INFRASTRUCTURE & ROADING

Turning complex engineering into clear communications.

The Waimea Community Dam, completed in 2025

Communicating the projects that shape our communities.

Publik supports major infrastructure and roading projects with plain English content, meaningful design, community engagement and stakeholder events, and media relations support, to help people understand what is changing around them, and why.

From new water infrastructure, roads, bridges and airport openings to storm-damaged transport networks, we help project teams explain the work, keep communities informed and bring the story to life.

If you are delivering a major infrastructure or roading project in New Zealand, scroll down to learn more about the work we do.

Curious to find our more? Get in touch!

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Opāoa Bridge. Opened and blessed on 28 November 2020 .

Making complex projects understood

Major infrastructure and roading projects can change how people travel, work and live. They also involve complex technical information, multiple stakeholders and communities that need timely, clear and useful updates.

Publik works alongside asset owners, councils, transport agencies and engineering consultants to plan and deliver communications that connect projects with the people affected by them. We turn the key elements of a project into clear, engaging stories, graphics and content.

Publik has worked with Waimea Water from the beginning of construction on the Waimea Community Dam and continues to support the organisation today. Our work has included media tours, social media management, website development and management, and writing and producing Waimea Water Ltd annual reports. We ensured key media attended events with government officials, including the official opening of the Waimea Community Dam in 2025 by Prime Minister Rt Hon Christopher Luxon.

Publik provided logistics and communications support for the opening of Nelson Airport terminal, including the official opening with Prime Minister Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern and the subsequent public opening.

Following the devastating storms of 2021 and 2022, Publik worked in partnership with Marlborough District Council and the engineering consultant team to support community and stakeholder engagement for the Marlborough Sounds Future Access Study. We wrote the supporting engagement documents, produced communications material for public meetings, developed social media content and wrote newsletters to keep the community updated about the future of the transport network in the Sounds. Our media relations work included organising media tours of the roading network and attendance at public events to help keep the public informed about access.

In 2023, the Marlborough District Council, Publik and Stantec team accepted the Community Engagement category award at the Emergency Media and Public Affairs Awards.

Across these and other projects, we have worked alongside engineering consultants including WSP, AECOM and Stantec. Our role is to make the work easier to understand, easier to engage with and more visible to the communities it is designed to serve.

For infrastructure and roading projects, our work includes:

Strategic communications planning
Community and stakeholder engagement
Media relations, media tours and media events
Project update newsletters
Social media management and campaigns
Website development and management
Graphics and visual storytelling
Photography and videography coordination
Event logistics and communications support
Annual reports and other project publications.
Advertising and public notices

COMMUNICATING THE COMPLEX

For more than a decade we have worked with consulting engineers, the transport agency and local government to support their infrastructure projects, utilising our full-service team across public relations, communications, marketing, digital and design.

STRATEGIC PLANNING
Communications and marketing strategies:
- Communications plans for a project’s construction journey, major announcements and developments.
- Engagement plans to encourage engagement by stakeholders and communities.
- Crisis comms planning and implementation (as trusted advisors on your team).
- Stakeholder engagement: Government relations, shareholder relations and more.
Pictured: The Waimea Community Dam in operation, 2025
WEBSITE AND DIGITAL
New website builds, refreshes and management:
- New website developments that improve user experiences for the public, members and staff.
- Website optimisations that ensure effective engagement and positive user experience.
- The latest techniques to ensure sites are optimised for, and found by, AI (in the right way!) as well as traditional searches.
- Regular structural and content updates.
Pictured: Tukituki Water Supply website.
SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION
Proactive and reactive social media management:
- Social media plans and content, underpinned by strategic intent and an understanding of information needs.
- Monitoring Meta (Facebook and Instagram), LinkedIn, YouTube and other social media accounts and assisting with timely responses to comments and community management.
- Planning, designing and producing cost-effective and strategic social media campaigns.
Pictured: Social media information tile for the Marlborough Sounds Future Access Study.
MEDIA RELATIONS AND MEDIA TRAINING
Achieving informative media coverage:
- Building relationships with reporters, writers and commentators, to keep them informed and to facilitate stories.
- Media relations support to project leads.
- Reactive responses to media on issues as they arise, in a dynamic media environment.
- One-off and regular media training for organisation or project spokespeople, to ensure they are ready to answer both the obvious and the tricky questions.
- Organising and accompanying media at site tours and official launches.
Pictured: Media tour of the storm-damaged Kenepuru Sounds roads in 2021.
INFOGRAPHICS AND GRAPHIC DESIGN
Turning complex details into easy-to-understand visuals:
- Creating simple graphics that tell the story.
- Producing animated explainers for complex topics and projects.
- Producing and updating infographics and fact sheets.
- Website and brand design.
Pictured: Telling the water story visually in the Marlborough District Council’s Local Water Done Well public engagement document .
PUBLICATIONS AND PRODUCTION
Writing, editing and designing print and digital products:
- Annual Reports.
- Public engagement documents.
Pictured: A Waimea Water Ltd Annual Report.
NEWSLETTERS
Planning and writing newsletters that inform:
- Write, edit and proof-read project newsletters as part of coordinated content plans.
- Designed graphics to complement wording.
Pictured: Marlborough Roads newsletter.
CRISIS COMMS AND ISSUES MANAGEMENT
Preparing you to be at your best, on your worst day
- We work with you to prepare crisis communications plans aligned to the risks identified for your project or business.
- Being prepared means that you can bring your best, on your worst day, and prevent a crisis from creating deep reputational damage that lasts longer than the effects of the crisis event.
- We are on stand-by for our clients to support them through an emergency event or issue, around the clock.
- We can free you up from media engagement or other requirements, allowing you to focus on leading your organisation and stakeholders through an event.
Pictured: Mike Scott , CEO Waimea Water fielding One News’ questions about the rock issues at the dam site.