The contract involved the construction of two packages of retaining walls, one at Pipiwai Road and one at Manawaora Road. Due to our performance on the contract, the construction of an additional retaining wall at Te Wahapu Road was added, and all three walls were completed within the initial contract period.
The challenges on the projects included traffic, the remoteness of the worksite and the access for our anchor installation machinery. It was important for the Supervisor and Foreman to plan each day’s works thoroughly to ensure that the correct equipment and materials were taken to site to avoid significant downtime.
The project had one variation on the construction of the Pipiwai Road timber retaining wall. Due to unforeseen ground conditions, longer poles were required and more anchors had to be installed. We managed the variation by collaborating with FNDC and design engineers providing potential value engineering solutions that were efficient in terms of cost and programme. We were able to utilise steel walers for the additional works which we had in stock from a previous FNDC contract (which changed from a timber pole retaining wall to a mass rock after the waler was manufactured). This solution saved FNDC significant money and time on manufacturing.
The most innovative part was working with the client to find a solution. We did this by way of a design for the extra anchors and walers for the Pipiwai Road retaining wall. We also were able to save time and money by proposing to utilise the waler we had in stock from a previous contract.
