Sustainability

Our Palmerston North depot added two 670G John Deere graders to their fleet. 

With features like automatic gear shifting, self-lubricating systems, and built-in protection against machine damage, these graders make the job easier, safer, and more efficient for operators. They also allow for more precise and consistent grading, which means smoother, longer-lasting roads. Plus, operators can choose between joystick or traditional controls, making the machines more comfortable and adaptable to different working styles.

The graders are also equipped with the latest precision grade control technology from Topcon Positioning Systems, bringing cutting-edge capabilities to our grader teams. This system helps our teams work faster and more accurately. It uses smart tools like total stations, GPS, lasers, and sensors to control the grader blade in real time down to the millimetre. That means smoother surfaces, less rework, and better results on every job. 

Higgins’ Kaiwera Downs Wind Farm Stage 2 project team drove sustainability on site by implementing hybrid power solutions.

By integrating solar panels with battery management systems and diesel generators, the team significantly reduced both carbon emissions and reliance on diesel.

Stage 2 formed part of Mercury NZ’s wider Kaiwera Downs Wind Farm development. Stage 1 was completed in November 2023 and included 10 turbines generating 43MW, enough to power around 20,000 homes.

Stage 2 delivered a further 36 Vestas V136-4.3MW turbines, lifting total capacity to 198MW and generating enough renewable electricity to power approximately 93,000 homes each year. The turbines have a hub height of 88 metres and a blade tip height of 150 metres.

The project also included a new 4km transmission line connecting the wind farm to the Transpower network, along with a new substation to support full generation.

Our Higgins Bay of Plenty team took a break from their busy schedules to contribute to the Thornton Kānuka Restoration Project.

This vital initiative aims to preserve one of New Zealand’s most unique and vulnerable native species. The Thornton kānuka, a tree with twisted trunks shaped by coastal winds, is found only along a 20km stretch of sand dunes near Thornton Beach. Unfortunately, its habitat is under threat from invasive weeds and climate change, making restoration efforts more crucial than ever.

Our team ventured into the dunes and planted over 900 native plants, helping to expand and strengthen the habitat for this rare species. It was a day of connection – with nature, with each other, and with a shared purpose to protect the biodiversity of our region. This effort is part of a broader environmental push supported by the Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Whakatāne District Council, ensuring that future generations can experience the beauty and resilience of our coastal ecosystems.

We offer award-winning bitumen that will make a massive difference to the sustainability of road construction.

The product is Puma Energy's Carbonbind® bitumen, used to produce emulsion for resealing operations throughout the North Island.

A life cycle assessment (LCA) for the product shows it has 35% less carbon compared to regular bitumen, meaning it'll play a big part in reducing the embodied carbon of pavements in Aotearoa.

The Puma Energy Carbonbind® Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is available here.

New Zealand sends nearly 300,000 tonnes of textile waste to landfill every year. We’re proud to be part of the solution through Higgins Auckland’s PPE Recycling Programme in partnership with Cleanline Tasman - Workwear & PPE Specialists.

This initiative is more than just recycling; it’s a commitment to sustainability, innovation, and accountability. The process is simple. The branch orders a PPE recycling box in the size they need from Cleanline Tasman. End-of-life garments are deposited into the box. Accepted items include uniforms, hard hats (shell only), footwear, and gloves. Wet, soiled, or contaminated items are excluded. Once full, the box is returned via courier. Cleanline Tasman then processes the items and provides an Impact Statement showing the contribution made.

Our fleet management is powered by Higgins M5, a cutting-edge, cloud-based platform that provides end-to-end visibility and control. The system ensures plant certification and registration, manages asset lifecycles, analyses maintenance costs, monitors fuel usage, tracks driver behaviour, and integrates plant pre-start checks.

Through Higgins M5, we have developed a data-driven CAPEX programme, achieved a 25% reduction in repair and maintenance costs, and gained real-time insights into plant location and status. The platform has also enabled the introduction of targeted safety initiatives, including recognising ‘safe drivers’ through our Driver of the Year competition.

Higgins M5 supports real-time communication and complete visibility of issues, helping to drive a further 20% reduction in overall fleet costs while improving safety outcomes for our drivers and the communities we work in.

Liveable Streets South Rural, the team from Higgins and HEB who look after the roads in South Rural Auckland for Auckland Transport, is turning waste into opportunity. In 2021, the team faced a challenge with discarded road edge marker posts (EMPs). By 2025, thanks to a partnership with WasteXpert and Plastics Recycling NZ (PRNZ), a joint venture between Waste Management New Zealand and Aliaxis New Zealand, over 1 tonne of EMPs have been diverted from landfill — nearly 100% of what was collected!

