News & Insights
Building Community Resilience
Author
Date
- 2025 June
RCP’s South Island Infrastructure Lead, Glen Hughes, on Infrastructure's Human Impact
In the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes, amidst the rubble and disruption, Glen Hughes witnessed firsthand how infrastructure—or its absence—shapes communities. As roads crumbled, water systems failed, and power supplies faltered, the true value of these systems became starkly visible. For Glen, it crystallised a philosophy that would guide his career: the value of infrastructure for life, health and wellbeing comes directly into perspective when you don’t have it.
"When infrastructure is damaged, a community struggles to function. The earthquakes brought into perspective how essential these systems are to our everyday lives."
Now, as RCP’s South Island Infrastructure lead, Glen brings this people-centred perspective to every project he touches. As the first in a series, this article introduces Glen and his vision for infrastructure development, a vision that prioritises community wellbeing, strategic foresight, and sustainability.
Infrastructure - Enabling Society
For Glen, good infrastructure isn't only measured by engineering specifications or budgets, but by its impact on people's daily lives.
"Infrastructure enables good society," he explains. "Its value is often under recognised, but when it works well, it offers no constraint to a community’s life or productivity"
With a background in earth sciences, including a master’s degree in volcanic geology from the University of Waikato, Glen developed an early fascination with the physical world. This scientific foundation, combined with planning expertise, gave him unique insights into how infrastructure interacts with both natural and social environments.
His career trajectory, starting in planning and regulation and progressing into business and leadership roles mainly in the South Island, has consistently connected physical systems with human outcomes. Project experiences of working at the intersection of infrastructure reconstruction and community renewal have included earthquake recovery, public and private three waters infrastructure, and urban regeneration.
"Plan Slow, Build Fast"
From experience, a recurring theme in Hughes' approach to infrastructure delivery is the critical importance of thorough pre-construction planning. Too often, he observes, infrastructure projects suffer from rushed planning phases that lead to costly complications during construction or unforeseen consequences after completion.
Drawing on his experience across a range of projects, Hughes advocates for a ‘plan slow, build fast’ approach—investing time and resources upfront to ensure projects are well-conceived, properly scoped, and realistically budgeted.
"Being forewarned is forearmed," he says. "Rather than surprising the client down the track with unwanted time, cost or quality issues, it’s much better to address these critical issues in the project planning stages, well before design and construction begins."
This philosophy extends beyond cost management to include constructability, design efficiency, and long-term operational considerations, with Glen emphasising the value of bringing construction management expertise into projects during their earliest phases. This helps to ensure that designs aren't just theoretically sound but practically buildable and meet the client’s requirements.
Strategic Thinking and the Resilience Imperative
In a region facing increasing climate pressures and natural hazards, Glen believes infrastructure resilience must be a central concern and not an afterthought.
The South Island faces particular challenges. Vulnerable geographies, like the West Coast with its sparse populations and limited rate-payer bases to fund solutions, and unique communities like Queenstown, where a small permanent population funds the infrastructure needs for extremely high visitor numbers, require unique strategies.
"In some areas there's a legacy of underspend and underinvestment in infrastructure quality, capacity, and resilience," Hughes observes. "The increasing pressure from climate change is only going to exacerbate these issues."
For communities like South Dunedin and Westport, where climate vulnerabilities are already apparent, Hughes advocates for strategic adaptation alongside traditional infrastructure solutions. Sometimes this means making complex strategic decisions rather than just simply rebuilding or reinforcing existing systems.
"Some communities require strategies to adapt to their situation. Generally, the options will be long term and expensive and likely will have to be funded by either the ratepayer/taxpayer or the user. We need to make smart choices about which approach makes the most sense for each community."
Looking Forward – Health, Sustainability, Opportunity
When asked what he hopes to contribute to South Island infrastructure over the next decade, Glen returns to his people-centred philosophy.
"I'd like to look back on infrastructure projects that have contributed to the betterment of society. Good infrastructure means the ability to be more productive, but also that we're healthy, safe, and sustainable."
His vision of a thriving community, supported by effective infrastructure, includes provision of clean and healthy urban environments that support opportunities for growth and development and contribute to sustainability that persists for generations.
As RCP’s South Island Infrastructure Lead, Glen sees his role as contributing through strategic guidance that helps communities make wise infrastructure decisions, even if that means sometimes challenging the status quo.
"Many local authorities are challenged by funding and delivery models that lack flexibility," he notes. "Our niche is providing the independent upfront strategy, advisory, optioneering, and feasibility skills to maximise value and ensure a quality outcome. We really want to support clients and their stakeholders with delivering great project solutions.”
For Glen, infrastructure is ultimately about enabling communities to define and pursue their own aspirations. The measure of success isn't in concrete poured, or pipes laid, but in communities that can grow, connect, and thrive because their essential systems function seamlessly.
As New Zealand faces increasing infrastructure challenges, from ageing systems to climate adaptation, Glen’s perspective offers a valuable reminder that behind every project are people whose lives could be impacted for generations.
"Infrastructure," he concludes, "is about providing generational opportunities to people and communities."
