Space to hold, grow and test imported plants until they clear biosecurity, catching any pest or disease before it reaches New Zealand's environment and growers.
MPI Interim Post-Entry Quarantine Facility
Every plant brought into the country spends time in quarantine before release, so any pest or disease is caught before it reaches the environment or the primary sector. Demand for new plant genetics was outpacing the Ministry's existing high-containment greenhouses, and the permanent replacement was still years away. The interim answer is twelve greenhouses and a headhouse of laboratories, cool stores and support space, built to the Level 3B biocontainment standard and run under negative pressure on Plant & Food Research's working Mt Albert campus.
RCP managed the project's establishment, coordinated the lead consultant and design team, procured the contractors in the tight 2021 to 2022 construction market and administered the build contract through to completion. Meeting the Level 3B standard drove every call. RCP ran the independent accreditation with specialists brought in from Australia, advised on the subcontractors and commissioning teams the facility depended on, and held the containment function whenever value management pressed against cost, because any compromise would have left the facility unusable.
The facility reached completion in February 2024 and moved into trials and commissioning ahead of commercial quarantine work. It is built to carry the load for around seven years while the Ministry delivers its larger permanent facility.
