Marina Terrace Apartments Ground Anchors

A determination to succeed

PROJECT: Marina Terrace Apartments Ground Anchors CONTRACTOR: Brian Perry Civil (BPC) CLIENT: Southern Joint Ventures (SJV) VALUE: $3m

BPC’s innovative approach and determination to succeed delivered SJV a solution to what other contractors said was an unbuildable design.

SJV was close to abandoning its plans to construct the Marina Terrace Apartments complex on a steep, unstable Wanaka site when it turned to BPC. One hundred and eightynine self-drilling anchors installed to 20m were needed for the permanent retaining system. Three contractors had failed to install the designed anchors or to come up with an alternative proposal. By that stage the project was 12 months behind schedule.

BPC’s first attempt fell short, hindered by the soil profile depth mobilising back up the casing due to the high artesian flows, and pinching the anchor bar between the casing and bar, extracting the anchor with the casing. Determined to find a solution, BPC brought in another designer with more experience with self-drilling anchors. The outcome was anchors that met the 20m designed length on first trial. Additionally, the anchors have a 100-year lifespan, 50 years longer than the required New Zealand standard.

Working alongside the new designer, BPC developed an accelerated and buildable solution to meet the timecritical programme, much to the client’s delight.