Case study:
Bringing healthier waters in St Marys Bay

St Marys Bay is an inner coastal suburb of Auckland and one of New Zealand’s oldest and most historic areas. As part of its Healthy Waters management plan, Auckland Council commissioned McConnell Dowell to build infrastructure, including tunnelling, shafts, drainage, and concrete, to improve wastewater management and water quality in the area.

One of the project's main challenges was ensuring it had a limited impact on local communities. To do so, the McConnell Dowell team agreed to noise levels they had to adhere to and specific hours during which they were allowed to work. One of the tunnel shafts was particularly challenging, as it was in a very tight space in a crowded residential area.

McConnell Dowell implemented cloud-based software, SiteHive Enviro Pro, to visualise and manage their environmental impact in real time. Linking through SiteHive Hexanode for noise monitoring and a Bartec Rock unit for vibration, the platform allowed the team to see what’s happening on-site and monitor the environmental impacts at all times and from anywhere—giving them confidence and security when dealing with residents and other stakeholders.

Using SiteHive also allowed the team to save on project costs. Before, they would have needed external consultants to deal with community complaints. Now, with SiteHive Enviro Pro, they have the information they need at their fingertips to immediately make informed decisions and respond to complaints with contextual and accurate data and reporting.

Henry says, “With SiteHive, there’s no need to have consultants, so it saves us both costs and time. We don’t have to spend time with consultants, and we don’t have to do the monitoring ourselves.”