The OTO Construction crew take a short break from battling the tide. Photo / Myjanne Jensen
The OTO Construction crew take a short break from battling the tide. Photo / Myjanne Jensen
When the time comes to bask in the joy of the long-awaited Mangonui Boardwalk, be sure to spare a thought for those who worked to literally get the project off the ground.
The $3.15 million Mangonui Waterfront Development project is under construction and is due for completion some time in March.
The project, managed by Far North Holdings Ltd, will see a revamp of the existing wooden boardwalk, 40 new car parking spaces, street and boardwalk lighting improvements, extended footpaths, and concrete steps for swimmers at an upgraded jetty, gangway and pontoon.
The project was officially due to be completed by the end of this month, however, according to Far North Holdings general manager Chris Galbraith, 'issues with timber supplies and Covid-19 related disruptions' had meant it would now be ready in March.
United Civil Construction is the primary contractor for the project, with sub-contractors Johnson Brothers Ltd working on piling/headstocks and Laser Electrical, responsible for installing the lighting elements for Far North Holdings.
Local company OTO Construction was also recently brought on board to help with the construction of the swim steps, kerbing, concrete work and handrail for the boardwalk.
A narrow window of time to pour concrete during low tide has meant the OTO Construction crew have been frequently working submerged in water, battling the tide in order to prepare the concrete foundations for the swim steps.
Early last Wednesday morning the OTO Construction team were back in the trenches, in another attempt to empty the area to allow for about 35 cubic metres of concrete to be poured.
OTO Construction director Tohe Kleskovic said the work had been hugely challenging for his crew.
"You can only do this work when the tide is going out, so you've got a very short amount of time to pump out a lot of water," Kleskovic said.
"You also have to make sure you've got the concreting guys on standby, as well as the engineer who can get in and make sure everything is ready to go.
"The summer break also meant the conditions at this site have changed, so that made things significantly more difficult as well."
To make matters worse, two of the four pumps available to pump out the seawater broke down, forcing the crew to source a larger pump from Whangārei.
Local concreter Dan Gardiner of Gardiner Concrete Pumps was on site to pour concrete at the site at 7am, but by 7.30am the water was still significantly high within the boundary.
He said the unpredictable nature of the ocean had been difficult to contend with and one of the most interesting jobs he'd been involved in.
"For us, this is a relatively small job in terms of pouring the concrete, but the work involved to prepare it has been really hard for Tohe and his team," Gardiner said.
"We were meant to pour the concrete at 7am this morning, but the tide has obviously had other ideas again.
The cleared is trench now covered in concrete in preparation for the swim steps.
Photo / supplied
"The guys were working till late last night and up again first thing this morning and have been doing this all week, so they must be exhausted."
Once the larger pump was brought up from Whangārei, the OTO Construction team was back in the water again late last Wednesday night.
Thanks to the right tide and new pump, the team finally managed to pump enough water out to allow for the Gardiner Concrete Pump crew to lay the concrete by midnight.
Kleskovic said he was happy to be moving on to the next part of the project and looking forward to seeing the final result.
"If this wasn't in the tide, it would have been easy work, but due to the changing water conditions, it just made things really complicated," Kleskovic said.
According to Galbraith, the new carpark at the southern end of Waterfront Drive was now almost complete with only minor remedial works still to be undertaken.
The Mangonui Boardwalk is nearing completion. Photo / Supplied
The boardwalk itself is about 70 per cent complete, with most of the piles now installed and headstocks added.
The remaining joists and decking are now ready to be completed, with the project close to being finished by the end of this month, but with remaining elements, including a new gangway and pontoon from the new jetty, due to be completed in March.
The Mangonui Waterfront Development project is the culmination of five years work by the Mangōnui Waterfront Facilities Working Group, with input from Kenana Marae.
Funding for the project was announced in 2020 by then Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones as part of the Government's Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund.
