The signs are there: billions of dollars in infrastructure spending is taking place on both sides of the Tasman and experts warn there may not be enough skilled workers to deliver the projects.

According to Engineering NZ, 7% of Kiwi graduates studied engineering, compared to the OECD average of 12%.

WSP Opus General Manager of Technical Capability Peter Wiles told Stuff something had to give, pointing to Dunedin’s $1.4 billion hospital.

"Nothing of this scale has ever been built in New Zealand before. I think there's a lot that needs to be done. It won't be fully resourced in New Zealand,” he said.

 "We are getting by at the moment, but if nothing changes there will be huge pressure on New Zealand

"Something we have to be cognisant about at the moment is the projects coming up."

Adrian Hart, Associate Director Construction, Maintenance and Mining at BIS Oxford Economics, said Australia has a “tsunami-level” amount of infrastructure projects in the pipeline, particualry road and rail projects.

“I don’t think we neccisarily have the skills and capanbility to deliver all of the projects as they’re currently mapped out,” Hart told intouch at IPWEA’s Asset Management Congress.

“What will happen if that’s true is we’ll probably see delays to projects, we may see increases in the costs of projects.”

Hart says the projections point to a need for skilling in the areas where the projects are taking place, and should be a signal for governments to better look at their project pipelines and move away from trying to deliver during political cycles.

It’s not just the amount of projects on the horizon that concerns Hart; he said there is also competition on the way from a regenerated mining industry. 

“Between 2013-2016 it was a lot easier to get infrastructure projects off the ground because of the downturn in mining and because of the downturn in general infrastructure spending everywhere,” Hart said.

“I think we’re going to have a lot more challenges over the next few years because states that weren’t investing in infrastructure as much like WA and Qld are coming back again, it won’t be as easy for NSW and Vic to simply roll out big infrastructure projects and expect to get skills and capability, they’re going to be competing with the other states and increasingly other sectors like mining.”