Preloading earthworks on new aquatic facility site

Published: 5 August 2019

Napier City Council will very soon begin site improvement earthworks on the corner of Tamatea and Prebensen Drive, in preparation for the proposed new aquatic facility.

A separate consent has been granted to carry out preloading works, which has no bearing on the construction resource consent process. The construction of the facility is still subject to a court hearing which will take place from 30^th September at Wellington High Court.

In the meantime, NCC is pleased to have come to an interim relief position through the Court, which will enable some scheduled work on the new aquatic facility to continue as planned. This means that work can continue with the resource consent process, preloading earthworks, the evaluation of tenders received and acceptance of the preferred tenderer by Council. The tender process closed earlier in July. Any final award of the contract will await the final outcome from the 30^th September High Court hearing. 

The opportunity to preload before resource consent has been granted came about by NCC acquiring access to suitable fill that is below market rate. By using this fill now, NCC will save several months of project time, resulting in significant cost savings.

The opportunity to preload before resource consent has been granted came about by NCC acquiring access to suitable fill that is below market rate. By using this fill now, NCC will save several months of project time, resulting in significant cost savings.

Preparation of the site requires ‘preloading’ work, which means placing fill on top of the ground at the new building site. The purpose is to allow the fill and existing ground to settle and compact to a satisfactory level. This will be a period of at least three months.

Preloading will be managed by NCC, further reducing project costs by removing a potential margin that a main contractor would impose in their costings, had they undertaken the work themselves.

Traffic disruption will be minimal during the preloading, with site access from a yet to be built access point at the northern end of Tamatea Drive.  Earthmoving machinery will be on site to lay out the fill. During this period there will be some minor noise and ground vibration.

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