6 March 2025:

Fulton Hogan’s Civil, precast and regional teams are putting the final touches to one of the larger Cyclone Gabrielle emergency recovery projects.

They have worked 24/7 across four shifts since September 2024 to complete the Kereru Gorge no.3 culvert structure in the foothills 40km west of Hastings. It is due to open to traffic by Easter.

Civil Contracts Manager, Joel Hodgson, describes the new culvert as “humungous”, replacing the previous culvert that was swept away, leaving a 40m wide by 18m deep chasm.

Joel says the construction team has been building concurrently with the design delivery for much of the project, while managing the complexity of the accelerated programme.

“Being an around-the-clock operation and with things developing so fast, shift management, adequate engineering support and fatigue management have been key,” Joel says.

“There has been no shortage of challenges and pressure points, but the service from the precast team and the wider team’s willingness to dig it in is a source of real pride.”

Fulton Hogan precast has played a big role in the design, including upstream and downstream retaining walls that follow the gorge’s contours. Using inhouse software and survey data from the gorge, they custom developed 976 recon blocks to form the lower 10m of the culvert, supporting a 6m high, 69 panel L-Wall.

The recon blocks were cast with couplers for tying the walls to the structure and accommodate both the culvert’s semi-circular shape and the gorge’s contours.