WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL STREETLIGHTING

Client: Wellington City Council
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

McKay brings more than 30 years of expertise in streetlighting solutions, delivering reliable and future-ready lighting infrastructure for councils and private clients across New Zealand. Our expertise in the infrastructure sector is extensive, with many key private, local, and central government agencies relying on us to deliver and maintain essential infrastructure nationwide.

The Project

One of McKay’s recent projects was for Wellington City Council’s Te Papa and Taranaki Promenades — two of the city’s most vibrant public spaces. The project aimed to create a safer, more inviting environment, making the waterfront a more enjoyable place to explore and walk after sunset. The council’s goal was to have the new lighting installed and operational in time for the Pride Parade and the final Homegrown Festival in March 2025. The system needed to enhance safety across the area, offer programmable lighting for special events and occasions, and incorporate integrated Māori artwork.

Project Deliverables

The project brought together McKay staff from across the country, from Wellington, Hamilton, and Whangarei.

• Decorative Lighting Poles: Installed 19 decorative lighting poles, each weighing 500kg, featuring both RGB and white lighting lining the two main waterfront promenades.
• Pole Removal: Removed 21 existing poles.
• Power and Fibre Circuits: Installed 3.6km of new power and lighting circuits and 2km of fibre, running under the wharf and above water to supply the new lighting poles.
• Switchboard Installations: Installed two new switchboards.
• Marine Containment: Designed, built, and installed custom marine containment to protect the power and lighting circuits along the full length of the wharf.
• Marine Construction Works: Completed a range of marine construction works including installing under-wharf footings with support from Underwater Solutions, upgrading under-wharf walers to suit the new installations, and installing and commissioning the specialist lighting control system.

The nature of the site meant that much of the work took place over water, requiring a specialist approach and strong collaboration with a marine construction company to provide access via floating platform and boat.

Our Approach

One of the more unique challenges was that public access to the wharf had to remain open throughout. With restaurants and bars lining the area, night work wasn’t an option either. This meant carrying out complex electrical work in full view of the public, right through the peak summer period. To add to the pressure, the project’s original start date of 1 November 2024 was delayed until 6 January 2025 due to setbacks in the council’s engineering consent process. Despite this late start, the deadline remained the same, early March. Through dedication and teamwork, McKay completed all work by 7 March. This included the full commissioning of both white and RGB lighting, just in time to light up the waterfront for the Pride Parade and Homegrown Festival.

For more than 90 years, McKay has been delivering electrical and engineering solutions that support New Zealand’s growth, across the industrial, infrastructure, marine, renewables and construction sectors, providing innovative electrotechnology solutions to a wide range of industries. Learn more about McKay’s capabilities.