The team at Liveable Streets cleaned and sorted the EMPs, in bins provided by WasteXpert. These are then sorted into collection bins. The EMPs were soaked, cleaned, dried, and then transported to PRNZ for recycling. This initiative avoided 143 kg CO₂-e emissions and showcased how innovation can drive real environmental impact. The recycled material is now being repurposed into new products at Aliaxis facilities across New Zealand.

It's a great example of systems that work!

The Eastern Busway project team uses thousands of protective caps every year on the sharp edges of posts and fences when cordoning off hazards, to help keep the community and staff safe and prevent injuries. While considerable effort is made to recycle and re-use the caps, many end up in landfill.

In a first for New Zealand, the project team has partnered with Compostify (Bioplastics) to make caps from a polymer that breaks down naturally in the environment. They are made from non-toxic ingredients, biodegrade over time and are part of our commitment to reduce waste.

We embarked on a significant step toward a more sustainable roading network by expanding the use of recycled asphalt across two plants. We made modifications at the Hamilton site and Palmerston North plant, allowing both locations to incorporate reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) into the mix designs. 

Changes to the Hamilton plant included the addition of a new collection bin and conveyor system to manage RAP. The plant’s existing computer systems were already equipped to control the precise amounts of RAP used in each mix. 

In Palmerston North, RAP had previously been used but was paused due to demand for other constituents. Upgrades, including a small conveyor and extra bin, made it possible to reintroduce RAP into the mix. 

Our Waikato teams made significant progress in road maintenance by successfully trialling heavily stabilised pavement at six high-risk sites across the East Waikato state highway network. This initiative was part of the 2024/25 annual rehabilitation programme for the East Waikato Network Outcomes Contract, involving a strong collaborative approach between NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, Beca and Higgins to deliver value for money design and construction outcome.

By incorporating a higher density of cement and lime into the pavement, the road becomes more 'concrete-like,' enhancing its durability, resistance to moisture infiltration in varying climates, and increasing its load-bearing capacity. This in-situ process not only brings cost savings by avoiding the need to replace the entire basecourse but also extends the overall lifespan of the pavements.

Our Higgins Traffic team led a recycling initiative aimed at boosting sustainability and reducing costs.

The team, which relies heavily on traffic management, previously faced high expenses for aluminium traffic signs. Old and damaged signs were sent to scrap metal, yielding less than one-eighth of their original cost. They reviewed the process and explored the feasibility of reusing or refurbishing these signs. The findings revealed that recycling the signs was far more cost-effective than purchasing new ones.

This initiative resulted in significant savings for the division. Large signs were converted into multiple smaller ones at half the original cost, reducing expenses and increasing the inventory of usable signs. This recycling effort made their operations more sustainable by reusing materials and cutting down on costs.

Higgins collaborated with various partners to responsibly manage tyre waste and reduce our environmental footprint.

Since the maintenance and construction of the Hawke’s Bay State Highway network began in 2021, Higgins Hawke’s Bay NOC and Branch have been collecting abandoned tyres and stockpiling them at their depot. Some of these tyres were repurposed for retaining walls and building loading banks.

They partnered with Waste Management to process the tyres into Tyre Derived Fuel, which was then sent to Golden Bay Cement for use in cement production. Additionally, tyres were sent to Carter’s for retreading to extend their life, while unusable ones were broken down by their pyrolysis plant for manufacturing new tyres.

Through these efforts, Higgins diverted 1,886 used tyres in 2021, saving the equivalent of 61,680 litres of oil, 51,400 litres of natural resources, and reducing CO2e emissions by 38 tonnes. In one financial year, 560 used tyres were diverted for retreading and recycled 508 used tyres, saving 33,600 litres of oil, 28,000 litres of natural resources, and reducing CO2e emissions by 20 tonnes.

Our Specialised Engineering team has achieved outstanding results in bitumen sprayer technology.

An innovative sprayer build for our parent company, Higgins, delivered significant improvements in usability, functionality, and efficiency.

The sprayer features automated bar movements for lap joints, road edges, and kerb and channel applications. It also includes surface texture scanning to enable automated variable application rates, along with fully autonomous self-driving and spraying capability.

This build has been recognised as a major step forward in sprayer technology. It supports targeted reductions in maintenance costs, greater automation, and precise control of spray bar positions and nozzles, resulting in improved accuracy, repeatability, and fewer surfacing defects.

