Managing Director

James is a Chartered Professional Engineer with over 25 years of experience in the design, management and construction of commercial, industrial and residential buildings, large scale utilities projects, land development and heavy civil projects including airports and marine works. James has also previously held public Directorships and is called upon from time to time to lead inquiry matters and resolve construction disputes.

Since Hadley Consultants was established in 2000, James has led a team of hard working professionals who have developed their own complimentary skill sets. James’ recent work includes significant involvement in the new Kawarau Falls Bridge and several projects where he has assisted as an expert in building claims, contract disputes or compliance matters. In his free time you can often find James up the ski field with his family, very occasionally playing golf or happiest fishing or watching test cricket.

Areas of Specialist Expertise

• Infrastructure Master Planning
• Construction Contracts
• Project Management
• Risk Assessment
• Feasibility Analysis
• Professional Services Delivery Models
• Expert Witness Work

Senior Civil & Environmental Engineer

Nigel is a Civil and Environmental Engineer with particular expertise in geotechnical and natural hazard investigations and assessments and the design of water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. This includes the technical analysis, modelling and design of pump stations, treatment plants, pressure and gravity reticulation networks and natural and flood channels including low impact design solutions. Nigel is a long term Queenstown local and spends his days off hiking and skiing on the surrounding mountains.

Areas of Specialist Expertise

• Project Management
• Infrastructure Strategy Assessments
• Hydraulic Analysis
• Geotechnical and Natural Hazard Assessments
• On-Site Wastewater Treatment and Disposal System Assessment and Design
• Water Supply Design
• Wastewater Treatment

Hadleys is proud to be an annual supporter of the LUMA Southern Light Project.

LUMA is an award-winning, sensory experience, bringing together illuminated art, light sculpture, performance and community over four days from June 4 -7 2021, on the shores of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, New Zealand.

The LUMA Southern Light Project is all about connecting people, engaging local and international artists, supporting local business, supporting education and building creative networks.

A cornerstone arts and culture event on the Southern Lakes calendar, LUMA works with over 500 contributors including artists, organisers, volunteers and ambassadors.

Attendance and participation have been growing exponentially since its inception in 2015 and welcomed over 60,000 attendees in 2019.

Tickets and more information can be found on the Luma website. 

Credit: Banner image by Aiste Photography, article image by Undersoul Photography, home page image by Tomas Whelan-Henderson.

The Kingston Village Subdivision is a 750 lot development south of the Kingston township.

It has been confirmed as one of the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund projects to increase the supply of residential housing across New Zealand.

Once all stages are completed, the subdivision will approximately double the size of Kingston and provide much needed housing supply in the Queenstown Lakes District. Most importantly, the Kingston project will act as the catalyst to achieve water and wastewater reticulation for the wider Kingston Community.

Hadleys have been involved from the outset with full civil reporting on geotechnical conditions, roading, earthworks, water supply, wastewater and stormwater.

Senior Structural Engineer

Chris is a Chartered Professional Engineer and has 22 years experience in the engineering profession as an engineer and engineering technician. The scope of Chris’ experience includes structural design and construction monitoring of various structures ranging from domestic housing to commercial and industrial buildings. Other experience also includes general civil engineering design of earthworks, pavements, low level retaining walls, roading projects and project management and administration. When Chis is not in the office or out on a site inspection he enjoys jet skiing, mountain biking and fishing.

Areas of Specialist Expertise

• Structural Design
• Construction Supervision

Structural Consultant

Alan is a Senior Structural Engineer with over 50 years experience in the Design and Construction consultancy fields. His experience has been in the areas of commercial, industrial and accommodation developments of all types for both Commercial Clients, Government Agencies and Local Authorities. He has also been associated with the structural aspects of Civil Engineering Projects and acts as a principal review engineer on projects. When Alan is not hard at work he is kept busy with his grandchildren, in the garden or out sailing.

Areas of Specialist Expertise

• Preliminary project site and structure assessment
• Project structural design based on very wide range of project experience
• Project review and construction management

Civil Design Manager

Fraser is a Chartered Professional Engineer and the Civil Design Manager at Hadleys with particular expertise in the design and delivery of roading and land development projects varying in scale from large national roading projects to small single residential lots. This includes 3D design, modelling and documentation of all types of civil infrastructure using software packages such as Autodesk Civil 3D and 12d Model. Frasers enjoys spending his spare time practicing jiu jitsu and skiing.

