The project was started by local retired zoologist John Darby and is the first project of its kind in New Zealand, and a world leader.
Mr Darby’s journey to setting up the programme was his astonishment at discovering there was still a small population of grebe in Wānaka.
"I’d only ever seen one live breed in my life," he said.
"So, it was a rare and threatened species on the shoreline."
As thrilling as it was to see the bird, he also noticed the difficulty it was having in building a floating nest on the edge of Lake Wānaka.
The grebes faced issues such as strong winds and a changing lake level, making it difficult to build an effective and long-lasting home to lay their eggs.
"Because of its very close proximity to the shoreline, then it’s very sensitive to predation by terrestrial predators," Mr Darby said.
"If the lake levels rise, then the nest can become detached from the edge of the water and if it drops, likewise, the bird is unable to get to the nest."
Concerned about the bird’s potential extinction, he began designing a floating nest platform which would ensure the birds were secure.
The platform was far more stable than the natural nests and enabled the birds to lay their eggs and incubate them safely away from predators.
Mr Darby has been working with Forest & Bird and many locals for 13 years to continue the project.
"It’s been very successful over there, and it’s a lot of good people looking after things ... the big thing is we’ve increased the population of them quite significantly."
He has also recently been contacted by a university in Hong Kong which has asked for his help in designing their own platforms.
As the project continues to support an endangered species, they are now on the lookout for more volunteers.
These included a grebe ambassador who would occasionally give talks to school groups or conference attendees.
The group’s general volunteers are responsible for visiting the marina regularly and checking on conditions, and especially any of the floating platforms that might be sinking.
