Rutherford Street Upgrade

Donaldson Civil teamed up with two other contractors to deliver this project on the main road into Nelson. This was a full servicing and roading upgrade with Donaldson Civil completing part of the Stormwater and Watermain works as a subcontractor to Fulton Hogan.

The Stormwater portion consisted of 185m of 1800mm diameter concrete pipe, plus some connections to manholes, sumps and laterals.

This section started off in a difficult spot with a bespoke bend weighing approximately 6tonne being lifted into position under 33kv cables, at an invert depth of 3.6m below the road surface. Following through to a manhole and another custom bend, the team began the straight run of pipe that ranged from a depth to invert of 3.9m through to the deepest point of 6.5m below the road level.

The site team used a 30t zero tail swing excavator, and benched the excavator so the tracks were sitting 1.5m below the road level. This meant they could then reach the base at the deepest point, with the excavator not being on its limits, so the fineese needed to lay the pipes was available. Through a lot of the deep section, rock was encountered in the trench which was removed by ripping then excavating with rock teeth.

Double slide rail shoring from Trench Shoring NZ was employed to keep the team safe in the hole. This was a key asset to the project for its efficiency and ease once set up correctly.

A separate team completed Watermain work on the upgrade at the same time. 246m of PVC line was installed and commissioned which included multiple house connections. 195m of 315mm PN16 PE line was installed via open trenching however, 74m of 315mm PN16 PE line was installed via directional drilling in the tight spots, where open trenching was not the best option.

This was a very successful project, and we are proud to be part of the collaborative team that delivered this project for Nelson City Council.