Delivering water infrastructure under pressure: Decades of insight, applied to today’s challenges

When Dragan started out, water infrastructure projects felt simpler. Teams were smaller, expectations were more defined and projects moved at a different pace. Much relied on practical judgement, strong client relationships and solving problems as they emerged. He remembers face-to-face briefings with clients, where teams could discuss challenges, constraints, objectives and timelines, and ask questions in the moment.

Today, the environment is very different. Projects are more visible, more complex and more closely scrutinised from day one. Clients expect clarity early, alongside efficiency, reduced carbon impacts and infrastructure that performs long after project completion.

Dragan's career is closely connected to GHD’s long history in Aotearoa New Zealand. Over many years, diverse teams and legacies have come together, including the acquisition of Manukau Consultants in January 2000, creating a depth of experience that continues to shape how projects are delivered today.

Now in his role as Technical Director – Water and Wastewater, that history still matters. It's how capability develops over time, and how lessons learned on one project carry into, and benefit, the next. 

Alignment, staging, access and constructability. For Dragan, these are the decisions that set a project on its path. Get them right early, and everything that follows has a stronger foundation. Get them wrong, and challenges often emerge later, when they are harder and more costly to resolve.

"If there's one constant across the years, it's that the most important decisions are made in the early design stages," Dragan says.

On programmes such as the Hunua 4 and Huia 1 watermains, success did not depend on solving a single problem. It came from understanding project objectives and how multiple constraints interacted. Ground conditions, existing infrastructure, community expectations, social impacts and operational requirements all influence one another.

That level of complexity isn't new, but the way it is managed has evolved. Dragan explains, "projects no longer move neatly from one stage to the next. They overlap from the outset and the risks don't wait their turn."

One of the biggest shifts Dragan has seen is how closely design and delivery now need to work together.

Earlier in his career, it was common to treat them as separate steps. Design would be completed and then handed over for construction. On simpler projects, that approach could work. On today's networks, that separation can create unnecessary risk.

"Every design decision has a consequence in the field," he says.

Whether it's a trenchless crossing, working through a constrained urban corridor, navigating live services or designing for seismic resilience, the detail matters. So does understanding how it will be built.

Projects such as the Waiāri trunk main and the Kaitoke watermain replacement stand out for Dragan because design and delivery were aligned early, allowing decisions made on paper to translate effectively on site.

Dragan often thinks about how he'd explain to a new generation of engineers the way projects were delivered 30 years ago.

When he began with Manukau Consultants, computers were only just starting to make their way into the industry. The team used early CAD drafting tools, but much of the process was still manual. Drawings were plotted on tracing paper, usually A1, signed off by hand, copied using an ammonia-based process and carefully folded down to A4.

"Looking back, it's hard not to ask how we managed without the tools we now take for granted," Dragan says.

As computers became more established, modelling software transformed the design process. Traditional calculation books are now rarely used. Three-dimensional modelling and BIM have given the industry a much clearer view of designs and assets, alongside the ability to manage and interrogate large volumes of data.

Now, with AI, the pace of change is accelerating again.

Dragan sees that same mindset in GHD engineers coming through today who think beyond the design itself and stay connected to how projects are delivered. He's also encouraged to see engineers taking on more complex roles and responsibilities earlier in their careers, often working across both design and delivery.

The pressures on water infrastructure aren't easing. If anything, they're increasing. For Dragan, that's where experience and practical thinking matter more than ever. Not simply to deliver projects, but to create lasting value for the communities they serve.

His advice to the next generation is simple: stay close to how things are built, trust your judgement early and remember that good delivery is never accidental.