Taranaki Street Rising Main

Scheduled for completion mid-2025, the new Taranaki Street rising main  is now fully commissioned - a milestone that signals we are reaching the end of the project. Success has been due to good planning, use of innovative new technology and working closely with stakeholders.

The G.P Friel crew celebrating a job well done

Alongside all the underground work to commission the new pump station in Inglewood Place that the rising main connects, the GP Friel crew have been finishing off  the roadway areas - Dixon Street, Market Lane and Inglewood Place - so they are in good condition to hand back to the City.

All traffic management will be removed before the crew leaves for Christmas on 20 December.

Meanwhile, we have decided to leave commissioning of the new pump station until the New Year. This means our operational staff will not be under pressure to monitor this new asset over the Christmas break when fewer people are available to address any problems. It also reduces risk in the network.

This means the crew will be back on site in January to commission new manholes in Taranaki Street ad Dixon Street around Inglewood Place. Some small scale traffic management will be required.

A few highlights from works over the last 18 months

Complex pipe work in Market Lane

Guided Auger Bore trenchless technology

Breakthrough under Taranaki Street

A successful crossing under Wakefield Street

The project is on track to be substantially completed by the end of this year, delivering a major new wastewater rising main along Taranaki St from Market Lane to Wigan St that will provide a more resilient wastewater network and will cater for growth in our city.

Since our last update we have successfully pressure tested the new pipes to make sure that they are ready to go into service. This is another great milestone and has really set us up for success as we approach the final stages of the work.

We have also completed a series of complex “shutdowns” of the existing network in Market Lane. During these shutdowns we have prepared and renewed the pipework so that we can connect the new rising main. With some smart thinking, the team on site  managed to get this piece of work done early, shortening the overall duration of the project. Next month we will be tidying up Market Lane and putting the road back to its original arrangement – a one way street.

Complex pipe work in Market Lane

Once connections of pipes near Wigan St and in Wakefield St are made to the new rising main we will be ready to bring the upgraded network into service.

In Taranaki St, around Inglewood Place we have been working on the pipes that make up the gravity wastewater services that connect to the new pump station. Work to complete the last sections of these pipes requires a full closure of Dixon St.

We understand that this will be disruptive, and we have been working with Wellington City Council to minimise the impact of this for businesses and the community. We will be working around the clock for three days to get the work done as quickly as possible. Wellington City Council are going to use the opportunity to carry out some necessary maintenance work while the road is closed. A VMS board is now in position and specific communication undertaken with businesses and residents on Dixon St. If you have any questions on this one then please get in touch.

Following on from the work in Dixon St we will be tidying up Inglewood Place and handing it over to the Wellington City Council team who will be carrying out construction of a new toilet block.

We really appreciate the patience and support from businesses, residents and the public that have been affected by the work.

As ever, please take extra time for your journeys around the traffic management avoid the area if you can and follow the instructions of our onsite traffic management team.

Our project is planned to be complete in early-2025 so we are going to be in the area for a while. 

Due to the challenging nature of these works with the pipe network running down the middle of one-way Dixon Street, we need to fully close the road from Taranaki Street.

We understand how disruptive this closure will be for businesses, in particular hospitality businesses. We have therefore agreed with Wellington City Council for the work to be undertaken on a 24-hour basis from 9am, Monday 21 October to 5pm, Wednesday 23 October.

We have timed the work to be carried out early in the week ahead of the busier hospitality demand later in the week. This will reduce overall disruption to businesses, residents and the public.  There may be some noise while the work is being carried out, however, extra steps will be taken to minimise this during Monday and Tuesday night.

To complete this work safely and efficiently, traffic management will be in place to help guide pedestrians through ensuring safe access is maintained throughout the works. We will also require that all vehicles are clear of the work site. This will be highlighted with no parking cones the night before.

G.P Friell Ltd has now finished installing pipe from Wigan St, under Vivian St and Ghuznee St and reinstated all of Taranaki St from Ghuznee St southwards.

They are now focused on installing pipe around Ghuznee St and Lukes Corner, working towards Courteny Place.

In the next couple of months, they will be laying pipe underground straight across Courteny Place – without any traffic disruption. That is because all of this underground pipe laying is being done using the trenchless Guided Auger Bore, an accurate way to install pipes under the ground without having to dig up the road.

It has meant that we have not had to disrupt traffic using busy intersections and the state highway and it has minimised the amount of waste generated by the project.

Meanwhile, G.P Friel has now installed gravity connections for the new pump station at Inglewood Place and ahead of it being commissioned. Wellington City Council is now preparing to install a new public toilet block before final reinstatement of the site is completed.

