Brian Perry Civil is constructing the Whakawhirinaki Pipe Bridge for Wellington Water Limited – replacing the large diameter bulk water pipeline across the Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt River in Upper Hutt. The bridge, which will also have walking and cycleways, was gifted the name Whakawhirinaki by local iwi at a dawn ceremony last year.

This is one of the region’s most critical water supply pipelines for the bulk water supply network, supplying all the water to Porirua City and North Wellington. In its current alignment it is seismically vulnerable, difficult to maintain, and severely affected by corrosion.

The works include 1000m of new 1m diameter steel pipe across the river and through the Manor Park golf course. The new seismically resilient three-span pipe bridge across the river consists of a 100m network arch at the central span and steel trusses at the end spans.

This project, which will be completed in 2025, demonstrates BPC’s innovative, outside-the-box thinking to deliver value for clients. Through our ECI involvement, BPC and our project partners proposed an alternative design that drastically reduced the overall weight of the structure and seismic demand. This delivered a significant cost saving for the client and also reduced the carbon output by 1,914t.

At the karakia and naming ceremony, Taranaki Whanui Chair Kura Moeahu said Whakawhirinaki means ‘to lean against something, trust in something, depend on or rely on’. “Whirinaki is also the original name of the region,” Kura said, “so by naming this bridge Whakawhirinaki we are saying we trust in it and rely on it given the huge responsibility it has to carry our region’s water through Hutt Valley and Waiwhetu to its final destination.”