Swamp Road Multi-plate™ – Record time for manufacture and installation

A hole in the road surface on Swamp Road in Hawkes Bay was just the beginning of a much larger issue for the Hastings District Council (HDC) when they discovered it was due to the failure of the existing culvert structure underneath the road.

HDC was tasked with evaluating the options for replacement of the culvert and due to affordability and a much faster turnaround, the decision was made to replace it with an aluminum multiplate structure from CSP.

“HDC contacted us to see how quickly we could manufacture an aluminium multiplate to suit their requirements, as it was urgently required,” said Jeremy Mallender, Sales Engineer for CSP. “The timing was fortuitous as we happened to have a window in our manufacturing schedule and we also had aluminium plate on hand. We were able to manufacture a 20m x 3m aluminium multiplate in just fours weeks compared to the usual eight to twelve weeks.”

“HDC engaged the Hawkes Bay Regional Council Works Group to install this structure,” explains Hamish Fraser, Contracts Manager for the Hawkes Bay Regional Council Works Group. “The stream is within the HBRC scheme and the culvert replacement was able to be completed as a permitted activity under the HBRC Resource Management Plan.”

With the HDC allowing a maximum road closure of four days, timing was critical. “Four days isn’t long to set up the stream diversion, remove the old culvert, complete the foundations, install the new culvert and back fill,” says Hamish. “Although this is a rural road it was busy during this time as it was the middle of the apple season.”

To speed up the process Hamish and his team built the new 20m by 3m long aluminum multiplate in the HBRC council yard which is only 20 minutes from the installation site, potentially saving four days of installation time. A transport permit allowed the team to transport the 20m long unit to site where a crane, with a specially designed spreader bar with eight lifting points, lifted it into place.