Botanical Hill Completion, Nelson
Client : Nelson City Council
Scope of works : Slope stabilisation
Earlier this year the team wrapped up a challenging slope stabilisation project on Botanical Hill in Nelson, delivered for Nelson City Council alongside Tonkin + Taylor.
Before a single bolt could go in, our rope access team manually cleared around 90m³ of material and vegetation from the face entirely by hand. With no machinery access and limited room to move, it was a significant undertaking.
From there, 30 rock bolts were drilled 6 metres into the slope, with all drilling carried out from a basket suspended by a 60 tonne crane to keep the work safe and accurate on a steep face. The bolts then anchored the steel detail and drainage system before 50m³ of steel reinforced shotcrete was applied over two days, working from a fixed man cage on a hiab truck.
Black oxide was added to the mix to help the finished surface sit naturally within the environment, an important detail on a landmark like Botanical Hill.
We're really happy with how this one came together, and looking forward to more work with NCC and Tonkin + Taylor down the track.
Raising the Flag - Nelson Cathedral
Something a little different for the rope access team today.
Vandals at Nelson Cathedral cut the rigging lines that are used to hoist flags high above the cathedral bell tower, with the previous rigging line fully removed we climbed the flag pole atop the tower to install the new rigging lines through the block at the top of the pole so the flag could again be hoisted.
Pole climbing is not a technique often used in rope access, it requires progressively shifting a series of “pole snatch’s” connected to the harness and foot loops and shifting the climbers weight between the harness and foot loops shifting the unloaded snatch one at a time, it is a relatively slow ascent technique used when direct access to the top of the structure is not possible.
The flag has been hoisted and is no blowing in the breeze.
