Icon representing Australia Australia
New Zealand New Zealand
New Zealand New Zealand
Icon representing Australia Australia
ASX Share Price:
  • About us
    • About us

      Downer is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and employs more than 26,000 people.

      Learn more
      • Overview
      • Executive Leadership Team
      • Our Purpose
      • Our Expertise
      • Our Policies
      • Our Culture
      • Board of Directors
      • Company history
      • Overview
      • Our Expertise
      • Board of Directors
      • Executive Leadership Team
      • Our Policies
      • Company history
      • Our Purpose
      • Our Culture
  • What we do
    • What we do

      Downer is a leading provider of integrated services in Australia and New Zealand.

       

      Learn more
      • Sectors
      • Transport
      • Energy & Utilities
      • Facilities
      • Defence
      • Sectors
      • Transport
      • Energy & Utilities
      • Facilities
      • Defence
  • Investors
    • Investors

      View our latest ASX announcements as well as financial reporting, key dates and shareholder information.

      Learn more
      • Home
      • Results Centre
      • ASX announcements
      • Webcasts and presentations
      • Share price
      • Key dates
      • Corporate governance
      • Annual General Meetings
      • Shareholder information
      • Dividend information
      • Other information
      • Home
      • Share price
      • Shareholder information
      • Results Centre
      • Key dates
      • Dividend information
      • ASX announcements
      • Corporate governance
      • Other information
      • Webcasts and presentations
      • Annual General Meetings
  • News and media
    • News and media

      View the latest news from Downer as well as our capability brochures.

      Learn more
      • Latest news
      • Media contact
      • Whitepapers
      • Downer podcasts
      • Latest news
      • Media contact
      • Whitepapers
      • Downer podcasts
  • Sustainability
    • Sustainability

      We understand the importance of having a responsible and forward-thinking approach to sustainability.

      Learn more
      • 2024 Sustainability Report
      • Relationships
      • Modern Slavery
      • Case studies
      • ESG materials
      • Climate Change and Decarbonisation
      • Governance
      • Environment and climate change
      • Safety, health and wellbeing
      • People
      • 2024 Sustainability Report
      • ESG materials
      • Environment and climate change
      • Relationships
      • Climate Change and Decarbonisation
      • Safety, health and wellbeing
      • Modern Slavery
      • Governance
      • People
      • Case studies
  • People and careers
    • People and careers

      Our people are fundamental to the culture and success of Downer.

      Learn more
      • Home
      • Our people
      • Downer benefits
      • Life at Downer
      • Current opportunities
      • Own Respect
      • Inclusion and belonging
      • Report a concern
      • Home
      • Life at Downer
      • Inclusion and belonging
      • Our people
      • Current opportunities
      • Report a concern
      • Downer benefits
      • Own Respect
  • Contact us
    • Contact us

      Downer has over 300 sites across Australia and New Zealand with our head office based in Sydney.

      Learn more
      • Contact us
      • Supply to Downer
      • Construction partners
      • Contact us
      • Supply to Downer
      • Construction partners

Sustainability Report 2022

  • Sustainability Report 2022
  • About this report
  • Sustainability snapshot
  • Chairman and CEO message
  • Materiality and stakeholder engagement
  • Material topics
    • Governance
    • Health and safety
    • Environment
    • People
    • Relationships
  • GRI Standards
  • Climate change report
We have detected you are accessing the site from
Do you want to be redirected to the Downer site?
Go to Downer
Stay on  Site
Are you sure you want to leave this page?
This link is taking you to a site outside of Downer
Go to Site  Stay on Site
Embedded Video

Getting Gisborne back on its feet

  • Getting Gisborne back on its feet

Downer has unique capabilities, experience and equipment required to help communities get back on their feet immediately following devastating weather events.

Downer’s New Zealand team is regularly at the forefront of emergency response to natural disasters, like the 100-year weather event in Gisborne, on the East Coast of New Zealand’s North Island, in early 2022.

On 23 March 2022, a State of Emergency was declared in Gisborne, with significant flooding and damage to the city’s roading and telecommunications infrastructure.

Downer’s combined capabilities were evident with many members of our Utilities and Transport teams working around the clock to reconnect the community after the flooding wiped out bridges, roads, power and buildings, causing many residents to evacuate their homes.

The fibre and copper cables that support internet, cellular and voice calls are often laid adjacent to the carriageway, and the damage to these meant that emergency service calling was unavailable, seriously impacting repair efforts. 

To support the restoration of services, Downer’s Telecommunications team quickly mobilised to get temporary solutions in place to ensure communication remained available and allow infrastructure repairs to be completed by Downer’s Transport team, as well as Civil Services.

The Telecommunications team worked up the East Coast to repair Chorus’ four main exchange sites, along with approximately 10 cabinet sites, four Vodafone mobile sites and three mobile sites for Spark.

Meanwhile, the Transport team worked to repair severe damage to Mangahauini Bridge in Tokomaru Bay, which connected the main city.

While the Transport team was supporting the clean-up, the Telco team also had to work through challenging stormy conditions, restoring land slips, fallen trees and damaged cables, all while working with limited visibility.

The Telecommunications and Transport teams delivered exceptional emergency response services through incredibly challenging conditions, all while keeping the surrounding residents safe.

The Telecommunications team put in several temporary solutions to get land line coverage up and running, and more importantly, to get residents and emergency services connected to the telecommunications network.

The Transport team collaborated with several local subcontractors, forestry companies and boundary partners (caretakers of the roading network) to conduct various remedial works. This allowed the team to access the large roading equipment that was required to clear the debris from the storm and meant the subcontractors were able to get to the sites quickly.

The Transport team’s huge effort to support the community meant the Mangahauini Bridge repair was completed 11 days ahead of schedule. The Telco team’s incredible work meant that the main telecommunications services were restored with temporary solutions within three days, allowing communities to stay connected and emergency response services to effectively communicate with each other.

This initiative demonstrates Downer’s contribution to achieve the following Sustainable Development Goal:

Back to Relationships


  • Copyright © 2025 Downer Group
  • NSW Master Security Licences
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Disclaimer
  • Contact us
Image Preview