Business Central December 2021

| 15 CentrePort Ltd: Seaview Project DEVELOPMENT CentrePort’s Seaview Wharf facility is set for a major upgrade to make it more resilient and bring it up to international standards for ship berthing and bulk fuel discharge. Lower Hutt based commercial diving and marine construction specialists Underwater Solutions are in the closing stages of a major project assisting with the refurbishment of CentrePort’s Seaview Wharf. Underwater Solutions commenced the project in June last year with the irst phase involving demolition of the existing wharf. “We were cutting steel piles at seabed level using an underwater cutting system,” says Underwater Solutions Managing Director Matt Fabish. “We then moved into the reconstruction phase which involves underwater concrete work, installing formwork underwater and then pouring concrete.” Along with a multi-skilled team of divers, Matt says the company’s construction barge played a key role in the success of the project. “It is the only construction barge in Wellington with a crane that could support this project. Centreport were able to move and lift things that would not have been possible without the barge.” Founded in 2011 by Matt and his brother Chris, Underwater Solutions irst major project came the following year when it was engaged by Fletcher Challenge to remove a sunken wreck from Vuna Wharf in Tonga, enabling a new wharf to be constructed. The underwater experts Following the success of that project the company was awarded a ten-year contract, with two ive year extensions, doing all the diving work looking after the Cook Strait power cables between the North and South Islands. Since then Underwater Solutions has been kept busy with multiple diving projects across New Zealand, and when travel permits, throughout the Paci ic. “Our projects include underwater demolitions and construction, salvage of sunken boats and we specialise in the installation, burial and maintenance of submarine internet and power cables, which is a large portion of our business.” With a team of ive full time divers and drawing from a regular pool of skilled freelance divers, Underwater Solutions skill sets include construction, operating machinery, welding, cutting, driving boats. “Most of what we do is underwater but we do some work above water,” says Matt. “Safety is our number one priority for every project, and that is re lected in our Site Wise Green Certi ication. Our success as a business has been about getting the right people involved, with the right experience and looking after them. We have divers who have been with us right from the start. We have some of the most experienced divers in the country by a long way; people want to work for us.” Construction Diving Scientific & Environmental Demolition Marine Salvage Geotechnical Investigations Sub Marine Cables