Kyle Christensen

Background

About Kyle Christensen

Kyle is an Independent Consultant with over 25 years’ experience in River and Stormwater Engineering and Floodplain Management. He has a Bachelor of Natural Resources Engineering as well as a Masters of Engineering specialising in the interaction of river control works and morphological processes in river systems. Kyle is a Fellow of Engineering NZ and has also served on the management committee of the Engineering/WaterNZ Rivers Group for the last 15 years. The scope of Kyle’s expertise ranges from numerical modelling of hydrology, hydraulics and sediment transport through to detailed design and construction of river control works, hydraulic structures and urban stormwater infrastructure. Kyle is regularly called upon to provide expert evidence and peer review including review of hydrological and hydraulic models, design review and failure diagnosis of flood and erosion protection works and expert evidence for complex river and stormwater related projects. He has experience appearing for Applicants, Council and Submitters in resource consent hearings as well as in Environment Court proceedings. He has also provided expert technical advice for formal Determination processes relating to flood hazard mitigation requirements under the Building Act. Kyle has been the floodplain management and river engineering technical expert on the panels that investigated Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bay in 2023, the Ngongotaha flood in 2018 and the Edgecumbe Flood in 2017. Kyle also developed the Room for the River technical guidance for the River Managers Special Interest Group which sets out the evolving best practice for river management in NZ. Kyle also has vast experience in fulfilling Engineer to the Contract (Independent Certifier NZS3910 2023) roles on construction projects including stormwater, river works, coastal works and water treatment plant upgrades with values of $1M to $25M. Kyle completed an MBA specialising in Corporate Governance and served on the Board of Utilities Disputes Limited from 2018 to 2024.