Unobtrusive pump station for South New Brighton

South New Brighton residents are getting used to seeing SCIRT contractors replacing earthquake-damaged pipes under the ground in their neighbourhood.

Now the residents are seeing a work site for something more than pipes: a new underground wastewater pump station.

By mid October, the pump station, the size of a small car, will be buried beneath a two metre diameter lid, surrounded by grass on an area of road reserve. The chamber surrounding the pump sits nearly five metres into the ground.

Fulton Hogan, part of SCIRT, is installing the new pump station on the corner of Kibblewhite Street and Estuary Road. It will significantly improve the resiliency of the wastewater network for 400 households in South New Brighton, acting as a booster station to transport wastewater north to the next catchment.

It will also allow the gravity wastewater pipes, along the middle of the road, to be laid at a steeper grade. This will help the network keep working in any future earthquakes.

The pump station will also be less obtrusive for local residents than a traditional model. Once built, all that will be visible from the street will be a control cabinet, bollards and access lids. Where appropriate, this new design of pump station may also be used in other suburbs of Christchurch.

It will take approximately four months to construct. Fulton Hogan has delivered work notices to local residents and staff have visited many of the residents that will be close to the work site. Read more detailed information on the works notice here.

All of the work being undertaken by SCIRT on the wastewater network in South New Brighton is to ensure this vital infrastructure keeps functioning and is better able to withstand any future land movement.

Diagram of an underground wastewater pump station.

Installing sheet piles, by crane, to protect the work site below ground, is the first step to the new underground pump station in Kibblewhite Street, South New Brighton.