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Our Pathway

A blueprint for Tonkin + Taylor’s collective journey

They say ‘a journey begins with a single step’, but a roadmap is also key in reaching an intended destination.

Our Pathway is the blueprint that guides Tonkin + Taylor Group, a 100% employee owned and operated group of companies, comprised of Tonkin + Taylor New Zealand, Tonkin + Taylor Australia, Geotechnics, and Chadwick Geotechnics.

It gives direction towards where we want to go, what we want to be, and what we want to achieve – all while staying true to what makes us uniquely Tonkin + Taylor.

Our Pathway is comprised of four elements – Our Purpose, Our Values, Our Vision, and Our Strategy.

Our Purpose is ‘Together we create and sustain a better world.’

Our Pathway is our journey together, and our Purpose motivates us: leaving a positive impact on our communities and environment. Our Purpose speaks to our power to make an impact together.
Our purpose continually challenges us to take responsibility for improving the world around us. We optimise the resources we are kaitiaki, or stewards, of, and, in collaboration with our clients and partners, we manaaki, or care for, our people and our world by working towards the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The wairua, or spirit, of Tonkin + Taylor is a place of belonging, from which we journey together. Our purpose is challenging to express in Australia’s many indigenous languages, but it is universal to our work, wherever it occurs. By supporting people of all cultures and using our world’s precious resources wisely, we inspire others to join us in creating sustainable, positive impacts for our people and our planet.

Our values guide how we deliver solutions every day:

Everyone matters

Everyone matters reflects our commitment to care, respect, inclusion and belonging. It shapes how we work with each other, our clients and the communities we serve. We believe better outcomes are achieved when every voice is heard. By valuing diverse perspectives and listening first, we build trusted partnerships and create sustainable solutions that respond to real community and environmental needs. We support our people’s ambitions, careers and wellbeing, equipping them with the tools, mentoring and opportunities to grow. In an environment where people feel respected, supported and constructively challenged, they can do their best work — for our clients and for the planet.

Empowered to deliver

Empowered to deliver is about enabling our people to achieve meaningful impact at every stage of their careers. We foster a culture of accountability, trust and professional growth. Through technology, training and mentoring, we give our people the confidence and capability to navigate complex environmental and infrastructure challenges. We encourage creativity, innovation and autonomy — because resourceful, empowered teams deliver exceptional, evidence-based outcomes for our clients and communities.

Excellence every day

Excellence every day means taking pride in doing great work together — and continually raising the standard. As leaders in engineering, environmental science and sustainable infrastructure, we strive not only to achieve excellent technical results, but to create lasting value. We build enduring client relationships that lead to deeper collaboration, smarter solutions and greater long-term impact. Drawing on global expertise and diverse experience, we learn from the world and contribute to it — sharing knowledge, advancing professional practice and delivering sustainable outcomes that strengthen communities and protect the environment.

Our vision is to be Oceania’s best environmental and engineering partner.

Our Vision captures an ambitious destination “Best in Oceania” in our chosen areas of “environmental and engineering” and in our working style of being a “partner.”

Oceania: Our roots are in this part of the world. We’re navigators, resourceful, diverse, innovative and resilient.   We bring the best from our multitude of cultures, and we don’t take our existence for granted.  We work across New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific, and selected global locations where our partnering approaches and specialist expertise can deliver unique value.

Best in the Vision is defined by Best for Clients, Best Place to Work and Best Expertise. These three bests are our unique customer and people positions that drive our market differentiation. They set a standard that we can aspire to, and measure against (refer to the Key Results in our Strategy), and to hold ourselves accountable to. The three bests have been part of Our Pathway before, and we have repurposed them with a modern interpretation.

Environmental + engineering: We are proud and respectful of our whakapapa – this descriptor (identity) has served us well since the 1990s and continues to be a USP.  It does apply to all companies in the Group.

Partner: We work well with others, seeking win-wins.  Our working style is a “partner” – a trusted partner to clients solving their problems with them, a partner with other firms when that is best for client, and a partner in delivering to communities.

How will we achieve our Vision?

We will do it through three Strategies. Each is supported by Objectives and Key Results.
We will maintain a strong core. Our ultimate resilience and performance come from being best at what we do, and this must be our number one focus. We will be recognised as leaders in our home markets, protect our existing competitive positions, and grow our profitability. Our strategy for a strong core maximises both our current and future value.
We will create new edges. Our story tells us we have always created new opportunities, and the successful ones have, over time, become the core of our current businesses.  We must continue to create these new edges and future business strengths.  It is about greater resilience through a more diversified portfolio of geographies, sectors, clients and services.  We will also create new client value through innovation and business value through reinvestment. These are our big changes, which will require clear strategic intent, more company resources, and good decision-making/gateways.  Our strategy to create new edges maximises our future value.
We want to align to win as a Group, with modern, AI-enabled, efficient, and aligned support systems. We will keep our people safe and thriving by protecting what is great about our culture, increasing our collective leadership, management capabilities, resilience, agility and learning. This strategy is essential to enable our core and edge strategies and our whole Pathway.

Check out what we can do

Tonkin + Taylor’s vast experience and expertise spans many sectors and service types from consulting all the way through to project management and completion.

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