RCP came in early and reworked the design to protect the site. An earlier scheme would have cleared native Nīkau palms and lost the sinkholes across the point. RCP kept them. Much of the building was prefabricated and assembled at Punakaiki, which cut cost and trod lighter on a sensitive coast while bringing work to the community, and the job was staged so the old centre kept serving visitors until the new one was ready.
It is an exposed, ecologically fragile place, and the build ran straight through COVID, inflation and supply-chain disruption. As Engineer to the Contract, RCP bought key materials early and worked value engineering with DOC's project lead to hold the budget and programme. Asbestos turned up in the old centre's demolition and the final landscaping got complicated, and the team worked through both without losing time.
Punangairi opened in 2024, owned and run by Ngāti Waewae. What was a quick stop is now a place people stay, where the stories of the coast are told on the coast itself.
