MacDonald Heights Second Reservoir

Budget: $2,250,000

Timeline: July 2019 - March 2020

Status: Under Action

The new MacDonald Heights reservoir project is designed to replace existing water storage at the Almadale Water Treatement Plant that has reached the end of its useful working life. The new reservoir is a mirror image of the existing concrete reservoir at MacDonald Heights.

It is designed to hold 6.8 million litres (6.8 megalitres, or 28,000 large MDC recycling wheelie bins.) of treated water for supply to Feilding. It is 35m in diameter and stands 8.3m tall. The reservoir is designed to be in service for 100 years, and also designed to be able to be operable following a significant earthquake.

Project Updates

We are watering Feilding

The project is complete and the opening of the valves on the new MacDonald Heights reservoir to provide water to Feilding, for at least the next 100 years, could almost have gone unnoticed between the rain and the Covid-19 lockdown. However, for the MDC utilities team, there is always work to be done to ensure that the essential water services continue.

The reservoir will get a paint job similar to the its neighbour, but will depict a night time scene.

(Published: Tuesday, 7 April 2020)

Nearing completion

It’s been a busy month on site! All new pipework to connect the new reservoir to the main water is now installed, sterilised, and pressure tested. This has been an intensive and intrusive process where a significant number of valves and other fittings have been installed to allow for the new and existing reservoirs to be able to be used independently or in tandem. The final stage of pipework installation involved cutting into the main feed into the existing reservoir.

Reinstatement of the trenches around the site continues, along with the external touch-ups on the reservoir. A secure compound for the bottom of the external stairs has been fabricated and will be installed next week. This is designed to prevent unauthorised access to the roof. Internal sterilisation of the reservoir was partially complete at the time of publication, and is scheduled to be fully complete now.

(Published: Thursday, 12 March 2020)

Sealing internal joints

Sealing of all the internal joints was finished this week. The column bases have been completed and roof beams are all in place, bar one. The external ring beam has been poured. The recent spell of fine weather has allowed the crew to make good progress. All precast panels and internal pipework have been delivered to site.

Work on construction of the roof has just commenced. The roof structure will be completed in two stages. Firstly, the precast roof panels are being lifted into place. Steel reinforcing will be placed on top of these panels. Secondly, another layer of concrete will be poured on top of the panels, to complete the roof. This pour will be completed in a single day, in a similar manner to the construction of the floor. This pour is likely to take place in the middle of December. Installation of internal and external stairs, and the roof handrail, will take place while the roof structure is being constructed.

(Published: Tuesday, 10 March 2020)

The roof is on

Precast roof panels were installed prior to Christmas. These precast panels form the first layer of the roof structure. Reinforcing steel has been placed on top of these panels in preparation for the second layer.

Since then a second layer of concrete has been poured on top, to complete the roof structure. This completes all of the concrete structural elements of the new reservoir! External stairs have been attached at the rear to give access to the roof, and to the inside of the reservoir.

The freshly poured concrete roof is curing. Internal temporary supports on the inside of the reservoir will be removed as soon as the curing period is complete. Boxing on the roof will be removed at the same time, and along with filling bolt holes and other minor cosmetic tidy.

(Published: Tuesday, 3 March 2020)