The foundations needed to be able to support the weight of 3000 tonne storage tanks.

Concrete rings needed to be installed around the base of the tanks to an accuracy of +- 3mm.

The foundations needed to be able to support the weight of 200m3 silos.

The ground condition was abrasive pumice sand.

H5 treated Radiata Pine timber piles were determined as the best solution to be installed down to the founding layer.

The original design was for 18.0m long poles which was revised based on the results of extensive test piling.

Geotechnical investigation was carried out to verify the pile design.

Pile Driver Analyzing (PDA) testing to verify pile capacity needed to be carried out.

Piles had to be installed with specific accuracy.

Installation needed to be rapid.

The strict health and safety requirements of Fonterra needed to be met.

The site was extremely busy with numerous contractors working on site at the same time.

Once the founding layer had been reached the poles were cut off above ground at the level required for installation of the concrete rings and bases.

The subcontractor, Markovina Pile Driving, was able to successfully install the MultiPoles with the accuracy and speed required.

Pile Driver Analyzing (PDA) testing for Dynamic Load was carried out to verify pile capacity, and a geotechnical ultimate load capacity of up to 860kN per pile was successfully achieved.