McConnell Dowell has won a contract to upgrade infrastructure at St Marys Bay and Masefield Beach in Auckland, New Zealand.
The project aims to improve the beaches’ water quality and will involve installing around two kilometres of new pipeline.
Only a quarter of this will be installed using traditional dig and lay methods, with more than half of the alignment to be tunnelled using a Herrneknecht Tunnel Boring Machine. 1.8 metres of internal diameter reinforced concrete will be jacked into place and the final quarter of the pipeline will be built from HDPE, which will form the outfall to be joined in Kaiaua then towed to the city before it is lowered into place on the seabed.
McConnell Dowell said in a release that this method reduces the amount of trenching required in the landward section and cuts down on disruption to the local community and stakeholders. According to the company, It also has the potential to minimise impacts for people travelling through the area, an important consideration in confined residential environments and the city’s transport network.
The St Marys Bay and Masefield Beach Water Quality Improvement Project is one of the first and largest Water Quality Targeted Rate funded projects in Auckland and aims to reduce the number of overflows from an average of 100 a year to 20.
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“McConnell Dowell has considerable expertise in this area having constructed all of the largest marine outfalls in New Zealand,” McConnell Dowell Managing Director for New Zealand and the Pacific Islands Fraser Wyllie said.
“We are proud to be able to help improve water quality in our harbours and beaches and help provide a better life to communities.”