Kayelene Place Bio-Filtration Pond

Article written by Sam Riddell – Project Delivery Manager

Vitruvius was engaged by Western Bay of Plenty District Council (WBOPDC) to help them deliver a Bio-Filtration Pond designed to service the additional stormwater runoff generated by a new 100 lot development in Ōmokoroa. This project, funded through development contribution fees, played a crucial role in enabling residential growth while safeguarding the quality of stormwater runoff and protecting the receiving streams and catchments.

Vitruvius was engaged to perform a peer review of the design and work in with the incumbent designers to finalise it. This was a tricky design as this is the largest bio-filtration pond in New Zealand, so the design required scaling up a typically smaller system. When up sizing these sorts of systems to a much larger scale, there are some concerns around ensuring its effectiveness. Stormwater360, whose product it was, are providing ongoing monitoring and support to ensure it is effectively treating the stormwater.

The project site required significant preparation before construction could begin. Due to soft native soils, enabling works included clearing the land and preloading it for 6 months. Vitruvius facilitated this by procuring a contractor through closed tender invite. The submissions were then provided to WBOPC with recommendations. Once the contractor was engaged, Vitruvius managed the construction of the pre-load phase on behalf of WBOPDC.

Following the completion of the final design and the preload period, Vitruvius facilitated the procurement process for the pond construction works. This was put out to open tender on the Government Electronic Tenders Service (GETS) where Vitruvius was part of the tender evaluation team. During construction of the pond, Vitruvius served role as the Engineers Representative. As the first bio-filtration pond of this scale, the construction required innovative problem-solving and close collaboration among all stakeholders, however Vitruvius was able to facilitate a great team culture and all parties actively worked together for the best interest of the project.  The result was a successfully delivered project that exceeded expectations.