Areas of Specialist Expertise

• 3D civil design and BIM modelling
• Stormwater design and modelling
• Geometric roading and land development design and documentation

Graduate Engineer

Max, a Graduate Structural Engineer who grew up in Queenstown, has been working with Hadleys since mid 2018. Max has been involved in variety of residential and commercial projects including multiple high end new residences. Max is developing a good skillset for solving structural design problems and working with contractors to ensure works progress smoothly on site.

When Max isn’t in the office or at a site visit, he can be found playing ice hockey for the regional team or out on the mountain bike trails.

Areas of Specialist Expertise

• Structural Design
• Construction Supervision

CAD Technician

James is the CAD Technician at Hadleys and has over 10 years’ experience in technical design/engineering. He has mainly worked designing bespoke glazed structures for both commercial and residential properties. This included the initial survey of the property & producing documentation i.e. planning drawings, customer drawings, manufacturing drawings using 3D Modelling software. When he’s not at work, James enjoys skiing and hiking in the mountains surrounding the Wakatipu basin.

Areas of Specialist Expertise

• 2D/3D CAD Design
• Project Management 
• 3D Modelling
• Surveying

Resident Dog

Scout is an impawtent member of the Hadleys team, ensuring daily smiles around the office. Scout will often join Nigel on site visits or in meetings at the Hadleys. Scout loves long walks and lots of pats.

Located on the corner of three high profile streets in downtown Queenstown, Tiki Corner was developed in 1964.

Since that time the building has had many uses and, more recently, has been progressively upgraded to resist earthquakes. To ensure no disruption to existing tenants, seismic strengthening works were undertaken in a piecemeal fashion when the opportunities arouse.

Strengthening systems Hadleys specified included steel K braces, a steel portal frame and an overlay insitu concrete wall all concealed within the building and chosen to suit the location and the buildability of the works. This strengthening has brought the building up to 70% of New Building Standard to enable the unique Queenstown building to continue to serve the town for many more years ahead.

Hadleys are currently involved in the structural assessment of 3 marine structures owned by QLDC.

These include the Kingston historic wharf and boat ramp, the Glenorchy Pier and the Queenstown Bay Lake Wall.

This work follows on from previous assessments in Kingston and Glenorchy into structural integrity, investigations into wharf conditions and design and project management of remedial works.

This complex 550m2, four level architectural home on a steep Queenstown hill site had many design challenges for Hadleys to overcome.

Structural features include 6m high cantilevered retaining walls, suspended garaging and driveway over occupied spaces, exposed in-situ concrete retaining walls and bespoke staircases with sawtooth steel and concrete treads.

During construction Hadleys also worked in collaboration with the contractor to resolve external issues including running ground water in basement excavations, temporary crane support platforms and staging during the stepped level build.

Hadleys undertook the upgrading of an area of undersized stormwater network where regular flooding and erosion was occurring. This included the following:

• Catchment and hydrological assessment to determine peak flows;
• Detailed design and documentation of 750mm stormwater main including rock lined inlet channel and outlet energy dissipation structures;
• Procurement and value engineering to ensure that the project could be completed within available budgets;
• Construction monitoring and contract management to deliver the project under budget.

Hadleys were involved with the replacement of the one lane Kawarau Falls Bridge, located on SH6 at Frankton. The previous bridge causes traffic delays during peak periods and was costly to maintain. The new bridge is a new two lane, two way bridge downstream of the previous one. Hadleys were a member of the design-build project team and involved in the following areas;

• Pre and post construction condition assessments of the existing bridge and nearby dwellings,
• Civil design including pavement and surfacing, road layout and geometrics, safety barriers, utility upgrades and relocations, drainage and stormwater,
• Design of large diameter trunk water and wastewater reticulation and various connections for QLDC for new services through the site to allow network extension to Hanley Downs and future growth in Kelvin Heights,
• Value engineering of the QLDC reticulation,
• Options assessment, design and documentation of various sections of Shared Use Path.
• Civil and structural construction monitoring

This was a significant, multi-year project that involved collaboration with a number of other parties on a challenging site to achieve the final result.

