The Pines

The client

Sicon are an infrastructure maintenance provider in Canterbury holding major maintenance contracts with District Councils throughout the region. They provide maintenance, construction, and management services for roads, water and wastewater infrastructure, parks and reserves, and landfills. Our engineering team has a well-established relationship with Sicon, and we have provided design services for several previous projects. For this project Sicon’s client was Selwyn District Council.

We have a long history working with Sicon and have a good understanding of their capabilities. Our teams often work together to throw ideas around to come up with a range of possible solutions that are workable in the real world. As a multi-disciplinary team, we can offer a range of services where know we can add value and let the contractor (Sicon) take the lead during the construction.

The challenge

Selwyn District Council were developing a turning pad for kerbside collection green-waste trucks to dump their load before the waste was shredded and made into compost. Their contractor, Sicon, had a pavement design and were part way through construction when the specialist machinery needed to complete the construction became unavailable. Sicon approached us to provide an alternative design that could be completed quickly and within the clients, already partially spent, budget.

Sicon and Selwyn District Council needed a pavement design that would stand up to the heavy traffic using it. The turning motion of the trucks would put stress on the surface and the pavement needed to withstand this. Our client was already part-way through their timeline and budget for this project and needed a workable design quickly that would consider the design and construction work already completed.

The solution

We looked at the previous design Sicon were working with and provided two alternative pavement options - both utilising the levels and the foundations already constructed. We were engaged to provide the design and detailing for a flexible pavement option and were also involved with construction monitoring and observation.

We designed a pavement with a cement stabilised layer that would sit beneath the asphalt surface to add strength and prevent the asphalt forming ridges from the turning motion of the trucks. We worked with Sicon to adapt our design to utilise the existing construction already completed.

Sicon has their own equipment that can cement-stabilise pavement in-situ. This was utilised in this project which kept the cost within budget and meant our client didn’t need to engage a third-party contractor to complete this work. Utilising this material in the design strengthened the overall structure of the pavement and was a more cost-effective option for both Sicon and Selwyn District Council.