Published: 30 September 2026
Author: Jack MacDonald – Director (Engineering) | Licensed Cadastral Surveyor

AI in Civil Engineering is moving quickly from talking point to everyday tool, and civil engineering is no exception. At Tripp Andrews, we have spent 2026 putting Artificial Intelligence to work on the parts of land development engineering that are repetitive, rules-based and time-consuming.

That work has recently been recognised. Our AI-driven engineering tools won the Information Management category at the 2026 12d International Innovation Awards, presented at the 12d Tech Forum in Brisbane in July. We have also been nominated for Best Implementation of AI in Aotearoa at the 2026 Aotearoa AI Awards. For a firm that has been doing surveying, planning and engineering in Auckland since 1921, these are milestones we are proud of.

This article focuses on the tool we believe will make the biggest difference to our clients: our AI-assisted 224(c) consent condition tracker. It helps developers see exactly where a subdivision sits on the path to new titles. We also touch on our engineering calculation tool, which is cutting the time spent on standards-based design work.

The Gap Between Consent and Titles

Getting resource consent is a milestone, but it is not the finish line. Before council will issue the s224(c) certificate, every condition of consent has to be met, evidenced and signed off. Only then can new titles be released and sales settle.

A larger subdivision can carry well over 100 conditions. They are spread across a long decision document, and often across later s127 variations. Responsibility is split between the engineer, surveyor, planner, geotechnical engineer, landscape architect, ecologist and contractor.

Traditionally, this has been managed in spreadsheets, email chains and the memory of whoever is running the job. When a condition is missed or its evidence can’t be found, the problem often only surfaces at the final 224(c) stage. By then it can delay titles by weeks or months, with direct consequences for funding, pre-sales and settlement dates.

The 224(c) Tracker: How It Works

Our 224(c) tracker uses AI to turn a consent decision into a live, accountable programme of work. It runs in five steps:

1. Read the decision. The AI reads council’s resource consent decision, including any s127 variations, and extracts every condition. What used to be hours of reading and retyping is done in a single step.
2. Assign responsibility. Each condition is grouped by consent number and category, and assigned to the party responsible for meeting it.
3. Track status. Every condition carries a status (met, in progress or outstanding), so progress is visible at a glance.
4. Link the evidence. Each condition is linked to the document that proves it has been met, such as a producer statement, as-built plan or council approval, stored against the job in 12d Synergy.
5. Build the programme. The tracker shows each discipline’s tasks flowing through to 224(c) certification, and builds the certification programme from the contractor’s dates.

Every extracted condition is checked by our team before the tracker is relied on. The AI does the reading and sorting; our engineers and planners confirm it.

A Live Example

On a 73-lot subdivision in Pukekohe, the tracker extracted all 145 consent conditions from the council decision in a single step. Each was grouped by consent number and given an owner, status and evidence link.

At the time, 63 conditions were already met. The remaining conditions are being tracked through to certification, each with a named owner. This replaced a multi-tab spreadsheet with coloured cells that relied on someone remembering to update it.

What This Means for Clients

Clients get direct access to the tracker for their project. Instead of waiting for a progress report or chasing updates by email, developers can log in at any time and answer the questions that matter:

• Where are we? How many conditions are met, how many are outstanding, and how that is trending.
• Who is holding things up? Every outstanding condition has a named owner, whether that is us, another consultant or the contractor.
• When will we get titles? The programme links the remaining conditions to the certification date, so the critical path is visible early.
• Can you prove it? If council, a funder or a purchaser asks about condition 17, the evidence is one click away.

For developers managing funding, pre-sales and settlement dates, that visibility matters. Issues such as a missing producer statement, an outstanding bond or a landscaping condition tied to a planting season surface early, while there is still time to act. They no longer appear for the first time at the final 224(c) inspection.

Because clients see the same information as our team, there is one version of the truth. Everyone works from the same list, the same owners and the same dates. The tracker also makes handovers simpler. If a project manager changes, or a new consultant joins the team, the full history of each condition is in one place.

Faster Engineering Calculations

Earlier in the project, our Engineering Automation tool handles the standards-based calculations behind a subdivision. It covers stormwater (TP108, GD01 devices and detention tanks), pipe design, minimum floor levels and wastewater capacity. Project details are pulled from 12d Synergy, and design rainfall is sourced automatically from NIWA’s HIRDS data. The tool then drafts the calculation summary and Infrastructure Report.

The time savings are significant. The calculations and report for a subdivision job have gone from 2–4 hours to about 10 minutes. Drafting a council RFI response has gone from more than 2 hours to about 10 minutes. For clients, that means faster turnaround at the resource consent and EPA stages, and more of our engineers’ time spent on design decisions.

Engineers Still Sign Off

A common concern with AI in engineering is accuracy, and it is a fair one. Our approach is built around three principles:

• The AI never generates an engineering number. All calculations run in fixed code that has been checked against the published standards (ARC TP108, Auckland Council GD01, Watercare and council codes of practice). The AI manages the workflow, reads documents and drafts text. It does not do the maths.
• A Chartered Professional Engineer signs off every output. Everything the tools produce passes through the same quality checks as work done by hand. Professional responsibility stays exactly where it has always been.
• The rollout is governed. Our directors endorsed a formal AI strategy covering accuracy, privacy under the Privacy Act 2020, and professional liability before any tool was put into use.

The result is faster work without cutting corners. The judgement stays with our engineers; the tools remove the repetitive work around it.

What This Means for Your Project

AI is not replacing engineers. It is changing where their time goes. For our clients, the practical benefits are:

• Direct, live access to your consent conditions, owners and progress through to s224(c)
• Earlier warning of anything that could delay titles
• Evidence for every condition, ready when council, funders or purchasers ask
• Faster engineering calculations and reports at the resource consent and EPA stages

These tools are already in use on live projects across Auckland and Waikato. If you are planning a subdivision, or are in the middle of one and want a clearer view of your path to 224(c) and titles, get in touch.

About Jack MacDonald

Jack MacDonald is a Principal Civil Engineer at Tripp Andrews and a Chartered Professional Engineer with extensive experience delivering engineering-related works across New Zealand. He provides strategic leadership and technical oversight on complex civil and infrastructure projects, ensuring high standards of quality, safety, and compliance.