Camp Glenorchy is New Zealand’s first Net Zero Energy accommodation facility developed in accordance with the Living Building Challenge framework.

It includes camping, campervan sites, serviced cabins, communal kitchen and gathering areas, multi purpose function facilities and on-site staff accommodation located within the Glenorchy community.

Hadleys were involved in a number of areas of this innovative and inspirational project from the outset including:

• Masterplanning and design of roof rainwater collection, pre-treatment and storage along with on-site stormwater disposal,
• Wastewater options assessment and master planning including separation and pretreatment of greywater and blackwater and land application systems.
• Design of various pavements including permeable pavements and carparking, integration with the stormwater runoff design, pedestrian crossings and earthworks across the site.

A new ticketing building for Cardrona Alpine Resort provides an architecturally striking new entrance to the resort.

Hadleys worked closely with the architect to develop efficient structural systems that were both easy to transport to the alpine location and environmentally sustainable.

An exposed steel and timber framed structure provides support to the obliquely shaped roof pitches.

This commercial building with dual street frontages was largely unmodified since construction in the 1980’s.

A complete redevelopment of the building was developed by the architects including complete new street frontages, removal of existing stairs, installation of new stairs and lift and a new third floor to significantly expand lettable floor area.

As part of this 1,800m2 project, structural options were investigated and Hadleys developed a structural scheme which utilised existing concrete roof, floors, walls and foundations. While some new walls and foundations were required to strengthen the building to 100% of New Building Standard, the scheme enabled significant material, time and cost savings over a complete rebuild.

High in a canyon beyond Glenorchy lies the new tourism adventure of Paradise Ziplines, which comprises eight ziplines through original beech forest and over the Oxburn Creek below.

Hadleys worked with the developer to design over 1000m of wire rope ziplines, end anchorages and approach and landing structures.

Anchorages featured multiple rock anchors and, where feasible, innovative slinging around oversized boulders before load testing was undertaken and approved so to be ready for zip liners.

The first stage of Cardrona Alpine Resort’s ongoing development phase included the replacement of the MacDougall chair with a high speed chondola lift.

While the lift was designed in Europe, Hadleys completed the bottom terminal retaining wall design to facilitate the realignment of the lift along with the top station parking building which stores the chairs and gondola cabins overnight and provides an upper mountain base for ski patrol.

Hadleys promptly completed the structural design of this building to face extreme weather including a design wind speed of 300km/hr and in excess of 2m of snow loading, along with fine tolerances required for chair and cabin support rails.

Sustainability was a key consideration in the project and, although faced with severe loading, a predominately timber framed roof and wall system was developed with steel only used for critical members. This combined with precast retaining walls enabled a cost effective building to be built and commissioned with the lift in a short 5 month build season, all while located near the top of Cardrona Alpine Resort at an elevation of 1830m.

This bespoke family home set into hillside used Passive House principles to provide low maintenance and energy efficient living.

A significant engineering challenge included supporting a stone covered roof with precast concrete parapets which overhangs well beyond the enclosed structure below, while also supporting an external balcony.

Other challenges Hadleys overcame included a large basement garage set under a mixture of lawn, decking and bedrooms, along with scrutinising every engineering detail to ensure the structure did not compromise either the architectural intent nor energy efficiency.

This modern Arrowtown cottage has been nestled into the hillside with basement garaging and modern living over.

Engineering features include insulated foundations, downpipes concealed within structural columns and a low slung cantilevered steel pergola.

Hadleys developed details in close conjunction with the architect to ensure their proposed vision was achieved.

The Tiers is a residential development comprising 13 units over five building platforms on a steep and challenging site along Frankton Road.

The initial assessment of the site raised concerns around tension cracks and bedrock shears when excavating the roads, carparks and building platforms. Restrictions on excavations including pilot cuts and limits on cut heights were imposed to help mitigate issues as they arose, and the steepness of toe slopes and reinforced earth retaining walls was reduced from the original plans.

Due to the steep nature of the site, the order of construction was dictated by temporary access requirements, meaning the suitability of building on the site had to be assessed in stages as rock was exposed.

