CLG: First AC36 infrastructure project milestone complete

This month has already seen the Wynyard Edge Alliance (WEA) reach a major milestone on their project creating the stage for the 36th America’s Cup, and another is planned for the end of the month.

“On 15 May we completed the operational handover of Base A, which is being used by Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ), and we plan to handover Wavebreak 8 on 29 May,” says WEA Construction Manager Kurt Grant.

“It’s great to have reached our milestone on time – it represents a long period of hard work to achieve such a challenging objective. We’re also on track to achieve the upcoming handover as planned, despite some delays earlier in the year.

“These handovers represent big milestones for our project, as well as the first tangible pieces of new infrastructure that will allow ETNZ to defend the America’s Cup,” he says.

Work across waterfront continues to progress

With these milestones complete or near competition, WEA focus is now on the rest its work across the waterfront so that the rest of the project’s planned handovers are completed on time and with similar success.

 “We have installed all the steel pile casings and high-density polyethylene sleeves for Wavebreak 8, and the last of the concrete pours is taking place early this week,” he says.

Five and a half rows of piling for the Hobson Wharf Extension have been completed, with 66 of 84 piles now installed. Precast panels have been installed for the first four rows and the concrete pours for the deck have been completed for three of these rows.

“Our subcontractor Brian Perry Civil is in the process of mobilising their jack-up barge for the Wavebreak 5 works, at the end of Hobson Wharf. They’ll be arriving on site to start next week,” Kurt says.

“Meanwhile, at the end of Halsey Wharf, we have completed fender pile demolition, ready for the piles for Wavebreak 3 to start being installed in early June with the Gladstone barge crew.”

The dredging of the entrance channel is now complete, and WEA is currently 70 per cent through dredging and disposal in the outer Viaduct Harbour. To date, they have dredged and disposed of 54,000 cubic metres of material.

“The Wynyard Wharf repair works are 70 per cent complete and we’re mow moving into the area closer to North Wharf,” Kurt says.

“We have completed the link road between Hamer and Brigham streets, except for landscaping.

“Over on Wynyard Point, grading work for the sites of bases C and D has been done, while grading and demolition works for the Base E site are 20 per cent complete. Utility work for these bases is ongoing,” he says.

“Looking ahead, the handover of the building pads for bases C and D – ready for these syndicates to start work on their buildings – will be our next big milestone. This is planned for early August, and we’re now well positioned for this handover with the bases already graded and utility work well under way.”

Commitment to environmental protection ongoing

As work on WEA’s project continues, so do their ongoing environmental monitoring programmes.

Brendon Barnett, WEA Environmental and Sustainability Manager, says that their focus is currently in four key areas – water quality, dredging, noise and vibration, and erosion and sediment control.

“We’re undertaking water quality monitoring within the inner Viaduct Harbour to build a dataset and get an idea of any changes that take place following installation of the infrastructure. This involves taking monthly water samples, sampling following storm events and aesthetic inspections of waste build up points,” he says.

“When it comes to dredging, we do weekly sampling of suspended solids levels while the work is taking place. We also undertake aerial photography at the same time as this water sampling to allow us to assess the spread of dredge plume.”

Both noise and vibration monitoring are carried out during the first instances of piling works near sensitive receivers.

“Our current focus is on the SeaLink relocation works and the upcoming works around wavebreaks 3 and 5, now that pile driving alongside the New Zealand Maritime Museum is now complete,” Brendon says.

“We’re also undertaking ongoing monitoring of the noise impacts on North Wharf resulting from the hydro-demolition being done as part of the Wynyard Wharf repair works, as we progress further south along the wharf.

“Marine mammal observations are also ongoing during the piling works in multiple locations across our site.”

Monitoring of erosion and sediment control is taking place on Wynyard Point to ensure the containment and treatment of any surface water within the water treatment plant to prevent discharges.

“The need for this has been limited so far, due to good weather conditions,” Brendon says.

“We’re also undertaking dust suppression and maintenance of clean road surfaces to prevent the spread of material beyond site boundaries.

“Also, as they’re completed, we’re stabilising each base area. Bases C and D are now completely sabilised with clean hardfill.”

New phase of AC36 event planning underway

While WEA’s project progresses, so does the planning for the 36th America’s Cup event itself.

Following the competition of the Host Venue Agreement on 4 April, America’s Cup Event Limited (ACE) has largely completed the first of the four phases of their Event Delivery Plan.

Grant Calder from ACE say they are are now into second phase of planning for the event, which is focused on facilitation and operations.

“The event team will grow in size over the next couple of months, with key personal recruited in ITC, health and fafety, security, air space management and project management.”

“We’re working closely with the Prada and the Challenger of Record on the design of the Race Village, with concepts drawings from the Prada-appointed architect Renzo Piano,” Grant says.

ACE also confirms there is no change to the number of challengers taking part in the event.