Major infrastructure hidden beneath major infrastructure.
As part of the MHX Kirkbride Alliance works at the SH20A/Kirkbride Road interchange, Anthony Hellyer was responsible for delivery of a critical section of Watercare’s Hunua 4 bulk watermain through the project.
The challenge was considerably greater than simply installing a large-diameter pipeline. The watermain crossed directly through one of Auckland’s busiest transport corridors while the wider interchange was itself under major reconstruction.
Delivery required the watermain works to be integrated with traffic staging, bridge construction, excavation, temporary works, lifting operations and the wider motorway programme. With a pipeline approaching two metres in diameter, small changes in sequence or methodology had significant consequences for access, programme and cost.
The work was ultimately completed beneath and alongside the new interchange — substantial infrastructure that is now largely invisible to the thousands of motorists who travel through Kirkbride every day.
It is a good example of the philosophy Civil Solutions brings to complex projects today: constructability isn’t something considered after the design is finished. How something will actually be built should influence the solution from the beginning.
Complex interfaces. Practical sequencing. Build it once. Build it right.