Each building platform had the potential for different geotechnical risks. During the construction of one platform, significant amounts of low quality rock and glacial shearing distress was found with a number of open joints and voids found in the rock that could undermine the site. This could also lead to high rockfall danger to the properties below. Once a detailed assessment had taken place it was found the increased risk could be mitigated with the installation of rock dowels and pinning the foundation of the unit block to bedrock.

Other hazards included rock regression once building had been completed which was mitigated by specific foundation design and pinning the foundations to bedrock, and also the risk of slide debris from slopes above and rock weathering over time. To deal with this it was recommended the units be redesigned to allow rock catchment areas behind them, slicing and shotcreting rock faces behind the units.

Our analysis and mitigation factors of the site allowed the subdivision to safely progress without compromising the design and original vision of the developer.

Hadleys were involved in the site works for the Eastgate Shopping Centre in Christchurch when a new KFC restaurant was added to the existing shopping centre.

Our role included the initial site investigation, followed by site works design and documentation, tender evaluation and award and construction monitoring.

This site required roading (widened entry/exits, reviewing internal traffic flows, designing traffic lanes and aisles, carparks, pavements and kerbs), stormwater disposal, water supply and firefighting water reticulation, sewer reticulation, earthworks and incorporation of power, telecom and gas utilities.

Hadleys were involved with the seismic strengthening of the Absoloot Value Accommodation building on Beach Street that happened alongside other planned upgrades to the building.

Initially we completed both the initial and detailed seismic assessment reports which showed the 1960’s building to be Earthquake Prone with a rating of less than 33% of New Building Standard.

We then completed the design and construction monitoring of strengthening works to bring the building to 80% of New Building Standard primarily through the use of an externally fitted structural steel moment resisting frame which minimised disruption to the tenants.

Highground is a high quality, 4 lot rural subdivision in the Wakatipu Basin.

Hadleys were involved from the project’s inception and were responsible for developing the master programme and staging strategy, managing consent compliance, completing a Resource Consent for water abstraction from an existing bore and design and documentation of roading, earthworks, water supply for both potable and irrigation supplies, services and fencing.

Hadleys also coordinated the landscape planting and all tendering, evaluation and contract award, as well as management and observation of the physical works.

Natural materials inspired this house set in an idyllic rural environment.

Structural materials were also kept natural with exposed concrete features and timber framing to allow rapid construction.

Hadleys worked with the builder to ensure construction systems and detailing were consistent with their preferred build methods to ensure a successful build.

Hadleys carried out the civil engineering design and construction monitoring at Mitre 10 Mega in Shotover Park, Frankton.

This involved the design of on site stormwater and sewer drainage reticulation, water supply, access roading and carpark and site earthworks on a large commercial site.

One of the greatest challenges was the flat nature of the site, requiring stormwater to be largely treated on site and overland flow paths to be carefully designed. Capacity for reusing rainwater was also designed, allowing the garden centre irrigation for their plants as well as fire fighting water supply.

In addition to the civil works, Hadleys also undertook a structural peer review of the building and the structural construction observation.

A 1.2km section of the Malaghans Road pavement near Arrowtown was rehabilitated using Foam Bitumen Stabilisation along with associated improvements including minor geometric improvements, culvert extensions and headwall construction, entrance way and intersection improvements, power pole relocation, and drainage improvements.

This section of road had experienced widespread pavement failure and patching to repair pot-holing, pavement cracking and rutting as well as issues with slumping caused by poor drainage performance and frost heaving. The work was necessary to enhance safety and minimise future costs while helping to ensure the pavement reached its 25 year design life.

Hadleys were engaged by the Queenstown Lakes District Council from the outset for project scoping, concept and detailed design, tender documentation and assessment, and contract award and documentation.

This 740m², four unit apartment complex was designed around providing an architecturally interesting and solid building that provides warm and affordable housing on the hillside close to the centre of Queenstown. Each of the four bedroom units are split over two levels with retaining to the rear of the site. Hadleys worked with the architect and builder to ensure the shell and materials used were structurally efficient while also providing the required fire and acoustic isolation between units.

This pavilion style home in a garden setting includes a unique concrete fireplace formed using six precast panels.

