The Unseen Advantage of the Waiuku Work

The main work that everyone has been looking forward to in Waiuku is the town centre upgrade – new paving, street furniture, planting, lighting – the things that make the town sparkle. And there has been lots of digging – but so far no sparkle. So what is Council doing?

Well, quite a lot actually. But most of it is under the road – unseen by most, this stormwater work and water main replacement work will be of huge benefit to Waiuku and is a large infrastructure investment.

However, at times it can feel like one construction crew is followed by another, followed by another. And in a way this is right – but the work has been carefully planned to layer infrastructure from under the ground, up. This avoids doing work which then needs to be pulled up for work to go underneath.

“What we didn’t want was a great town centre upgrade to be completed, only to be torn up in a year because new water mains needed to go in or stormwater work needed to occur. So we are trying to get our ducks in a row, getting work under the ground completed before starting work at street level,” says Franklin District Council’s Group Manager: Community Facilities, Ian Alexander.

Council agrees that all this work hasn’t left the town looking its best, footpaths have been reinstated to safe but not final standard and some areas have been disturbed more than once over the last few months. However, change is just around the corner – the town centre upgrade will begin in a week or so and the last of the underground water mains work is due to finish mid-July.

“Thank you to all Waiuku residents for your patience and support. The start of the next round of work signals the completion of a huge investment in infrastructure in Waiuku which will be of benefit to the town for years to come” says Ian.