Building critical infrastructure that keeps New Zealand's largest hospital running.

Built Environs, in joint venture with McConnell Dowell, delivered the Auckland City Hospital Central Plant and Tunnel – essential infrastructure supporting New Zealand’s largest public hospital.

Built within a fully operational hospital, the six-storey plant building and 240-metre services tunnel provide emergency power, medical gases, chilled and potable water, stormwater and backup services for the entire campus. Designed for a 100-year lifespan, the facility strengthens the hospital’s resilience while supporting future growth.

Built to last

Designed for a 100-year lifespan, the Central Plant Building strengthens Auckland City Hospital’s resilience for generations to come.

The six-storey facility is engineered to withstand major seismic events using base-isolated construction, 18-metre-deep piles and triple friction pendulum isolators. The building also includes capacity for future expansion, ensuring critical hospital services can continue to grow with demand.

100-year design life

Seismically resilient

Designed for future expansion

Managing complex interfaces

Connecting new infrastructure into an operational hospital required careful planning long before work began on site.

Planning for critical service connections started more than a year in advance, bringing together hospital stakeholders, designers and offshore contractors to coordinate complex interfaces and manage risk early. This approach ensured new services were integrated with minimal disruption to existing hospital operations.

Delivering without disruption

Construction took place in the heart of a fully operational 24/7 hospital, where uninterrupted access for patients, staff and emergency services was critical.

Works were carefully staged, including night works, to minimise disruption while maintaining hospital operations. Detailed planning and close coordination ensured the project was delivered safely.

948,000 hours worked without an unplanned disruption

Collaboration from day one

The project began as an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) engagement, giving the team time to plan, coordinate and resolve challenges before construction commenced.

Working closely with Health New Zealand, designers, specialist contractors and supply partners from the outset improved programme certainty, supported early procurement and helped manage the complex services and interfaces required to deliver critical infrastructure within a live hospital.