By working closely with current and former operators, the team incorporated valuable feedback into the design. Enhancements include the ability to control individual nozzles or operate spray bars as a group, giving operators the flexibility to spray complex shapes and back-to-back patches of varying sizes in a single pass.

This increased efficiency reduces the number of spray passes, chip truck movements, and lane closures, ultimately lowering the cost of chip sealing and seal repairs.

We're committed to sustainability and reducing our environmental footprint.

Our road maintenance activities require a significant number of orange road cones to delineate work sites and ensure the safety of our crews. However, these cones have a limited lifespan and contribute to plastic waste when they are no longer fit for purpose.

Our Higgins Waikato team and Fletcher Construction owned signage company, Approach Signs came up with a sustainable cone recycling solution where old cones are collected and re-made into road cones and other products, thereby diverting the old cone from landfill. Road cones are collected in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and transported to Auckland where they are ground into small plastic pellets. These pellets are used in the manufacture of the base of the cones Approach Signs sells.

This collaboration not only supports our sustainability goals but also ensures that the replacement cones supplied by Approach Signs contain a portion of recycled materials.

Our research showed that it’s possible to use vegetable oil to reduce the carbon footprint of bitumen.

Traditionally, roads are built using bitumen which acts as a ‘glue’ holding the road together. Bitumen is by-product of crude oil, so we’ve been looking for a more sustainable option.

Take a look at the video for more details.

Higgins continues to look for ways to reduce environmental impact through practical improvements on-site. As part of corrosion protection maintenance, one of the bitumen tanks at Napier Port was upgraded and repainted in a darker colour, in line with recommendations from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) Energy Transition Accelerator programme.

The tank was finished in “Higgins green”, helping to further improve the energy efficiency of the bitumen plant by reducing heat loss. This simple but effective change supported lower carbon emissions while building on the plant’s existing energy performance.

Higgins explored the wider use of biogenic (plant-based) bitumen for asphalt and chip seal pavements, to help reduce carbon emissions in road construction.

By incorporating plant-based components into bitumen binders, the initiative aimed to increase the amount of carbon captured within road surfaces and other asphalt products over time. As these materials are recycled and reused, the approach has the potential to contribute to long-term carbon reduction across the lifecycle of the pavement.

This work represented a promising step towards supporting the Fletcher Construction roadmap target of a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions, while contributing to a more sustainable future for generations to come.

Higgins released an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for Higgins’ asphalt products – a first in the New Zealand roading industry. An EPD tells the environmental story of a product over its life cycle, is science-based and independently verified. The EPD covers 99.5% of Higgins asphalt products produced at their permanent plants in New Zealand, covering the life cycle stages of sourcing and transporting raw materials, product manufacture, and end-of-life options.

To get the EPD, Higgins had to provide energy, waste, water and material data covering production for one year.

The information is increasingly being requested by customers, who need to work out how using the products affects their own impact on the environment. EPDs are an internationally-recognised format that customers know they can trust. It’s also a useful tool for us, as it gives us a baseline to work from as we improve our own environmental performance.

Sitting alongside the EPD, Higgins has a carbon calculator tool to provide customers with a total embodied carbon amount for asphalt mixes covered in the EPD.

Click here to view the EPD.

We used a remote control roller in our work to repair one of the major slips in Coromandel (McBeth-Opoutere). We built a retaining wall to support the road above, backfilled it, and the roller has just finished levelling.

The remote control roller was used in areas where we need to flatten ground near any steep drop-offs. This meant that if something did go wrong and the roller tipped off the edge, none of our people would be hurt in the process.

A few years ago, hybrids were a tough sell across the construction sector. That quickly changed to the point where we could not order them fast enough.

Higgins smashed through annual targets for replacing fully petrol and diesel cars, working toward the goal of having 100% of light fleet hybrid or electric by 2026. The only thing that held progress back was delays in getting vehicles into the country. Achieving these hybrid targets formed part of our broader aim to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2030.

The transition to hybrid vehicles showed that performance and capability remained consistent with traditional diesel models. There was no loss in functionality, although it took some time to adjust to the quieter motors, which occasionally led to vehicles being left running unintentionally.

Over time, the stigma around hybrid options shifted significantly, with wider acceptance across the sector.

Higgins Christchurch rolled out their FUSO eCanter electric truck as part of the City Council initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

With transport making up the majority of the district’s emissions, it was critical to find a path towards zero-exhaust emission trucks, alongside battery electric passenger cars.

It was a privilege to learn from this initiative and share it with other companies, while also playing a part alongside partners TR and FUSO Trucks.