"They've come to realise in the UK that without this sort of collaboration, things can't get done. Whether it was the Nine Elms Project or the work we saw in Manchester, the fear seemed to have gone out of the private and public sectors working together.
"It was a realisation that both can achieve good outcomes. It's not all about business making big bucks. It's how you can leverage off good business practices in the public sector and get some real progress in areas in the country that need regeneration," he says.
The 15 billion Nine Elms London project was assigned a senior politician or "chief unblocker" as Jones calls him to look at the obstacles and decide how the government can help clear the roadblocks.
"There was a recognition from the London borough and the national government that this project was good for the city, good for the economy and therefore we should all get behind it and throw some real political weight behind it," Jones says. "There are lessons there for Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch."
Jones questions why it takes so long for New Zealand to follow overseas innovations. "Why does it take 15 years for us to catch up?"
He is not only talking about the style of growth management in Britain, but also the technology that is being developed overseas and can greatly assist in making infrastructure development as efficient as possible.
Developments like solar LED lighting meshed with asphalt paving for smart traffic management can help a city get the most out of its infrastructure, says Jones.
"There's so much noise around how technology is going to change transportation usage and management.
"It's hard to see what it's going to look like in five years, let alone 10 or 15 years. It's moving so fast and we're struggling with it."
Nonetheless, he says technology is one area where New Zealand doesn't need to be the first mover.
"My view is we go and look at what's being done elsewhere in the world. Let's not try to be a leader, but let's be a follower."
This pragmatic view is based on what Jones sees as a lack of research and development tax breaks in New Zealand.
The Government clearly recognised this problem when it recently announced a plan to double the amount of private sector investment in research and development by 2025. The plan isn't focused on tax breaks, much to the chagrin of the business community.
Auckland is going through a strong growth spurt with several big development projects coming together at once. Jones says "unfortunately, we aren't doing as good a job handling it as our British counterparts.
"What we need to see is more co-ordination between the agencies on what's coming to market and when. This is not well managed at the moment -- in fact, in some instances, they're not even talking to one another."
New Zealand's ability to deal with the growth is also being hampered by a shortage of skilled labour, particularly in Auckland. But Fulton Hogan has mostly escaped this.
"We're in a better position than most because we've got more than 4000 employees around the country in 15 different branches," says Jones. "We don't have the same issues around resources that others do.
"Having said that, for the first time in the last 12 months, we engaged labour from the Philippines down in Christchurch -- and there's no doubt that Christchurch is going to be a draw on the labour in the next few years."
