The Project

Solo Plastics Ltd in conjunction with the Humes Whangarei branch undertook the Cable Bay Project. Also associated with the project was Donovan Drainage of Whangarei who contracted the work under the auspices of the Far North District Council.

The original intention was to horizontally drill and pull 96m of 900mm diameter HDPE pipe through a hill. Checking tensile loadings indicated PPS Frank pipe DN800 SQ1 34-10 with an integral electrofusion joint was best suited to do the job, the pipe having a full 800mm bore with an inwall jointing system.

However horizontal drilling proved impractical, requiring an open cut trench up to eight metres deep to be dug. The pipe string was then successfully pulled through the trench, thus alleviating any risk to the pipe layers in deep unstable ground conditions.