IAF – stormwater and wastewater enabling infrastructure

The Infrastructure Acceleration Fund (IAF) is a funding initiative to help unlock development opportunities and enable more homes to be built.

In Lower Hutt, this project is enabling major water infrastructure upgrades including pipelines, pumping stations, and storage tanks to support future housing.

Benefits

This project is crucial for Lower Hutt’s future. Here’s how it will help:

• More homes for our growing city – this infrastructure will pave the way for more than 3,500 new homes, including higher-density and more affordable housing options.

• Better infrastructure – an added benefit of upgrading our stormwater and wastewater systems is that it will help prevent flooding and improve overall reliability.

• Future-proofing our city – these improvements will support the city’s long-term growth and ensure our infrastructure keeps up with demand.

Project design 

We’ve followed a robust assessment process to systematically evaluate potential options. This process includes input from key stakeholders and technical experts through a series of collaborative workshops. Options were assessed against essential criteria, eliminating those that did not meet project objectives. This has led to the selection of a preferred option.

The proposed route includes some areas of Kings Crescent and Pretoria Street, connecting to Te Awa Kairangi and the Western Hills sewer main.

You can find more detailed information about the different concept designs, including technical reports and multi-criteria analysis of the options considered, here.

The project will now move into a design, consenting and construction approvals phase, and is expected to be ready for construction works in late 2026.

Timeline