About Us

We are passionate about working with people and developing solutions to complex challenges

Our Values

We have worked as a team to reflect on our collective professional ‘why’ - to articulate why we do what we do, what matters to us as people and professionals, and the standards we will hold ourselves to as we engage with each other and the people we work with. These values are the result of this work.

We strive to reflect these values every day.

  • We take pride in our work and in providing high quality expertise

  • We are always learning and seeking opportunities to further our knowledge and be leaders in our field.

  • We act with integrity, and always do what we say we are going to do.

  • We are positive, warm and approachable, and care about the wellbeing of our people.

  • We actively contribute to our communities and look for practical ways to be more environmentally sustainable.

Our Story

Traverse Environmental in its current form is the result of the coming together of two companies in 2023 - Aquanet Consulting and Traverse Environmental.

Aquanet Consulting was formed in 2007 by Dr. Olivier Ausseil. Based in Wellington, Palmerston North and Christchurch, the Aquanet team of freshwater experts, provided technical and scientific advice, supporting a wide range of projects and clients including Regional and District Councils, iwi/hapū, central government, and other companies and organisations across New Zealand.

Traverse Environmental was formed in Taupō in 2019 by Simon Bendall, following 10 years of consulting work. Traverse specialised in resource management act processes, climate change adaptation, geothermal energy, community engagement and facilitation. Similar to Aquanet, the majority of project work focused on local government, working with and for iwi/hapū, and central government / CRIs.

Olivier and Simon had already established a close working relationship from more than a decade of working together on projects requiring freshwater and planning expertise. This included a project they co-led which won the 2016 Chapman Tripp Project Award from the Resource Management Law Association for “Developing an approach in the reconsenting of the Ohakune, Raetihi and National Park Wastewater Treatment Plants that was culturally inclusive, collaborative and technically feasible and effective”.

With shared values and interests, and a desire to work more collaboratively, they decided that the two companies would be stronger together, merging environmental planning and freshwater science expertise to form a new, combined company under the Traverse Environmental name.

The combined company has offices in Taupō, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch and supports projects nation-wide. We are fortunate to have formed a fantastic team of like-minded professionals, to be able to contribute to a range of nationally significant projects, and to work with amazing people.

As a combined entity, we are excited about the value we can add to clients and projects going forward.

How we work

We are a small, boutique consulting firm with a focus on delivering for clients, and providing high quality, robust and professional advice and solutions.

We have established long term, enduring relationships with clients and the communities we work with and for. In many cases these relationships have been built over multiple years.

We take the approach that our work speaks for itself; the vast majority of our work comes from repeat clients or referrals.

We are values-based, and quality-obsessed. We fundamentally enjoy working with and helping people, and that drives us every day.