A series of three monthly newsletters will cover major aspects of the coastal protection work.  Take a closer look at what's happening as construction work has commenced.

Community Update 1 - February 2010

Community Update 2 - April 2010

Community Update 3 - June 2010

Beach project low public profile

Apart from large trucks carting rocks to the foreshore during weekdays, Waihi Beach residents will notice little unusual activity during the building of the rock revetment along the northern foreshore.

The $1.2 million project got under way immediately after the Easter Weekend and will continue for about six months.

A relatively small team of up to eight employees will work on site at any one time. Work will be carried out on weekdays only and about one week per month will be lost due to day-to-day activity being dictated by the tides.

Contractor Transfield Services will work on the beach using two excavators – a 29-tonne machine and a 12-tonne machine, plus a loader that will pick up rocks. Two trucks will operate daily – one carting rocks from the Waihi Beach quarry and the other removing waste rock from the beach. Rock haulage from the quarry will be a maximum of 20 loads a day.

Transfield Services project manager AJ Hardie says the first task will be to set up their site, install signage and remove the old retaining wall materials of timber and steel.

They will then trial several options as to the sorting, placement and movement of rocks to see which method works best in relation to the beach contour and tidal activity.

Work will concentrate on four property lengths at a time and work along the 1000-metre revetment with a "sausage effect", explained Mr Hardie.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council will have a site office open daily at Brewers Park on the corner of Shaw Road and Hillary Street. Council project manager Christian Dullnig will be stationed at the office and welcomes people to drop in with their inquiries.

Blessing clears way for Waihi Beach project

Light rain, a chilling wind and a restless sea created an unseasonal climate for the official start of the erosion control project on the foreshore of Waihi Beach last Tuesday (6 April 2010).

A Maori blessing was attended by a small gathering of representatives of all those taking part in the building of the $1.235 million rock revetment, including Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Transfield Services and Tonkin & Taylor consultants.

Minister of the Ratana Church, John Toma of Ngaiterangi Iwi, conducted prayers and the blessing on the beach off Ayr Street where the revetment construction will begin.

Western Bay Mayor Ross Paterson said the blessing was a fitting ceremony to launch the project.

Ross turned the first spade of sand and said he was pleased that the project was finally under way after a long time in the planning.

"I sincerely hope that the community will realise that protecting their foreshore against erosion is critical to the long-term environmental management of Waihi Beach.

"Council has a duty to ensure that protective measures are retained along this vulnerable stretch of foreshore."

He encouraged the Waihi Beach community to make the most of the presence of Council's project manager Christian Dullnig who will be on site during the project to deal with any questions and concerns.

Minister John Toma, a resident of Matakana Island, explained that  blessing the site was of great spiritual importance to Maori because it put to rest the spirits of ancestors and gave protection to the site and all who worked on it.

"This (blessing) clears the way for the work to be done. If this is a very old site where ancestors were buried, their spirits would rise up and do bad things if karakia (prayer) and waiata (song) were not conducted. The way is now clear for our ancestors to lie quietly and for the work to be done and everyone to be safe," said John.

Transfield Service project manager AJ Hardie said the first couple of weeks would entail trialling a few options of rock placement to decide on the best way of building the revetment – particularly in relation to the nature of the tides.