A high-precision lift on the NZ$28M Onehunga Foreshore Restoration Project has won Fulton Hogan both the Project of the Year and People’s Choice awards at the NZ Annual Crane Association Conference Awards.

The project is the largest foreshore reclamation of its kind in New Zealand, and involves the redevelopment of 6.8ha of parkland and amenities and building a new pedestrian and cycle bridge linking the new foreshore to Onehunga Bay Reserve near Auckland.

Fulton Hogan Project Engineer Nariman Benzadi said the bridge lift was complex from both a logistics and engineering perspective.

“The bridge structure weighs 118t and is 80m long, which posed a challenge for Fulton Hogan to bring it to the site through Auckland’s motorway network.” he said.

New Zealand Crane’s 450t mobile crane was used to complete the bridge lift. By carefully scheduling the lift at night along a pre-surveyed route, Fulton Hogan managed to get the crane in place and complete the lift within seven hours, four hours ahead of schedule.

“To achieve the lift in the short timeframe, we completed structural modelling on the bridge, which allowed for assessment of the bridge’s deformation during the lift. This reduced the potential for error or unexpected complications.” said Nariman.