PROJECTS
Wairarapa Wellington Nelson
FROM ONE PROVINCIAL TOWN TO ANOTHER
Oldfields was awarded a $1.2 million contract to renew the water, sewer and stormwater mains for the Masterton District Council and needed extra resources to help them out. Higgins Levin Branch staff were called upon and have spent the last 10 weeks in the Wairarapa working at various sites.
Just about the whole Levin workforce has done a stint in the Wairarapa over the 10 weeks but in particular, Mike, Graham and Dean have been enduring. Mike Morgan’s the foreman and drainlayer and is either in the digger or in the trench he’s just excavated.
Dean Armstrong’s family have history clocking up 43 years of service with Higgins altogether, with his dad the longest serving at 27 years.
The crew started on Bentley Street replacing 374 meters of sewer main with 28 laterals to connect and 6 manholes to deal with along the length of the road. The crew’s daily outputs were such that they completed the job ahead of schedule. Well done men!
They also worked alongside the Oldfields staff with the laterals on Harley Street before launching into Devon Street. The Devon Street job is larger with 550 meters of sewer mains to be replaced at a much greater depth of 2.5m to 3m. The pipes are laid on bedding mix at a gradient established using laser levels inside the main pipe lines. The men are currently working through completing the 23 laterals and manage to complete 2 per day and make a start on the third. They’ve been working with Matt Bell and Steve Butler from Oldfields and are very complementary about all the Oldfields staff. “They’re good sorts and helpful” says Craig Kemp, the Levin truck driver for the past 2 weeks. He has been with Higgins since August last year and finds the work in Masterton enjoyable.
The whole contract is based on good workmanship and timeliness. With the way things are chugging along, Oldfields is sure to be awarded more work and hopefully Levin Branch will be happy to support them.
MDC SEWER MAIN: HARLEY STREET
Oldfields has replaced the existing live sewer, piece by piece along Harley Street. The work is being carried out for MDC as part of a massive sewer and watermain renewal project.
Foreman, Brent Fleet did a little research and has bought a few pieces of critical equipment to help them with the project. Sewer test plugs were purchased because the sewer lines are live while relaying the pipes. The test plugs are placed inside the live pipe and then inflated with a bicycle pump to ensure a tight fit. A rope is tied to the sewer plug bracket so that it can be deflated and retrieved afterwards. I hope Brent’s knot skills are up to scratch . . .
Harley St was a busy hub today with 3 gangs working on the sewer replacements. Boggie was in the digger, digging a trench 2 meters deep which looked a whole lot deeper when I stood on the edge and looked in! They are working very neatly excavating and loading straight into the back of a truck. Gonzo’s on the ground keeping everyone moving along and checking the depth of the trench. The second crew of Matt Bell and Matt Tocker are laying the bedding and new pipes shortly after them with Matt Tocker constantly measuring the fall with the laser. They’re laying up to 8 pipes a day at this depth. The cage limits the speed of the work but is an essential piece of safety equipment. Further down the road, Steve, Mark and OJ are filling in the open trench with basecourse and dressing it with topcourse.
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KEROSENE RIDGE STRUCTURAL REPAIRS
Oldfields was commissioned to rebuild parts of the main route to Riversdale Beach which also services many farms. Having plenty of work on, a new gang had to be created to carry out the project. With just under 100 years of experience in the contracting industry between the four of them, they’ve dubbed themselves “The A+ Team”.
The team was made up of young Shawn Jackson, who usually operates the mobile crushing plant at remote sites around the Wairarapa, fully clad in ear muffs, hard-hat, protective eyewear and a dust mask. Robbie Lewis assists him loading the mobile plant and has also done a stint down at Victoria Quarry for the Nelson Branch, of which he says he found very interesting. Stu Allen spends his day in a loader servicing the fixed crushing plant in the Waingawa Yard in Masterton and loading up customers with the various products stocked in the yard. The Team is ably led by the experienced Bill Bradley, Maintenance Foreman.
