WSP New Zealand Ltd is a global engineering professional services consulting firm based in New Zealand and owned by Canadian multinational WSP Global. Until October 2019 it traded as WSP Opus. The New Zealand operation has 40 offices across the country and offers professional consultancy services, covering property and buildings, environment, power and water, transport, health and safety, architecture, sustainability and climate change, and research.

WSP history

Opus

Opus's origins can be traced to the Ministry of Works and Development, a New Zealand government entity that was established in 1876. The Ministry was corporatised in 1988 and became Works and Development Services Corporation, a

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...

, with its consultancy subsidiary known as Works Consultancy Services Corporation NZ Limited. In 1996, Kinta Kellas purchased the consultancy business and it was rebranded as Opus International Consultants Limited the following year. From 2002 onwards, Opus developed its global markets through a series of acquisitions. In 2007, it was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. In 2016 Opus was named Company of the Year by '' New Civil Engineer'' (NCE) at that year's NCE100 Awards in London. The judges decided Opus as the winner after scoring the company high across all of the competition's categories of Engineering equality, Future engineer, World view, Future tech, and Technical excellence.

WSP Global

New-York professional services firm Parsons Brinckerhoff was purchased by WSP Global in October 2014.  Since then WSP has become one of the largest professional services firms in the world, with approximately 49,000 employees in 550 offices serving in 40 countries, and has acquired over 100 companies. WSP offers professional services in rail and transport, property and buildings, environment, energy, industry, and resources. In 2017 WSP Global took over Opus, which was subsequently delisted from the New Zealand Stock Exchange. In 2018 Opus's trading name was changed to WSP Opus, a name under which it traded until October 2019. On 15 October 2019, Opus International Consultants Limited changed its legal name to WSP New Zealand Limited and was branded as WSP.

Notable New Zealand projects

Waterview Connection Project

WSP , Parsons Brinckerhoff joined the NZ Transport Agency, Fletcher Construction, McConnell Dowell, Beca, Tonkin + Taylor and Obayashi Corporation to form the Well-Connected Alliance. WSP Opus was appointed as design partners for the $NZ1.4B

Waterview Connection The Waterview Connection is a motorway section through west/central Auckland, New Zealand. It connects State Highway 20 in the south at Mt Roskill to State Highway 16 in the west at Point Chevalier, and is a part of the Western Ring Route. T ...

; the final link in Auckland's Western Ring Route and the largest roading project ever undertaken in New Zealand.  The route included two twin tunnels and associated motorway and ramp infrastructure, along with the establishment of significant community facilities.  Australasia's largest custom-built tunnel boring machine,

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

, was used in the construction of the tunnel. With a cutting diameter of it is the tenth largest machine of its kind ever built. In addition to design management, WSP provided tunnel; fire and life safety; geotechnical, mechanical, and electrical systems design services; and design support during construction. Construction for the

Waterview Tunnel The Waterview Tunnel is a twin road tunnel in central Auckland, New Zealand. At long, it is New Zealand's longest road tunnel. The tunnel, with three lanes of road vehicle traffic in each direction, connects State Highway 20 in the south at Mo ...

started in 2011 and was completed by June 2017.

Auckland Harbour Bridge

The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane motorway bridge over the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland. It joins St Marys Bay in the south with Northcote in North Shore. It is part of

State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbere ...

and the Auckland Northern Motorway. As part of the Auckland Harbour Bridge Alliance (AHBA), WSP Opus was commissioned to provide a 30-year coating management strategy for the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The strategy was completed and initiated in 2014. * In 2015 WSP Opus trials world-first quick-set repair material for surface defects. * In 2018 WSP Opus installs new epoxy asphalt road surfacing membrane. * In 2018 WSP Opus undertakes design of new light poles and installation of new LEDs.

West Winds Wind Farm

West Winds Wind Farm comprises 62 wind turbines and generates up to 142.6 MW of electricity. The farm is located at Mākara in the Wellington Region, New Zealand's windiest region. The wind farm is owned by Meridian Energy and can generate enough electricity each year for about 73,000 New Zealand homes. WSP Opus provided support from the earliest stages of feasibility to the wind farm's final opening. Services included feasibility assessments, support at Environment Court hearings, design support, and geotechnical monitoring of earthworks. Work started in 2007 and was completed by December 2009.

