The Steel Bridge Development Group (BDG) was formed in March 2004, as an initiative of HERA's Structural Division, with support from Steel Construction New Zealand (SCNZ). Its main goal is to ensure that steel bridges get fair and equal consideration for forthcoming bridge projects in New Zealand, allowing the competitive composite benefits of steel and concrete to be captured.

One of its first tasks has been to identify the barriers that the steel industry has to overcome in order to achieve our goals and then to take steps to remove them. These steps include increasing the clients' and engineers' awareness on the benefits of steel in bridges, by providing technical support in the form of design workshops, BDG publications, a preliminary design service and design aids.