Keeping a city street moving despite years of disruption
City Rail Link · 2019
Business resilience · Stakeholder strategy · Strategic communications · Operations · Placemaking
The project and my mahi at a glance
$12 million+ programme
25 businesses supported through the ~$617,000 Albert Street Business Hardship Programme
Subsequent Crown and Council hardship fund building on lessons from CRL construction developments
First-of-its-kind Development Response with lessons subsequently applied across other major Auckland projects
One integrated approach connecting infrastructure delivery, business resilience, stakeholder intelligence, operations, wayfinding, and placemaking.
The challenge: Keeping Albert Street alive and booming
Construction of Auckland's City Rail Link created years of significant disruption through the heart of the city centre, particularly around Albert Street and what is now Te Waihorotiu Station.
For the businesses, residents, and organisations operating alongside the project, the impacts were immediate and practical: changes to pedestrian and vehicle access, reduced visibility, construction noise and disruption, major intersection changes, and an increasingly difficult public environment.
The challenge was to help a city street continue to function — commercially, operationally and socially — while one of New Zealand's largest infrastructure projects was being built around it.
My role and approach: Connecting infrastructure decisions with real-world challenges
Working within the Development Response programme, I operated across infrastructure delivery and community impact — helping businesses, residents and the wider city-centre community navigate prolonged construction disruption while supporting the operational changes required to keep the programme moving.
My role spanned business resilience, stakeholder strategy and engagement, construction and change communications, operations, and public wayfinding and placemaking.
I held key relationships across the city-centre stakeholder network, acting as a conduit between the construction programme and the people and organisations affected by it. I communicated upcoming changes, gathered intelligence on emerging issues, and worked with project teams and stakeholders to develop practical strategies and interventions for different audiences.
Across the programme, the approach created a continuous feedback loop: understand upcoming construction change → identify who will be affected → engage stakeholders → gather intelligence → develop mitigation → communicate and implement → monitor and adapt.
As part of the placemaking and activation response, I conceived and delivered an outdoor art exhibition in partnership with local artists, using public spaces and construction sites to bring colour, interest, and a stronger sense of place back to Albert Street.
I also worked directly with affected businesses and residents and, as part of the wider team, contributed to the evidence and advocacy for additional financial support for businesses experiencing significant construction hardship.
The impact: A new approach that reached far beyond Albert Street
The Albert Street work formed part of Auckland's first comprehensive Development Response programme, bringing together business resilience, stakeholder engagement, operations, wayfinding, activation, and impact mitigation. Lessons from the approach were subsequently applied to other major Auckland development and infrastructure programmes.
The wider business resilience programme also contributed to increasing recognition of the financial impact that prolonged public infrastructure construction could have on small businesses. The resulting Albert Street Business Hardship Programme ultimately provided approximately $617,000 in financial support to 25 affected businesses.
The experience also helped establish a broader precedent for support for construction hardship. A subsequent $12 million Crown and Auckland Council Targeted Hardship Fund was established for businesses experiencing major and sustained disruption around later City Rail Link station construction.