Emergency response case studies

Smales Farm trunk sewer failure

While doing an upgrade nearby, the North Shore City Council discovered that the trunk sewer crossing Smales Farm was in urgent need of repair. They called All Drains and, working with Russell Brown Contractors, we had a a complete action plan in place within 72 hours.

Work to replace the 245 metres of 600 mm pipe started at 6 am the next day. One team excavated the old pipe while another lay the new pipe behind them. In the meantime, we maintained flow through a temporary by-pass with three pumps to carry sewerage around the work site at 140 litres per second. A mere 18 hours after we started, the new sewer was connected and working perfectly.

Pipe collapse in car park

Early in 2010, the North Shore City Council called All Drains when a hole had suddenly opened up in a private car park. This was due to a trunk line sewer under the car park that had started to disintegrate. Holes had developed along the top of the pipe. The result was that soil fell into the sewer and was washed away, causing a complete collapse of the ground in the area.

We excavated the area, assessed the problem and devised a solution. Without affecting the existing flow in the pipe at all, we designed and engineered sections of steel sleeve, fitted it over the top of the pipe and covered it up. With this solution in place, we had the car park resealed as it was before… And all of this happened in less than 24 hours!