By Haigh Workman Engineering Consultants
The entrance to Bossy Ltd’s Lone Gum Lane housing development in Kerikeri is striking. The lone gum-tree for which the road, and its housing development, are named stands sentinel at the top of the road. As you wind your way down into a beautiful, park-like riverine reserve, spacious lots designed with luxurious living in mind unfold before you.
This is a premium housing development in one of Kerikeri’s most exclusive neighbourhoods. Haigh Workman was delighted to work with contractor Siteworx and our client Bossy Ltd to prepare the site for development and on infrastructure engineering.
This was the second such land development undertaken in the immediate area by Bossy Ltd. Our brief involved the initial site investigation (including geotechnical analysis), design of the development and the associated earthworks, all aspects of stormwater management, provision of services and full roading and traffic design. We also supported the Resource Consent application, monitored construction and provided PS4 and 224C documentation for Council sign-off.
Engineering the access road to Council’s urban-road specifications was particularly interesting; it winds down a steep hillside with a gulley on one side and existing housing on the upward slope. We were faced with the challenge of cutting into the hillside to form the road, without potentially removing support for the ground and housing on the slope above.
Our solution involved mass block gravity walls. The hard soil and shallow rocks of the area would have made it difficult and prohibitively expensive to drill piles so we relied on mass to provide support for the ground above. As a result, attention to detail in the design of the holding wall was key.
Internally at Haigh Workman, one of our measures of success is the invisibility of the engineering involved in any project. The building, structure or design should always be the hero, we feel. The bit that keeps it all up, or enables the design to work, is what we do – and when no-one can see it, that’s when we know we’ve cracked the job. This is very much the case on Lone Gum Lane; as you meander down the hillside into the heart of the development there is very little to draw attention to the two massive retaining walls that make the access road viable. The blocks comprising the upper wall are molded in the style of quarried rock, their outline softened with staggered levels and lush plantings that cascade over the lip.
For our team, one of the great joys of this project was our ability to follow it through each and every stage of its development. From a purely greenfield site with no design concept, through to working with some of the new section-owners – some of who had never owned property before – on the design and build of their new homes. And every conceivable aspect of engineering in between.
It gives us very real pleasure to be part of that full land development circle. Particularly when, as sometimes happens in small communities such as ours, our own staff end up buying properties we’ve helped develop. Projects like these always remind us of the humanity behind what we do.
Haigh Workman Ltd is full-service engineering consultancy with offices in North Auckland and Northland. Our expertise spans all elements of civil, structural, geotechnical and environmental engineering.
We’ve been engineering for Northland for nearly half a century and offer clients a strong team of leading New Zealand consulting engineers with a comprehensive range of skills. They bring specialist expertise, providing creative and quality engineering solutions – regardless of the challenge.
We’re 100 percent Northland-owned and operated, and our growth and success is due in large part to the continued and growing support of our local customer base.
It’s also due, of course, to the proven expertise of our team. All of our engineers, geologists and technicians are hand-picked – not only as experts in their fields, but also for their proven career focus on project delivery and customer support. In plain language: ‘getting stuff done’.
We offer comprehensive project management services. Whether you require stand-alone project management or seamless integration with Haigh Workman design and engineering services, we have the expertise to meet your needs. Our project management services are delivered by experienced project managers with a wide range of experience, both in New Zealand and internationally.
Local procurement is becoming an ever-more important topic as central and local government increasingly seek to make project funding contingent on the involvement of smaller, locally- or Māori-owned businesses in the delivery of the project.
Aspects of this wellbeing procurement approach can be challenging for project owners though. Our team can help you navigate these requirements – both on an individual project basis and as part of an ongoing strategy of community development and engagement. We believe this capability is not yet commonly offered in civil engineering in NZ.
For our own part, we make a point of buying local; working with local, Northland sub-contractors on our engineering projects wherever we possibly can. For us this is an important aspect of our own investment in the communities where our talented people and their families live, work and play.