| 91 CONTRACTING DCN Drilling Drilling not always a smooth process The company’s work extends well beyond core-sampling and foundation drilling, and into the wider fields of environmental, geotechnical and geothermal drilling services. T T Hugh de Lacy “Our geotechnical drilling services are called in for site investigations for structures of any size, and there’s often a rush of demand for these after natural disasters.” Recovery work in the wake of disasters has taken Maramarua, Waikato, family firm DCN Drilling all round the North Island, with occasional forays into the South Island, but one of the trickiest jobs principal Dave Penney has come across in his 28 years in the business is core-sampling the land for Whangarei Hospital’s new $35m children’s health unit. Dave, his son Corey and daughter Natasha – the DCN of the company title – backed up by Dave’s wife Joyce, have been swept up in the rush to rebuild after the likes of the Canterbury earthquakes in 2010-11 and 2023’s Cyclone Gabrielle. In such situations, DCN Drilling’s work has been vital to getting new building started on severely disturbed ground. By comparison, the Whangarei Hospital core-sampling should have been a breeze, but the notoriously difficult sub-surface of limestone mixed with clay – they call that sort of ground “chaos” in the trade – made the job so tricky that Dave and the family couldn’t wait to get it finished and back on to something more run-of-the-mill. The company’s work extends well beyond core-sampling and foundation drilling, and into the wider fields of environmental, geotechnical and geothermal drilling services. DCN Drilling is based at a one-acre site with a 275sqm building on SH2 at Maramarua, and operates eight specialised drills with a current ground staff of eight, including Corey and Dave. “Our geotechnical drilling services are called in for site investigations for structures of any size, and there’s often a rush of demand for these after natural disasters,” Dave says. “With our environmental drilling we provide soil samples using both standard and sonic drilling techniques – sonic being a drill-head that allows for both rotation and oscillation so it vibrates up and down as it drills. We also drill geothermal monitoring wells to analyse the sustainability of the geothermal field’s power generation. “Drilling potable water wells is another big part of our service, and we do CPT (Core Penetration Test) site investigations using a range of tools and equipment.” The modern fleet of rigs comprises a heli/ man portable rig, two John Deere tractor-mounted drills, a Morooka track-mounted rig, a sonic rig, a trailer-mounted rig and a Coretec YDX3L rig. These are backed up by a water truck, two transporter and four support trucks, four utes, a vacuum excavation truck, a support tractor and a support Morooka. Following the Christchurch earthquakes, DCN Drilling expanded its operations into Christchurch for the three years it took to get the rebuild under way there. Dave set up a house for the team there and flew down every few weeks to check progress. Disasters aside, DCN Drilling has been party to a raft of major civil works over the years that have included all four stages of the Huntly-by-pass investigations, and stages A and C of the Hunua pipeline investigation. Then there was and the geotechnical investigation with ground-monitoring installations for the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway extension – a particularly challenging project given the difficulties in gaining access to the sites. Proud suppliers of professional Diamond Drilling & Cutting Products to: DCN DRILLING Ltd www.sadt.co.nz admin@sadt.co.nz FREE PHONE: 0800 88 59 61
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