We know this ground.
Geotechnical and structural engineering across Christchurch and Canterbury, on the ground the region is actually built on.
Based in Christchurch, across Canterbury.
The office is on Clarence Street in Riccarton and the work runs out from there across the region, week to week, in the same technical categories and liquefaction hazards Canterbury has been classified in since the earthquakes. What your particular site is classified as, though, is a matter of record and of testing. It is never a matter of which suburb it sits in, and any engineer who tells you otherwise has not been there. We go and look.
Where we work.
Christchurch is most of the working week, Canterbury is the region we cover, and there are three places outside it the practice travels for. The list under the map names the towns in each.
Christchurch
- Central and the inner suburbsRiccarton, Addington, Sydenham, Merivale, Fendalton, Ilam, St Albans and the central city. Ten minutes from the desk, so a look at the site is rarely a scheduling problem.
- North and westPapanui, Bishopdale, Burnside, Harewood, Northwood, Belfast, Redwood and Yaldhurst, out to the edge of the plains.
- South and eastHalswell, Hornby, Wigram, Opawa, Woolston, Bromley, Aranui and New Brighton, down to the lower ground near the estuary.
- The hill suburbsCashmere, Huntsbury, Mount Pleasant, Sumner and Redcliffs. A site cut into a slope is a different problem from a site on the flat, and it is investigated as one.
Canterbury
- SelwynRolleston, Lincoln, Prebbleton, Springston, West Melton, Leeston and Darfield. Consents here are lodged with Selwyn District Council.
- WaimakaririRangiora, Kaiapoi, Woodend, Pegasus, Oxford and Cust. Consents here are lodged with Waimakariri District Council.
- Banks PeninsulaLyttelton, Governors Bay, Diamond Harbour, Little River and Akaroa. Harbour and hill country, where access to the site shapes what can be tested on it as much as the ground does.
- North CanterburyAmberley, Leithfield, Waikari, Culverden, Hanmer Springs and Cheviot. Consents here are lodged with Hurunui District Council.
- Mid CanterburyAshburton, Methven, Rakaia, Hinds and Mayfield, from the plains up into the foothills.
- South CanterburyTimaru, Temuka, Geraldine, Pleasant Point and Waimate, for subdivision and new dwelling work down the coast.
Beyond Canterbury
- Auckland, Wellington and TaupoThe three regions outside Canterbury the practice works in. Different ground, different councils, and a flight or a long drive to get to it, so these jobs are planned around one trip rather than several.
The ground we work on.
The conditions Canterbury sites throw up, and what each one asks of a foundation.
TC1, TC2 and TC3 sites
The technical categories that classify residential land for foundation design. TC3 carries the most detailed investigation requirement, and a single subdivision can hold more than one of them.
Liquefaction-prone ground
Saturated sands that can behave like a liquid in a large earthquake. Where the hazard is present the investigation goes deeper, usually to CPT at 15m rather than shallow testing at 3.0m.
Soft and compressible soils
Ground that will not carry a slab evenly. Piles taken down to a competent layer are often the answer, and the depth is a number the ground gives us rather than one we assume.
Hill sites and slopes
Cut and fill on a grade, where slope stability and the retaining structure are settled before the building is designed. Site inspection first, then shallow testing, then the soil logs and the site plan.
Mass movement sites
Ground that moves. These are designed for with the geotechnical and the structural sides working off the same numbers, which is the reason both disciplines sit under one roof here.
Standard residential lots
The common case, and still tested rather than assumed. Hand augers, shear vane and Scala penetrometer to 3.0m, logged, which is usually one visit and the smallest line on the whole build.
Local ground, a national standard.
The knowledge is Canterbury. The credentials carry anywhere.
15
Years
On New Zealand ground.
500+
Jobs completed
Across the regions we serve.
IntPE(NZ)
APEC Engineer
Chartered to an international standard.
30+
Towns covered
Across Canterbury, named on the map above.
Tell us where the site is.
An address is enough to start. We will tell you what the ground there is likely to ask for, and what it will take to find out for certain.