Using the latest in trenchless technology, the Guided Auger Bore - fondly known as Gabby - G.P. Friel's crew has now completed 4 of the planned 6 drill shots (each shot results in approximately 80m of pipe installed trenchlessly). The pipe is now being installed from Wigan St, under Vivian St and Ghuznee St to a pit currently excavated outside York Place.

Gabby and team preparing to drive under Taranaki St. 

Auger boring is an accurate way of installing pipes under the ground without having to dig up the road. It has meant that we have not had to disrupt traffic using busy intersections and the state highway and it has minimised the amount of waste generated by the project.

Over the next couple of weeks  G.P. Friel will focus on backfilling and reinstating all of Taranaki St from Ghuznee St southwards before carrying out the last two drill shots around Courtenay Place.

There has also been a lot of activity around Inglewood Place over the last month with crews working to install the gravity connections to the new  Taranaki St pump station ahead of it being commissioned. Over the next few weeks work will focus on connecting the new drains into the existing network in Dixon St – this is going to require a short term road closure.

Once these Inglewood Place works are complete, the area will be handed over to Wellington City Council to install a new public toilet block before final reinstatement is completed.

Crews construct a manhole in Inglewood Place

 

We are also in the final stages of planning to make connections for the new pipes into the existing system in Market Lane. Excavations will start in June in Market Lane to make these connections. During this work, one end of Market Lane will be closed with traffic operating as a two way dead end street. 

 

Thanks to the ‘Guided Auger Bore’ (GABBY), tech they’ve completed two ‘drives’ allowing them to install around 150m of new pipe 3m underground – including a section under Vivian Street SH1– without interrupting traffic!

Trenchless technologies like this reduce the amount of contaminated waste taken to landfill, reinstatement required and traffic disruption.

The team has another 4 drives planned on the project.

We are excited to see what new opportunities G.P. Friel can find to add value to future works with this technology.

An array of historic artefacts from 1880s Wellington, such as shoes, broken plates and bottles have been unearthed as our partner G.P. Friel Ltd’s crews deep trench through layers of reclaimed land into the former seabed.

Ginger beer bottle - GD stands for George Dixon, a Wellington aerated water manufacturer - date of manufacture c.1880, and deposited during or before reclamation in 1886

Working with archaeologist Andy Dodd on site, items are being recovered and documented, and will eventually be returned to the landowner Wellington City Council. Andy will also write a report about the findings.

Also unearthed nrth of the Wakefield Street intersection are structural remains linked to the Te Aro railway, which was built on the newly reclaimed land and opened in 1893.

Now as the worksite progresses from Wakefield Street further towards Courtenay Place, remains associated with an 1870s slipway have also been exposed three meters below the present ground level.

“It’s a very narrow trench, but we’ve so far encountered evidence from a number of structures associated with the industrial development of the Te Aro waterfront,” says Andy.

“The excavation presents an opportunity to recover information that can supplement archival evidence, and potentially fill gaps in what we know about the changes of use in this area over time.

“The artefacts from below the reclamation fill all have terminal date of 1886, so knowing more about when certain items were in circulation helps us date deposits from other excavations.”

As the site moves further towards Courtenay Place, there is a chance of unearthing structures from Te Aro Pa, the original settlement in Wellington established in the 1820s and occupied until the 1870s.

The discovery protocol is however slowing planned progress on the project and it is going to take us longer to complete this activity.

As always, we appreciate the continued patience of business owners, residents, and the travelling public as we install this critical new wastewater infrastructure on behalf of Wellington City Council.

We’ve had a great couple of weeks working around the Wakefield St intersection.

We have now installed a steel casing across the intersection by pipe ramming and cleaned out the casing ready to have this new major wastewater pipeline slipped through it.

Trenchless installations like this mean that we don’t have to dig up the busy traffic lanes of the intersection and create unnecessary disruption. They reduce the amount of waste that the project has to transport to landfill and result in a product that has a lower carbon footprint.

What's next

Over the next couple of weeks we will be constructing connection pipework and chambers in the current excavations and starting to backfill them back up to road level. On the northern side of the intersection we will be working to connect up the pipe to the previously laid section in Wakefield St East before we start crossing Taranaki St into Market Lane. On the southern side of the intersection we will be backfilling the existing excavation before starting to excavate and lay pipes towards Courtenay Place.

There is a lot of work to do and we will provide another update before we start moving the site around.

As ever, please take extra time for your journeys around the traffic management avoid the area if you can and follow the instructions of our onsite traffic management team.

Our project is planned to be complete in mid-2025.