Project Overview

This role supports one of New Zealand’s most significant and technically complex vertical infrastructure developments. The project is a large-scale, secure operational facility being delivered through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) and joint venture model, bringing together some of the country’s most experienced construction, engineering and service delivery organisations.

Designed to operate around the clock once complete, the facility incorporates high-security environments, complex building systems, and long-term asset management requirements. The project environment is fast-paced, highly collaborative and governance-led, with strong interface management across public and private sector stakeholders.

About the Opportunity

Joining this project offers the rare chance to be part of a high-profile, nationally important build from within an established and well-resourced delivery team. You will work alongside industry specialists in a project setting that values professionalism, discretion and excellence, while offering exposure to sophisticated commercial, security and operational frameworks unique to PPP projects.

This is an opportunity for someone who thrives in structured, high-accountability environments and is motivated by contributing to infrastructure that delivers lasting public value.

Services Design Manager

Based in Templeton, Christchurch and reporting to the Design & Engineering Director, the Services Design Manager is responsible for leading and coordinating the design of all building services packages across the project. This role is critical to ensuring integrated, compliant, and operational outcome across all services disciplines during pre‑construction, detailed design, testing and commissioning, and into operational delivery.

Working within a major project, joint‑venture environment, you will act as the key interface between the services design teams, discipline leads, construction teams, and operational stakeholders, ensuring coordination, constructability, and long‑term performance across complex and highly serviced facilities.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and integrate the full design coordination of building services for high-security, justice, and correctional facilities, including:

• • Electrical – high-integrity power systems with redundancy, uninterruptible supply for security and critical functions, and facility-wide distributed control
  • Fire protection – life-safety systems incorporating zone control, suppression sequencing, and compliance with custody-area containment requirements
  • Mechanical – HVAC segmented by custody zones, resilience and redundancy for 24/7 operation, and environmental control integrated with security strategy
  • Hydraulic – secure water distribution systems with anti-contamination safeguards, demand control for separate custodial and administrative zones
  • ICT, electronic security, and building automation systems – integrated surveillance, access control, intercom, perimeter protection, and communications networks
• Act as the technical authority ensuring all building services designs respond to the facility’s operational hierarchy—supporting secure areas, controlled movement, and mission-critical system continuity.
• Manage multidisciplinary design coordination using advanced BIM/digital engineering workflows for spatial zoning, restricted service routes, and engineering segregation.
• Oversee design assurance for critical safety systems, validating compliance with correctional standards and regulatory security requirements.
• Lead technical risk assessments for essential service systems and establish redundancy strategies for continuous operation under emergency and lockdown conditions.
• Resolve complex design and interface issues at the intersection of structure, architecture, and services—balancing constructability with custodial safety and long-term maintainability.
• Direct the technical design review and verification processes across concept, detailed design, and commissioning to ensure alignment with operational protocols and facility management systems.
• Provide authoritative design input to security engineering and building controls integration, including interoperability testing and data network performance validation.
• Champion innovation in system efficiency, digital monitoring, and predictive maintenance technologies suited to secure, 24-hour environments.

About You

• Extensive experience designing and coordinating building services for high-security, correctional, justice, or defence facilities.
• Strong technical depth across multi-disciplinary systems integration, particularly in environments requiring segregated and controlled operational zones.
• Proficient in digital design tools (Revit, Navisworks, 3D coordination, and security systems modeling) and familiar with governance-led design delivery frameworks.
• Strong understanding of facility operations in secure settings—how design decisions affect movement protocols, surveillance, and emergency response.
• Lead the seismic design coordination and technical assurance of all building services systems, including restraint, anchorage, bracing, displacement allowance, and post-event serviceability for critical and security-related infrastructure.
• Skilled in leading multidisciplinary design teams and communicating complex technical matters to client security and operations stakeholders.

Qualifications, Skills, and Experience

• 10–15 years’ experience of technical leadership within complex MEP design and coordination environments, with significant exposure to justice and correctional sectors.to manage complex engineering problems
• Demonstrated competence in integrating electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, and electronic security systems in compliance with national correctional facility standards.
• Advanced knowledge of technical assurance, commissioning validation, and design-to-operation interface management.
• Proven ability to apply rigorous engineering verification, reliability modeling, and lifecycle performance analysis to mission-critical systems.

What We Offer

This role offers a genuinely unique opportunity to work within a joint‑venture environment, combining the strength and capability of a highly respected New Zealand constructor with the scale, systems, and global experience of a leading international infrastructure organisation.

We offer:

• The opportunity to be embedded in a large‑scale, high‑profile project from early stages through delivery
• Exposure to both local best practice and world‑class global systems and processes, providing invaluable professional development
• A collaborative, inclusive project team environment that values expertise, partnership, and shared success
• Strong leadership, structure, and support within a well‑resourced organisation
• Competitive remuneration aligned to skills and experience