Precast concrete panels also feature for external elevations, along with exposed timber scissor trusses internally and insulated ground floor slabs.

Hadleys worked in close collaboration with the architect, builder and suppliers so the architectural details and finishes of expressed structure were fulfilled.

Hadleys have undertaken seismic assessments for Government Agencies in the lower South Island.

Southland Schools Boiler Chimneys

Hadleys assessed the Boiler Chimneys at 15 Southland Schools for the Ministry of Education. The seismic strength and stability of each chimney was calculated, as well as an assessment of alternative flue arrangements and asbestos risk. Options were presented to the Ministry of Education for consultation, a scope of works for structural improvements was confirmed and Hadleys project managed the upgrade works during 2014/15.

Hadleys undertook the structural engineering of the 4 storey building renovation on Shotover Street.

A single tenancy that used to occupy three levels from the basement up with a full height atrium was converted into multiple tenancies including an underground restaurant and bar, 3 street level retail shops and upstairs offices and conference rooms.

To make the proposal work, existing floor and wall voids had to be filled in and new voids created to provide revised building access including two sets of new stairs.

Hadleys have undertaken numerous seismic assessments for Local Authorities in the lower South Island including Initial Seismic Assessments (ISAs) and Detailed Seismic Assessments (DSAs).

Council Offices and Library ISA

Hadleys completed ISA assessments for the Queenstown Lakes District Council on 5 buildings in Wanaka and Queenstown to identify the seismic risks associated with the offices following learnings from the Christchurch earthquake events. Hadleys also gave advice to QLDC on the relevance of utilising certain buildings as disaster recovery centres and the impact of that on seismic risk assessments.

Lakes District and Southland Hospitals Seismic Assessments and Upgrades

Hadleys were engaged by the Southern District Health Board over a period of three years to complete both initial and detailed seismic assessments of a number of SDBH building assets, including Lakes District Hospital and eleven separate buildings at the Southland Hospital site in Invercargill. Some buildings identified as potentially earthquake-prone during an initial seismic assessment have subsequently been proven to be a low risk due to our detailed analysis and ability to make beneficial use of the ductility of the structure and its individual members. Structural improvement and strengthening works have been completed for the Boiler House, Chimney and Coal Store.

Southland District Council Seismic Assessments

Hadleys completed Initial Seismic Assessments on 10 Council buildings around Southland for the Southland District Council. Following this Detailed Seismic Assessments were carried out on 5 buildings which resulted in strengthening design works being completed for one building.

A large 660m2 home set into the hillside above Glenorchy featuring natural and durable materials internally and externally.

Tall stone clad chimneys and a large suspended waffle slab terrace are both architectural and structural features of the home.

Other features Hadleys worked through in design included detailing of hardwood architectural timbers as structural elements, extensive suspended flooring over a basement for plant and five car garaging and resolving high lateral loads due to the extra high wind zone and high seismic zone close to the Southern Alps.

The Jade Factory is located in a historic stone building in Arrowtown originally constructed in the 1870’s.

In addition to a two story new build addition to the rear of the sloping site the original building was earthquake strengthened from approximately 10% to over 67% of code. These works included a new roof diaphragm and new steelwork which has been partially disguised and incorporated into the new internal fit-out.

The strengthened building now benefits from a modern fit-out including insulation while making the original building features more visible.

The Queenstown Trail covers over 100km of walking and cycling trails around the Wakatipu Basin and Gibbston Valley.

Hadleys completed the design of a 25m clear span steel bridge over the Arrow River, located directly under the existing State Highway 6 bridge. A second bridge we designed was a 20m multi span timber bridge across Hayes Creek founded on driven timber piles.

Hadleys also designed the precast concrete Swiftburn underpass beneath State Highway 6 along with approaches in sloping terrain. All projects required detailed approval processes to be completed with Local & Regional Councils, NZTA and other interested parties.

Photo: Jim Pollard

This project won the Silver Award of Excellence at the ACENZ Innovate NZ Awards, 2014

The Milford Sound Freshwater Basin harbour is a fundamental element of New Zealand’s tourism infrastructure and is located in an iconic New Zealand landscape.

