward-thinking infrastructure work Aucklanders should be proud of,” Mr McIlroy says. “It shows that even in emergency conditions, we can deliver sustainable, future-ready solutions.”
