Ensuring a quality outcome - Experiences in delivering a three cubicle toilet block in a semi rural location
Annual Conference
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In October 2008, Andrew.Stewart Ltd commissioned a three cubicle toilet block at Karekare Beach for Waitakere City Council. This paper presents our experiences over the last 8 years from the initial public hearing and Environment Court through to installation and commissioning.
How many consent conditions does it take to build a simple three cubicle toilet block in a semi-remote location?
In the case of the Karekare public toilets constructed in the Waitakere Ranges, the answer was 131, with these being spread over four different types of permits, including a:
From the Engineers Representative and Contractor’s perspective, there was also the Traffic Management Plan, Health and Safety Plan and contractual commitments to comply with.
To increase the frustration of this pro ject was the effort and expense the City Council had to go to, to get these consent, the extent of double up and overlap of agencies and departments, and overall lack of focused holistic management. This excludes the power of one public stakeholder to cause countless years of delays and wasted ratepayer money.
The end result of the consenting process was that the wastewater discharge consent tied the Council into brand specific treatment technology, which through the public hearing process ended up trebling in size and being enhanced with ultraviolet disinfection. This increased the cost of the system by approximately 25%.
Consultation for the land use consent and license to occupy the reserve resulted in the attempt to incorporate a portion of the now much larger treatment plant under the toilet block to reduce the loss of car parks on the site. This increased the cost of the toilet block by approximately 30%.
The paper covers planning issues, wastewater treatment and disposal, resource consenting, engineering design, and installation