City Rail Link

The

City Rail Link The City Rail Link (CRL) is a rail project currently under construction in Auckland, New Zealand. The project consists of a 3.5 km long double-track rail tunnel underneath Auckland's city centre, between Britomart Transport Centre and M ...

(CRL) is the largest-ever infrastructure project to be undertaken in New Zealand. The $NZ 4.4 billion project under construction in Auckland involves creating a long double-track rail tunnel underneath Britomart Transport Centre and

Mount Eden Railway Station Mount Eden railway station was a Western Line station of the Auckland railway network in the Auckland suburb of Mount Eden in New Zealand. It had an island platform, and was reached via a footbridge from Mount Eden Rd or from the level crossi ...

; the building of two new stations, at

Aotea Square Aotea Square is a large paved public area in the CBD of Auckland, New Zealand. Officially opened in 1979 by Sir Dove-Myer Robinson next to Queen Street, it is used for open-air concerts and gatherings, and markets and political rallies. In Nov ...

and Karangahape Road; and conversion of Britomart's existing terminus station into a through-station to Mount Eden Station, which will serve as an interchange between the new CRL line and the existing Western Line.  WSP Opus joined Vinci Construction Grands, Projets S.A.S, Downer NZ Ltd, Soletanche Bachy International NZ Limited, AECOM New Zealand Limited and Tonkin+Taylor Limited to form the Link Alliance in 2019. In October 2018, a partnership between RCR Tomlinson and WSP Opus was awarded the contract to deliver the C7 programme of work to deliver underground rail systems including rail tracks, signalling, overhead lines, control system rooms, communications, and building works
In November 2018, RCR Tomlinson announced administration and was placed in a trading halt on 12 November 2018.
�� In August 2019 the Link Alliance was awarded the contract to deliver the C3 main works for CRL, including the stations and tunnel. CRL will be complete in 2024.

Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway 

In September 2019, the NZ Transport Agency and Palmerston North City Council announced development plans for the Te Ahu a Turanga:  Manawatū Tararua Highway. The $NZ 620 million project will accommodate a new state highway connection to replace the closed

State Highway 3 The following highways are numbered 3, H-3, PRI-3, AH3, E03 and R3. For roads numbered A3, see A3 roads. For roads numbered M3, see M3 (disambiguation)#Roads, M3. For roads numbered N3, see N3 (disambiguation)#Roads, N3. For roads numbered 3A, see ...

(SH3) Manawatu Gorge route. This corridor crosses the

Ruahine Ranges The Ruahine Range is the largest of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand that form a ridge running parallel with the east coast of the island between East Cape and Wellington. The ridge is at its most pronounced from the cen ...

immediately north of the Manawatu Gorge and south of Saddle Road. The project will be delivered by the Advance Alliance which is made up of WSP Opus, Fulton Hogan, HEB, and Aurecon. WSP will provide roading, structural and geotechnical design, drainage design, hydrological modelling, planning and consenting, road lighting, and electrical disciplines.

Dunedin Hospital redevelopment

Dunedin Public Hospital Dunedin Hospital is the main public hospital in Dunedin, New Zealand. It serves as the major base hospital for the Otago and Southland, New Zealand, Southland regions with a potential Catchment area, catchment radius of roughly 300 kilometres, and ...

is the largest public hospital south of Christchurch. It has over 300 beds and is operated by the

Southern District Health Board The Southern District Health Board (Southern DHB) was a district health board which provided healthcare to an area covering the southern half of the South Island of New Zealand. In July 2022, the Southern DHB was dissolved as part of a nationwid ...

(SDHB). On 4 May 2018, Health Minister, David Clark, announced that the Government would rebuild and extend the hospital. The new hospital will provide 396 inpatient beds (later increasing to 454 by 2043), and 61-daybeds.  On 1 November 2018, the Ministry purchased a large block of land from the former Cadbury factory site in the central city to be used for the Dunedin Hospital Redevelopment. In 2019 the SDHB released the official design plans for the redevelopment of Dunedin Hospital. On 17 May 2019, the SDHB announced that WSP Opus will provide the demolition property and building survey, and Underground Overground Archaeology continues to provide heritage advice. The main demolition works are scheduled for early 2020 with project completion forecast for 2030.