What's happening with the NZTA NZGTTM pilots - Manawatū

The Manawatū – Whanganui NOC is led by Higgins with Beca as professional services partner. 

The most recent trial began in October 2023 with a series of stakeholder alignment and training workshops to help ensure everyone involved started on the same page. This helped ensure the views of the road controlling authorities, contractor team and temporary traffic management (TTM) suppliers were shared, and supported learning and development that would help all parties understand the objectives and benefits of a risk-based approach. 

A simple four step process was developed comprising a risk assessment, design workshop, review and approvals process and implementation step for each activity. Using a programme management lens, the NOC team identified a range of maintenance activities to trial the four-step process.  

To date, the trial has been able to take 7-9 work activities through the risk-assessment and design workshop steps, with three of these proceeding all the way through to implementation. 

The trial has acknowledged the significant change management required for people, processes and skills. A risk assessment tool has been co-developed with the participants of the trial and a re-think of the auditing process is helping evaluate understanding of risk management by all involved. Perhaps most importantly, the alignment workshops at the beginning of the trial have supported a collaborative culture between the Higgins / Beca NOC team, RCAs and TTM suppliers.