Fulton Hogan Manawatu

Fulton Hogan’s Manawatu Regional Office and Depot, which extends its reach to Whanganui, was established post Covid in late 2020 to support Fulton Hogan Major Projects after it won both the Manawatu Gorge Replacement Highway project, linking the Manawatu to the Tararua and beyond, and the Air Surveillance Maritime Patrol (ASMP) contract at Ohakea Airbase for the Ministry of Defence.

The Royal New Zealand Airforce’s replacement of the P-3K2 Orion fleet for ASMP with the heavier P-8A Poseidon aircraft meant all the horizontal infrastructure needed replacing to handle the additional weight.

This included but was not limited to hard stands in front of the new hangars, aprons, stubs or the new taxi-way extension. It all involved earthworks, drainage, pavement construction, premium quality concrete and asphalting, and that was only a fraction of what would be needed to build the new highway over the Ruahine’s to replace the Manawatu Gorge Road state highway which was closed in 2017.

Manawatu Regional Manager, Victor Maggs, has been with Fulton Hogan for 37 years.

Over his career he has been involved in a range of management roles across the North Island, adding to his engineering qualifications with a post-graduate diploma in Business Management, and taking up his current position when the Regional Office was established in 2021.

“One of the strength of Fulton Hogan is our support both within our regions and across them”.

Until then the Manawatu area was a branch that sat under the Wellington Region but following the success of winning the two large projects in the region, the Fulton Hogan board approved the establishment of a standalone regional business with the main office in Palmerston North. It was initially established to act as an internal supplier for Fulton Hogan Major Projects.

“We purchased a new state of the art Marini asphalt plant that came into the region to supply the asphalt required for the two major projects,” says Victor.

“We then quickly established our own paving crew and our growth in both asphalt production and laying has been significant, along with our skills and capability in all other facets of civil construction,” he says.

They won the Palmerston North City Council roading maintenance contract, and further down the track the Manawatu District Council roading maintenance contract, both substantial contracts in their own rights.

“Then we started winning infrastructure projects independently of Major Projects including a significant pavement and drainage project at Ohakea, the design and build for a parallel taxiway at the Whanganui Airport, and we also negotiated the runway overlay for that airport as well.”

As the contracts came in, Fulton Hogan Manawatu-Whanganui built up capability in the region to deliver them.

The runway overlay at Whanganui Airport was designed by Fulton Hogan’s Engineering Solutions team in Christchurch’s Corporate Office, then built by staff in the region including their own paving crew. It went on to win the New Zealand Airport’s Awards, Infrastructure Project of the Year 2024.

Now well established as the Manawatu-Whanganui Regional Office and Depot they have well over 170 staff as they finish off the second of two major roundabouts for NZTA, one on State Highway 1 at Ohakea and the other on State Highway 57 at the back of Levin to provide access for the new O2NL (Otaki to north of Levin) expressway that will link the two.

“Being centrally placed in the lower North Island means we can support our neighboring FH Regions,” says Victor.

“We work closely with the Wellington region supplying asphalt as well as resources for surfacing, construction and drainage works.

“One of the strengths of Fulton Hogan is our support both within our regions and across them.

“We now have regions in all areas of the country and are proud of our history as well as the great work our staff do.”

In December 2025 Fulton Hogan Manawatu was also awarded the NZTA state highway contract, formerly known as the NOC contract but now known as the IDC.

This is the largest road maintenance contract in the area and provides 10 years of secure workload. The region will grow by another 60-70 staff .