1972: Babbage provided design services for the construction of the Wellington Street Underpass, Auckland.
1973: Britain joins the European Economic Community. New Zealand struggles to cope with this along with huge hikes in oil prices.
1974: Alister Babbage retires after almost 40 years of practicing Engineering Design. Surveyors join the practice. Babbage’s first female director is appointed.
1975: Babbage was one of New Zealand’s first engineering and architecture practices to install its own in-house computer. Robert Muldoon was elected Prime Minister and implemented ‘Think Big’ encompassed several capital-intensive petrochemical projects and big spending economic policies. Babbage began work on one of these projects – nationwide LPG storage units.
1977: Staff totalled 45. Babbage goes international with projects in Malaysia, Thailand, Burma and the Pacific Islands.
