Gracefield Background

A long history

The facilities and operations at the Gracefield site were originally the Physics and Engineering Laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) and were developed during World War II. In the post-war boom, the site was re-configured to undertake scientific research that would benefit the primary and manufacturing sectors. Active partnering with targeted industries commenced.

In 1992 the DSIR was dissolved into 10 Crown Research agencies, of which Industrial Research Ltd (IRL) was one. IRL was headquartered at Gracefield, until it was itself dissolved in 2013 and its assets transferred to a new Crown entity, Callaghan Innovation.

Due to the breadth of activities that have taken place at Gracefield, a range of resource consents and usage rights are in place, covering discharges to air and water, amongst other things. The consents provide the ability for a wide range of small-scale materials processing and manufacturing activities to take place.

The facilities and activities onsite have evolved over the years, although the vast majority of the buildings and site layout would be familiar to inhabitants from its early days. Science facilities at the Gracefield site have played a significant role in the training and development of New Zealand’s current scientific and technical workforce through the provision of internships, postgraduate research, and other opportunities. Many of the scientists and engineers onsite are pre-eminent in their fields.