Orange cones, road works, excavators and contractors have become a familiar sight in the north of Blenheim over the past 18 months.

However, significant works to upgrade the sewerage network in this part of town are now largely complete with Council’s core infrastructure spending driving economic benefits and environmental gains downstream.

Mayor John Leggett says when Marlborough emerged from the Covid-19 Level 4 lockdown in August 2020, more than $30M in critical infrastructure contracts were awarded or restarted in the region. Local contractors benefitted from close to $17M of these.

“The northwest Blenheim sewer upgrade was one of these large infrastructure projects and its conclusion represents the culmination of a huge investment by Council to the tune of $13.7M to future-proof residential growth for up to 700 homes in this part of town,” Mayor Leggett said.

“As our region has navigated the impacts of Covid-19, our focus has been on delivering our planned core infrastructure programme. This has provided significant opportunities and economic benefits and will continue to do so,” he said.

The northwest Blenheim sewer contract, awarded to Schick Civil Construction in August 2020, involved the replacement of approximately 2.7km of gravity sewer main and 1.25km of pressure sewer main and three new, larger pump stations.

Council’s Assets and Services Manager Richard Coningham says Schick has used a lot of local sub-contractor expertise over the life of the project.

Most of the key milestones have been reached including:

• two new sewage pump stations now operational at McLauchlan Street and Budge Street
• Fulton Street sewer replaced and new gravity main in Budge Street
• new pressure main from the Budge Street pump station to Nelson Street
• new gravity sewer main in Hutcheson Street
• new gravity sewer in McLauchlan Street
• new pressure main from the Bomford Street pump station to the Nelson Street gravity main
• new pressure sewer from the McLauchlan Street pump station to Parker Street

“The final new sewage pump station at Bomford Street is close to completion with all construction works finished and just the new electrical switchboard to come. Commissioning and going live will occur once the switchboard arrives,” said Mr Coningham.

“There are also some aesthetics still to complete such as the cladding for the McLauchlan St Pump Station which is delayed due to Covid. This may not arrive until July, but temporary cladding is in place and the pump station is operational,” he said.

“Road reinstatement in McLauchlan Street is nearly done and Bomford Street is now reopened as well. Minor landscaping will be done once the landscape team get unimpeded access to the sites.”

Mr Coningham said Council would like to thank the residents and businesses in all the areas impacted by the works.

“It has been a massive project and not without disruption but the benefit to Blenheim in the wider context is huge and is required to meet demand and satisfy the growing need for housing,” he said.

“This upgrade has increased our sewer and pump station capacities, reduced the effects of inflow and infiltration on the sewer network, and reduced the frequency of sewer overflows so it brings significant environmental benefits as well.”

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