During the summer tourist season, the harbour itself is one of the busiest in New Zealand with up to 120 closely coordinated tourist vessel movements per day. Commitment to an upgrade of the harbour was essential to allow for growth in tourist numbers and to meet associated safety standards.

The $6.2M harbour redevelopment was constructed over the 2012 winter and included relocating the existing breakwater and dredging to enlarge the harbour, replacement and realignment of floating wharves including fabrication of new berth pontoons, replacement of berthing and mooring dolphins and extending the visitor terminal promenade and deck to access the new berth facilities.

Hadleys managed the project and acted as principal consultant for both the harbour expansion project and new berth fabrication. Value engineering was applied to the initial breakwater design and this, combined with efficient staged construction and a thorough review of all design and project parameters, provided savings in excess of $700,00 to the client, thus ensuring the viability of the project.

Numerous challenges presented themselves during the project including the remote location, limited site access and communications, World Heritage Park and National Park status, Coastal Marine Area strict environmental limitations, construction work being undertaken in a working harbour, unpredictable Fiordland winter weather and difficulties extracting existing piles from the seabed. Despite these challenges the project was successfully completed on time and under budget.

Hadleys were involved in the sealing of the crosswind runway at Queenstown Airport in 2011.

Sealing the runway, which has operated as a grass airstrip since the establishment of the airport in 1935, became necessary to improve its year round operation and increase safety. Frost, flooding and snow previously forced the closure of the runway up to 50 times a year, causing disruption to the numerous small aircraft operators in the area.

Hadleys provided project procurement services including tendering, contract administration and construction observation for the runway project.

Heavy rain during the course of the project led to a review of stormwater control measures adjacent to the runway. Hadleys designed and oversaw the installation of new subsoil drainage and soakpits to further ensure the ability of the crosswind runway to remain open after heavy rainfall events.

Working at the airport provided some unique challenges. There was a short construction window to reduce the closure time of the runway, which wasn’t helped by an unusually wet spring, and complex logistics to reduce the effect on helicopters, small aircraft and commercial flights that were operating over this time. Despite these challenges the project was delivered on time and under budget.

Hadleys were involved in assessing and monitoring an active landslide on Gorge Road during road construction works.

Design work by others failed to identify the risk and effects of substantial earthworks which undercut an active landslide area.

Construction works caused new slips and increased risk to the project. Hadleys advised QLDC on steps to minimise this risk and stabilise the land to ensure the completion of the project.

This project won both the Supreme Award for New Zealand Engineering Excellence and the Engineering Excellence in Water, Waste and Amenities Award in 2010.

Hadleys were involved in the design, tendering and project management of three snowmaking reservoirs at Coronet Peak Ski Area – Rocky Gully, Elephant Pit and Sarah Sue – in order to expand their snowmaking facilities.

The 3 HDPE lined reservoirs enabled an additional 160,000m³ of water storage. This water is then dispersed to over 200 snow guns through over 60km of water and compressed air pipework and power cabling, allowing Coronet Peak to make sufficient snow to provide 0.5m cover to all main trails over the entire ski area. The reservoirs and snow making infrastructure were constructed over 3 summer construction periods and represents the largest snowmaking facility in the Southern Hemisphere.

Coronet Peak is located at an elevation of approximately 1,600m. It is an alpine environment located on an aged landslide and is approximately 15km from the Alpine Fault. The most efficient form of water storage was determined to be achieved by developing existing natural depressions. Preliminary analysis was performed across the site (comprising approximately 280ha) to identify potential reservoir sites using test pitting, core drilling and material testing.

Due to the risk associated with water impoundment structures, all three reservoirs were the subject of detailed site investigation work comprising geological mapping, material testing (including Ring Shear and Triaxial testing) and borehole testing comprising core recovery and SPT testing.

The Sarah Sue Reservoir is the largest of the three and involved over 50,000m³ of earthworks. Due to the complications of the site, including the active landslide and weak fluvial materials underlying the site, construction was staged between two summers. This allowed us to preload the potentially weak subsurface material over an extended period of time while performing detailed survey monitoring. After satisfactory settlement results the second stage of construction was performed. This project had many challenging aspects with high altitude conditions, short construction seasons, complicated geology and was commissioned on time for the snowmaking season and under budget.