Bill started his career in the industry with the Masterton County as an Earthworks Foreman. Master Roads & Services (a subsidiary of Higgins), took over the County roading staff and Bill worked for them as a Maintenance Foreman. He operated all sorts of machinery constructing dams, tracks and working in forestry. “In those days, you’d turn your hand to anything when it came to contracting”, says Bill.
His most memorable job was a river diversion out at Bideford. It was also one of the biggest contracts seen in the Masterton County. A large slip had created a dam in the river which caused the adjacent Maringi Road to flood continually. There was flooding throughout the job which took 4 months to complete.
Bill recalls helping with the surveying and was holding a staff on the side of a bank. His co-worker yelled out to hold the staff still, which he was doing, except the bank was moving, and moving fast. Luckily, Bill reacted quickly (quicker in those days J) and managed to escape being engulfed by the land slide. They moved around 30,000 m3 of earth, creating a 30 meter deep hole, 60 meters wide.
The current repairs are located on a section of the Blairlogie-Langdale Road that is known as Kerosene Ridge. “Kerosene Ridge” is so named because of the natural gas vent there. Early settlers noticed one particular area would keep burning after the rest had died down, when burning native bush to farm the land.
Bill said “the work is very labour intensive and was physically exhausting in the first week while my body was getting used to manual labour again”.
Bill and the crew set targets to work towards and achieved them all. It can take one whole day to fill and compact 25 baskets. Two sites were completed, the first site being 54 meters long and the second site of 50 meters long and just a few meters uphill from their first site. Part of the road was excavated and a drop of between 3 and 4½ meters was excavated alongside the road. Darlington Drilling once again set up their rig and drove the irons vertically into the ground and timber planks were installed to create a retaining wall. The irons were anchored by anchor ties laid horizontally. The first level was backfilled with basecourse and compacted. Drainage from the upper hillside and underneath the road was carefully considered as this would prevent further slips.
The next 3 levels were created with wire baskets, 25 baskets in each level. The baskets were assembled on site and placed on the base which had been created. Bill said that the basket assembly went slowly in the beginning but soon they worked out a method and then they were away. Once the baskets were in place, the team used a lacing tool which crimps the basket wires to connect them to each other as well as to the layer below. Shawn doesn’t find the 2kg gun heavy at all with Bill and Stu working alongside him preparing the baskets for crimping. Grasstrike erosion matting was then put in place to prevent any material loss and to promote plant growth on the face of the basket. The baskets were backfilled with basecourse and then topsoil was placed down the front of the baskets to give the plants something to grow in.
The whole lot is then compacted and the basket “lid” is folded over the top in preparation for the next layer of baskets. Geotextile is placed between layers to prevent the baskets from moving.
The poplars, pines and wattles sometimes provided The A+ Team with shade, although Robbie did not enjoy the associated allergies. They also had their fair share of wind but thoroughly enjoyed the change of scenery from aggregate production.
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RIVERSDALE TERRACES SUBDIVISION
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OLDFIELDS TACKLE STRUCTURAL REPAIRS IN THE MASTERTON DISTRICT
Oldfields has been awarded a contract for the Structural Repairs for the Masterton District Council. The sites are located on a section of the Blairlogie Langdale Road that is known as Kerosene Ridge. The road is the main access to Riversdale Beach settlement and a large farming area out on the East Coast. The road is reasonably narrow, with a history of instability with many slips and dropouts that are continually moving. Oldfields along with their subcontractors Darlington Drilling and Piling, are charged with constructing seven structual retaining walls. The project involves driving some 236 rail irons deep into the unstable areas, then attaching some 1500 metres of wooden timber facings over the seven sites. Tie backs are then constructed using D16 Reinforcing Rod which is attached to more irons that are driven into the existing road to complete the tie back structures. Drainage against the walls, along with excavation and backfilling of the slip failure scarp is also part of the project. Where this occurs, Reinforced Earth Construction using Green Terramesh units combined with Geogrid are constructed to provide additional pavement stability.
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