Ask the right questions

For a slip at Raglan on Highway 23, GSI had a smart, cost-effective solution. But the team was confronted by a blind fault only identified once design and build partner, Andy O’Sullivan Geotechnical Engineering began investigations. GSI needed to know if the tendered methodology would still work, if the site team could keep going to meet a tight programme— confident that defendable design would follow.

Could ‘design creep’ be avoided?

By asking the right question: “How much would it move?”—not “How strong is it?”, an optimised solution emerged. Switching from micro-piles to larger unreinforced CFA piles using machinery already within the GSI fleet, a revised methodology was outlined, with the design then meticulously analysed and detailed. Investigations and detailed design all done and dusted within an unheard of six weeks.