Merit award project

 "Whakatane District Council’s Ohope escarpment drainage project received a merit award from the Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand at the Association’s annual awards event on Saturday 25 July.

The awards salute engineering excellence and innovation. The Judges consider the technical excellence of the design and execution; they also assess the degree of innovation of each project. Projects are evaluated by at least four judges who make a panel of experienced Assessors.

The projects range in size and design from the vast Northern Gateway, and included a range of projects such as Auckland’s St Patricks Cathedral conservation and restoration the Hawke’s Bay Opera House and Wellington International Airport Southern Runway safety area.

The Ohope Escarpment Drainage project was in response to the landslips that occurred in July 2004 following heavy rain and flooding. These landslips damaged several houses and many properties in West End. The severity of the landslips prompted the Council to investigate what measures could be taken to reduce and minimise the risk of landslips occurring in the future.

The key to the project was the directional drilling to install pipelines through the escarpment to avoid unsightly pipes down the face of the escarpment. Three stormwater discharge points were built in an environmentally sensitive manner, while three wastewater pipelines were connected to the existing Ohope wastewater system at the toe of the escarpment.