Several years ago, trying to coordinate infrastructure projects in New Plymouth involved showing up to a town-hall-style meeting led by the Council once every three months.

The stakeholders who attended the session would talk through their planned projects and attempt to cross reference with their own lists to figure out where there could be clashes on project delivery. Those quarterly meetings remain the main method of infrastructure works collaboration in parts of our country. However, the New Plymouth District Council, like a number of local government organisations, has taken a different direction and it now drives infrastructure planning collaboration by sharing its planned projects into the National Forward Works Viewer (NFWV). 

“Before using the National Forward Works Viewer we probably missed about 90 percent of the opportunities to collaborate with other projects,” says Gordon Davenport, the Infrastructure Project Lead at the council. 

The NFWV implementation has proved to be a resounding success for all stakeholders. Dozens of organisations have been engaged and have registered accounts on the platform, each now having visibility into others’ forward works plans. With many participants there is an impressive ecosystem of data for the region, and external stakeholders now report improved relations with council. Projects in the NFWV can also be viewed in the context of important data layers such as bus routes, bin collection days, and sites of significance – helping project planners and managers further de-risk projects. 

Karl Thackham of electricity distributor PowerCo shares how the NFWV has enabled better collaboration with the council: “The Forward Works Viewer has allowed me to check upcoming projects from other utility owners and councils. “It has been very effective in organising a 1.2-kilometre relay. Sighting that council has projects in the same area meant we worked closely and got in before footpath reinstatements.”

New Plymouth’s transformation highlights how, with only a small investment, the NFWV can facilitate much improved collaboration in infrastructure planning and sequencing and help councils ensure compliance with their obligations under the National Code of Practice for Utility Operators’ Access to Transport Corridors.

The above article appeared in Vol 62, NZ Local Government Magazine, October 2025, Page 16 – 18